Third Generation Computers (1964-1971)

Though transistors were clearly an improvement over the vacuum tube, they still generated a great deal of heat, which damaged the com­puter's sensitive internal parts. The quartz rock eliminated this problem. Jack Kilby, an engineer with Texas Instruments, developed the integrat­ed circuit (IC) in 1958. The IC combined three electronic components onto a small silicon disc, which was made from quartz. Scientists later managed to fit even more components on a single chip, called a semicon­ductor. As a result, computers became ever smaller as more components were squeezed onto the chip. Another third-generation development in­cluded the use of an operating system that allowed machines to run many different programs at once with a central program that monitored and coordinated the computer's memory.

Fourth Generation Computers (1971-Present)

After the integrated circuits, the only place to go was down - in size, that is. Large scale integration (LSI) could fit hundreds of components onto one chip. By the 1980's, very large scale integration (VLSI) squeezed hundreds of thousands of components onto a chip. Ultra-large scale in­tegration (ULSI) increased that number into the millions. The ability to fit so much onto an area about half the size of a U.S. dime helped dimin­ish the size and price of computers. It also increased their power, effi­ciency and reliability. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, took the integrated circuit one step further by locating all the components of a computer (central processing unit, memory, and input and output con­trols) on a minuscule chip. Whereas previously the integrated circuit had had to be manufactured to fit a special purpose, now one microproces­sor could be manufactured and then programmed to meet any number of demands. Soon everyday household items such as microwave ovens, television sets and automobiles with electronic fuel injection incorporat­ed microprocessors.

Such condensed power allowed everyday people to harness acom­puter's power. They were no longer developed exclusively for large busi­ness or government contracts. By the mid-1970's, computer manufac­turers sought to bring computers to general consumers. These minicom­puters came complete with user-friendly software packages that offered even non-technical users an array of applications, most popularly word processing and spreadsheet programs. Pioneers in this field were Com­modore, Radio Shack and Apple Computers. In the early 1980's, arcade video games such as Pac Man and home video game systems such as the Atari 2600 ignited consumer interest for more sophisticated, program­mable home computers.

In 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer (PC) for use in the home, office and schools. The 1980's saw an expansion in computer use in all three arenas as clones of the IBM PC made the personal computer even more affordable. The number of personal computers in use more than doubled from 2 million in 1981 to 5.5 million in 1982. Ten years later, 65 million PCs were being used. Computers continued their trend toward a smaller size, working their way down from desktop to laptop computers (which could fit inside a briefcase) to palmtop (able to fit inside a breast pocket). In direct competition with IBM's PC was Apple's Macintosh line, introduced in 1984. Notable for its user-friendly design, the Macintosh offered an operating system that allowed users to move screen icons instead of typing instructions. Users controlled the screen cursor using a mouse, a device that mimicked the movement of one's hand on the computer screen.

As computers became more widespread in the workplace, new ways to harness their potential developed. As smaller computers became more powerful, they could be linked together, or networked, to share memory space, software, information and communicate with each other. As op­posed to a mainframe computer, which was one powerful computer that shared time with many terminals for many applications, networked com­puters allowed individual computers to form electronic co-ops. Using either direct wiring, called a Local Area Network (LAN), or telephone lines, these networks could reach enormous proportions. A global web of computer circuitry, the Internet, for example, links computers world­wide into a single network of information. During the 1992 U.S. presi­dential election, vice-presidential candidate Al Gore promised to make the development of this so-called " information superhighway" an ad­ministrative priority. Though the possibilities envisioned by Gore and others for such a large network are often years (if not decades) away from realization, the most popular use today for computer networks such as theInternet is electronic mail, or E-mail, which allows users to type in a computer address and send messages through networked ter­minals across the office or across the world.

Fifth Generation Computers (Present and Beyond)

Defining the fifth generation of computers is somewhat difficult be­cause the field is in its infancy. The most famous example of a fifth gen­eration computer is the fictional HAL9000 from Arthur C. Clarke's novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL performed all of the functions currently envisioned for real-life fifth generation computers. With artificial intelli­gence, HAL could reason well enough to hold conversations with its human operators, use visual input, and learn from its own experiences. (Unfortunately, HAL was a little too human and had a psychotic break­down, commandeering a spaceship and killing most humans on board.)

Though the wayward HAL9000 may be far from the reach of real-life computer designers, many of its functions are not. Using recent engineering advances, computers may be able to accept spoken word instructions and imitate human reasoning. The ability to translate a foreign language is also a major goal of fifth generation computers. This feat seemed a simple objective at first, but appeared much more difficult when programmers realized that human understanding relies as much on context and meaning as it does on the simple translation of words.

 

Ответьте на вопросы к тексту:

1. When did Jack Kilby develop the integrated circuit?

2. What was the result of using of a single chip?

3. How did large scale integration help to diminish the size and price of computer?

4. When did IBM produce its personal computer?

5. What did Apple`s Macintosh line offer?

6. Do you know any examples of a fifth generation computers?

7. What is a major goal of fifth generation computers?

Текст 2

Silicon Galley

It was not called " Silicon Valley" when I was growing up there in the 1940s and '50s. It was simply the Santa Clara Valley, a previously agri­cultural area of apricot and cherry orchards rapidly filling with subur­ban housing. Industrial " parks" also appeared as the postwar boom in electronics took: hold in California. Blessed with a temperate climate, the valley stretches beside San Francisco Bay from the college town of Palo Alto to what was once the sleepy city of San Jose.

