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Table of contents
Preface
American mathematician Shannon once said: Information is something that can eliminate uncertainty, that is to say, information can eliminate the uncertainty of things and turn uncertainty into certainty;
1. The concept of computer
Computer, also known as computer, is a machine device with computing power, memory function and logical judgment function. It can accept data, save data, process data according to predetermined procedures, and provide and save processing results.
The development history of computers
Historical computing tools from the early days:
| early computing tools | corresponding history |
|---|---|
| Calculate | The arithmetic invented by the Chinese during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was the earliest calculation tool in the world. |
| abacus | The abacus invented in the Tang Dynasty was the world's first manual calculator ( the abacus is the earliest digital calculator, and the abacus formula is the earliest systematic algorithm ) |
| slide rule | In 1622, the British mathematician William Oughtred designed the slide rule based on the logarithm table. |
| Adder | In 1642, French mathematician Blaise Pascal invented Pascal's calculator, which could perform addition operations and was the world's first adder. |
| calculator | In 1673, German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz invented a machine that could perform four arithmetic operations and invented the Leibniz wheel to solve the carry problem: he invented the binary system |
| Difference engine, analytical engine | In the 19th century, the British mathematician Charles Babbage proposed the basic design idea of a general-purpose digital computer ------- In 1822, Charles Babbage designed a "difference engine" -- -------In 1834, he designed an "analytical engine" based on program control of computational automation and proposed an almost complete computer design -----------It was called a general-purpose computer father |
The birth of the electronic computer:
The birth of the Turing machine:
In 1936, the famous British mathematician Turing proposed a brand new mathematical model and proved that all mathematical problems can be solved by machines. Turing named it: computable computer, although This concept computer was not a physical computer when it was first proposed, but it promoted the development of subsequent electronic computers, so people named it in memory of Turing:Turing machine;
Therefore Turing is also called:father of computer science、father of artificial intelligence;
The Turing Machine was proposed by Turing in 1936. It is an accurate universal computer model that can simulate all computing behaviors of the computer; the Turing Machine is a theoretical model,
not an actual machine; its reflection Understand the essence of computing, if the Turing machine cannot achieve it, other computers cannot achieve it either;
The birth of ENIAC:
You must know the background at that time, which was the Cold War period between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. You must understand that a country’s technological innovation means it has a great enemy; and the first generation of electronic computers (ENIAC) was born in this background. ENIAC was born
in February 1942 at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. It was built by Americans: John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert; the purpose of
construction is: for military industry ( Such as: calculating the trajectory of missiles)...and so on;
it marks the arrival of the electronic computer era;
its characteristics:
1. Uses decimal system
2. Uses electron tubes
3. The operation speed is 5000 operations per second (although it is nothing now, But it can be said to be shocking at the time)
Von Neumann architecture:
The birth of the first computer ENIAC only shows that humans have invented computers. The person who had a significant impact on the architecture and working principles of subsequent computers was the American Hungarian mathematician von Neumann and his The EDVAC (Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) developed by colleagues adopted the idea of "stored program" in EDVAC. All types of computers based on this idea are collectively called von Norman machines .
The EDVAC plan proposed that the computer uses binary, stored program and program control, and the five major hardware components of the computer; among them, "stored program" is the core of von Neumann's thought.
The architecture proposed by von Neumann is called the von Neumann architecture and is still used today. Over the past 70 years, although computers have greatly differed from those of the time in terms of performance indicators, operating speed, working methods, application fields, etc., the basic structure has not changed. They are all von Neumann machines;
Von Neumann is known as: the father of computers.
