This article comes from the WeChat public account: Programmer cxuan (ID: cxuangoodjob) “The first step in learning computers well ” ” Miscellaneous talks about computer history (2) “ , author: cxuan
Computers have been developed for half a century. We have been able to enjoy the fruits of the rapid development of computers since birth, but we have never been in awe of computers. Why? Because we don’t understand computers, how can we talk about awe? As if everything is predestined and natural, how can we talk about awe? It may be a bit arrogant to say this sentence, but if we reflect on ourselves, who really understands computers? This is not only our problem, it is also a problem of the school, and it is also a problem of the industry. Because there has never been a course in the university that really understands the past and present of computers. It is either about C language or Java. We don’t understand these things, so why should we learn these things? You don’t know this girl well so how could you possibly develop feelings for her? Some people will definitely say that you can get married without feelings.
If we only talk about the result, then history is a false proposition. If everything is result-oriented, then the process is the body that will fall tomorrow night. No one remembers, and no one cares. Then human beings are just a name on the tombstone.
So I think the history of computer is a course that we should really take seriously, and it is also a period of history that we should understand seriously.
In fact, software development is like building a car. It does not have the design drawings of the car at the beginning, nor does it just install the wheels, body, door and engine step by step. Instead, there is a high probability that there will be a one-wheeled unicycle, then a two-wheeled bicycle, then a three-wheeled tricycle, and then two-wheeled motorcycles, tricycles and other small cars that are only slowly iterated.
In the course of computer development, it evolved step by step, not overnight like a monkey head popping out of a crack in a rock. If you have experienced a complete software development process, then you will know a complete development process: from software requirements analysis -> software program design -> drawing various class diagrams, timing diagrams, ER diagrams, etc. -> software development- > Software testing -> Software launch -> Operation and maintenance. These processes did not appear out of thin air, but evolved through various decades.
Let me give you an example and you will understand. Maybe some readers know about the difference engine (it doesn’t matter if you don’t know, it will not affect our subsequent understanding), as shown in the figure below
This is the difference engine, the first generation of industrial computing product designed and manufactured by Mr. Charles Babbage, who is known as the computer pioneer. The difference engine saves manual counting, and complex calculations can be completed by looking up tables, but Mr. Babbage was not satisfied with the difference engine. He continued to improve and try again on this basis, and then proposed the analysis engine , and proposed three major Core ideas, these core ideas are not outdated even in today’s society:
1. It can solve various problems not just limited to calculation.
2. It should have a general solution to describe the process of solving the problem.
3. Its calculation and storage are separated.
Let’s explore this period of computer history with me.
before computers
From a very early time, human beings had a need for computing equipment, and human beings needed a device that could support a large amount of calculations, so abacus, a computing computing device, appeared. The history of the abacus is very long, dating back to 2500 BC. The abacus is a manual calculator, which can visualize the calculation results instead of just calculating in our minds. Another important point is that the abacus can store the current state . Storing the current state was a very novel idea in the context of the time, and it also provided theoretical ideas for later devices such as hard disks.
In fact, human beings have a soft spot for calculations very early, and it can even be traced back to the period of logarithmic tables and trigonometric functions in the 16th and 17th centuries. Arithmetic operations are completed by addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but the calculations at this time are still limited to the mathematical period, and have little impact on other fields. By the late 18th century, people had drawn some special tables, and by looking up the table, the desired output could be obtained by giving a few numbers. By this period, mathematical calculations had been used in navigation tables, astronomy, insurance, Civil engineering and other fields play a role.
Since this period was a period of great nautical discovery, the British Empire had a very strong dominance in the sea. At this time, the British government hoped to compile a nautical table of “Nautical Almanac”, so this project was published in 1766. It has never stopped.
The charters of the Nautical Almanac are composed of a large number of calculators all over the United Kingdom. Many calculators have dedicated their lives to the compilation of the Nautical Almanac. Unfortunately, the names of these people have hardly been recorded in history.
