Reading Notes 2

Reading Notes for 9/13

Computer Hardware
A recurring thought during the first few LIS 2600 readings is a curiosity regarding how many people using a computer on a daily basis actually have a working understanding of what the individual hardware components are and how they function together. I have seen a computer being built and thus feel slightly more educated on what the different components are, but rarely think about what processes they are performing while I utilize them. Firmware is also absolutely critical to a computer's function, but is so easy to ignore or know nothing about. It's easy to see how something small can go wrong (a faulty transistor, firmware or software that hasn't been updated) and the system will become unusable.

Moore's Law and Video
The cost component of Moore's law is a major factor in the rapid exponential development in digital and technical capacity. When integrated circuits with twice the capacity are made available with little increase in cost over their predecessors there is little downside to the computing community for routine adoption of the newest chip. However, the ability to continue doubling is finite, and will likely cap in the next 5-10 years, and while much of what Moore's Law has enabled us to accomplish is positive and revolutionary, the corresponding increases in power consumption and bloat as well as the increase in cost for the producer/developer are not ideal.

Computer History Museum
The speed at which computing has grown and evolved really resonates in the fact that one of the largest international collections of computing artifacts has been built in all of 11 years by an organization put together in 1999. It seems natural, though, that Computer Science should be scrutinized and celebrated in the same way we are used to our more mature sciences being treated. Fitting that it resides in the Silicon Valley, like the Louvre in Paris. The Silicon Engine Timeline was a good tool to help visualize the birth of the transistor and the technological development that led to it. Their collection could help libraries identify what are the documents of greatest value relating to the Computer Science field.