FI:PV109 History of IT - Course Information

PV109 History of IT and Trends in Computing

Extent and Intensity

2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Recommended Type of Completion: k (colloquium). Other types of completion: z (credit).

Teacher(s)

doc. RNDr. Eva Hladká, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. RNDr. Luděk Matyska, CSc. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

doc. RNDr. Eva Hladká, Ph.D.
Department of Computer Systems and Communications – Faculty of Informatics
Supplier department: Department of Computer Systems and Communications – Faculty of Informatics

Timetable

Mon 17. 9. to Mon 10. 12. Mon 16:00–17:50 A318

Prerequisites

Any student of Masaryk University may enlist to this course provided that he or she has not passed it (under any code).

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 38 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

The course is intended for students who seek information on the development of computing aids and information technology since the ancient times and on expected further development of the branch.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course student will know individual phases of the historical evolution of computer technology at large and specifically in the Czechoslovakia.
She will be able to name the most influential persons and their contribution to the evolution of computer technology.
He will be able to describe primary evolution trends and influencing principles.
Using the historical know-how she will be able to make simple predictions of future evolution in major areas of IT.

Syllabus

• Pre-history of computing (from abacus to Babbage).
• First computers.
• Why to be interested in the history of IT. Formerly used terms. 1st to 5th computer generations. Hardware and software approach to the notion of the generation. Families of computers. Digital, analog and hybrid computers.
• Historical computer components and peripherals. Former view at main computer parts. Types of store. External storage devices. I/O devices.
• Personal recollections at IT used in our country. First computers in former Czechoslovakia. How programming the LGP-30 computer looked like. Research Institute of Mathematical Machines and its main achievements. EC and SM computer families.
• From machine code to programming languages. Languages that principally affected further language development (Algol, Fortran, Cobol, Basic, PL/I, APL, Lisp, Simula, Pascal, C).
• Operating systems. Computers without an OS. Toward an OS. Components of modern OS. Examples of OS.
• Trends in H/W and S/W. CISC/RISC, integration, dependencies between H/W, S/W and OS. Networks and Internet. Diversion from procedural languages?
• Compures and society. Computer: a tool, a partner, or a menace?

Literature

• Communications of the A.C.M., Vol. 15 (1972), Nr. 7 (speciální číslo věnované historii IT)
• Communications of the A.C.M., Vol. 40 (1997), Nr. 2 (speciální číslo věnované výhledům do budoucnosti)

Teaching methods

Lectures, test covering the matter of the lectures. For colloquium, the sudent writs an essay to the theme chosen.

Assessment methods

Before the end of the term, the knowledge of the students is evaluated with a test. The student is allowed to pass the colloquium if he or she makes the test with at least 50 % result.
The course is ended with a colloquium. In condordance with the study rules, the colloquium is usually replaced by writing an essay (possibly in the form of a Web page). The theme of the essay may be student's own, or be selected from a set presented on the Web page of the course by the tutor. The choice of the theme must be authorized by the tutor.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

Study Materials
The course is taught annually.

• Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2018, recent)
  
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