During this period, a great man named Charles Babbage appeared. Babbage was born in a famous family and graduated from Cambridge University. The mathematics major of Cambridge University was considered the top in the UK, but Babbage However, he found that the professors in the top universities in the UK did not know as much as a college student, so he formed the Analytical Society with a few friends, and successfully carried out major reforms in the mathematics of Cambridge University. After graduating, Babbage became a gentleman in England (the original gentleman can also be called a profession).
The story of Babbage and the Difference Engine begins with the French Revolution. After the monarchy was overthrown, the newly established National Assembly carried out drastic reforms in various aspects, including tax reform and unification of weights and measures. At the same time, the original mathematical tables are no longer applicable and need to be recompiled. This daunting task fell to the shoulders of mathematician Gaspard Deprony. In 1819, Babbage visited Paris, France, and got acquainted with a large number of French scientists. It was during this visit that Babbage came into contact with Dropny’s French tabulation project. Therefore, Babbage also participated in the tabulation process. When he participated, he found that the tabulation process was extremely cumbersome, so how to improve and optimize the tabulation method and whether a machine can be used To replace artificial watchmaking has become Babbage’s lifelong pursuit.
Babbage named the machine he designed as the difference engine , and Babbage used his excellent communication skills to promote the difference engine (so programmers can’t just write code, but also have to be able to express their own code), in 1822 Babbage wrote to the President of the Royal Society and proposed to him to ask the British government to fund him to manufacture the difference engine. The following year (1823) the British government contributed 1,700 pounds and assured him that he would continue to fund if necessary (find angel investors There are wooden prototypes).
However, although Babbage has deep mathematical and philosophical attainments, he still underestimated the engineering complexity of the difference engine, and Babbage’s budget control and technical details were not in place. Although there were many difficulties, he still persisted. Going forward, in the context of the time, building a difference engine was as difficult as building a computer in the mid-1940s. At this time, Babbage faced two huge challenges. One was to design a brand new machine that had never existed in the world, and the other was to develop the technology required for this machine. It’s like tinkering with hardware while writing C. . . . . .
Babbage drew hundreds of mechanical drawings and wrote thousands of pages of notes for the construction of the difference engine. These materials are preserved in the Science Museum in London. During the 1820s, Babbage devoted himself to finding The technology needed, but unfortunately there is very little that can come in handy. During this period, the British government has been funding Babbage’s Difference Engine project. It is said that the total funding is as high as 17,000 pounds, and Babbage himself has invested a lot of money.
In 1833, Babbage produced a prototype of a difference engine, but the functions that this machine can complete are still far from those of human manual tabulation, and the difference engine at this time has no printing function, so it has not been used on a large scale. Produced, the Difference Engine is still on permanent display at the Science Museum in London.
When the Difference Engine had not yet been mass-produced, Babbage had a new idea: He imagined that he could manufacture a brand-new machine that could not only perform all the functions of the Difference Engine, but also perform any calculations done by humans. When applying for financial assistance from the British government, the British government refused, which seriously damaged the confidence of the British government in his project, so Babbage never received any assistance from then on.
Babbage was interested in large-scale information processing throughout his life, and this interest was also reflected in the bankers’ clearing house .
Since the use of checks was very common in the 18th century, in order to deal with the increasing number of checks in commercial activities, the British government created a banker’s clearing house, and the bank staff had to send the checks deposited by customers to the bank that issued it before they could be exchanged Cash, so each bank has its own cash runner, who is a specialist who goes to the bank to exchange cash for customers. However, it is not an option for the cash runners to go to the bank to exchange cash for customers every day during such a long period of time. Therefore, in the 1770s, the work of the cash runners was simplified. All the cash runners agreed to meet at one place at a certain time to exchange all the checks. and cash, which saves cash runners time on the road. This evolved and culminated in the 1830s when banks in London formed Bankers’ Clearing House. All cash runners exchange checks and cash directly at the clearinghouse.
