III. Oral practice.

Discussion points.

1. The first calculating devices.

2. The analog and digital computers.

3. The first calculating machines. Inventors and their contribution to the history of computers.

IV. Reading and translation.

Exercise 7. Read and translate the following text “Analogue and Digital Computers” with a dictionary in writing.

Analogue and Digital Computers

Let us discuss in some detail the characteristics of analogue and digital computers. For simple control applications the analogue machine is almost always less complex than a digital machine would be. Even the most elementary digital machine required an arithmetical (or logical) unit, a storage unit, a control unit, etc. For simple problems this great quantity of equipment is too complex. In contrast, an analogue machine needs to be no more complicated than the problem demands. A slide rule, for example, is a perfectly respectable “information machine” of analogue type. The analogue machine’s ability to do simple work by simple means explains its current predominance in the field of automatic control.

As the control task becomes more complex, however, the analogue machine loses its advantage, and we begin to see a second fundamental difference between the two types of machine. The analogue machine is a physical analogy to the problem, and therefore the more complicated the problem, the more complicated the machine must be.

The digital machine, on the other hand, is entirely free of the limit to the complexity of the problem or process.

The third important difference is in their accuracy potential. The digital machine which deals only with numbers can be as precise as we wish to make it.

Unit 2 Konrad Zuse, the Inventor of the Modern Computer

I. Language

Vocabulary

To contribute	Сприяти, вносити вклад у...
Aircraft company	Авіаційна компанія
Engineering calculation	Технічні обчислювання
To dismiss	(тут) позбавитися
Modestly	Скромно
To praise	Хвалити
Contemporary	Сучасний
Successor	Послідовник
To keep track	Стежити
Binary computer	Комп’ютер для обчислення двійкових чисел
Floating-point arithmetic	Арифметика з плаваючою крапкою
High-capacity memory	Великий об’єм пам’яті
To succeed	Досягти цілі, мати успіх
Switching system	Система перемикання
To store the program	Зберігати програму
Paper tape	Перфострічка
Punched card	Перфокарта
To be in short supply	Недостатній запас, постачання
Mode	Засіб
Meaningful	Визначний
To store values	Зберігати значення
Punch tape reader	Пристрій читання перфострічки
Input/output device	Пристрій введення/виведення
Valve	Лампа
Control unit	Пристрій керування