information theory: the application of mathematics to language, concepts,
e. John Atanasoff's Binary Computer (1939). A physics professor at Iowa
State College, Atanasoff built a rough model of a binary-based computer in 1939. He
decided that the ease of representing two symbols instead of 10 in a computer's
circuitry, outweighed the adjustment needed for users in transitioning to the unfamiliar
binary system. The machines, at any rate, could make the conversions without
difficulty.
f. George Stibitz's Binary Adder (1939). A research mathematician at Bell
Telephone Laboratories, he realized that Boolean logic was a natural language for the
circuitry of electromechanical telephone relays. He built a binary adder circuit, an
electromechanical circuit that could perform binary addition, using the logic of Boolean
gates to control current flow. This device is still a basic feature of digital computers
today.
g. Stibitz and Williams' Complex Number Calculator. In 1940, Stibitz and
Williams developed a device that could subtract, multiply, and divide as well as add
complex numbers. The calculator was hooked up to four teletype machines. A nearby
teletype machine transmitted signals to the calculator and received answers from it
within seconds. Two more teletypes in other parts of the building and a fourth 250 miles
away permitted shared access remote control electromechanical computation.
h. Konrad Zuse's Binary Computer. Zuse worked independently in Germany,
with no knowledge of Boolean algebra or Charles Babbage's attempts to build a general
purpose computer. He built a binary-based computer that operated on Boolean-like
principles.
i. John Von Neuman (1945), World War II. The race for new weapons
speeded up the development of computer theory and design and facilitated progress in
building binary-based computers. John Von Neuman's famous "First Draft of a Report
on evacuation (EDVAC)" (1945) played a key role in spreading the word in the scientific and
scholarly community about the advantages of circuitry designed to handle two digits
(bits) rather than 10.
1-5.
a. Simplified Design. The design of a computer that handled two digits instead
of 10 was infinitely more simplified. Cost was reduced, and reliability improved. Use of
the binary system helped to alleviate modern computers of the "elephantiasis" that had
afflicted the earlier models. The heat, space, and reliability problems that had plagued
the decimal-based EDVAC, for example, were eliminated with the switch to the binary
system.
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