Since the work of the Bankers Clearing House is relatively secretive, it is generally not disclosed to the outside world, and the outside world does not know what the internal working mechanism of the Clearing House is. The steward of the bankers’ clearing house is a very prestigious figure. Babbage was attracted by the concept of the clearing house, so Babbage tried every means to find out the truth about the clearing house. He wrote to the steward of the clearing house expressing his desire The manager agreed to his request but warned him not to disclose anything about the clearing house to the outside world. But our dear Babbage completely ignored the steward’s request, and he described the specific work of the clearing house in eloquent detail in his book “On the Economy of Machinery and Manufacturing”. . . . . .
Another institution that is very similar to the banker’s clearing house is the railway clearing house. In the 19th century, the British Industrial Revolution vigorously developed the railway industry, making the railway clearing house quickly become one of the largest data processing institutions in the world. As of 1870 In 2000, the Railway Clearing House employed more than 1,300 people and processed close to 5 million transactions per year.
Another invention that requires large-scale data processing is the telegraph. The telegraph was originally a solution to the communication problem of the railway system. Because many people were worried that two passenger cars driving towards each other from the track would cause accidents, so engineers developed the electric The communication system, people soon discovered the commercial value of this system, so the utility poles were erected along the railway line overnight.
Although telegrams are transmitted by electrical signals, they still have to be sent by personnel, and most of the telegrams sent by supervisors are women, because it is generally believed that women are more suitable for operating precision instruments than men. Sending a telegram was very expensive at the beginning, but as the telegraph network was laid, telegrams became cheaper and more telegrams were sent. By the beginning of the 20th century, the British Central Telegraph Office had employed at least 4,500 telegraphs. The number of telegrams sent and received every day is between 120,000 and 160,000, making it the largest telegraph office in the world.
By the end of the 19th century, there were many computing devices used in science and engineering, but computing devices were rare in government, industry, and homes. The U.S. Constitution faces a very serious problem from the 1890 census, that of a growing population. The U.S. government requires a census every 10 years,
But with the bottleneck of computing efficiency, the 1880 census took 7 years to complete, and the 1890 census even took 13 years to complete. You must know that the next round of census will be conducted every 10 years. up.
So the Census Bureau approached Dr. Herman Hollis, who had invented the punch card tabulating machine.
The principle of the punched card tabulator is as follows: Hermann first transformed punched paper tape into punched cards to meet the needs of population data collection. Since the survey data of each person has several different items, such as gender, place of origin, age and so on. Herman arranged all the survey items of each person on a card in turn, and then punched holes in the positions of the corresponding items according to the survey results. For example, under the “Gender” column of the punch card, there are two options “Male” and “Female”; under the “Age” column, there are a series of options from “0 years old” to “Over 70 years old”, and so on. According to the specific situation of each survey object, the statistician can punch small holes in the corresponding positions of each column of the punched card. Each card represents a citizen’s personal profile.
Dr. Herman’s ingenious design lies in automatic statistics. He installed a set of small cups filled with mercury on the machine, and the perforated cards were placed on these mercury cups. There are several rows of finely tuned probes on the top of the card. The probes are connected to one end of the circuit, and the mercury cup is connected to the other end of the circuit. The principle is similar to that of Jacquard Jacquard punched paper tape: as long as a certain probe hits the hole on the card, it will automatically fall down, contact the mercury and turn on the current, and start the counting device to advance one scale. It can be seen that the Hollerith punched card also expresses binary information: where there is a hole, the circuit can be connected to count, which means that the survey item is “yes” (“1”); The survey item is “none” (“0”).
The punched card tabulator was about ten times more efficient than manual spread, allowing the census to be completed in just two years, saving the census office millions of dollars.
Then many companies began to realize the value of using this computing equipment, and they could increase profits by automating labor-intensive and data-intensive tasks. This is a great substitute for some jobs that require a lot of computing labor, such as accountants and some warehouse managers.
Herman recognized this problem and in 1896 founded the Tabulating Machine Company, which would become IBM’s predecessor, which laid the foundation for the development of electronic computers.
