THE NEW ERA OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

ARE YOU A GOOD PROGRAMMER?

2008-01-02T08:43:00.001+05:30

According eweek.com a good programmer must know ten different
programming languages. He/she should be able to progam in those ten
different softwares.

Knowing a handful of programming languages is seen by many as a harbor
in a job market storm, solid skills that will be marketable as long as
the languages are.
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Yet, there is beauty in numbers. While there may be developers who
have had riches aheaped on them by knowing the right programming
language at the right time in the right place, most longtime coders
will tell you that periodically learning a new language is an
essential part of being a good and successful Web developer.

"One of my mentors once told me that a programming language is just a
programming language. It doesn't matter if you're a good programmer,
it's the syntax that matters," Tim Huckaby, CEO of San Diego-based
software engineering company CEO Interknowlogy.com , told eWEEK.

However, Huckaby said that while his company is "swimming" in work,
he's having a nearly impossible time finding recruits, even on the
entry level, that know specific programming languages.

"We're hiring like crazy, but we're not having an easy time. We're
just looking for attitude and aptitude, kids right out of school that
know .Net, or even Java, because with that we can train them on .Net,"
said Huckaby.

eWEEKend

"Don't get fixated on one or two languages. When I started in 1969,
FORTRAN, COBOL and S/360 Assembler were the big tickets. Today, Java,
C and Visual Basic are. In 10 years time, some new set of languages
will be the 'in thing.' …At last count, I knew/have learned over 24
different languages in over 30 years," Wayne Duqaine, director of
Software Development at Grandview Systems, of Sebastopol, Calif., told
eWEEK.

By picking the brains of Web developers and IT recruiters, eWEEK
selected 10 programming languages that are a bonus for developers to
add to their resumes. Even better, they're great jumping-off points,
with loads of job opportunities for younger recruits.

1. PHP
# What it is: An open-source, interpretive, server-side,
cross-platform, HTML scripting language, especially well-suited for
Web development as it can be embedded into HTML pages.
# Why you should learn it: It's particularly widely used. "High-speed
scripting with caching, augmented with compiled code plug-ins (such as
can be done with Perl and PHP) is where the future is. Building Web
apps from scratch using C or COBOL is going the way of the dinosaur,"
said Duquaine.
# Job availabilities: 1,152*

2. C#
# What it is: A general-purpose, compiled, object-oriented programming
language developed by Microsoft as part of its .NET initiative, it
evolved from C and C++
# Why you should learn it: It's an essential part of the .Net
framework. "Learning C#, which is just Java with a different name
plate, is critical if you heavily use Microsoft," said Duquaine.
# Job availabilities: 5,111

3. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
# What it is: Though technically not a programming language, AJAX uses
XHTML or HTML, JavaScript and XML to create interactive Web
applications.
# Why you should learn it: Ever since Google Maps put AJAX, well, on
the map, the requests for AJAX-knowledgeable pros went through the
roof. "The demand for AJAX knowledge is huge because it's so damned
hard to learn," said Huckaby. Of note, Microsoft announced recently
plans to release a tool named Atlas that will make AJAX easier to
implement. "If Microsoft's Atlas tool is successful, it would bring
the extreme complexity and annoyance of AJAX to the average worker,"
said Huckaby.
# Job availabilities : 1,106

4. JavaScript
# What it is: Not to be confused with Java, JavaScript is a an
object-oriented, scripting programming language that runs in the Web
browser on the client side. It's smaller than Java, with a simplified
set of commands, easier to code and doesn't have to be compiled.
# Why you should learn it: Embedded into HTML, it's used in millions
of Web pages to validate forms, create cookies, detect browsers and
improve the design. With its simplicity to learn as well as wide use,
it's considered a great bang for your educational buck.
# Job availabilities: 4,406

5. Perl
# What it is: Perl is an open-source, cross-platform, server-side
interpretive programming language used extensively to process text
through CGI programs.
# Why you should learn it: Perl's power in processing of piles of text
has made it very popular and widely used to write Web server programs
for a range of tasks. "Learning some form of scripting language, such
as Perl or PHP is critical if you are doing Web apps," said Duquaine.
# Job availabilities: 4,810

6. C
# What it is: A standardized, general-purpose programming language,
it's one of the most pervasive languages and the basis for several
others (such as C++).
# Why you should learn it: "Learning C is crucial. Once you learn C,
making the jump to Java or C# is fairly easy, because a lot of the
syntax is common. Also, a lot of C syntax is used in scripting
languages," said Duquaine.
# Job availabilities: 6,164, including all derivatives

