Table of Contents
1 Cover
5 Preface
7 1 The Function of Computation 1.1. Beginnings 1.2. Classes of computers 1.3. Analog approach 1.4. Hardware-software relationship 1.5. Integration and its limits 1.6. Conclusion
8 2 The Function of Memory 2.1. Definition 2.2. Related concepts 2.3. Modeling 2.4. Classification 2.5. Conclusion
9 3 Computation Model and Architecture: Illustration with the von Neumann Approach 3.1. Basic concepts 3.2. The original von Neumann machine 3.3. Modern von Neumann machines 3.4. Variations on a theme 3.5. Instruction set architecture 3.6. Basic definitions for this book 3.7. Conclusion
11 Exercises
12 Acronyms
13 References
14 Index
List of Illustrations
1 Chapter 1Figure 1.1. Ishango’s incised bones (source: unknown). For a color version of th...Figure 1.2. A quipu (source: unknown). For a color version of this figure, see w...Figure 1.3. Roman abacus (a) between the 2nd and 5th Centuries (© Inria/AMISA/Ph...Figure 1.4. An example of a Pascaline at the Musée des Arts et Métiers (source: ...Figure 1.5. Replica of the first Babbage difference machine3. For a color versio...Figure 1.6. Babbage’s analytical machine (© Science Museum/Science & Society Pic...Figure 1.7. One of the plans for Babbage’s analytical machine (© Science Museum/...Figure 1.8. Falcon’s loom. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.u...Figure 1.9. Statistical machine (Hollerith 1887)Figure 1.10. Evolution of concepts and technologies in the development of calcul...Figure 1.11. A modern electromechanical relay, its equivalent electrical diagram...Figure 1.12. An RCA 5965 type electronic tube and an IBM 701 electronic board (s...Figure 1.13. A transistor and an electronic transistor board with seven inverter...Figure 1.14. One of the 15 DIP integrated circuit CPU boards from a DEC PDP-11/2...Figure 1.15. Evolution of computing performance over time (from (Bell 2008b))Figure 1.16. PC motherboard (5150) from IBM (1981). For a color version of this ...Figure 1.17. Axes of evolution over time of the price of classes (from (Bell 200...Figure 1.18. The iconic Cray-1 supercomputer referred to as the “World’s most ex...Figure 1.19. Evolution over time of supercomputer performance (according to Succ...Figure 1.20. IBM System/360 mainframe computerFigure 1.21. The IBM Application System (AS/400) family of minicomputersFigure 1.22. Evolution over time of the prices of minicomputers (in thousands of...Figure 1.23. An Octane graphics workstation from Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI). F...Figure 1.24. The first microcomputers: the Micral N from R2E and the ALTAIR 8800...Figure 1.25. Increasingly blurry boundaries. For a color version of this figure,...Figure 1.26. Categories of computers (according to Bell (2008a))Figure 1.27. The client–server model. For a color version of this figure, see ww...Figure 1.28. A blade server. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co...Figure 1.29. Example of a Beowulf server architecture. For a color version of th...Figure 1.30. The Antikythera mechanism (left) and a reconstruction (right), by M...Figure 1.31. The PACE 231R-V analog computer system from EAI (EAI 1964)Figure 1.32. Layered view of software infrastructureFigure 1.33. Historical timeline of the evolution of concepts for the families o...Figure 1.34. Need for computing for multimedia