Internet access

The term Internet access refers to the communication between a residence or a business and an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that connects to the Internet. Access falls into two broad categories: dedicated and dial-up.

With dedicated access, a subscriber’s computer remains directly connected to the Internet at all times by a permanent, physical connection. Most large businesses have high-capacity dedicated connections; small businesses or individuals who desire dedicated access choose technologies such as digital subscriber line (DSL) or cable modems. A DSL sends data across the same wires that telephone service uses, and cable modems use the same wiring that cable television uses. In each case, the electronic devices that are used to send data over the wires employ separate frequencies or channels that do not interfere with other signals on the wires. Thus, a DSL Internet connection can send data over a pair of wires at the same time the wires are being used for a telephone call, and cable modems can send data over a cable at the same time the cable is being used to receive television signals. The user usually pays a fixed monthly fee for a dedicated connection. In exchange, the company providing the connection agrees to relay data between the user’s computer and the Internet.

Dial-up is the least expensive access technology, but it is also the least convenient. To use dial-up access, a subscriber must have a telephone modem, a device that connects a computer to the telephone system and is capable of converting data into sounds and sounds back into data. The user’s ISP provides software that controls the modem. To access the Internet, the user opens the software application, which causes the dial-up modem to place a toll-free telephone call to the ISP. A modem at the ISP answers the call, and the two modems use audible tones to send data in both directions. When one of the modems is given data to send, the modem converts the data from the digital values used by computers into tones. The receiving side converts the tones back into digital values. Unlike dedicated access technologies, a dial-up modem does not use separate frequencies, so the telephone line cannot be used for regular telephone calls at the same time a dial-up modem is sending data.

TASKS

1. Transcribe the words and give their Russian equivalents

1. term (n.)

2. refer to (v.)

3. residence (n.)

4. subscriber (n.)

5. permanent (adj.)

6. desire (v.)

7. wire (n.)

8. interfere with (v.)

9. company (n.)

10. convert (v.)

11. cause (v.)

2. Translate the following word combinations

1. Internet Service Provider (ISP)

2. dedicated access

3. dial-up access

4. high-capacity connection

5. digital subscriber line (DSL)

6. cable modem

7. software application

3. Give English equivalents of:

1. присоединять к Интернету

2. непосредственно связанный

3. маленькие компании

4. выбирать технологии

5. такой как

6. пересылать данные

7. телефонная служба

8. в каждом случае

9. электронные устройства

10. использовать отдельные частоты или каналы

11. в то же самое время

12. телефонный звонок

13. получать телевизионные сигналы

14. платить фиксированную ежемесячную плату

15. взамен

16. обеспечивать соединение (связь)

17. преобразовывать данные в звуки

18. отвечать на запрос

19. цифровые величины

20. получающая сторона

4. Choose the word combinations which are close in meaning to the underlined ones.

1. The term Internet access refers to the communication between a residence or a business and an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that connects to the Internet.

• deals with

• means

• provides

• is concerned with

• interprets

• studies

2. In exchange, the company providing the connection agrees to relay data between the user’s computer and the Internet.

• to transmit data

• to receive data

• to collect data

• to send data

• to manipulate data

• to analyze data

5. State the functions of the underlined words and translate sentences into Russian

1. With dedicated access, a subscriber’s computer remains directly connected to the Internet at all times by a permanent, physical connection.

2. The user usually pays a fixed monthly fee for a dedicated connection.

3. In exchange, the company providing the connection agrees to relay data between the user’s computer and the Internet.

4. When one of the modems is given data to send, the modem converts the data from the digital values used by computers into tones.

5. The receiving side converts the tones back into digital values.

6. Write out the sentences from the text which correspond the given pattern and translate them

Pattern: To use the Internet, a user must have access to the Internet.

Для того чтобы пользоваться Интернетом, пользователь должен

иметь доступ в Интернет.