7. Ruby and Ruby on Rails
# What they are: Ruby is a dynamic, object-oriented, open-source
programming language; Ruby on Rails is an open-source Web application
framework written in Ruby that closely follows the MVC
(Model-View-Controller) architecture.
# Why you should learn it: With a focus on simplicity, productivity
and letting the computers do the work, in a few years, its usage has
spread quickly. As a bonus, many find it easy to learn.
# Job availabilities : 210 and 54, respectively

8. Java
# What it is: An object-oriented programming language developed by
James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s.
# Why you should learn it: Hailed by many developers as a "beautiful"
language, it is central to the non-.Net programming experience.
"Learning Java is critical if you are non-Microsoft," said Duquaine.
# Job availabilities: 14,408

9. Python
# What it is: An interpreted, dynamically object-oriented, open-source
programming language that utilizes automatic memory management.
# Why you should learn it: Designed to be a highly readable,
minimalist language, many say it has a sense of humor (spam and eggs,
rather than foo and bar), Python is used extensively by Google as well
as in academia because of its syntactic simplicity.
# Job availabilities: 811

10. VB.Net (Visual Basic .Net)
# What it is: An object-oriented language implemented on Microsoft's
.Net framework.
# Why you should learn it: Most argue that VB.Net is currently more
popular than ever and one of the only "must-learns." "It is currently
dominating in adoption and that is where all the work is," said
Huckaby.
# Job availabilities: 2,090

* All numbers on job availability were pulled from nationwide queries
on Dice.com, a job site for technology professionals.

PointerCheck out eWEEK.com's Application Development Center for the
latest news, reviews and analysis in programming environments and
developer tools.

Reference: eweek.com

FREE AND OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE

2008-01-02T08:41:00.001+05:30

"FREE" is the word that most people love a lot. If they get anything for free, then they run after it without thinking what it is. One of the thing(s) that is distributed free all over the world is the Open-Source Software. To be more precise it is the Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS).

Many of the people are not using FOSS. According to survey more than 90% of the software found in the Nepalese and other sub-continental market is fulfilled by pirated proprietary software. People buy the software from gray market, burn them, rip them and use them again and again. Did you ever attempt to look what it says before you click "I agree" or "Accept" button? Are you doing the fight thing? Of course not, if not do you have any way out? How about using Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS)?

Some FAQ's and Their Answers:

1. What is Free and Open-Source Software?

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) gives freedom to user to use the software for any purpose, modify it as ones wish and redistribute copies of either original or modified one.

2. Is if Legal?

Of Course, Free and Open-Source Software is 100% legal and comes with license authorizing anyone to use, copy, improve, examine or distribute it, either free of cost or for certain price.

3. Is it something like sharing a book?

Yes, it's something like that. You share your books with your friends or borrow it from library and increase your knowledge. FLOSSphy supports freedom to share.

4. Can you share it freely with friends?

Yes, you can. Once you have a copy if it. You can do whatever you like with it.

5. Where is FOSS used?

Everywhere in institutions and contexts where security and reliability are prime concerns, such as at financial brokerages, stock exchanges, government research installations and electronic infrastructure, free software is the preferred, and in some cases the mandatory tool of choice. But nonetheless individual end-user who uses computers for any purpose can use free software. They can use it for print, audio, video, animation, email, word processing, archival, networking or for any purpose.

6. Why FOSS?

May be because of price of software.
May be you want to be able to do new things at your school and university and use these free software.
May be you are a software developer and want to develop world-class software at minimum time and resource.
May be you are educationists and want freely available software for schools and colleges, you can choose free software.
May be you need localize software for your work. You can use free software and get it localized via local developer rather than waiting only one vendor.
May be you are working for bank, business enterprise or government department and worried about the privacy of your data.
May be you are from social development community. You can use free software as it is developed by the collaborative effort of community.
May be you have opened a business and want to secede in service sector and you can provide services for free software and get paid for your services.
May be you are a government official and want that technology you selected is not vendor independent and avoid single point of failure (SPOF).
May be you are respected person and you don't use pirated (illegal) copies of software.

7. What are the options?

There are a lots of high quality Free and Open-Source Applications, many for which contain features you even don't get with commercial packages. Following are some of the FOSS applications that you should know about, they are available of Mac, Windows and NIX; so no matter what you are run about you can use them.

