COMPUTERS: Their History and How They Work

A straightforward, digestible presentation of computers that gets right to the (magnetic) core yet is not overloaded with technical jargon. The work of Pascal and Leibnitz, Babbage and Jacquard, Hollerith, Aiken and the Mauchly-Eckert team provides a general introduction to computer operations, expanded in more precise terms in the section distinguishing digital and analog computers. The physics of electrical and magnetic impulses is not offered but the mechanics of storage, control and processing is followed, including an explanation of binary numbers. The ways in which source data are in- and outputted are indicated as is the streamlined ""real-time"" procedure which programs information so fast that the inputting instrument can be controlled by the processing equipment--e.g. ground-based computer control of orbiting spacecraft. The steps in programing are provided in specific examples and some of the most recent modifications (mnemonics, macro instructions) are also mentioned briefly. Furthermore, the different jobs (and the amount of schooling they require) are described and often the salaries (especially for lower echelon work) are included too. Information processing in time sequence.