7. Read and translate the text.

TEXT 2

HOW INFORMATION TRAVELS OVER THE INTERNET

All information is transmitted across the Internet in small units of data called packets. Software on the sending computer divides a large document into many packets for transmission; software on the receiving computer regroups incoming packets into the original document. Similar to a postcard, each packet has two parts: a packet header specifying the computer to which the packet should be delivered, and a packet payload containing the data being sent. The header also specifies how the data in the packet should be combined with the data in other packets by recording which piece of a document is contained in the packet.

  A series of rules known as computer communication protocols specify how packet headers are formed and how packets are processed. The set of protocols used for the Internet are named TCP/IP after the two most important protocols in the set: the Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol. Hardware devices that connect networks in the Internet are called IP routers because they follow the IP protocol when forwarding packets. A router examines the header in each packet that arrives to determine the packet’s destination. The router either delivers the packet to the computer destination across a local network or forwards the packet to another router that is closer to the final destination. Thus, a packet travels from router to router as it passes through the Internet.

TCP/IP protocols enable the Internet to automatically detect and correct transmission problems. For example, if any network or device malfunctions, protocols detect the failure and automatically find an alternative path for packets to avoid the malfunction. Protocol software also ensures that data arrive complete and intact. If any packets are missing or damaged, protocol software on the receiving computer requests that the source resend them. Only when the data has arrived correctly the protocol software makes these data available to the receiving application program, and therefore to the user.

TASKS

1. Transcribe the words and give their Russian equivalents

1. transmission (n.)

2. specify (v.)

3. deliver (v.)

4. protocol (n.)

5. router (n.)

6. forward (v.)

7. examine (v.)

8. determine (v.)

9. malfunction (n.),(v.)

2. Translate the following word combinations

1. packet header

2. packet payload

3. computer communication protocol

4. Transmission Control Protocol

5. the Internet Protocol

6. IP routers

3. Give English equivalents of:

1. передавать по Интернету

2. делить на множество пакетов

3. первоначальный документ

4. содержать данные

5. объединять данные

6. набор протоколов

7. место назначения пакета

8. обнаруживать и исправлять проблемы передачи

9. альтернативный путь

10. избегать сбоя

4. Choose the words which are close in meaning to the underlines ones.

1. Hardware devices that connect networks in the Internet are called IP routers.

• are referred to

• are referred to as

• are known as

• are famous as

• are named

2. A router examines the header in each packet that arrives to determine the packet’s destination.

• investigates

• finds

• receives

• transmits

• studies

3. The router either delivers the packet to the computer destination across a local network or forwards the packet to another router that is closer to the final destination.

• transmits

• determines

• refers to

• sends

• inputs

5. Define the following

1. The Internet

2. A packet

3. A packet header

4. A packet payload

5. Software

6. A sending computer

7. A receiving computer

8. Computer communication protocols

9. TCP/IP

10. IP routers

6. Read and translate the text

UNIT 7

APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTERS

TEXT 1

DATA PROCESSING

Data processing includes the many ways in which computers are used to store, manipulate, and retrieve information. Computers were originally invented as calculating devices, and calculating remains one of the computer's primary functions. Common types of calculation include accounting, tabulation, and statis­tical analysis. Accounting is the keeping track of monetary information, such as debts and credits in business, or income taxes owed and paid in government. Tabulation is the simpler summarization of numeric information, such as the Census Bureau's calculation of the population of states and cities.

Information retrieval is the use of the computer as a library. Large amounts of information may be stored in the computer and later searched for and retrieved. In general, only authorized personnel can enter or change the information, but many other people can retrieve and use the information. Not surprisingly, a common application of computers is for card catalogues in libraries. Some large libraries now have all of the information on a computer that used to be stored in card catalogues. Users of the library can type at a computer terminal the title of a book, an author's name, a subject area, or any combination of such information and the computer displays on the screen the books corresponding to the request, the number of copies the library owns.

A number of commercial information retrieval services are now avail­able to individuals. CompuServe, and The Source are services for world news, stock market prices, and many other types of information.