OpenOffice.org | http://openoffice.org

An Office Suit which is compatible with Microsoft Office. It contains extra functionality such as the ability to create PDF's and supports a much wider range of document formats.

The GIMP | http://gimp.org

GIMP (GNU Image manipulation program), is a graphics editing program similar to Photoshop.

Mozilla Firefox | http://getfirebox.com

Firefox is a web browser. It is much more secure and renders web pages faster and more correctly than internet explorer, as well as supporting many features that internet explorer doesn't support.

Thunderbird | http://mozilla.org

Mozilla thunderbird mail is similar to outlook express. By installing and using thunderbird you can keep yourself secure from e-mail viruses.

Internet Search

Google runs on 100,000+ computers running Linux. According to Netcraft, more than 60% of websites are using the Apache web server.

Audacity | http://www.audacity.org

It is sound editing and recording application.

Gaim | http://gaim.sourceforge.net/

Instant messenger which supports MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Jabber, IRC and so on..

Two Years into Web 2.0: What's next?

2007-12-18T22:05:00.001+05:30

Thousands of companies have emerged to move traditional applications to the web with new tools and capabilities. Intel® Capital is keeping close tabs on this market and making strategic investments in start-ups that can provide rich development tools, provide access to rich content, deliver new commerce capabilities, and create dynamic community platforms.

Leading analyst presents: Scalability and Sustainability

Presenting at a recent Intel Premier IT Professional local seminar in Miami, one of the industry's leading analysts explained how IT demands continue to scale as new technology makes new workloads possible. He also discussed a new twist - green IT.

Member Exclusive white paper: WAN Quality of Service

Intel IT implemented a Quality of Service (QoS) capability to improve application performance over our WAN and to prepare the WAN for Voice over IP (VoIP). To read about the results of this extensive testing and how we successfully minimized the negative impacts of network congestion and provided a more solid WAN core Click here .

Where high-performance automobiles and high-performance computing intersect

Intel and BMW have a high-performance technology relationship. In this latest member's exclusive presentation see how the two companies are collaborating on Future Data Center and Workplace, Mobility/Wireless, Car Integration (Infotainment and Services), and Innovation.

Northrop Grumman: Strong security a foundation for future growth

By building upon a solid foundation of security, data center consolidation, innovation and other best practices, Northrop Grumman strategically invests in the future via educational, workforce and other initiatives. Read more from this interview with Northrop Grumman Vice-president and CIO Tom Shelman , who explains how his company uses IT as a catalyst for faster growth.

Supercomputers like Intel® Core microarchitecture, and Multicores

On the day that Intel launched its latest family of Intel® Coremicroarchitecture based server chips , the world's Top 500 list of supercomputers showed that a total of 354 of these powerful systems are based on Intel processors, up from 289 in June and exceeding Intel's previous all time high of 333 in November 2005. 317 of the current top supercomputers are based on Intel Core microarchitecture, up 65 systems in just six months. Intel's quad-core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5300 Series showed the biggest jump, going from 19 to 102. Listen to the podtech.net podcast of Dr. Stephen Wheat , Director of the High-End High Performance Computing Program for Intel, as he takes a look at the technology surrounding the Intel Xeon 5400 Series.

What's new in security?

In another podtech.net podcast, Intel's Malcolm Harkins, responsible for Intel's information risk and security, and HP's Manny Novoa, distinguished technologist who focuses on platform security for business PCs, chat about the latest issues in security technologies, notably the emergence of hardware assisted virtualization.

Walking the Web 2.0 Walk

We're working to walk the walk as we continue to upgrade our members-only website with additional "web 2.0" features. If you haven't visited in the past month, you'll find we've implemented tagging to make it easier to find the most popular content on the site, aggregated the most recent IT@Intel blogs from Open Port, and made it easier to navigate and find content by resource type, topic or seminar location. Check it out here.

Microsoft vs. Google

2007-12-09T00:09:00.001+05:30

Microsoft and Google are having, what I would call from history class, an "Arms Race". The company's rivalry, although not very discrete, is reaching its heating points. They are competing for the way people will use technology in the future.