People divide the development of electronic computers into four generations based on the main electronic components used in computers:
| Generations | Electronic Component | Running speed (per second) | software | application |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| –First Generation–(1946~1956) | electron tube | Thousands of times | Machine language, assembly language | Military field, scientific computing |
| –Second Generation–(1956~1964) | transistor | hundreds of thousands of times | high level language | Data processing, industrial control |
| –The third generation–(1964~1971) | Small and medium scale integrated circuits | millions of times | operating systems, conversational languages | Word processing, graphics processing |
| –The fourth generation–(1971~present) | Large scale, very large scale integrated circuit | Hundreds of millions or even billions of times | Database, computer network | all aspects of society |
Knowledge expansion:
Alan Matheson Turing not only proposed the Turing machine model, but also the Turing test (intelligence), the Turing Award, etc.;
The Turing test (The Turing test): by Alan Matheson Turing Ling proposed that when the tester is separated from the person being tested (a person and a machine), he or she can ask random questions to the person being tested through some device (such as a keyboard). After multiple tests, if the person being tested has a machine If the average tester makes more than 30% misjudgments, then the machine will pass the test and be considered to have human intelligence.
Turing Award: It is the Nobel Prize in the computer industry (currently the only Chinese winner - Yao Qizhi); it was established by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in 1966 to reward individuals who have made important contributions to the computer industry.The following is a human-computer test conversation about the Turing test
: Turing uses a "question" and "answer" mode, that is, the observer controls the typewriter to talk to two test subjects, one of whom is a human and the other is a machine. Observers are asked to continuously ask various questions in order to identify whether the answerer is a human or a machine.Turing pointed out: "If a machine, under certain realistic conditions, can imitate a person's answer to a question so well that the questioner mistakenly believes that it is not a machine for a long time, then the machine can be considered to be able to think."
On the surface, it seems that there is no difficulty in making the machine answer questions within a certain range. This can be achieved by programming special programs. However, it is extremely difficult to program responses if the questioner does not follow conventional standards. For example, questions and answers present the following situation:
Then, the person in front of you is probably a human rather than a machine. The difference between the above two types of dialogue is that in the first type, it is obvious that the respondent is extracting simple answers from the knowledge base, while in the second type, it has the ability of analysis and synthesis, and the respondent knows that the observer is asking the same question repeatedly. The "Turing Test" does not stipulate the scope of questions and the standards for asking questions. If we want to create a machine that can pass the test, with our technical level, we must store in the computer all the questions that humans can think of and store all the answers to these questions. A common sense answer and one that requires a rational choice.So far, at the "2014 Turing Test" conference held by the Royal Society in the UK on June 7, 2014, the organizer, the University of Reading, issued a press release claiming that the Russian Vladimir Veselov The artificial intelligence software created by Eugene Goostman passed the Turing test;
Characteristics of computers
- Fast computing speed: Computers use electronic devices, and their computing speed is far beyond that of other computing tools. Moreover, the computing speed of computers is rapidly developing at a rate of an order of magnitude every few months;
- High calculation accuracy: The calculation accuracy of computers is not limited in theory. Generally, computers can reach 15 significant figures, and can meet any accuracy requirements after technical processing;
- Large storage capacity: The storage capacity of computers is an important feature that distinguishes computers from other computer tools. The memory in computers can not only store large amounts of data, but also read this information quickly and accurately;
- Ability to make logical judgments: The computer can make logical judgments, analyze whether the proposition is true, and take corresponding countermeasures based on whether the proposition is true;
- Work automation: The internal operations of the computer are automatically controlled and executed based on pre-programmed programs;
- Strong versatility: it is the basis for computers to be applied in various fields. Any complex task can be decomposed into a large number of basic arithmetic operations and logical operations;
Classification of computers
With the rapid development of computer technology and the continuous expansion of application fields, there are more and more types of computers. Computers can be classified from different perspectives:
Among them, supercomputer, that is, high-performance or supercomputer, is an important indicator to measure the strength of a country's scientific and technological development. Our country’s representative supercomputers include: Sunway TaihuLight, Tianhe-1, Tianhe-2, etc. Among them, Sunway TaihuLight ranks first in the world’s top 500 high-performance computers (Top500) test in 2017. Ranked No. 1 and still ranks No. 3 in the world;
