9. Decide whether the statements are true or false and correct false sentences.

1. The abacus was the oldest form of mechanical calculating devices.

2. The first slide-rule was constructed by W. Oughtred in 1614.

3. B. Pascal invented the first machine, which performed multiplication by repeated addition.

4. Ch. Babbage designed his Analytical Engine to perform four arithmetic operations.

5. In 1944 Dr. H. Aiken of Harvard University began to work at the first completely automatic digital computer.

6. Lady Lovelace was the world’s first computer programmer.

7. ENIAC used 18,000 vacuum tubes⁵ for storage and basic functions in arithmetic and logic.

8. In 1946 John von Neuman worked out the concept of the stored program.

10. Ask your classmates.

1) about the oldest form of mechanical calculating 2) about the calculating devices of the 17^th century; 3) what he/she knows about the Mark 1; 4) what he/she can say about the first electronic computer; 5) what J. Neuman’s concept was; 6) what the first computers were.

11. Translate the following word combination.

При переводе выражений обратите внимание на то, что в конструкции с двумя существительными первое выступает определением ко второму.

Example: vacuum tubes – электронные лампы; problem solution – решение проблем.

Vacuum tubes, silicon chips, computer revolution, knowledge bases, machine intelligence, problem solution, program organization and construction, storage capacity.

12. Read the second part of the text quickly and arrange the items of the given outline in the order according to the text.

1. The first generation computers.

2. The fourth generation computers.

3. The difference between the fourth and the fifth generation computers.

4. Future computer development.

5. Artificial intelligence.

6. The second and third generation computer systems.

Part II

The first generation computers (from 1940s till 1959) were very large in size and used thousands of vacuum tubes. Though their operations were very rapid in comparison with manual calculations they were slow by today’s standards.

The second generation computers began in 1959. The use of transistors instead of vacuum tubes made these computers smaller, more powerful, and more reliable. The second generation also saw the development of programming languages.

The third generation computers started in 1964. There were silicon chips instead of transistors. This advance made possible the invention of the microcomputer in the 1970s, which, because of its low cost, small size, ease of use, large capabilities, is the computer most characteristic of the fourth generation.

All computers of the present time, from the microcomputer to the supercomputer, belong to the fourth generation. This fourth generation is the first in which there are a lot of computers for the application in business, science, medicine, education, or for general use.

The computer revolution is very dynamic. We are on the threshold of the fifth generation of computers. Today researchers in the USA, Western Europe, Japan work at the problems of artificial intelligence¹, the application of natural languages, very large-scale integration (VLSI)² technologies, etc.

The fifth generation computer will not only differ in size, speed, and storage capacity. By contrast with the fourth generation systems, which mainly store and process data, it will have the following characteristics: the use of artificial intelligence and natural languages, a speech input, knowledge bases, very large-scale integration technologies, the application of optical fibres³ and videodisks, flexibility and high reliability.

The idea of artificial intelligence is the intensification of man’s creative activities with the aid of computers. Artificial intelligence is a machine intelligence. A programmer packs a program in the computer for the solution of some practical problems. In operation it looks like human intelligence. There are different categories of artificial intelligence uses, such as robots and machines with sensory capabilities, knowledge-based systems and expert systems. A knowledge base is more flexible and less structural than a database. It is able to function with fewer stored facts, to generate⁴ and infer⁵ new facts in the process of the problem solution. Expert systems are knowledge-based systems for highly specialized areas: branches of medicine, spectroscopic analysis, and the like.

Artificial intelligence needs new methods of program organization and construction. Very large-scale integration technologies will reduce the size of the computer, enlarge its speed and storage capacity. For the solution of these problems some researchers think of optical circuitry⁶, gallium arsenide⁷ circuitry, and cryogenic (extremely cold) circuitry. For the solution of still more difficult problems, such as the production of hyperintelligent robots, some researchers discuss the problems of biochip circuitry. This is a revolutionary idea and its realization is in the distant future.

Notes

¹artificial intelligence – искусственный интеллект

²VLSI – сверхбольшая интегральная схема

³fibre – волокно

⁴to generate – производить

⁵to infer – делать заключение

⁶circuitry – cxема

⁷gallium arsenide – арсенид галлия