Microsoft

Microsoft is taking the competition very seriously, putting its money where its mouth is. Microsoft with its high budget and brains has the advantage over the competition, but word has it that Google is leading. The fight for the top is narrowing, and will end up coming down to who ever releases first in the world of the internet. The Microsoft CEO takes the matters very seriously. He has thrown a chair across the room because of a meeting with an engineer who was speaking of working with Google. Though he said he didn't do it, who would admit to doing it...? Exactly.

Google

Google hired Kai-Fu Lee, the vice president of Microsoft, to set up a Research Center which is what started the whole entire problem. He worked for Google long before he was with Microsoft. Google's product and advancements are becoming threats to Microsoft. Besides the search engine, Google is trying to fix the problem that many people have. Microsoft, isn't working well with them. Plain and simple. On the other hand, Microsoft isn't enjoying the competition. The company's goal is to organize information, and make it accessible to the people easier, and more reliable.

FREE TOOL OFFERS 'EASY' CODING

2007-12-07T01:39:00.000+05:30

-By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News

A free programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks has been developed.

Primarily aimed at children, Scratch does not require prior knowledge of complex computer languages.

Instead, it uses a simple graphical interface that allows programs to be assembled like building blocks.

The digital toolkit, developed in the US at MIT's Media Lab, allows people to blend images, sound and video.

"Computer programming has been traditionally seen as something that is beyond most people - it's only for a special group with technical expertise and experience," said Professor Mitchel Resnick, one of the researchers at the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT.

"We have developed Scratch as a new type of programming language, which is much more accessible."

Child's play

The explosion in broadband connectivity has fuelled the growth of websites that offer rich media experiences, including video and animations.

"These days, kids interact with all kinds of dynamic things on screen but it is usually a one-way street - they are usually interacting with things that other people have created," said Professor Resnick, who also invented Lego Mindstorms, a robotics toolkit often used in teaching.

"With Scratch we want to let kids to be the creators. We want them to create interesting dynamic things on the computer."

The program works by making the act of creating a computer program more like building with Lego bricks.

"Kids make programs by snapping blocks together," said Professor Resnick, whose position is in part supported by the toy company.

Objects and characters, chosen from a menu and created in a paint editor or simply cut and pasted off the web, are animated by snapping together different "action" blocks into stacks.

"They don't have to worry about the obscure punctuation and syntax common in most programming languages," he said.

Each block contains a separate command, such as "move" or "play drum" and each action can be modified from a drop-down menu. Blocks can only be stacked if they fit together.

So, for example, if someone wanted to animate a cat walking across the screen they could modify the move block to tell the cat to walk forward 10 steps.

If they then wanted the cat to bang a drum as it walked, they could stack the play-drum block underneath, choosing a sound for the instrument and how long each beat should last.

Other actions, such as speaking, changing colour or triggering music, can then be added to complete the animation.

Mix and match

Scratch is inspired by the method hip hop DJs use to mix and scratch records to create new sounds.

With Scratch, our goal is to allow people to mix together all kinds of media, not just sounds, in creative ways," said Professor Resnick.

"We want people to start from existing materials - grabbing an image, grabbing some sound, maybe even bits of someone else's program and then extending them and mixing them to make them their own."

Digital creations can then be shared on a site where users can watch other creations and even borrow elements from other Scratch projects to act as raw materials for their own.

"Kids like to share stuff on the web and I think that is a very strong element of Scratch," said Professor Nigel Shadbolt, of the University of Southampton and President of the British Computer Society (BCS).

He believes that it will be a useful tool for teaching children about computational thinking and enthusing "the next generation" of IT professionals.

"The thing that's very difficult for children encountering programming for the first time is that it is very unforgiving," said Professor Shadbolt.

"A program doesn't congratulate you for the 90% that you got right. It fails for the 10% you got wrong. So an environment where you are essentially assembling components that can only be configured in set ways takes some of that hardship away."

And for those that want to get stuck into something that looks more like traditional code there are sites like HacketyHack.

The site teaches children to code in a language called Ruby. There are seven free lessons, including one that allows them to develop a blog with just six lines of code.

"All of these environments are about getting kids to approach the world in a systematic and a structured way," said Professor Shadbolt.

Scratch is now available to download for free and works with both Apple Macs and Windows PCs.

A version of the tool is also currently being developed for the XO laptop, designed by the One Laptop Per Child Project.

Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) And Its Feasibility In Nepal For Telecenters

2007-12-07T00:46:00.001+05:30

- IOE FOSS Community, Pulchowk Campus

Traditional approach for computer labs:

The traditional approach to a computer access points is to buy the required number of identical computers and install required software into it. While this system works fine, the approach turns out to be expensive due to the following reasons.

