What Eric Sweden and David Ferro have here in their book, Computers: The Life Story of Technology, is a great collection of computer history that, I feel, is often overlooked by most users today. If for nothing else, it is really neat learning about what it was like before computers ruled the world and how early development in electronics lead to the huge boom of computer technology that we have had in the past fifteen years or so. (Which my foresight tells me is going to be largely included in the second half of the book) As an ITI major and a general technology enthusiast, I definitely have a deep interest in learning about this kind of stuff. I also think electronics are unbelievably cool, especially guitar pedals. That’s a different blog all together though.
So the first 85 pages of this book have A LOT of content on all sorts pivotal development points for computers and computing systems. Rather than making a poor attempt to touch base on everything, I’d rather like to discuss something Sweden and Ferro wrote about that really changed the world of computing as we know it. What I’m talking about here is the invention of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit and the micro sizing of computer components are largely responsible for the exponential growth associated with computer technology. The initial benefits of these circuits according to the authors were that they grouped semiconductors into a single component and were easily duplicated with a high rate of consistency. The idea of this just screams consumerism and in fact, that is what some of the early integrated circuits were designed for. In 1967, Jack Kilby, one of the inventors of the integrated circuit*, created the first handheld calculator for Texas Instruments. The invention sparked a billion dollar business for the production and sales of small and cheap calculators. (Sweden and Ferro) This, however, was only the beginning. As more developers starting using microchips (same thing as integrated circuits) they began to be able to increase their density while decreasing their size. At the time, the potential for microchips could not be for seen. One technologist predicted that the density, and therefore, capability of microchips would increase by two every year. (Sweden and Ferro, 68) As we know from the progression of time, technology has been advancing pretty much on schedule to this prediction, which is amazing. This rate of growth is almost directly proportional to the increase in computer power and it doesn't seem to be coming to a screeching halt anytime soon.
I feel that, at the time, these scientists really had no idea what they were actually inventing. Sure, they created a way to have electrical parts arranged in such a way on a semi-conductive board that it would eliminate the need for slow, rather unreliable, wiring. And I'm not trying to downplay the importance of elegance and efficiency in electrical engineering, but what these guys really invented was the future of computing. Without that one really... really tiny invention, life would be way different. I mean waaaaaaay different. Think about it for a second... and try not to cry.
*In the late 60’s Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce were working independently on similar ideas of a monolithic electronic circuit. After battling over patents they agreed to split the rights evenly.
That's all for now.
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