Speaking of which, Herman Hollis recognized a flaw in the census and founded the tabulation company that became the precursor to IBM while laying the groundwork for the development of the electronic computer.
Before talking about the development of electronic computers, let’s get to know these four companies first. It can be said that without them as pioneers, electronic computers would not have developed so rapidly. The four companies are:
Remington-Rand Corporation;
Burroughs Adding Machine Company;
National Cash Register Corporation (NCR);
IBM
In order to understand the development of computers, you must know how the industry developed, then you can’t get around these four companies and their rise in the 19th and 20th centuries.
As of today, the computers we use in the office are nothing more than the following functions: using word processing programs and mail systems to write and send emails and receiving emails, using the storage function to store useful personnel information such as names through databases, and making reports through spreadsheets Accounting, salary calculation, etc.
The pioneers that can meet these functions are the four companies mentioned above. Remington-Rand was the leader in document processing and information storage; they were the industry’s leading supplier of typewriters and filing systems; Burroughs was the leader in the simple adding machine; IBM was the leader in the punching machine Bookkeeping market; NCR is mainly used in the production of cash registers, and later developed into a supplier of bookkeeping machines.
typewriter
When it comes to typewriters, I have to mention two protagonists: one is a woman and the other is a scribe.
The advent of the typewriter opened up a precedent for women to enter the office and enter the workplace. More than a century before the advent of the typewriter, office workers were almost all men, perhaps because the minds of the time were not emancipated, perhaps because there was really no medium for women to enter the office, but the appearance of the typewriter changed this. everything.
Before the advent of the typewriter, the main role in the office was the scribe, that is, the type of staff who wrote the documents. In the 19th century, almost all business documents were written by hand, paper and pen, although during this period There are also typewriters in the rivers and lakes, but at this time typewriters have not yet become a substitute for handwriting. There are two main reasons: First, the efficiency of typewriters at that time was very slow, and the efficiency of using typewriters was not as good as that of humans who averaged 25 words per minute. The second is that the shafts of typewriters at that time were easily stuck together, because in the early days, typewriters arranged in sequence, such as S and T, D and E, were used. So none of the early 19th-century typewriters were commercially successful.
The earliest commercial success was a QWERTYUIOP typewriter launched by Remington-Rand in 1874. Due to the high production cost of printers at that time and no effective customer market, the customers of the first batch of printers were journalists. , lawyer, editor, writer and pastor. So it wasn’t until 1880, as the production cost of Remington typewriters became lower and lower, and the annual output exceeded 1,000 units, that it became the actual monopoly in the typewriter market and entered the office in the same year. One of the most widely used writing tools, the emergence of typewriters has improved people’s work efficiency, and they can read the content effortlessly (because handwritten letters need to spend a lot of time identifying what is written). At the same time, the keyboard layout of QWERTYUIOP is still in use today.
However, a typewriter is a delicate device that is prone to failure, so it needs to go through a series of trained maintenance personnel, so Remington began to follow the example of Singer Manufacturing Company (sewing machine manufacturer) to establish branches in major cities in the United States , which is mainly used to facilitate local sales of typewriters and provide maintenance services. By 1890, Remington had become a very large company, and there were also many competitors. It was because of the emergence of these competitors that the sales of typewriters rose year after year. Before and after the outbreak of World War I, typewriters became The most widely used office equipment accounts for half of all office supplies sales, and the price has gradually dropped from a few hundred dollars at that time to tens of dollars.
Once there is a market, there will be a demand for training. This is an eternal truth. If you are just a novice who does not know how to use a typewriter, your typing efficiency is still much slower than handwriting, but for people after training, your typing efficiency is already unmatched by ordinary scribes, so Some institutions have begun to train young people to become typists, and many schools have set up related majors, and the threshold for this kind of work is relatively low. Most people can get started directly after training, which directly contributed to most women choosing to become typists. Typists, and, as times have changed, there are not enough men to fill offices, these two factors directly contributed to bringing more and more women into the workforce.