More complex than information retrieval is the maintenance of databases. A database is a collection of information that is not only frequently retrieved, but also changed by a number of people. A very flexible kind of database is the relational database, in which the information is organized into categories and stored with attributes, such as a person's name, age, address, sex, or color of eyes. Using this information a search could be done for all persons living in Alaska, all persons with brown hair, or all women living in Alaska and having brown hair.

Databases are used in banking to store information about the people who have accounts in the bank and the current status of their accounts. Databases are used in businesses to store payroll and other personnel data, to store general accounting data such as lists of creditors and debtors, to keep track of inventory, to maintain mailing lists, and to provide executives with information for making business decisions.

In business it is now recognized as useful to have one large collection of all data that is maintained by a database management system. All transactions are handled by this program. Many of the business applications of computers are useful and becoming affordable in the home. They may be used for monthly budgets, or to calculate income tax at the end of each year, for example.

TASKS

1. Give Russian equivalents of the following words and transcribe them:

1. accounting (n.)

2. tabulation (n.)

3. debt (n.)

4. credit (n.)

5. summarization (n.)

6. bureau (n.)

7. personnel (n.)

8. catalogue (n.)

9. author (n.)

10. maintenance (n.)

11. transaction (n.)

12. budget (n.)

2. Give Russian equivalents of the following word combinations:

1. data processing

2. income tax

3. information retrieval

4. computer terminal

5. commercial information

6. retrieval services

7. commercial information retrieval services

8. stock market

9. market prices,

10. stock market prices

11. personnel data

12. database management

13. database management system

3. Give English equivalents of the following word combinations:

1. извлекать информацию

2. быть первоначально изобретенным, как вычислительные устройства

3. обычные виды вычисления

4. статистический анализ

5. суммирование числовой информации

6. изменить информацию

7. название книги

8. имя автора

9. отображать на экране

10. иметь счета в банке

11. текущее состояние вкладов

12. обеспечивать информацией

13. для принятия решений в бизнесе

14. стать доступным дома

4. Determine the functions of the infinitives in the following sentences.

1. Data processing includes the many ways in which computers are used to store, manipulate, and retrieve information.

2. Databases are used in banking to store information about the people who have accounts in the bank and the current status of their accounts.

3. Databases are used in businesses to store payroll and other personnel data, to store general accounting data such as lists of creditors and debtors, to keep track of inventory, to maintain mailing lists, and to provide executives with information for making business decisions.

4. In business it is now recognized as useful to have one large collection of all data that is maintained by a database management system.

5. They may be used for monthly budgets, or to calculate income tax at the end of each year, for example.

5. Determine the functions of the underlined words.

1. Computers were originally invented as calculating devices, and calculating remains one of the computer's primary functions.

2. Accounting is the keeping track of monetary information, such as debts and credits in business, or income taxes owed and paid in government.

3. In general, only authorized personnel can enter or change the information, but many other people can retrieve and use the information.

4. In business it is now recognized as useful to have one large collection of all data that is maintained by a database management system.

6. Match the term with its definition

Terms:

1. Data processing

2. Calculation

3. Accounting

4. Tabulation

5. Information retrieval

6. A database

7. The relational database

Definitions:

1. … is the summarization of numeric information, such as the Census Bureau's calculation of the population of states and cities.

2. … is a collection of information.

3. … is one of the main functions of a computer; it deals with numeric data.

4. … is the keeping track of monetary information, such as debts and credits in business, or income taxes owed and paid in government.

5. ….is the application of computers; it deals with storage, manipulation and retrieval of information.

6. … is the use of the computer as a library.

7. … is a very flexible kind of database, in which the information is organized into categories and stored with attributes, such as a person's name, age, address, sex, or color of eyes.