Software Replicas

The same software, including the Operating System (OS), is installed in each computer. More the copies, the more money is spent on software licensing.

Wasteful processor time

A desktop PC that is used for none other than simple word-processing and tasks alike, takes no more than 20% of the processor time on average. So clearly, a lot of money is wasted on processor, which remains idle most of the time.

Identical configuration

To run the required software each computer has to be powerful enough. There is no provision for centralizing the processing task on a central computer and using low cost hardware on the rest.

A New Approach – LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project)

To overcome the drawbacks of the traditional approach mentioned above, our proposed system follows the following approach.

Server

The Server is the central computer that contains all the software and disk space required for all other computers. The most important point is that this server also does all the processing jobs required for other computers. Therefore, we have a centralized system, which shares the software, disk space, processor time and configurations with all other computers that makes up the system.

Workstation

Workstations are usually diskless computer having low processing power and speed. They are connected to the server all the time and in fact rely on the server for all their processing. That means, whatever work is done on the workstation is actually done on the server and the workstation is used just to display the output and take input from the user.

How is this possible!

The proposed server workstation approach is possible due to the Open Source Technology and the Linux operating system. Due to free availability and null licensing costs, the overall cost is cut down drastically. While not possible in proprietary software like Microsoft Windows, the Linux Operating System can be modified to fit the proposed model, as the source code is available.

The software that makes the Linux Operating System support multiple workstations is LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project). LTSP provide the technical staff with a much simpler installation procedure. LTSP contains pre-packaged compilation of all the needed software and necessary components, making installation much easier. Furthermore, LTSP is well supported and easy to use and install.

LTSP supports a network of terminals and server, consisting of

i X terminals, with LTSP client software

ii Linux Server with LTSP package installed

When an LTSP terminal is turned on, it acquires the boot information from the server and loads the required Linux kernel image to boot the terminal. This provides the technical staff with the flexibility to use the diskless terminals to create a network. The main concern created by this kind of setup is the consideration about the availability of required bandwidth over the network. Using this configuration, it is not practical to run resource and bandwidth hungry applications like watching DVD. However for normal applications used in day to day computing the bandwidth is apt.

Advantages

Manageability

i Installation and upgrading of software is considerably easier. It is only necessary to upgrade the software on the server rather than on each individual workstation.

ii Monitoring the software on the network is also easier as there is only one machine to monitor (the server computer) rather than all the workstations. This is also advantageous when trying to carry out software audit and provides some consistency across the network.

Security

i It is more difficult to introduce viruses to a thin client network, as there are less points of entry to the network; workstations do not have operable disk drives so viruses cannot be introduced through virus-infected disks. This is particularly useful in a publicly accessible environment when you wish to restrict publics' use of disks.

ii The hardware used for workstations are considered less desirable to thieves than PCs and therefore less likely to be stolen.

Administrator control

i Users cannot load their own applications or change configuration settings without the administrator's permission. This in turn helps to prevent unauthorized use of software or the introduction of unlicensed software to the network.

ii As the administrator to the terminal clients can define different access levels, the terminals are under full supervision of the administrator.

Ease of upgrade/reduction of downtime

i It is relatively easy to add another workstation to the network and software to be installed on the workstation can often be done from a central location (i.e. server).

ii Faulty units can simply be replaced without the need to diagnose faults at the machine.

Energy saving

i Computers used as workstation use considerably less energy than standard PCs because they perform very little processing. Various studies have shown that a workstation machine can use as little as 10 - 20 watts of electricity an hour compared to up to 280 watts an hour on a PC.

The key factor - Low Cost

As we can see that there is only one central high-end computer and diskless low-end computers can be deployed as the workstations, the cost is cut down considerably. The low cost of this system is also seen on the long term as follows;

i. If the system has to be upgraded, only the server has to be upgraded.

ii. Software installation and configuration is done only in the server so this saves costs spent on labor.

iii. Since the workstations are diskless and have fewer moving parts, they last longer.

iv. The workstations consume considerably less electricity.

v. Due very low cost of terminals, the cost of addition of new terminal is very nominal

vi. Any upgrade in the future is required only for the server.