2. Computer applications
- Scientific Computing: Scientific computing, also called numerical computing , refers to the use of computers to complete and solve mathematical calculation problems in scientific research and engineering technology; scientific computing is still an important field of computer application;For example: ENIAC was born to calculate ballistic trajectories. There are also some data calculations with a large workload and a wide range of numerical changes, such as earthquake prediction, weather forecast, aerospace technology, etc.;
- Information management: Information management is data processing , which is based on the database management system and uses computers to process large amounts of data to form useful information; data processing is currently the most widely used field of computers;The amount of data input and output in data processing is large, but the calculation method is relatively simple, such as business management, account calculation, transaction processing, etc.;
- Process control: Process control, also known as real-time control , refers to using a computer to collect detection data in a timely manner and quickly automatically control or automatically adjust the control object according to the optimal value;At present, it is already in the fields of metallurgy, petroleum, textiles, aviation, etc.;
Take a classic example: A classic example of real-time control is the autopilot system of an airplane. The aircraft's autopilot system can monitor the status of the aircraft in real time, including speed, altitude, attitude, etc., and make adjustments based on the preset route and target parameters to keep the aircraft flying on the predetermined route. This system needs to acquire and process a large amount of sensor data in real time, and adjust the attitude and heading of the aircraft in real time by controlling various rudder surfaces and engines of the aircraft to maintain the stability and safety of the aircraft.
- Computer-aided system: Computer-aided system is a general term for systems that use computers to assist in completing different types of tasks.
- AI: Artificial intelligence (AI) is the simulation of certain human intelligent activities through computers, such as image and language recognition, logical inference capabilities, etc.;Current research in this direction includes: robots, intelligent retrieval, expert systems, etc.; of course, artificial intelligence cannot replace humans;
- Computer Networks and Communications: Using communication technology to interconnect computers in different geographical locations, resources can be shared around the world and information can be exchanged interactively.
- multimedia: Technology that can collect, store, transmit and process multimedia. With the development of multimedia application technology and the popularization of multimedia computers, as well as the increasing application of computer networks, multimedia technology has been widely used in culture and education, home entertainment, and business. Applications and other fields;
- Embedded Systems: With application as the center and computer technology as the basis, the software and hardware can be flexibly changed to adapt to the embedded application system and used in special computer systems;It was early used in the military and aviation fields, and is now gradually used in industrial control, instrumentation, automotive electronics, etc.;
Computer development trends
- Gigantization: == Gigantization refers to the continuous research into supercomputers with faster speed, larger storage capacity and more powerful functions, that is, the functional giantization of supercomputers; == The technical level of developing supercomputers is a measure of a country’s scientific An important indicator of the level of technological and industrial development;
- miniaturization: Miniaturization refers to the use of electronic technology and ultra-large-scale integrated circuit technology to further reduce the size and price of computers;The widespread use of various laptops and PDAs is a sign of computer miniaturization;
- Networking:Networking refers to connecting computers and related devices to form a network.The role of the computer network is not only to realize network resource sharing, but also to provide a distributed computer platform, which can greatly improve the processing power of the computer system;
- Intelligent; Computer intelligence refers to the ability of computers to simulate human feelings and thinking processes;
Knowledge expansion:
Although computers will continue to develop in the direction of giant, miniaturized, networked, and intelligent, there are no major breakthroughs in the architecture, and they are still called von Neumann computers;
At present, new computers in the future may achieve revolutionary breakthroughs in the following aspects:
1. Optical computer. Using light beams instead of electrons for calculation and storage has super parallel processing capabilities and ultra-high-speed computing speed;
2. Biological computer (molecular computer). Interested veterans can read: Introduction to biological computers ;
3. Quantum computers. A type of physical device that follows the laws of quantum mechanics to perform high-speed mathematical and logical operations, store and process quantum information;
Summarize
At the end: thanks for the support
What I also want to tell you is:
---------- Go all out for the process and be indifferent to the results. This
is also what I say to myself.