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Digital Technologies: Past, Present, Future

Explore significant concepts of digital computers, semiconductor devices, hardware, software development, and networks. Gain understanding of digital technology workings and their impacts on individuals and society. Discover the evolution of computers, computing paradigms, and historical trends in price-performance. Delve into societal and personal impacts, exploring the reasons to understand digital technologies in scientific, engineering, and societal contexts.

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Digital Technologies: Past, Present, Future

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  1. Coen 001Understanding Digital Technologies Ron Danielson Fall 2000

  2. Introductions • Professor • Ron Danielson • computer engineering faculty member • chief information officer • 24 years at SCU • 8 years managing university computing and communication services • office Orradre 129, phone 554-6813, email rdanielson@scu.edu • office hours • M 12:00 - 1:00, F 2:15 - 3:00 • by appointment

  3. Students

  4. Administrative Stuff • Text • Danielson, Understanding Digital Technologies, draft manuscript, 1999 • Objectives • learn about significant concepts of digital computers • semiconductor devices and processing • computer hardware • software development and systems • computer networks

  5. Administrative Stuff (continued) • Objectives (continued) • gain • understanding of workings of digital technology • appreciation for relationships between components of digital systems • apply that knowledge to new instances of digital technologies • understanding of positive and negative impacts on individuals and society

  6. Administrative Stuff (continued) • Core curriculum technology requirement learning outcomes: demonstrate an understanding of • the nature of technology • technology’s social context • the ways computer networks are structured • how to use networks as sources of information • some discipline-specific tools

  7. Administrative Stuff (continued) • Web site • http://www.cse.scu.edu/~rdaniels/ • Web board • http://wb.scu.edu/~rdanielson • Grading • 2 midterms 35% • homeworks 7.5% • Web board participation 7.5% • student presentation 25% • final 25%

  8. Historical Trends • Amazing price-performance improvement of digital computers • over history • ENIAC, 1947 • 1,600 square feet; many tons; 5,000 adds per second • modern PC • 2 square feet; 20 pounds; 100,000,000 adds per second; 1,000 times lower cost! • over shorter periods of time • Cray Y-MP (1988 - fastest supercomputer) vs. IBM Power-2 (1993 - fastest workstation) • equal or better performance for 1/10 of price

  9. Historical Trends (continued) • Price-performance (continued) • for individual people • IBM 360/75 at U of I for academic computing needs of 35,000 students (1975) • Intel 486 PC in my office at home (1993) • faster, more memory, more storage, graphics for 1/1000 of price

  10. Computing Paradigms • Computing approaches that were commonly available • single user (1950s) • “company brew” • batch (1960s) • IBM 360 • time sharing (1970s) • DecSystem 10, VAX • desktop (1980s) • “home brew” • IBM PC, Macintosh • networked (1990s) • workstations • mobile (2000s)

  11. Computing Paradigms (continued) • History repeats itself • network computers

  12. Historical Trends (continued) • Component trends • number of transistors per chip increases 60% to 80% per year • transistor density 50% per year • chip size 10% - 25% per year • main memory capacity increases 60% per year • disk storage capacity increases 50% per year • cost decreases accordingly, particularly at lowest end of performance scale • factor of 5 - 10 over lifetime of technology (4 years) speed increases proportional

  13. Historical Trends (continued) • What does this mean for people who use computers? • dedicated computing capacity • software with more functionality • penetration of computer use into daily activities • willingness to let the computer be idle changes in behavior

  14. Why Bother? • Ubiquitous computers • apparent (PCs, mainframes) • hidden (thermostats and dishwashers) • tremendous change of • speed • cost • size • Personal impact • work • productivity tools • accelerated communication • shift of jobs • content and location • learning • play • games and Internet no sign of slowdown

  15. Why Bother (continued)? • Societal impact • access • haves and have-nots • content related to personal and community standards • education • reliability • privacy • medical

  16. What’s Understanding? • Coverage • major areas of digital technologies • semiconductors • hardware • software and systems • networks • concepts • current capabilities • future directions

  17. What’s Understanding (continued)? • Scientific understanding • physical and logical principles • Engineering understanding • organization • analysis • improvement • Society • what are the impacts of a technology? • what impacts are inherent to the technology? • what impacts are due to misapplication?

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