7. Try to formulate your own definitions of the terms maintenance of databases and a database management system.

8. Read and translate the text.

TEXT 2

WORD PROCESSING

Word processing is the application of computers to improve the production of written information. This includes correspondence, memos, reports, tables of numeric figures, newspaper articles, books, magazines, school composition as­signments, or poetry. The computer allows one to produce written information faster and easier than with a typewriter or by hand.

The computer has advantages for a number of reasons. First, when a document is written for the first time, it is not written directly to paper. Rather, the information is displayed on the CRT screen and stored in the compu­ter's memory. This is advantageous for two reasons: typing errors are easily corrected, and entry is faster. You can correct errors simply by pressing an (ERASE) key. Errors on any line or page may be as easily corrected as errors on the current line. Many typists work faster when errors are easy to correct because there is no fear of making a time-consuming mistake. Input is also easier because one need not be concerned with the ends of lines or the ends of pages. The computer automatically begins new lines or pages when necessary.

The second advantage of word processing is that revision of the docu­ment is easier and faster. After the complete document is typed into memory and stored, you may read it and make changes easily. Minor changes (correcting a misspelling in a word) or major changes (replacing an entire page) are easily made. Simple commands enable you to look at any part of the document, delete parts, move parts around, and replace parts with different information. On a conventional typewriter, only small changes are possible on the original document. Major changes require retyping the entire document.

The third advantage of word processing is that the final document may be printed out very quickly on a printer connected to the microcomputer.

The advantages of word processing are greater for longer documents and for documents that are frequently revised. Word processing is quickly replacing traditional typing in many businesses, especially those concerned with the production of written information, such as newspaper publishing. Inexpen­sive word processors are now available for home computers and will someday probably replace typewriters in the home.

TASKS

1. Give Russian equivalents of the following words and transcribe them:

1. as­signment (n.)

2. advantage (n.)

3. advantageous (adj.)

4. error (n.)

5. revise (v.)

6. revision (n.)

7. minor (adj.)

8. major (adj.)

9. command (n.)

10. frequently (adv.)

2. Give Russian equivalents of the following word combinations:

1. word processing

2. CRT screen

3. time-consuming mistake

4. conventional typewriter

3. Give English equivalents of the following word combinations:

1. применение компьютеров

2. письменная информация

3. от руки

4. иметь преимущества

5. впервые (в первый раз)

6. исправлять ошибки

7. текущая строка

8. начинать новые строки или страницы автоматически

9. сделать изменения

10. незначительные изменения

11. значительные изменения

12. удалить части

13. распечатать на принтере

14. быть доступным

4. Express the main idea of the text in one sentence.

Possible beginnings of the sentence (choose one):

1. The text is devoted to … .

2. The text is concerned with … .

3. The text deals with … .

4. The purpose of the text is… .

5. Read and translate the text.

TEXT 3

COMMUNICATIONS

The two most common forms of communication between people at different locations are the telephone and the postal service. Each has advantages and disadvantages. The telephone requires spoken communication and is not convenient for writ­ten or other visual communication. The telephone is primarily for two people, but it can be adapted for more. Telephone calls may also be an annoyance.

Written communication through the mail is slower than telephone com­munication and is not interactive. However, it allows visual communication with words, pictures, numeric tables. Letters may also be duplicated easily and sent to many people almost as easily as to one person.

Computers are now being used to combine many of the advantages of each of these forms of communication: speed, visual format, permanent re­cords, convenience, and communication between many individuals.

Electronic mail is one form of computer communications that accom­plishes some of these goals. Electronic mail is typically something like the fol­lowing: a person types a letter on a microcomputer, which may be done at any convenient time. The letter is sent to a large com­puter. The large computer stores the letter along with the name of the person who is to receive it. Later the recipient, also using a microcomputer, checks whether there are any letters. The large computer indi­cates that there is one and sends it to that person's computer, where it may be read on the CRT display or printed on paper. The original letter could also have been forwarded to a long list of people.

