Tyranny of Numbers

For some time now, electronic man has known how 'in principle' to extend greatly his visual, tactile, and mental abilities through the digital transmission and processing of all kinds of information. However, all these functions suffer from what has been called 'the tyranny of numbers.' Such systems, because of their complex digital nature, require hundreds, thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands of electron devices.

-Jack Morton - 1957
VP of Bell Labs

Jack Kilby

Image Source: Wikipedia

Integrated Circuit

Image Source: Wikipedia

Robert Noyce

Image Source: Wikipedia

Intel Founders

Andy Grove, Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore (1978)

Image Source: Wikipedia

Moore's Law

Image Source: Wikipedia

Intel 4004

Image Source: Wikipedia

Microcontrollers

Image Source: Wikipedia

Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)

• x86
• x86-64
• IA64 (Itanium)
• ARM
• PowerPC
• MIPS

Image Source: Wikipedia

Hardware Classes

1. Internal Components
2. Storage
3. Peripherals
4. Cables & Connectors

Information from Wikibooks

Old Motherboard Diagram

Image Credit: Wikipedia

New Motherboard Diagram

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Processor Features

• Architecture
• Clock speed
• Cache memory
• Processing cores

cpuboss.com - Intel Core i7 3970X

Intel Core i7 3970X vs. AMD FX 9370

Memory Features

• Size
• Speed
• Type/Class
• ECC (Error correction)
• Registered

Graphics Card Features

• GPU Chip
• Video Memory
• Motherboard Interface
• Output Connections

gpuboss.com - EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN

EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN vs AMD Radeon HD 7970

Disk Drive Features

• Capacity
• Interface
• Spindle speed (HDD)
• Read speed
• Write speed
• Latency

Comparison

Image Credit: Computerworld

RAID

• RAID 0 - Striping
• RAID 1 - Mirroring
• RAID 5 - Striping & Parity
• RAID 6 - Striping & Dual Parity
• RAID 10 - Mirroring + Striping

Optical Disk Comparison

Information from PCPower.com

Note: multiply by 1.5 to account for real usages and efficiency

Other Peripherals

• PCI Cards
• Flash Memory
• Display Devices
• Input Devices
• Printers
• Networking Devices

Finite State Machine

Image Source: Wikipedia

Moore Machine

Image Source: Stateworks.com

Ouput depends only on state
-or-
Each state can only have 1 set of outputs

Mealy Machine

Image Source: Stateworks.com

Ouput depends on inputs and state
-or-
Each state can have multiple sets of outputs

Finite State Machine Examples

1. Elevator Control System
2. Stoplight
3. Baseball At-bat
4. Starting a Car
5. Pinball Machine
6. Store Self-Checkout
7. ATM Withdrawal
8. Keypad Security Lock
9. Paper-Rock-Scissors Game
10. Changing a Tire
11. 2 Player Texas Hold-em Poker
12. A DVD Player

Assignments

• Read and be prepared to discuss:
  • Pattern on the Stone Chapter 8: Computers that Learn and Adapt
• Blog 3: Making Meaning: POTS - Due 2/29 10:00 PM
• Scratch FSM Project - Due 2/23 10:00 PM

Blog 3: Making Meaning: POTS

Now that we’ve finished reading the first textbook, it is time to step back and think about what we read. Write about your reactions to it and what you learned from it. I’d recommend almost treating this like an in-depth book review for others who are interested in reading the book, but don’t mind some spoilers. Some questions I’d like you to answer:

• How did you feel reading this book? Engaged? Bored? Interested?
• What was the most interesting thing you learned?
• Were there any parts of the book you didn’t like?
• Were there any terms or concepts that you looked up (Googled) to find more information about? What were they? What did you find?
• Did this book help explain things you didn’t know about computers?
• Did this book leave you with any questions unanswered?
• Would you recommend this book to a friend that wanted to know more about computers?

Soda FSM