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

Project on adaptive concept map, to develop an adaptive concept map providi...

to develop an adaptive concept map providing personalized learning for Operating System subject with text file(in any form like html,ppt,txt,doc,pdf)as input

Explain about hard drives, Q. Explain about hard drives? Disks are gene...

Q. Explain about hard drives? Disks are generally mounted on a disk drive which comprises of an arm and a shaft along with electronic circuitry for read-write of data. Disk rot

Identify specific weaknesses in the design, Identify three specific weaknes...

Identify three specific weaknesses in the design of the websites, derived from your analyses within Questions Part (c) and/or Question Part (a). There should be at least one weakne

Describe big notation, Q. Describe Big Notation? Big O Notation : The ...

Q. Describe Big Notation? Big O Notation : The set O (g(n)) comprises all functions f(n) for that there exists   positive constants c such that for satisfactorily large values

How many select lines will a 32:1 multiplexer will have, How many select li...

How many select lines will a 32:1 multiplexer will have ? Ans. 5 select lines will be required for 32 inputs, as 2 5 = 32.

First-order inference rules, First-Order Inference Rules: Here now we ...

First-Order Inference Rules: Here now we have a clear definition of a first-order model is that we can define soundness for first-order inference rules in the same way such we

Explain deadlock detection algorithm for single instance, Explain deadlock ...

Explain deadlock detection algorithm for single instance of each resource type. For single instance of each resource type the deadlock detection algorithm: (i) Maintain a wa

Show arithmetic subtraction, Q. Show Arithmetic Subtraction? The subtra...

Q. Show Arithmetic Subtraction? The subtraction can be done easily using 2's complement by taking 2's complement of value which is to be subtracted (inclusive of sign bit) and

Describe about the database marketing application of olap, Database marketi...

Database marketing tool or application helps a user or marketing professional in determining the right tool or plan for his valuable add campaign. This tool haves data from all sou

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