Because for the society at that time, keyboarding was still an equal occupation for men and women.
The rapid development of printers directly led to the emergence of carbon paper and filing systems, which are also the main business and products of Remington-Rand, so this company is a panacea office equipment supplier.
Adding machine
If typewriters are used to record information, carbon paper is used to output information, and archive information is used to store information, then the adding machine is responsible for processing information. The first commercialized adding machine was invented by Thomas de Colmar in 1820. It is an adding machine for four arithmetic operations. Since this kind of equipment is hand-built, it cannot be mass-produced. There may be only one or two produced, and the performance is too poor to meet the needs of the office. However, the precision it can support is large enough, so it has certain needs in insurance companies and engineering companies, but it does not meet the needs of ordinary bookkeepers.
Until the 1880s, the adding machine had a new development. At this time, the office adding machine faced two problems. The first problem was to increase the speed of digital input, and the second problem was to be able to save the transaction records of the adding machine for financial convenience. System save.
Dole E. Felt and William S. Burroughs, both quintessential inventors and entrepreneurs, solved both of these problems. Dole first solved the first problem, which is to increase the speed of digital input. Dole’s adding machine is key-driven, which is different from Thomas’ four arithmetic adding machine. In addition to making and selling adding machines, Dole also founded the Computo training school. Young people who have just graduated from middle school enter the Computo training school. After several months of intensive training, they can master the use of adding machines, and speedy. But it is a pity that this Computo calculator was eventually swallowed by the tide of history.
The second key problem with adding machines was the need to print the results of calculations. This problem was solved by the adding machine built by William S. Burroughs. At the age of 24, he began to develop an adding machine suitable for use in banks. This adding machine can not only increase the input speed of numbers, but also print the calculation results. He also applied for a patent for this product and created the Four Arithmetic Operator Company. Unfortunately, Burroughs died when he was 43 years old. He died young, but the adding machine he made became a favorite in the market. In 1904, the company founded by Burroughs changed its name to Burroughs Adding Machine Company and increased its output to 8,000 units within a year. And it is in a state of increasing year by year, and many training schools have also been established. In the first decade of the 20th century, there were many adding machine manufacturers in the United States, but only the Burroughs Adding Machine Company managed to survive into the computer age.
National Cash Register Corporation (NCR)
In the history of the late 19th century, the sale of office equipment was very important. It was necessary to analyze the needs of customers, provide after-sales protection, and conduct user training. These models were mainly pioneered by the National Cash Register Company (NCR). The cash register is the Machines with records, cash settlement, etc. If an office equipment company needs to establish its own sales model, it will choose to directly hire relevant business personnel from NCR. The National Cash Register Company was founded by John H. Patterson in 1884. This buddy is known as the father of modern sales, which is enough to show his status in the sales field.
Like typewriters and adding machines, there have been many attempts to develop cash registers since the 19th century. At that time, a man named James Ritty suspected that his employees had cheated him into making false accounts, so he invented a machine that, when a one-to-one transaction was completed, , will record the transaction data, beware of falsification. Ritty tried unsuccessfully to commercialize his invention, but Ritty sold his company to Patterson, who later improved it and renamed the company National Cash Register Company, Two years later, the company’s annual sales of the product exceeded 1,000 units.
NCR is not something that is purchased like a commodity. It needs to be sold. This requires salespeople to have good business literacy and sales ability. For this reason, he has established the most effective sales team in the United States.
Under Patterson’s leadership, NCR dominated the global teller machine market, growing at an alarming rate. By 1910, NCR had sold 100,000 units, employed more than 5,000 people, and when Patterson died in 1922, NCR sold his 2 millionth cash register. Although NCR was so successful, it still did not become a player in the computer industry. After Patterson’s death, NCR Corporation expanded into the field of accounting machines. By the early 1920s, the company had dropped the name National Cash Register Company. , renamed NCR, the complexity of the accounting machine produced by NCR is no less than that of the adding machine produced by Burroughs.