Feasibility of LTSP in Nepal and Telecenters

All over the world, there are thousands of success stories about LTSP. Many countries around the world have used Linux and LTSP to setup labs for use in schools as computer labs and for use in public domain for open computer access. Due to the low cost and effectiveness of this setup, there are already few computer labs in Nepal, which are running on LTSP. These labs have been established in government schools in remote areas of Nepal. Among these labs, Help Nepal Network, a NGO working in educational and health sector of Nepal, has established two labs one in Dang and other in Bhaktapur based on LTSP for providing students with ICT access. In addition, Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya also has already established one lab in Phulchoki, Lalitpur and Dailekh

All these labs running LTSP has had a problem free run ever since the installation till now despite the fact that administrators running these labs are trainee teachers and their primary beneficiaries students, who have had no prior experience with any kind of IT gadgets let alone the computers. The success stories of these LTSP labs in Nepal, has proved both the effectiveness and sustainability of labs based on LTSP.

In the context of telecenters, since major beneficiary of these labs will be people with little or no knowledge about computers, this type of lab will provide them with a better learning prospect and the administrators a better control over the lab for maintaining the integrity of the lab. For all the reasons mentioned above and many other reasons, LTSP can provide telecenter project in Nepal with a very effective solutions. This can help the concerned authority achieve the goal of establishing a telecenter in each VDC more effectively and in a cost effective manner. Hence, LTSP can provide an infrastructure for telecenter project, which will be both robust and efficient.

LET'S MAKE iT FOSSIBLE!!

2007-11-15T12:22:00.000+05:30

Do you have the license of operating system and other software running on your computer? I guess you are not astonished by this question. Are you? Yes, friends as we need license to drive bike, car or any other vehicles. Likewise we should have license to use the software. We know a driving license can be used by only one person. Similarly, software can be used by only one person. In other words, software cannot be installed in many computers according to EULA [End User License Agreement].

In the context of Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and many other underdeveloped countries of the world, people use pirated software. Legal action can be taken against them. Software may cost more than a computer’s hardware in these countries. Then what??? Shall we stop using computer? No, of course not, it’s better to use FOSS [Free Open Source Software].

FOSS gives freedom to the user to run the software for any purpose, modify them and then redistribute the modified ones. And yes this is cent percent legal. The license authority of such software allows anyone to use, copy, modify and distribute either free of cost or for certain amount.

FOSS may or may not be free cent percent. For example, on 15^th Sept, 2007 Software Freedom Day was marked in Yalamaya Kendra of Patan Dhoka. This was the fourth world Software Freedom Day celebration. In that program, several software and operating systems like Open Suse, Ubuntu, etc were distributed free of cost to the visitors while some other like Nepali Linux was charged NRs. 15. This was the cost of CD but not the software.

Foss has many advantages. First and foremost one is that it is free of virus. No virus has been developed for FOSS till date. Secondly you can use it for free. You don’t have to pay great amount for it. Like wise you can distribute it freely among your friends and relatives. The license of such software gives the authority to use and share it freely. Finally the new generation programmers can modify it, make it even more user friendly and error less.

Thus for a country like Nepal, the concept of FOSS is excellent. It will give much more benefits to people if they get used to with it. For that firstly we should shift ourselves to FOSS. So people LETS MAKE iT FOSSIBLE.

The History of Computer in Nepal

2007-11-13T23:54:00.000+05:30

The history of computer in Nepal is not that old since Nepal has not given any contribution in the development of evolution of computer. It was in 2028 B.S. when HMG brought IBM 1401 (a Second Generation computer) on rent for Rs. 1 lakhs and 25 thousand per month to process census data. Later the computer was bought by National Computer Center (NCC). In 2038 B.S., a fourth generation computer was imported with the aid of UNDP and UNFPA from England for 20 lakhs US dollars. Its name was ICL 2950/10. This computer had 64 terminals and it is kept in museum now.

At that time British Government helped to develop manpower of NCC. In the meantime Nepalese students went to India, Thailand and USA for the computer education themselves. In 2039 B.S., microcomputers such as Apple, Vector, Sins, etc were imported by private companies and individuals. Many private companies like Computer Consultancy (CC), Management Information Processing System (MIPS), Data System International (DSI), etc were established. Such private companies started selling computers and training people in other to produce manpower in Nepal itself.

Nowadays, computers with faster processing and larger storage are found cheaply in Nepalese market. Students are given computer education from school level. At present Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) is the governing body of Nepal.

