Project 4
Your TA must have the address of your WWW page by 1PM on Friday 12/13.
Your TA must have all you laboratory exercises checked by the end of this week's labs (Thursday 7PM).
Start the paperwork now to get your instructional computing account to hold your WWW pages.
Do not wait until the last minute, as other people have to do things for you.
(1) Go to the sinc site in main library and ask for an ic account. Takes about 24 hours.
(2) Send email to webmaster@sinc.sunysb.edu to request a place to put your WWW pages.
(3) http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/IC/howtolynx.html - check it out.
How to FTP
The following procedure should work to FTP your files to your SB instructional computing account:
(1) move into the folder with your HTML files on the lab PCs
(2) Click on the DOS window to issue the FTP commands
(3) type `ftp sparky.ic.sunysb.edu'
(4) enter your login and password to the IC machines.
(5) type `cd /usr/www/Stu/yourusername' Use your account name on the IC machine and a capital S for Stu.
(6) type `mput index.html ...', where ... are any other file names you want to use.
(7) type `bye'
(8) Check out that your pages are readable -
http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Stud//yourusername
Who Invented the Computer?
The history of computing provides keys to the future of computing.
Who was the inventor of the computer? Modern inventions are team efforts, and it becomes hard to identify who should get the credit.
Usually, Eckert and Mauchly get credit for the first electronic digital computer, ENIAC, built at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946. ENIAC just celebrated its 50th birthday.
ENIAC was room sized, weighed 30 tons, and used 18,000 vacuum tubes.
Before ENIAC, there were both electromechanical digical computers, and electronic analog computers.
In 1937-38, John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry build an electronic computer prototype which was seen by ENIAC's developers. Based on this, a US court declared that Atanasoff was the real inventor of the computer.
The first computer which stored its program in memory was EDVAC about 1950. The stored program idea, due to John Von Neumann, was critical to the development of software and programming.
The Development of the Computer Industry
Eckert and Mauchly went on to form UNIVAC, the first commercial computer company.
From 1958 to 1964, the number of computers in the US grew from 2,500 to 18,000.
IBM was to dominate the development of mainframe computers, culminating in the IBM 360 line of computers in 1964.
Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) become successful with minicomputers in the late 1960s.
The first microprocessor was developed by Ted Hoff of Intel in 1969, leading to the first commercial microcomputers in 1975.
Apple started in 1976, and the first IBM PC in 1981.
Microsoft started as a tiny software company selling a BASIC interpreter for the first commercial microcomputers, then hit it big by selling MS-DOS to IBM.
The Future of Computing
Processing speeds and storage capacities will continue to double every two years or so for at least the next decade.
Most of the increase in power will go to making computers easier to use.
Software technology will not develop so rapidly, since it is more a human-constrained process.
Digital cash will become the primary medium of exchange on the Internet, and likely in stores as well. Will paying taxes become voluntary?
Multimedia and virtual reality are likely to change the way specialized training is done.
Games and recreation are liable to push the development of computer technology, like HDTV. Will network access in the home be through the television and cable?
Everyone will be computer literate, but successful people more than others. Will the gap between rich and poor increase?
Computer-aided design and simulations will eliminate the need for much physical testing. Will people trust it?
Stereolithography may be used to fabricate items on demand. Will your computer someday make your tooth brush?
Human-computer integration (cyborgs)? There is current research on controling mechanical devices by brain signals for amputees. We are still very far from doing human-computer memory dumps.
Your Future in Computing
Computing will continue to be an area with rapid job growth for the forseeable future.
Most jobs will require some computer expertise, on the order of what you have learned in this semester. It is important to keep up with what you have learned by using machines in your work, and reading the newspaper to follow trends.
There are many possible careers outside of programming with computers.
Systems analysis, which is matching technology needs with users, will grow much faster than programming.
Non-CS majors might consider careers in multimedia/WWW development, technical writing, or technical training/sales.