Although NCR did not become a participant in the computer wave, he still left a valuable legacy for the computer age, because he created the marketing method of business machines and defined the sales practice model.
They provided posterity with a profession called salesman.
IBM
If you don’t understand this history, who would have thought that IBM’s old Watson was born in sales? Watson became a bookkeeper right after graduating, but Watson had no interest in a sedentary office, so he chose to sell pianos and organs. Based on this, Watson developed a sales pitch and communicative skills.
In 1895, Watson got a job selling NCR cash registers as a salesman. With Watson’s outstanding personal ability, his business has been rising rapidly, but when Watson’s unemployment reached its peak, the 39-year-old Watson was directly fired by the capricious Parsons. However, talents are not afraid of careers, and he soon became the company president of CTR. This is a company that has patented Holler’s punched card system.
Around 1905, typewriters and adding machines had become an important part of economic development, but punched card equipment was still in its infancy. But for Holler’s punch card device, the census became his opportunity. The 1900 census kept Hollis’s watchmaking company afloat for another three years, but once the census was over, Hollis’ company was once again in trouble.
Unable to agree on a partnership in 1905, Hollis ended his business relationship with the US Census Bureau and devoted all his energy to the commercial development of tabulating machines, which later hired engineer James Bowles He improved Holler’s watchmaking machine, and Powers was also an inventor and entrepreneur, and he soon became Holler’s competitor.
During this period, Holler continued to perfect his commercial machines, creating the automation products that would play an important role in the next 20 years. There are 3 types of commercial punching machines: keying punching machines, tabulating machines and sorting machines. All subsequent punch card offices had at least one of its devices installed, and larger offices had more than one. The introduction of automated machinery put tabulating machine companies in a leading position. Over the next few years, Holler’s company successfully transformed into an office equipment business. By 1911, 51-year-old Hermann Hollis was a wealthy entrepreneur, but his health was failing. Holler later accepted the doctor’s advice and sold the company to Charles R. Flint, a business advocate at the time known as the “Father of the Trust”, who planned to merge the Tabulating Machine Company, the Slide Rule Company and the International Time Recording Company. , formed the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Corporation, or “CTR” for short. In 1924, He Leli witnessed the renaming of CTR to IBM. He died before the US stock market crash in 1929. He did not experience the Great Depression, nor did he witness the rebirth of IBM.
Since Watson was laid off by NCR, there is no shortage of job opportunities, but Watson is a very ambitious person, and he does not want to be a manager who only receives a monthly salary. Watson understood the potential of their equipment better than Flint and Halley did. After negotiation, Watson only received a small base salary, but won 5% of the company’s profits as a commission. Watson introduced the sales experience pioneered in NCR into CTR, and created the sales area, commission system and quota system. Watson spent about five years changing the culture and prospects of CTR, making the company the top of the office equipment industry. In 1924, CTR officially changed its name to “International Business Machines Corporation” (IBM), intending to build a company that never sets. From today’s point of view, IBM is still an excellent company that has existed for more than 100 years. It can indeed be said that the sun never sets. fell.
IBM survived the Great Depression thanks to its punched card business model, in which punched card machines were leased rather than sold to customers, and even if IBM failed to acquire new customers during the Depression, existing customers would Continue to rent the existing equipment, so as to ensure the company’s stable income. The rental cost of IBM equipment can basically be repaid in two or three years, and the rest is profit. The service life of most equipment is 7 years, or even 10 years, 15 years, and 20 years. A second reason for IBM’s financial stability was the sale of punched cards, a type of card so precise that no other company could copy the paper, IBM sold three billion punched cards a year in the 1930s , accounting for 10% of its revenue and 30%-40% of its profits.
Afterwards, although IBM had many competitions with some other business giants in the punched card market, the various products launched by IBM did not fall behind, coupled with an excellent sales team, making Watson the most influential businessman in the United States one.
And IBM’s most glorious era is far from coming.
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