Computer Science: Overview of Discipline, Algorithms, and Computer History - Prof. Anton R, Study notes of Computer Science

Download Computer Science: Overview of Discipline, Algorithms, and Computer History - Prof. Anton R and more Study notes Computer Science in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Foundations of Computer Science Dr. Anton Riedl What is Computer Science about? Slide 2 Outline
What is Computer Science
About Algorithms
A Very Incomplete History of Computers
Outlook Slide 3 Computer Science is not… • … knowing how to use a computer. • … fixing or building computers. • … programming. However, Computer Scientists often… • … know quite well how to use a computer. • … fix or build their own computers. • … do write programs. Slide 4 Computer Science is… … the study and the science of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. [Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science] 2 Slide 5 Computer Science has many subfields… • mathematical foundations • theory of computing • algorithms • programming languages • software engineering • computer systems • networking • computer applications • computer education • computer ethics Slide 6 Outline
What is Computer Science
About Algorithms
A Very Incomplete History of Computers
Outlook Slide 7 Algorithms play a central role in CS What is an algorithm?  a set of steps that describe how to perform a task (will be discussed in detail later in the semester) Who invented the algorithm? • اارز
  Which tasks require algorithms? • do long division • find the greatest common divisor • sort a list of 300 million names … fast! • find a pattern within a sequence of 3 billion chemical base pairs • search through 40 billion web pages (Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī) Slide 8 What is of interest to us? 5 Slide 17 Colossus (1944) Source: http://www.computerhistory.org  first programmable, digital, electronic computer Slide 18 Harvard Mark I (1944) Source: http://www.computerhistory.org  first large-scale automatic digital computer in US Slide 19 ENIAC (1946) S ource: h ttp://en.w ikiped ia.org  first general-purpose electronic computer Slide 20 UNIVAC I (1951) Source: http://www.computerhistory.org  first commercial computer made in the US 6 Slide 21 DEC PDP-8 (1965) S ource: h ttp://en.w ikiped ia.org  first successful commercial minicomputer Slide 22 MITS Altair 8800 (1975) S ource: h ttp://en.w ikiped ia.org  mail-order kit; led to personal computer revolution Slide 23 Apple I (1976) S ource: h ttp://en.w ikiped ia.org  first personal computer to use a keyboard Slide 24 IBM PC (1981) S ource: h ttp://en.w ikiped ia.org 7 Slide 25 Some more random facts… 1962: Spacewar! released (one of the first computer games) 1969: ARPANET (beginning of the Internet) 1972: Pong released 1972: C programming language 1980: Pac-Man released 1981: MS-DOS 1.0/PC-DOS 1.0 1984: Apple Macintosh released (first successful mouse-driven computer with graphical user interface) 1985: Tetris designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov 1985: Microsoft Windows launched 1989: World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee Slide 26 Some more random facts… 1993: NCSA Mosaic Browser 1993: Doom released 1994: Netscape Navigator 1994: Linus Torvalds released version 1.0 of the Linux kernel 1994: Sony Playstation 1995: Sun Microsystems announces Java 1995: Toy Story released 1997: IBM's Deep Blue beats reigning World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, in a full chess match 2001: Xbox released Slide 27 Outline
What is Computer Science
About Algorithms
A Very Incomplete History of Computers
Outlook Slide 28 Course Outline • Algorithms • Data Storage • Data Manipulation • Operating System • Networking and the Internet • Programming Languages • Software Engineering • Data Abstractions • Database Systems • Artificial Intelligence • Theory of Computation