ISM3011 - E-Business System Fundamentals

Chapter 3: Computer Hardware

As Davis and Olson (text on reserve in library) state, "Information systems applications should not require users to be computer experts. However, users need to be able to specify their information requirements; some understanding of computers, the nature of information, and its use in various management functions aids in this task" The Technology Guide chapters introduce the concepts of hardware, software, database, and communications. These guides are designed to make students "knowledgeable consumers" of technology. They are not intended to turn students into "techno-nerds." This basic knowledge will provide a basis for understanding technology when faced with a computer specification decision situation in which the student is an integral part. Being able to understand what the salesperson is discussing without being intimidated greatly enhances the decision making process and maximizes the probability of making a good decision. Who knows? You may even like this stuff so much that you will run out and buy all the pieces and put a computer together!

Significant Points in Chapter 3:

Figure 3.13 (page 105) provides an overview of every digital computer ever made - or that ever will be made. The Central Processor Unit (CPU, or the "chip") processes inputs into outputs (sound familiar?). We will briefly look at each individual element of the computer in this chapter.
Computers are always described in terms of "on" and "off." How, the question always arises, do computers represent anything with only two states? Figure 3.28, page 118 illustrates the "on" and "off" patterns that comprise letters and numbers. Eight "1" and "0" states are grouped together, and the various patterns form the letters and numbers. For example, when the "A" key is pressed, the keyboard sends the pattern "11000001" to the computer. A total of 256 different patterns (and thus 256 letters, numbers, punctuation, and special characters) can be formed with patterns of eight "1" and "0" states.
The "Trends in Computer Systems" section (page 94) examines the evolution of computers over the years. The first mechanical computers were developed in the late 1930's. The first electronic computers were developed in the early 1940's, primarily to support the U.S. military efforts in WWII. Figure 3.3 provides a brief overview of the generations of computer hardware, the actual computers themselves. The most significant information in the table is the "Average cost." The primary reason why computers are so popular today is the low cost.
Figure 3.2 provides a good overview of the types of computers. The most significant fact is that all of these types of computers can be easily connected together to provide the services we need to develop Information Systems. The sections beginning on page 96 provides a good discussion of the various types of computers.
Programs (software), which contain the instructions for the CPU to accomplish, are stored in primary storage, or RAM. The concept of storing program instructions in RAM was probably the most important technical breakthrough in the history of computers. It was developed by Dr. John V Neumann, a brilliant physicist who helped develop the earliest electronic computers at Pennsylvania University. Before von Neumann developed the program storage concept, programming consisted of setting sequences of toggle switches on a large "program board." The concepts of programs and programming will be further developed in chapter 4.
The point of the above discussion is to provide a preliminary understanding of what is happening in computers when programs run. Programs reside in RAM, as well as the data upon which the programs operate. Programs and data move from RAM to CPU and back through "busses," which are the electronic connections between the various components in a computer. The speed of the busses is as important as the CPU speed in terms of determining computer performance. Today's microcomputers (generally) have either 100mhz or 233mhz bus speeds. Buy computers with the fastest bus speed possible for the money. In fact, a computer with a 233mhz bus and a 900mhz CPU can usually accomplish more work than a computer with a 1.5ghz CPU that has to work with a 100mhz bus. Other factors enter into the equation as well, and we will continue to develop them as we progress into chapter 4.
A fantastic Internet site devoted to technical aspects of CPUs provides much more information than could ever be incorporated here. Be sure you have a few hours to kill before going to this site - it is very interesting.
Section Two introduces input and output devices. Basically, any device that converts phenomena from our world into electronic signals that a CPU can process is called an input device. Any device that converts electronic signals into a form that we can understand is an output device. This section provides a good overview of the various input and output devices common today. This link will take you to some computer hardware examples.

This chapter provides an introduction the hardware of computers, the electronic devices that accomplish specific tasks as directed by programs. Hardware by itself can perform only two useful tasks: they are very accurate clocks, and they make fine paperweights. We must move to chapter 4 and investigate software, since it is software that makes the hardware useful.

An introduction to computer hardware would be incomplete without a quick history lesson. Dr. John V. Atanasoff, a professor of mathematics at Iowa State University in Ames, and Clifford Berry, a graduate student working with Dr. Atanasoff are "officially" credited with inventing the digital electronic computer. This honor was long claimed by Drs. John Mauchley and Presper Eckert, electronic computer pioneers at Pennsylvania University and colleagues of von Neumann. Atanasoff and Berry were working on their computer in the late 1930's, and they were having a very difficult time with it. One night, as Atanasoff relates, he grew tired of working in his lab, so he drove from Ames to a small town in Illinois, across the Mississippi river. There he stopped at a "road house" for a beer. While drinking the beer, the idea of digital patterns to represent letters and numbers (as with the EBCDIC and ASCII codes) came to him. He and Berry had been trying to develop electronic circuits to represent letters and base 10 numbers. Atanasoff said that he rushed back to his lab, and within a few days he perfected his computer. This is the reason why we "computer types" like to drink beer so much - we drink to the honor and memory of Dr. Atanasoff's breakthrough and are trying to be like him!

I mentioned above that Drs. Mauchley and Eckert were often credited with inventing the electronic computer. The question of who "officially" invented the computer was decided by U.S. district judge Earl Larson in a Washington D.C. district court on October 19, 1973, with Atanasoff receiving the credit. Why, you ask, did this fact never receive the attention of the news media? Because the news of the Watergate "Saturday Night Massacre," where Nixon fired the independent council investigating the Watergate break-in, broke in the media on the same morning that the judge handed down his ruling. History has a strange way of determining what is and what is not important.

A great page on the history of the people in computing is maintained by the Computer Science department of the University of Vermont. Take a few moments to learn about the people who were instrumental in developing the early computers. I guarantee that you will enjoy what you find.

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