Evolution of Computing Tools
計算工具的演化
Sai-Ping Li 李世炳
Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica
March 2, 2013
在遠古年代，人類因為祭拜而需要計數。
圓形石林--將巨大石塊豎立
按圓形排列的紀念物，周圍
環以土堤。建於史前時代，
約從西元前3100年開始。坐
落在英格蘭倫敦西南約80
英里處 。
Stonehenge, which lies 13km north of Salisbury, England, is believed to
have been an ancient form of calendar designed to capture the light from
the summer solstice in a specific fashion.
Pebbles were used by the ancients for a variety of purposes. They
are one of the earliest methods of counting using a physical aide.
最早期的計算方法，以數小石頭來幫助計算。
The abacus is one of the earliest devices to be used in calculation,
and still in use, in various forms, around the world today.
算盤 --- 最古老的計算工具之一
Counting Board and Abacus
計算板與算盤
The history of the abacus probably traced back to ancient Mesopotamia.
The people probably drew lines on the ground and used pebbles to
represent numbers and do calculations.
The counting board is a piece of wood, stone or metal with carved
grooves or painted lines between which beads, pebbles or metal discs
were moved. The abacus is a device, usually of wood (plastic, in recent
times), having a frame that holds rods with freely-sliding beads mounted
on them.
歷史上，計算板是一個便攜式的平面，通常由木頭或石頭組成，上
面放置鵝卵石或小珠子等物件來計算某件事情。計算板的想法來自
於你需要時，可以在地面或沙地上劃線或圖形。
The person operating the abacus performs calculations in their head and
uses the abacus as a physical aid to keep track of the sums, etc.
Evolutionary Time-line:
This time-line shows the evolution from the earliest counting board
to the present day abacus. The evolution of the abacus can be divided
into three ages: Ancient Times, Middle Ages, and Modern Times.
算盤演化過程可分為三個時期：
遠古年代，中世紀年代，新世代。
Ancient Times 遠古年代
The Salamis Tablet, the Roman Calculi and Hand-abacus
are from the period c. 300 B.C to c. 500 A.D.
The Salamis Tablet
The oldest surviving counting
board is the Salamis tablet
(originally thought to be a
gaming board), used by the
Babylonians circa 300 B.C.,
discovered in 1846 on the
island of Salamis.
最古老的計算板，估計大約在公
元三百年前為巴比倫人所使用。
於公元1846年在Salamis島上被
發現。
Counting Board--Pebbles were used for counting
計算版—以鵝卵石作計數用。
Middle Ages 中世紀年代
The Apices, the coin-board and the Line-board are
from the period c. 5 A.D. to c. 1400 A.D.
Modern Times 新世代
The Suan-pan, the Soroban and the Schoty are
from the period c. 1200 A.D to the present.
Arabic Multiplication Tables
阿拉伯乘法表
John Napier, (1550-1617), in early 1600s took animal bones
and carved the multiples of the Gelosia method of arithmetic
on them; by adding on the diagonal, one could "multiply"
Napier’s
Bones
納皮爾
骨頭
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier's_bones
Schickard's Calculating clock(1623)-The machine incorporates a set of
"Napier's bones" (on the cylinders)
and a mechanism to add the partial
products (with a carry mechanism).
Four-Figure Tables
對數表
In 1614, John Napier discovered the
logarithm which made it possible to
perform multiplications and
divisions by addition and
subtraction.
1614年，蘇格蘭數學家納皮爾發
現了對數，使得數字的乘跟除可
以加減替代。
1614
Slide Rule 計算尺
1. 1614年，蘇格蘭數學家納皮爾發現了對數，使得數字的乘
跟除可以加減替代。
2. 1620年，牛津的埃德蒙·甘特（Edmund Gunter）發明了一
種使用單個對數刻度的計算工具，當和另外的測量工具配
合使用時，可以用來做乘除法。
3. 1925年，劍橋的William Oughtred發明了圓式計算尺。
John
Napier
William
Oughtred
(1575-1660)
Straight Slide Rule 直式計算尺
Circular Slide Rule
圓式計算尺
A slide rule consists of three interlocking calibrated strips.
The central strip can be moved lengthways relative to the
other two. A sliding cursor with an alignment line can
record an intermediate result on any of the scales.
