Half a century ago, American aerospace achieved unprecedented breakthroughs and developments in Cold War , and manned moon landing shocked the world. At that time, people expressed great interest in the Apollo , which was full of technology, but ignored the core of this spacecraft - the computer system .
The magical "Little Overlord"
The spaceship in the science fiction movie is full of technology, and the dazzling computer participation system attracts people's attention, but the real scene half a century ago is completely different. Apollo spacecraft's computer only has 4kb of memory. The photos taken by modern people on mobile phones may exceed 1mb, and 1mb is equivalent to 1024k, which means that the memory of the computer that landed on the moon back then was not as good as a fraction of a photo now!
This computer that shines in the moon landing project weighs 32kg, which is heavier than standard-packaged rice. It looks very bulky now, but at that time the world was an unimaginable era beyond the times! When the world's first computer was launched in 1946, people were impressed by its super computing power, and were also shocked by the "body size" of this big guy. The weight of more than 30 tons is the same as the house, making people think that this is what the computer will look like in the future.
However, the rapid development of technology has changed the size of computers. For example, China's first 150 machine with a million-level computing power capacity is only a few hundred kilograms, which greatly improves the concept of computer bulkiness. , but you should know that the 150 machine was actually put into use in 1972, and the Apollo landed on the moon in 1969. It can be seen how powerful the computer is!
, the world's most advanced computer at that time, was responsible for computing the orbit to the moon, and constantly correcting parameters based on the actual observation data of astronauts to prevent external factors from changing the route of the spacecraft . also has an auxiliary computer, which is responsible for sending instructions to the spacecraft's system to realize the manual operation of astronauts.
In addition to this original calculator, Apollo Shanghai is equipped with a read-only memory with 72kb memory. The memory of seems equally incredible now, because its storage core is woven from a "rope"! The original memory of is called "core rope memory", and data output is performed by pulling the rope on the chip. Hundreds of programmers enter the programs needed for Apollo when flying in advance, and astronauts can call them through computers when using them.
It is these technologies that seem to be so soil-drained that have pushed human spaceflight to the top, and even today when science and technology explodes, manned landing on the moon cannot be reproduced. Then 4kb can achieve moon landing. Where do computers with hundreds of gb or even more memory use memory now?
is no longer a "computer" computer
News released by Apple phones says that the next generation of Apple phones will have 1t of memory, increasing the storage volume of mobile phones to a new era. and the memory of the calculator is even more crazy. There was a 1t hard drive ten years ago. Today, as long as you have money, you can increase the memory or storage space, as big as possible. The size of the
computer is also shrinking. After the concept of third-generation calculator in the 1970s, home computers have entered thousands of households, and the size of a shoe box can accommodate almost all the components.
So why does the increasingly powerful computer now look worse than the 4kb "Little Overlord" computer that Apollo landed on the moon? The reason for is that computers are no longer just used for calculations.
During the moon landing flight that year, the computer only needs to process data, such as the length of the flight orbit, correction of influencing factors, etc. These data are only numbers, and the computer only needs to perform calculations. And only one set of data is processed at a time. When two data are needed at the same time, the principle of "come first and come later" must be followed.
Today's computers are much more "tired", and image processing and parallel computing work are very complicated. Since Microsoft proposed the concept of Windows system, this operation and expression has been loved by almost everyone in the world.It requires a function that can be easily achieved by clicking on the icon. A lot of calculations are required behind it to mobilize the pixel points on the monitor and arrange them into the picture we need.
These operations far exceed simple mathematical formulas and require huge processor support. According to the minimum system configuration requirements of Windows released by Microsoft, the processor needs 1 gigahertz or faster, and the memory requires 1 GB (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit). This requirement is only to ensure that the Windows system is running normally, that is, clicking the icon can respond, that's all.
Another very consuming computer memory is "parallel" computing. The common thing is that when we play with mobile phones, the desktop is a wonderful variety show in the player. When we see excitement, we need to use the input method to shoot a barrage. At the same time, we remind friends to make an appointment with hot pot at night. all these can be achieved by simultaneous computing of the processor and memory. It can only be calculated as a set of data as mentioned above, but is not the same order of magnitude as the Apollo computer mentioned above.
When more than two softwares are running at the same time, the use of processor and memory also requires higher configurations. For example, only opening WeChat, the CPU usage rate only requires 10% of computing power, and opening the video software at the same time, the CPU may reach its peak instantly. is like entering the classroom door. It only takes a few minutes to line up to enter, but you may not be able to get in for a long time, and everyone is blocked outside the door.
It is obvious that "queuing" is not allowed to use software when using mobile phones or computers, so there is only one way to "widen the door", which is what we often call increasing memory. The history of world computers has also rolled forward with the advancement of memory.
past and future memory
humans have been looking for ways to efficiently store messages since their birth. 45,000 years ago, the murals of Indonesian recorded the common animals in people's lives at that time. Later, text gradually emerged, and cuneiform slate recorded more information. Until the 19th century, British mathematician Charles Babbage invented the punch card to record numbers, which is the predecessor of the computer, the "mechanical punching computer", which can record 675 bytes of information. After
After humans developed on this basis and used storage information to improve work efficiency. The most famous successful case of is the third American census in 1900. Each mechanical computer can replace 500 workers and completed the statistics within one year. The last census took seven years!
After Austrian An engineer invented the drum memory, which directly guided humans to develop rapidly towards electronic computers. The earliest electronic computer memory consisted of complex structures such as mercury delay lines, cathode ray oscilloscopes, electrostatic memory, drum , and was a product limited by technology at that time. It was not until 1950 that the emergence of magnetic core memory truly brought this technology and the entire computer technology to the whole world. Although technology giants such as
IBM, Samsung and other tech giants are well-known in computer memory, they are hesitant at the business level. The reason is that computer terminals are like tanks, which will bring huge profits with upgrades and iterations, while memory is like gasoline. Although it will be sold with the computer, the technology iteration is not fast, the market price fluctuates greatly, and the market will have great uncertainty in the future.
The future of computers has arrived. Google , Microsoft, IBM and other technologies oligopoly has achieved remarkable achievements in the quantum computer project, and memory is the first part of it to be changed. The currently known quantum computer can use 256-bit storage units to record the entire earth's information, and complete scientific operations that can only be completed by traditional computers in three minutes. Although quantum computers are still in the experimental stage at present, I believe that they will come to our lives in the near future.
Human wisdom is a miracle in the development of the universe, and computers are one of the highest achievements of human wisdom. The future universe exploration requires more powerful computer support, and I believe quantum computers will shine.Human beings boldly explored in the vast space, created unimaginable achievements, and continued to move forward in the future.
Author: Old Dream Talk Proofreader: Chuanchuan