Another form of communication through computers is computer confer­encing. This is similar to electronic mail except that the large computer maintains a bulletin board of documents. Anyone having access to the bulletin board may write a new document, read all existing documents, or add comments to existing documents. Thus, over a period of time, many individuals throughout the country may share ideas (that is, have a conference). For instance, suppose a large company with branch offices in several cities is deciding on the advertising slogan for a new product. Using their local microcomputers, executives in all the branch offices may send their suggested slogans to a large computer to which they all have access. Whenever conve­nient, an executive may read the bulletin board to see what new suggestions have been made. Whenever someone thinks of a new idea, it is posted on the bulletin board. When reading other people's ideas, users may see ideas they particularly like or dislike and may add a comment to that effect. All of this communication is at a time and place convenient to each participant and re­quires no travel or ordinary telephone calls.

TASKS

1. Give Russian equivalents of the following words and transcribe them:

1. visual (adj.)

2. interactive (adj.)

3. duplicate (v.)

4. re­cord (n.) (v.)

5. convenience (n.)

6. forward (v.)

7. bulletin (n.)

8. company (n.)

9. advertising (n.)

10. executive (n.)

11. effect (n.)

2. Give English equivalents of the following word combinations:

1. формы общения

2. преимущества и недостатки

3. устное общение

4. письменное общение

5. удобный для общения

6. телефонные звонки

7. общение по телефону

8. цифровые таблицы

9. электронная почта

10. печатать письмо

11. в любое удобное время

12. иметь доступ

13. читать все существующие документы

14. обмениваться идеями

15. новые предложения

16. добавить комментарий

3. Express the main idea of the text in one sentence.

Possible beginnings of the sentence (choose one):

1. The text is devoted to … .

2. The text is concerned with … .

3. The text deals with … .

4. The purpose of the text is… .

2. Read and translate the text.

TEXT 4

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND PRODUCTION

Modern computers, from the largest mainframes to small microcomputers, are a powerful tool for producing, storing, refining, and duplicating a wide variety of graphic images. They are capable of very impressive graphics on either CRT displays or on paper. Such graphics may be pictures ranging from simple line drawings to images with the details of photographs. Graphic images may com­bine pictures with words and numbers, may use multiple colors, and may employ animation. A person using the computer may select stored graphic images in a library, may combine them, may draw on the com­puter display to create totally new images, may change the color, sizes, or parts of an image, or may erase and replace parts.

Artists may use computers to develop ideas or actually to produce computer-generated art. This use of the computer is finally beginning to dispel the notion that computers are cold, calculating machines good for nothing but wearisome tasks like figuring out one's income taxes. Computer-generated animated graphics are extensively used in the television and motion picture industries. Most of the starship battles, space-time warps, exploding planets, and laser swords seen in science fiction and fantasy films either are computer-generated or are computer graphics combined with real images.

In business and industry, computer-generated graphics are used for drafting, mapmaking, and drawing blueprints.

Advertising employs computers in the same way the artist uses them, although the commercial artist in an advertising firm is likely to have much more expensive and sophisticated computer graphics equipment than the lone artist toiling in a garret.

TASKS

1. Write out and transcribe the words which you don’t know.

2. Read and translate the text.

3. Prove the statement.

Statement: This use of the computer is finally beginning to dispel the notion that computers are cold, calculating machines good for nothing but wearisome tasks like figuring out one's income taxes.

PART III

TEXTS FOR UNDERSTANDING WITHOUT A DICTIONARY

FROM THE HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

The earliest calculating machine was most probably the abacus, which appears to have its origins in Pheonicia in the form of a sand-covered stone, called an abak. At that time the use of the abacus was widespread around the world. During the fifteenth century the abacus was used in the Western world, and by the end of the seventeenth century it had virtually disappeared. In the East, how­ever, it is still found even in many modern supermarkets and stores.

A major advance in the automation of calculation came from the inven­tion of logarithms by John Napier in the early years of the seventeenth century. The beauty of logarithms lies in the fact that when two numbers are to be multiplied, the answer can be obtained by adding their logarithms. With the invention of logarithms had it was simple to do even long and difficult multiplications and divisions, the latter being done by subtracting the logarithms.

This invention was soon embodied into a physical device which allowed fast calculations, even though the accuracy was not great. This was the slide rule, which was the standard method of calculation of scientists and engineers until the invention of the hand-held calculator in the early 1970s. A slide rule consists of two pieces of wood or plastic etched in logarithmic scales. Multiplica­tion or division is accomplished by sliding the pieces of wood so that the two scales line up to form the answer. Although very helpful in doing multiplica­tion and division, the slide rule cannot perform addition and subtraction, and thus is not an all-purpose device.

FROM THE HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

In 1642 the French mathematician Pascal designed and built the "pascaline," a mechanical adding machine. Although not a commercial success, it formed the model on which Gottfried Leibnitz designed his calculating machine which was more successful.

Other people, too, designed and produced similar machines with vary­ing degrees of success. The best known of these was Charles Babbage. The first of Babbage's calculating machines was called the difference machine. It was so named because it used a method of adding differences between numbers to calculate. On the basis of a highly successful prototype, the British government gave Babbage 17,000 pounds to build a larger, more useful version. Unfortunately, this machine was not completed.

Babbage’ son produced a model of analytical engine in 1910. It can be called the prototype of the computer because not only could it perform the basic mathematical operations, but it also had separate devices for entering information, overseeing the calcu­lations, storing numbers, and providing output—the four basic features of a computer. Instructions were to be given to the machine by means of cards with holes punched in them. Metal rods falling through the holes would signal the operation required.

The next major advance came about as the result of a competition held in 1890 in the United States. The purpose of the competition was to produce a device that would accelerate the counting process. As a result of the competition, a device built by Herman Hollerith was announced as the best one. After the success in 1890 Hollerith founded the Tabulat­ing Machine Company, which later merged with other companies to become the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), which now dominates the world of computers.

BABBAGE

Charles Babbage was Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University from 1828 to 1839 (a post formerly held by Isaac Newton). Babbage's proposed Difference Engine was a special-purpose digital computing machine for the automatic production of mathematical tables (such as logarithm tables, tide tables, and astronomical tables). The Difference Engine consisted entirely of mechanical components such as brass gear wheels, rods, ratchets, pinions, etc. Numbers were represented in the decimal system by the positions of 10-toothed metal wheels mounted in columns. Babbage exhibited a small working model in 1822. He never completed the full-scale machine that he had designed but did complete several fragments. The largest-one ninth of the complete calculator is on display in the London Science Museum. In 1990, Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2 was finally built from Babbage's designs and is also on display at the London Science Museum.

Babbage's proposed Analytical Engine was considerably more ambitious than the Difference Engine. It was supposed to be a general-purpose mechanical digital computer having a memory store, a central processing unit (or ‘mill’), and a program of instructions contained on punched cards connected together with ribbons (an idea that Babbage had adopted from the Jacquard weaving loom).

Babbage worked closely with Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet Byron, after whom the modern programming language ADA is named. Lovelace foresaw the possibility of using the Analytical Engine for non-numeric computation, suggesting that the Engine might even be capable of composing elaborate pieces of music.

A large model of the Analytical Engine was under construction but a full-scale version was never built. Babbage's idea of a general-purpose calculating engine was never forgotten, especially at Cambridge, and was on occasion a lively topic of discussion at the war-time headquarters of the Government Code and Cypher School, Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, birthplace of the electronic digital computer.

FROM ELECTROMECHANICAL TO ELECTRONIC

COMPUTATION

With some exceptions including Babbage's purely mechanical engines and the finger-powered National Accounting Machine early digital computing machines were electromechanical. That is to say, their basic components were electrically-driven. The mechanical switches of such computers were relays.