Today this is the nation's ninth largest manufacturing center, with the fastest-growing and wealthiest economy in the United States. In the last 10 years, San Jose has grown by over a third, jumping from 29th to 17th largest city in the United States. In the same period, the median family income in the valley went from $18, 000 a year to an estimated $27, 000. There are 6000 Ph.D.s living here - one of every six doctorates in California - and they are a hard-working lot. Many engineers put in 15-hour days and seven-day work weeks, and talk about achieving suc­cess in 10 years. The rewards they seek are apt to be the more material badges of success, such as cars and real estate. Porsches and Mercedes abound, and one local Ferrari dealership is second in size only to the one in Beverly Hills. A Monopoly-like board game developed locally is al­most a satire on this success/failure frenzy. Called " Silicon Valley: In the Chips", it has very little to do with silicon chips and computers. Rather, the object of the game is " to negotiate your way through the valley and make your wealth through proper management of your income in home purchases and business investments".

As one who has watched not a few cow pastures become parking lots, I regard all this change with a great deal of ambivalence. How did such a concentration of high-tech industry come about?

One name often mentioned as being pivotal is Frederick Terman. In the 1940s, Stanford University, located near Palo Alto, was a respecta­ble regional university, but not yet the world-class institution of higher learning it is today. For development on its scientific and technical side, a great deal of credit must go to Terman, who in 1946 became dean of the School of Engineering. On one hand, Terman urged former students with last names like Hewlett and Packard and Varian to establish their electronics businesses locally. On the other hand, he wholeheartedly en­couraged Stanford to join the effort of establishing the region as a center of advanced technology. He encouraged engineering faculty to go out and consult. He offered training to industry engineers. He sat on the boards of small businesses. He helped persuade the university adminis­tration and trustees to lease Stanford land to local electronics compa­nies, thus beginning the Stanford Industrial Park, the nucleus of com­mercial high technology in the region.

Today the 660-acre park has some 70 advanced-technology busi­nesses located there. Hewlett-Packard Co., Varian Associates, and other

early tenants were followed into the valley in the 1950s by such large firms as Lockheed, General Electric, Ford, and GTE. The U.S. govern­ment established research facilities at Moffett Naval Air Station and nearby Berkeley and Livermore.

It has been said there would be no " Silicon Valley", however, if Wil­liam Shockley's mother had not lived in Palo Alto. One of the inventors of the transistor (for which he won a Nobel Prize) while he was at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, Shockley returned to the town where he-was raised and in 1956 set up Shockley Transistor Co. Two years later, several of his associates left and set up Fairchild Semiconductors Co., which many observers believe represents the true beginning of the semi­conductor industry. The 1960s became a turbulent time as many others left Fairchild to start companies with now well-known names such as National Semiconductor, Intel, and Advanced Micro Devices. Among computer manufacturers, IBM was the first to arrive in the valley, but one of its executives, Gene Amdahl, resigned in 1970 and started his own company. Tandem Computers, Inc., was founded in 1974 by several former Hewlett-Packard employees. Peripheral equipment manufactur­ers - makers of storage devices and media and related equipment - also sprang up. Ampex, started in 1944 and a pioneer in magnetic recording systems, was followed by companies such as Memorex, started in 1961. Electronic games began when Atari, Inc., created " Pong" in 1972. The company now makes personal computers, but it was not prepared to enter into that market when one of its employees, a young college drop­out named Steve Jobs, first urged it to do so. Jobs joined forces with Steve Wozniak of Hewlett-Packard and founded Apple Computer, one of the valley's huge success stories.

Today, the Santa Clara Valley seems to an old-time resident to be strangling on its own success. Housing is among the most expensive in the country: former $25, 000 homes sell for $300, 000 and up. The pace and intensity of work leads to job burnout, and the divorce rate is higher than the rate for the state as a whole. Traffic chokes the eight-lane free­ways. Local zoning boards and city councils are resisting further growth.

However, Silicon Valley is no longer a single region. It is a way of life. " Silicon Valley" has moved beyond Santa Clara County to the so-called 128 Belt of Boston; to the " Sci/Com" area along Route 270 outside of Washing­ton, D.C.; to Colorado; to Oregon - and to many places overseas.

 

Ответьте на вопросы к тексту:

1. What is " Silicon Valley"?

2. When and where did it appear?

3. What was the reason for its origin?

4. What famous companies were mentioned in the text?

5. Why did the author consider that " Silicon Valley" was a way of life?

6. When did electronic games begin?

7. Who founded Apple Computer?

Текст 3

Silicon Chip

Tiny crystal wafers - small enough to go through the eye of a needle - will probably transform society out of all recognition by the turn of the century. They are the miracle products of the fast-growing science of microelectronics, and are commonly called silicon chips.

The most versatile form of chip is the microprocessor. This is termed the 'computer on a chip' because its electronic circuits perform the main functions of a computer - arithmetic, information storage, and so on. Such microprocessors are the 'brains' inside the familiar digital watch and the pocket calculator.

But their usefulness extends beyond computing. Like computers, they can be designed to exercise control. And because of their miniscule size, they can be fitted to virtually anything that needs to be controlled - cen­tral-heating systems, cookers, cameras, car engines, combine-harvesters and steel-rolling mills.

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