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UNIT 5. LESSON 3

Read the text without a dictionary.

5B. THE FASTEST COMPUTER

The computer Illiac IV was the fourth generation in a line of advanced machines that had been conceived and developed at the University of Illinois. Illiac I, a vacuum tube machine completed in 1952, could perform 11,000 arithmetical operations per second. Illiac II, a transistor-and-diode machine completed in 1963, could perform 500,000 operations per second. Illiac III, which became operational in 1966, was a specialpurpose computer designed for automatic scanning of large quantities of visual data. Since it processed non-arithmetical data, it couldn't be compared with earlier Illiacs in terms of operational speed. Illiac IV, employing the latest semiconductor technology, was actually a battery of 64 "Slave" conductors, capable of executing between 100 million and 200 million instructions per second. Unlike its three predecessors, which solved the problems by a series of steps, Illiac IV was designed to perform as many as 64 computations simultaneously. So a typical linear programming problem that might occupy a large past generation computer for six to eight hours was solvable by Illiac IV in less than two minutes - a time reduction of at least 200 to one.

The ultimate limitation of the operating speed of a computer designed to operate sequentially was the speed with which the signal could be propagated through an electrical conductor. In practice this was somewhat less than the speed of light which takes one nanosecond to travel about one foot.

The logical design of Illiac IV, a single master control unit, sent instruction to a number of independent processing elements. Each of the 64 processing elements was a powerful computing unit and it could perform a wide range of arithmetical operations.

Each processing unit had more than 100,000 electronic components. In a system containing more than six million components one could expect a component or a connection to fail every few hours. For this reason much attention had been devoted to testing and diagnostic procedures. Each of the 64 processing units was subjected regularly to extensive automatic tests. If a unit failed one of those tests, it could be quickly unplugged and replaced by a spare, with only a brief loss of operating time.

When the defective unit had been taken out of service, the precise cause of the failure was determined by a separate diagnostic computer.

Among the practical use of Illiac IV was the establishment of natural-resource inventories. The system contained a wide range of information on the natural resources of a selected area: geodesy, hydrology, forestry and vegetation, climate, topography,

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soil characteristics and current land use. For example, county administration looked for a best site for a new hospital. The search for a hospital site was reformulated in a series of commands that were presented to the computer. For instance, search all tracks that lie between town A and town B, and that are within two miles of route C; the area should be no smaller than five acres and no larger than 25 acres. If no tracts satisfied all these requirements, one or more of the less important conditions were relaxed until the site was located.

COMPREHENSION TEST

I. Fill in the following table.

Illiacs

I

II

III

IV

place of origin

year of creation

type of a computer

capability of performance

purpose of creation

generation

II.Find the answers to the following questions.

1.What was the difference in speed between the computers completed in 1952 and

1963?

2.How did the computer completed in 1966 differ from the two earlier computers?

3.Why was it possible to reduce computation time with Illiac IV by 200 times?

4.What were the two main parts of the logical design of Illiac IV?

5.Why were testing and diagnostic procedures important in the system of Illiac IV?

6.What was done when one of the units proved defective?

7.What was the function of a diagnostic computer?

8.In what field could Illiac IV be used?

9.What information could be stored in its memory?

10.What was the practical use of this computer?

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Translate the text into English. Entitle the text.

	TEXT 5C
В течение полувека ученые учились		решать	очень	сложные проблемы
помощью	компьютеров. Компьютеры	делятся	на	универсальные
специализированные ЭВМ.

Универсальные ЭВМ выполняют любые математические вычисления. Кроме того, они выполняют и другие операции. Универсальные ЭВМ рассматриваются как центры обработки данных. С точки зрения механизма, это комбинация различных устройств. С точки зрения работы(функционирования), это система, которая обрабатывает данные с различными целями.

Специализированные ЭВМ ограничены или видом своих вычислен, илий своими функциями. Специальное вычисление позволяет найти решение быстро и

легко. Специализированные	ЭВМ	работают	с	высокой	точностью. Они
совершают моделирование различных процессов.

5D. WILL THE DESK COMPUTERS THINK INSTEAD OF US?

One of the main characteristics of the present-day global "computerization" is the boom in domestic computers. The desk computer is expected to function as your personal librarian, carry out simple optimization computations, control your budget or diet, play several hundred games, etc. Further development of the computer is believed to lead to a situation in which most of the knowledge accepted by mankind will be stored in computers and made accessible to anyone with a home computer.

Communication between man and computer will not replace man's creative abilities but will expand them. It is natural that the advent of microcomputers with extensive memories and possibilities will lead to a new higher level in information culture. The creation of the domestic computer industry will allow a lot of problems in culture and education to be solved. Among other things, we will be able to organize the education process in the colleges and universities and also in the system of school education on a new basis.

Working out computerized models of materials studied by students will allow us to see the results of this instruction on a display screen, make understanding of the material very simple and make the development of a creative approach to the studying of knowledge and its application easier.

As for the information in various traditional branches of knowledge, the application of electronics will allow side by side with the traditional printed material to have the contents of books, magazines and articles fed into the computer memory, where this

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will be analyzed, arranged in a certain order, stored and produced on request as a printed computer program.

By all means, knowledge is the most valuable wealth of our times. And microcomputers will help to make it accessible to everyone in routine, monotonous and dull work.

Electronic computers cannot replace the judgment of the human brain, but they will release it from mechanical functions.

Thus, the most important development of microelectronics has been the creation of fast-calculating and computing devices and in connection with this, the theory of information technology.

I. Translate the text using the dictionary.

II. Give the main idea in 2-3 sentences.

III. Make up a short plan of the text.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION. TEXT 5E

Listen to the text and complete the sentences using the right word.

1.Every scientist will make numerous ... before he can say that the results of his experiments are correct.

2.For the accurate forecasting of the weather a meteorologist must make about one million of ... .

3.A computer cannot create new ... , though it may transform it into a more useful

form.

4.A translator takes information in some language and makes its ... into another.

I.Give the main idea of the text.

II. Render the text into Russian.

III. Retell the text.