Harvard mark-I and the bug, Computer Engineering

Assignment Help:

The next important effort in the direction of devising an electromechanical computer was made at Harvard University mutually sponsored by IBM and Department of UN Navy, Howard Aiken of Harvard University created a system known as Mark I in 1944. Mark I was a decimal machine means that computations were performed employing decimal digits.

Some of you should have heard a term known as 'bug'. It is mostly used to denote errors in computer programs. This term was invented when one day a program in Mark-I didn't run accurately because of a moth short-circuiting the computer. Since then moth or bug has been linked with problems or errors in computer programming. So process of eliminating error in a program is termed as 'debugging'.

The common shortcomings of these electromechanical and mechanical computers were: 

  • Inertia/Friction of moving components limited speed.
  • Data movement using liners and gears was very unreliable and difficult.

Change was to have a storing and switching mechanism with no moving parts. The electronic switching device 'triode' vacuum tubes were used so first electronic computer was born.


Related Discussions:- Harvard mark-I and the bug

Control-centered virtual manufacturing, Control-Centered Virtual Manufactur...

Control-Centered Virtual Manufacturing This is the addition of simulations to control actual processes and models, permitting for seamless simulation for optimization throughou

Functions to remove common walls, We must also be able to remove common wal...

We must also be able to remove common walls between two cells. Write the function removewalls that accepts two cells and removes the wall that is common between the two (hint: any

Induction that your closed formula , Show by induction that your closed for...

Show by induction that your closed formula from (c) is the number of times that the given statement is implemented for a problem of size n.Note: if your proof is easily  a proof th

Classification of systems, Classification of Systems Systems may be cat...

Classification of Systems Systems may be categorized as follows: a)  Formal or Informal b)  Abstract or Physical c)  Closed or Open d)  Automated orManual.

Define synchronous bus, Define synchronous bus. Synchronous buses are t...

Define synchronous bus. Synchronous buses are the ones in which every item is transferred during a time slot(clock cycle) known to both the source and destination units. Synchr

Define parallel programming, Conventionally software has been written for s...

Conventionally software has been written for serial computation in that programs are written for computers which have a single Central Processing Unit (CPU). Here the problems are

Remote-load latency problem, Remote-load Latency Problem:  When one process...

Remote-load Latency Problem:  When one processor requires some remote loading of data by other nodes, then the processor need to wait for these two remote load operations. The long

Deductive inferences - artificial intelligence, Deductive Inferences - Arti...

Deductive Inferences - Artificial intelligence: We have described how knowledge can be represented in first-order logic, and how in logic rule-based expert systems expressed ca

Describe about minicomputers, Q. Describe about Minicomputers? Minicomp...

Q. Describe about Minicomputers? Minicomputers, developed in the early 1960s, are high-performance, general-purpose multi user computers. These are also designed for real-tim

Cryptography, 1. Consider the one-time pad encryption scheme to encrypt a 1...

1. Consider the one-time pad encryption scheme to encrypt a 1-bit message m, and assume m is chosen with uniform distribution from message space M={0,1}. Let E1 be the event "messa

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd