Computing: More Recent Developments
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Robin Wilson, Editor
Computing: More Recent Developments Robin Wilson and Martin Campbell-Kelly
T
he ‘‘first generation’’ of electronic digital computers spanned the 1950s. These computers stored their programs internally, and initially used vacuum tubes as their switching technology. However, such tubes were bulky, hot, and unreliable, and were gradually replaced by transistors. Since then, computers have developed at an ever-accelerating pace, with a massive increase in speed and power and a corresponding decrease in size and cost. The late
1950s saw the development of printed circuit boards on which thin strips of copper were ‘‘printed,’’ connecting the transistors and other electronic components. This led to the all-important introduction of the integrated circuit, an assembly of thousands of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and other devices, all interconnected electronically and packaged as a single functional item. In the second half of the 1970s, the first personal computers became available, for use in the home and office. Communications were also transformed with the introduction of electronic mail; the Thailand stamp portrays King Bhumibol checking his e-mail. The invention of the world wide web by Tim Berners-Lee in the early 1990s enabled all types of information from around the world to become easily accessible. In recent years, computer art has also developed rapidly, and in 1970, the Netherlands produced the first set of computer-generated stamp designs; the stamps show an isometric projection in which the circles expand and become transformed into squares, and a design called ‘‘overlapping scales.’’ The computer drawing of a head is a graphic from the 1981 computer-animated film Dilemma.
Integrated circuit e-mail
World wide web
Computer art
Tim Berners-Lee
Computer art Computer art
â Column editor’s address: Robin Wilson, Mathematical Institute, Andrew Wiles Building, University of Oxford, UK e-mail: [email protected] Martin Campbell-Kelly Department of Computer Science
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL, UK e-mail: [email protected]
Ó 2020 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature https://doi.org/10.1007/s00283-020-10021-1
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