History of Computers Topical vocabulary
| 1. | abacus | 16. | to invent |
| 2. | bulky | 17. | to reduce |
| 3. | development | 18. | to replace |
| 4. | dividing | ||
| 5. | generation | 19. | analogue computer |
| 6. | invention | 20. | analytical engine |
| 7. | multiplying | 21. | artificial intelligence |
| 8. | predecessor | 22. | digital computer |
| 9. | printout | 23. | logarithm table |
| silicon | 24. | integrated circuit | |
| transistor | 25. | paper tape | |
| 26. | punched card | ||
| to complete | 27. | quantum computation | |
| to design | 28. | slide rule | |
| to develop | 29. | vacuum tube | |
| to emit | 30. | voice recognition |
2. Fill in the gaps with suitable words from the table:
| predecessor | designed | transistor | generation | replaced |
| Artificial intelligence | abacus | invented | integrated circuit | bulky |
1. The............................... can be used to add, subtract, multiply and divide.
2. The first -...................... computers were extremely large and had poor reliability.
3. A................ is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals.
4. Vacuum tubes were............................. and unreliable.
5. In 1830s Charles Babbage................................ the first programmable computer.
6. The transistor was............................. in 1948 and........................... the vacuum tube.
7. The computers that used.................................. technology could perform data processing operations in nanoseconds.
8. A vacuum tube was a.............................. to a transistor.
9............................. has become an essential part of the technology industry, providing solutions to the most difficult problems in computer science.
Match the words with their TRANSCRIPTION. Pay attention to the pronunciation of the letter "g"
generation technological analogue designed engine
/'analog/ /'end3in/ / di'zaind/ / cfeena'reijjejn/ /tekna'lodpkfa)!/
Use the phonetic alphabet to transcribe the following words. Pay attention to the pronunciation of the fetter "t".
Invention logarithm mathematician calculation
multiplying circuit analytical recognition
Listening. Famous English mathematician
1. A great English mathematician invented mechanical devices for mathematical calculations. Listen to the text. What devices did he invent?
2. Listen to the speaker and mark the following statements True or False.
1. When Babbage entered the University he found that he
didn't know much about mathematics.
True False
2. Encouraged by the work of Analytical Engine, Babbage
began to design another machine - Difference Engine
True
False
3. Babbage's Difference Engine is an electromechanical
device.
True
False
4. Analytical Engine could perform mathematical operation
according to a series of instructions.
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True
False
5. Neither Analytical Engine, nor Difference Engine 2, was
finished in Babbage's lifetime.
True
False
3. Choose the correct answer according to the text.
1. Babbage is sometimes referred to as:
a) "son of computers"
b) "father of computers"
c) "inventor of computers"
d) "creator of computers"
2. Babbage went to
a) Cambridge University
b) Oxford University
c) Harvard University
d) London University
3. Babbage married
a) in the year of his entering the University
b) while studying at the University
c) in the year of his graduation from the University
d) in some years after graduating from the University
4. Charles Babbage had
a) three children
b) five children
c) seven children
d) eight children
5. The Analytical machine had
a) two units
b) three units
c) four units
d) five units
Reading. History of Computers
1. Read the text and find the equivalents of the following phrases.
1. 6.
2. 7. ,
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10.
"Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors have contributed to the development of the computer and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which is a separate invention.
Before the abacus was invented, people had used their fingers to count. In the 18th century a Scotsman Napier invented a mechanical way of multiplying and dividing. It was a foundation of modern slide rules. Later Henry Briggs used Napier's ideas to produce logarithm tables. There had never been any attempts to replace a human being before an Englishman Charles Babbage designed his "Analytical Engine" in 1830. In the same year an American Bush built the first analogue computer. The first digital computer called Mark I was completed in 1944 by Professor Aiken from IBM.
Before the modern computers appeared, there had been several generations of computers and several technological principles had been applied. The first vacuum tubes computers used from 1950 to 1959 are referred to as first generation computers. First generation computers relied on machine language to perform operations, and they could only solve one problem at a time. Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed on printouts. UNIVAC 1 (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) is an example of these computers which used to perform thousands of calculations per second. Those devices were not only bulky, they were also unreliable. The thousands of vacuum tubes emitted large amounts of heat and burned out frequently.
The transistor was invented in 1948 and replaced vacuum tubes in the second generation of computers. It allowed computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more reliable than their first-generation predecessors. Second-generation computers still used to rely on punched cards for input and printouts for output.
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With advances in electronics technology it became possible to reduce the size of transistors and integrate large numbers of circuit elements into very small chips of silicon. The computers that used integrated circuit technology were called third generation computers, and the approximate time span of these machines was from 1960 to 1979. They could perform many data processing operations in nanoseconds, which are billionths of seconds.
The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located on a single chip all the components of the computer - from the central processing unit and memory to input/output controls.
The fifth generation of computers has now arrived. The idea was introduced by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are used today. With the use of parallel processing and superconductors the artificial intelligence has been made a reality. Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will change the computers in some years. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning. Some of the advanced modern computers have some characteristics of fifth generation computers.
2. Fill in the gaps with suitable words from the table:
| vacuum tubes | assembly language | silicon chips | power | artificial-Intelligence |
UNIVAC computer age transistors heat integrated circuit
World War gave rise to numerous developments and started off the 1____________________________________.
First Generation computers used 2___________________________ and magnetic drums (for data storage), and were very bulky. They
were very
expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of 3______________________________________________, which was often the cause of
malfunctions. The 4_____________________ and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing devices.
The invention of 5_________________________ marked the start of the second generation. The second generation replaced machine
language with the 6__________________________________.
| called semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of |
The development of the 7_____________________________ was the hallmark of the third generation of computers. Transistors were
miniaturized and placed on 8___________________________
computers.
Fourth Generation computers are the modern day computers. The size started to go down with the improvement in the
integrated circuits - millions of components could be fit into a small chip. It reduced the size and price of the computers at the same
time increasing 9_____________________, efficiency and reliability.
Fifth generation computers are the future generation computers. The fifth generation computers will be under
10__________________
Use of English
1. Find sentences with the verbs in Present/Past Perfect Active/Passive in the text. Copy them down into your notebooks. Translate the sentences.
