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Cs101 Lec02
Cs101 Lec02
Lecture 2
Evolution of Computing
During the Last Lecture …
Why?
• If you do not learn from the history,
your condemned to repeat it
• Was crank-driven
Human
Terminal
Interrogator
Machine
on its own
Turing Test
• An interrogator is connected to one person and
one machine via a terminal, therefore can't see
her counterparts
• Cost $397
1. Mechanical computing
2. Electro-mechanical computing
4. Transistor computing
(the current state-of the-art)
5. Quantum computing
Quantum
Mechanics
QUANTUM MECHANICS is the
branch of physics which
describes the activity of
subatomic particles, i.e. the
particles that make up atoms
What is he next major Milestone?
• Quantum computers may one day be millions of times
more efficient than the current state-of-the-art
computers.
• They take advantage of the laws that govern the
behavior of subatomic particles.
• These laws allow quantum computers to examine all
possible answers to a question simultaneously
• For example, if you want to find the largest from a list
of four numbers:
– The current computers require on average 2 to 3 steps to
get to the answer
– Whereas, the quantum computer may be able to do that in a
single step
For further info …
Read the following article that is available on the Web:
http://www.sciam.com/1998/0698issue/0698gershenfeld.html
What have we learnt today?
Focus of the Next Lecture