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Computer Development Leading to Multi-Tasking UNIX
| Article
# : |
10765 |
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Section : |
Natural Science
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1986 |
3,065 Words |
| Author
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Jason S. Ehrhart
Jason S. Ehrhart is a systems analyst for Sperry in Arlington,
Virginia and a graduate in computer science from the
University of Utah. |
The computer world is still feeling the effects of the latest shakeout. Corporate survivors of the big computer slump of 1984-1985 are counting their losses (or modest gains) and are prepared (or not) for the competitive war ahead in 1986. Last year's victims, such as employees of smaller, less fortunate companies, have either been snatched up by larger companies via corporate acquisitions, or are looking for new jobs.
The shakeout is seen by many as being the result of saturation of the personal computer market. Executives, employees, and stock analysts are asking themselves and their consultants such questions as: Has the computing market finally begun to collapse? Where do we go from here? The answer to the first question is, Decidedly not! Where the industry goes from here takes a longer answer, for new operating systems are truly at the cutting edge of multi-user and multi-tasking capability (terms which are defined below). This slump is created, in part, by the market's waiting for some new ways to increase the computing horsepower it already has.
The new industrial revolution is taking place now. The time for harmonizing hardware and software developments has finally arrived, and near the forefront of this revolution is the UNIX operating system. Why is UNIX, designed in the seventies for large-scale computers, so strongly affecting the field dominated in the eighties by microcomputers? A subjective view from one close to the developments will be found below, following some background.
Early Computers
During World War II, the United States began developing a calculating machine to generate ballistics tables for its Howitzers. The machine didn't need to be flexible, just able to do some simple calculating and printing. The machine that was finally built, ENIAC (completed in 1946), employed more than 18,000 vacuum tubes to perform its calculations. To program it, the programmer plugged wires to and from various locations inside the computer. When it didn't work, technicians would go inside the machine, sometimes spending several days looking for the trouble, which might have been some burnt out vacuum tubes. Performing planned " number crunching" (repetitive mathematical calculations) was fine for this machine, but re-programming it for any other purpose was too difficult. For this reason, its usefulness was limited, and greater flexibility became a major goal in computer design and software development.
Transistors and
...
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