一把計算尺通常由三個互相鎖定的有刻度的長條和一個滑動
窗口(稱為游標)組成。在1970年代之前使用廣泛，之後被電
子計算器機所取代，成為過時技術。
Division— 除法
For example, the division of 22 by 2.75.
例 ：22 ÷ 2.75
A Slide Rule is –
An ANALOG computer
計算尺是一台類比電腦
(1791 – 1871)
Pascal's Pascaline (1642)
Stepped Drums (1672 Leibniz)
(First mechanical
calculator, 1822)
(1886)
Mechanical Calculators
機械式計算機
Computer –
One who computes!
做計算的人
Computer Age
電腦紀元
The first computers were people! “Computer” was
originally a job title: it was used to describe those
human beings (predominantly women) whose job it
was to perform the repetitive calculations required to
compute such things as navigational tables, tide charts,
and planetary positions for astronomical almanacs.
“Computer” 原來是一個工作名稱，是指專門負責計
算的人。
ENIAC: the "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator"
Completed in 1946, the first vacuum tube-based computer, has 18,000
vacuum tubes and takes up 1,800 square feet of space. Considered to be
the first “true computer” 第一台“真正”電腦，內含18,000個真空管，
電腦大小有18,000平方英尺。
Computer
Punch
Cards
電腦打孔卡
IBM電腦打孔機，，操作方式與一般打字機一樣。
An IBM Key Punch machine which operates like a typewriter except
it produces punched cards rather than a printed sheet of paper
Paper Tape 紙帶
A typical paper
tape reader
紙帶閱讀機
The IBM 7094, a typical mainframe computer
大型電腦
The original IBM Personal Computer (PC)
第一代IBM個人電腦
Development of Computers
電腦發展簡史
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1936--Turing Machine (Alan Turing)
1943--Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
1946--ENIAC
1947--Transistor (Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain) 晶體管
1957--Transistorized Experimental Computer (TX-O)
1958--Integrated circuit (Jack St. Claire Kilby) 積體電路
1971--Intel's first microprocessor, the 4004, was developed
1971--The first microcomputers (PCs) were developed
1974--Apple I
1981--IBM PC 個人電腦
1988--Laptops 筆記型電腦
1994--DNA Computing; Quantum Computing
Moore‘s Law (摩爾定律1965, Gordon Moore)
Number of transistors/square inch on integrated circuits doubles every 18 months.
每平方英吋的晶體管數量每十八個月就會增加一倍。
Development of Computer Languages
電腦語言演化簡史
• 1854--British mathematician George Boole devises binary algebra.
• 1936--Turing Machine (Alan Turing)
•
•
•
•
•
1958--Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL)
1958--List Processor (LISP)
1958--ALGOL
1963--Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC)
1967--Formula Translation (FORTRAN)
• 1971--PASCAL
• 1972--C (ALGOL-60)
• 1979--Ada
• 1983—C++
Development of Operating Systems
作業系統演化簡史
•1969--UNIX
•1978--APPLE
•1981--MS-DOS
•1985—Microsoft WINDOWS
•1991—LINUX (Linus Torvalds)
(Tim Berners-Lee,1989)
Cloud
Computing
雲端計算
Next Computing Tool---Worldwide Grid
下一代計算工具---全球網格
LCG Service Hierarchy 服務架構
Tier-0 – the accelerator centre
• Data acquisition & initial processing
• Long-term data curation
• Distribution of data  Tier-1 centres
Canada – Triumf (Vancouver)
France – IN2P3 (Lyon)
Germany – Forschunszentrum Karlsruhe
Italy – CNAF (Bologna)
Netherlands – NIKHEF/SARA (Amsterdam)
Nordic countries – distributed Tier-1
Tier-1 – “online” to the data acquisition
process
 high availability
• Major computing centres
– high level of service quality
• Managed Mass Storage
 grid-enabled data service
Spain – PIC (Barcelona)
Taiwan – Academia SInica (Taipei)
• Data-heavy analysis
UK – CLRC (Oxford)
US – FermiLab (Illinois)
• National, regional support
– Brookhaven (NY)
• Academia Sinica Grid Centre
Tier-2 – ~100 centres in ~40 countries
• Simulation
• End-user analysis – batch and interactive
Global Science needs a Global Grid
全球科學需要一個全球網格
• LCG depends on two major science grid infrastructures –
LCG 依賴兩個主要的科學網格基本架構
EGEE and the US Open Science Grid
What Next?
未來的計算工具?