Electromechanical digital computing machines were built before and during the Second World War by Howard Aiken at Harvard University, George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Turing at Princeton University and Bletchley Park, and Konrad Zuse in Berlin. To Zuse belongs the honour of having built the first working general-purpose program-controlled digital computer. This machine, later called the Z3, was functioning in 1941.

Relays were too slow and unreliable for the construction of a large-scale general-purpose digital computer (notwithstanding valiant efforts in this direction by Aiken). It was the invention of vacuum tubes that made the development of high-speed digital techniques and the modern computer possible.

The earliest extensive use of vacuum tubes for digital data-processing had been made by the engineer Thomas Flowers, working in London at the British Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill. Electronic digital equipment designed by Flowers in 1934, for controlling the connections between telephone exchanges, went into operation in 1939, and involved between three and four thousand vacuum tubes running continuously. In 1938-1939 Flowers worked on an experimental high-speed electronic digital data-processing system which involved a data store. Flowers' aim, achieved after the war, was that such equipment should replace existing, less reliable, systems built from relays and used in telephone exchanges. Flowers did not investigate the idea of using electronic equipment for numerical calculation, but once remarked that at the outbreak of war with Germany in 1939 he was possibly the only person in Britain who realized that vacuum tubes could be used on a large scale for high-speed digital computation.

COLOSSUS

At the beginning of the war the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) was successfully deciphering German radio communications encoded by means of the Enigma system. By early 1942 about 39,000 intercepted messages were being decoded each month, thanks to electromechanical machines known as ‘bombes’. These were designed by Turing and Gordon Welchman.

During the second half of 1940, messages encoded by means of a totally different method began to be intercepted. This new method of encryption, named ‘Fish’ by GC&CS, remained intractable until 1941. Fish was used in preference to Morse-based Enigma for the encryption of high-level signals, for example messages from Hitler and other members of the German High Command.

The need to decipher messages as rapidly as possible led Max Neuman to propose in November 1942 (shortly after his recruitment to GC&CS from Cambridge University) the new method of the decryption process. The key parts of the decryption process were automated, by means of high-speed electronic counting devices.

The first machine designed and built to Neuman's specification, known as the Heath Robinson, was relay-based with electronic circuits for counting. Installed in June 1943, Heath Robinson was unreliable and slow, and its high-speed paper tapes were continually breaking, but it proved the worth of Neuman's method. Flowers offered instead to design and build a fully electronic machine with a similar function to Heath Robinson. The result of his work was Colossus I which was installed at Bletchley Park on 8 December 1943.

Colossus lacked two important features of modern computers. First, it had no internally stored programs. Second, Colossus was not a general-purpose machine, being designed for a specific cryptanalytic task involving counting and Boolean operations.

ENIAC AND EDVAC

The first fully functioning electronic digital computer to be built in the U.S. was ENIAC, constructed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, for the Army Ordnance Department, by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. Completed in 1945, ENIAC was somewhat similar to the earlier Colossus, but considerably larger and more flexible (although far from general-purpose). The primary function for which ENIAC was designed was the calculation of tables used in aiming artillery. ENIAC was not a stored-program computer, and setting it up for a new job involved reconfiguring the machine by means of plugs and switches. For many years, ENIAC was believed to have been the first functioning electronic digital computer, Colossus being unknown to all but a few.

In 1944, John von Neumann joined the ENIAC group. At the Moore School, von Neumann emphasized the importance of the stored-program concept for electronic computing, including the possibility of allowing the machine to modify its own program in useful ways while running.

In 1945, while ENIAC was still under construction, von Neumann produced a draft report, setting out the ENIAC group's ideas for an electronic stored-program general-purpose digital computer, the EDVAC. The EDVAC was completed six years later, but not by its originators, who left the Moore School to build computers elsewhere.

Von Neumann was a prestigious figure and he made the concept of a high-speed stored-program digital computer widely known through his writings and public addresses. As a result of his high profile in the field, it became customary, although historically inappropriate, to refer to electronic stored-program digital computers as ‘von Neumann machines’.