The History/Evolution of Computer

2007-11-13T23:44:00.000+05:30

Computer is a digital and automatic machine that takes input from user, process, stores if necessary and gives output in useful form. The word computer came from Latin that means calculate. The computers are developed as a result of man’s necessity for a faster way to calculate because “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

In the past, people used some common ways of calculation. They used to count using their fingers or arranged stones in piles or row. They also drew lines on the ground, cut notches in sticks or tied knots in strings in other to keep the record of quantity of things.

Some important calculating devices or inventions made before the manufacture of modern computers are as follows:

Abacus: Abacus is a portable device that consists of beads strung on wires or wooden rods. It can be used to calculate rapidly and accurately add, subtract and multiply and divide too. It is believed that it was invented in between 2000 to 5000 years ago in China, Egypt and Greece. Abacus has two parts namely the heaven and the earth. Heaven is the part above the mid bar, which consists of beads of value 5 each. And the earth is the part below the mid bar, which consists of beads of value 1 each.

Napier’s Bone: John Napier, a Scottish Mathematician invented logarithms in 1614. He devised a device for multiplication aids, which consists bones. So, it was called Napier’s Bone.

The Slide Rule: In 1620, William Oughtred invented the slide rule, which worked on the principle of logarithms. It consists of two graduated scales of one, which slides upon the other. It was an analog device.

Pascaline: Blaise Pascal was a son of tax controller. So to help his father in his work he devised a calculating machine which used wheels named Pascaline. This was believed to be the first true calculating machine. Pascaline could add and subtract easily by moving wheels.

Leibniz’s Calculator: Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, a German mathematician invented a calculating machine which was able to perform true multiplication and division. In addition to Pascaline it could multiply, divide and fine square roots. In between 1802-1804 Joseph Jacquard, a French textile manufacturer built a mechanical means of automatically controlling weaving looms to facilitate the production of woven cloth with complex patterns.

Analytical Engine: Charles Babbage (1792-1871), English mathematician is considered to be the father of computer science. Babbage started to make Differential Engine but due to lack of necessary parts he couldn’t complete it. However he was able to devise analytical engine, which was a general-purpose automatic calculator. He had the concept of using binary digits (Bits), which is used in modern computers. His valuable ideas can be summarized in the following points:

To give data and program instruction via a device using a suitable medium like punch cards.
The storage facility for data and instructions.
Use of mechanised unit for calculation – a “mill”
Use of a suitable output device.

These ideas were used by Howard Aiken to develop Mark-I.

Lady Augusta Ada Lovelace: Lady Augusta was the student of Charles Babbage. She was the one to recognize the importance of analytical engine. She pursued the use of binary digits. She is believed to be the first programmer and her program was used in American defense.

Dr. Herman Hollerith: Dr. Herman Hollerith was a census statistician at the U.S census bureau in the mid 1880s. He proposed a mechanised solution to the problem, which was based upon equipment handling punched cards. His machine was called electromechanical computer or Hollerith’s Tabulation Machine. In 1896, he founded the Tabulating Machine Company. After he sold TMC it was named International Business Machine (IBM) Corporation, which is so far the largest computer manufacturing company.

Electromechanical Computers: In 1937, Howard Aiken set out to build an automatic calculating machine to combine electrical and mechanical technology. With the help of graduate students and IBM engineers, the project was completed in 1944 and the machine was named Mark-I. It was 51 ft long, 8 ft high and 3ft wide. Its weight was 32 tones.

Dr. Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of Physics and Mathematician collaborated with Clifford Berry and devised a machine called Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). The ABC was specially designed to solve simultaneous equations.

During 1940 and 1941, the Atanasoff and Berry met with John W. Mauchly and showed their work. Mauchly teamed up with J. Presper Eckert Jr. to construct ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator). In ENIAC, 18000 vacuum tubes were used and it could calculate 300 times faster than any other device of the time. Decimal system was use in ENIAC.

Electronic Computer: Mauchly, Eckert and company set out to build a machine with stored program capability. The machine EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) was completed after several years in 1951. EDSAV (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer) had first stored program electronic computer.

In the decade of 1950 to 1960 many computer manufacturers attempted to produce more reliable, accurate and fast machine for data manipulation. In USA many government, non-government and private offices and companies started to use computers for data processing as well as desktop publishing. These computers were called First Generation Computer, which laid to foundation of present day Forth Generation Computer, and we are expecting a new era of computers with parallel processors and artificial intelligence in Fifth Generation Computer.

*The End*