Computer Science 1011 Notes

Computing systems are dynamic inventions used to solve problems and interact with the environment.
They consist of devices, programs, and data.
Devices/Hardware: The physical elements of a computing system (printer, circuit boards, wires...)
Programs/Software: The programs that provide the instructions for a computer to execute.
Data: Information in a form the computer can use.

A computer is like an onion.
The computer, with its machine language, forms the heart of the onion, and the layers of software and more sophisticated hardware have been added around the heart.
Communication, application, operating system, programming, hardware, information.
Abstraction: A mental model that removes complex details.

The History of Computing
History of Computer Hardware:
  * Stonehenge: Astrological Calculator
  * Abacus (2400 BC): Instrument to record numeric values
  * Pascal (17th century): created a mechanical device to add, subtract
  * Leibniz (late 17th century): First mechanical device to perform all four whole number operations
  * Joseph Jacquard (late 18th century/1801): Jacquard's loom, used for weaving cloth. The loom used a series of cards with holes punched in them to specify which coloured thread to use. Although this was not a computing device, the loom was the first to make use of an input: the punched card.
  * Charles Babbage(19th century): Designed his analytical engine. Machine was never built but design included memory, punched cards to input numbers...
  * Augusta: extended ideas on Babbage's Analytical Engine.
She is credited for being the first programmer and invented the concept of the loop(series of instructions that repeat).
  * Alan Turing(1936): Invented an abstract mathematical model called a Turing Machine(Artificial Intelligence Testing), laying the foundation of computer science.

First Generation Hardware(1951-1959):
Commercial computers were built using vacuum tubes to store information.
-The vacuum...