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

Kirchoff''s voltage law , Kirc hoff's Voltage Law   The sum ...

Kirc hoff's Voltage Law   The sum of all the voltage drops around a closed circuit loop will add to zero  V1+(-V2)+(-V3)+(-V4)= 0

Vector, Explain the characteristics of vector processing

Explain the characteristics of vector processing

How to create a rollover image, Q. How to Create a Rollover Image? A ro...

Q. How to Create a Rollover Image? A rollover image is an image whose display changes when pointer passes ('rolls') over it. You will use Dreamweaver's Insert Rollover Image co

OS, why we say OS is a resource allocator and control program

why we say OS is a resource allocator and control program

Change to palindrome, given a string S convert it to palindrome by doing ch...

given a string S convert it to palindrome by doing character replacement.convert S to palindrome with minimum character replacements

Average enzyme activity , Activity of a some  enzyme was calculated  in ext...

Activity of a some  enzyme was calculated  in extracts from brain, heart and lung. In every  tissue,  the activity was calculated  various  times, giving the following results (in

Can we use flow logic control key words in abap/4, Can we use flow logic co...

Can we use flow logic control key words in ABAP/4 and vice-versa The flow control  of a dynpro having os a few statements that syntactically ressemble ABAP/4  statements .Thou

Assembly langaauge microprocessor, write alp to perform bcd addition withou...

write alp to perform bcd addition without using procedure

Differentiate between sequential and combinational circuits, Problem 1 ...

Problem 1 Prove that :- x(x + y) = x by using identities 2 Write a short note on Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) 3 Differentiate between sequential and combinational ci

What is critical section problem, What is critical section problem? A ...

What is critical section problem? A race condition at data item occurs when many processes simultaneously update its value data consistency, needs that only one process should

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