Verbs to remember

to modify

to place

to be termed

to provide

to run

Task 1 Form the verbs:

Example: processing – to process

development – to develop

difference – to differ

Improvement – execution – provision – programming – operation –

generation – discussion – translation – resistance –

Task 2 Read the text and answer the following questions.

1 How do you understand the term «interleaving»?

2 What kind of instructions do second-generation computers have?

3 What were two important features of second-generation machines?

4 What is parallel processing technique?

5 What kind of characteristics became feasible with second generation computers?

Task 3 Explain the following in English:

1 Interleaving

2 I/O programs

3 Batch processing

4 Parallel processing

Task 4 Prepare a short talk on the following.

a) One of the important improvements of second generation computers was batch processing. What kind of mode operation was termed batch processing?

b) Why was parallel processing technique so important?

c) What kind of characteristics of second generation computers you think to be the most important?

Task 5 Write down 5-7 questions about the text.

Task 6 Sum up the text “The second generation: 1957-1964”.

TEXT 1 SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT (PART 1)

Scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories, led by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley, developed in 1948 the first junction transistor. The potential advantage of the transistor over the vacuum tube was almost as great as that of the vacuum tube over the relay. The invention of the transistor made computers more widespread because of its dependability, small size, and lower power requirements. Therefore, the second generation was characterized mainly by the change from vacuum tube to transistor technology. Several other important developments also occurred.

Second-generation computers were faster, had increased storage capacity, and required less power to operate. Cathode ray tube and delay line memories of first-generation computers were replaced by ferrite cores as the primary internal storage medium. Cores are very small doughnut-shaped rings of magnetic material on which thin wires are wound. An electrical current passing through the wires magnetizes the core to represent either an ON or OFF state. In this way, groups of cores store instructions and data that can be located and retrieved for processing in a few mil­liseconds—much faster than with magnetic drum storage.

In many second-generation systems, the main memory of the computer was supplemented by using magnetic tapes for external, or auxiliary, storage. Substituting magnetic tapes for punched cards or punched paper tapes increased I/O processing speeds by a factor of at least 50. Other significant changes that occurred during this period were the development of magnetic disk storage, modular hardware, and improved I/O devices. The main advantage of disk storage is that it enables the user to locate a particular record on a set of disks, rotating at high speeds, in a fraction of a second. Unlike a magnetic tape, records on a disk do not have to be processed sequentially. The computer can go directly to the record it needs without having to read everything that comes before it. Thus disks provide direct, or random, access to records in a file.

The modular hardware concept involved using a building-block approach to the design of electronic circuits. With this approach, complete modules (breadboards) could be replaced, thus simplifying maintenance tasks. The improvement in I/O devices could be seen in faster printing speeds and automatic detection and correction of I/O errors. These advances allowed the devices to be connected directly (online) to the computer without significantly lowering the overall efficiency of the system. Special I/O processors were introduced to supervise I/O operations, thus freeing the CPU from many time-consuming bookkeeping functions. The use of an index register and floating-point arithmetic hardware became widespread.

Vocabulary

Terms and phrases to remember:

power requirements

transistor technology

cathode ray tube

ferrite code

primary internal storage medium

external/auxiliary storage

magnetic disk storage

overall efficiency

in a fraction of

sequential

random access

online

index register

Words you may need:

junction transistor – плоскостной транзистор

dependability – надежность

doughnut-shaped rings – кольца тороидальной формы

modular hardware – модульная аппаратура

building block approach – метод стандартных блоков

complete modules (breadboards) – готовые модули (макеты)

bookkeeping functions – бухгалтерские функции

to be wounded – быть намотанным

to retrieve – искать, выбирать

to be supplemented by – быть дополненным

Verbs to remember:

to occur to be replaced by to simplify to allow

to substitute to rotate to locate

Auxiliary words:

Unlike	over	other
Widespread	because of	either … or
Almost	therefore	thus
as great as	also	without

Task 1 Find in the text English equivalents for the following
Russian phrases.

Разработали первый плоскостной транзистор; преимущество вакуумной трубки над реле; благодаря транзисторам компьютеры стали использоваться более широко; надежность, малая мощность; характеризовалась главным образом; транзисторная технология; катодно-лучевые трубки; ферритовый сердечник; кольцо тороидальной формы; электрический ток, проходя по …; положение «включено», «выключено»; память на магнитных барабанах; использование магнитных лент; заменяя магнитные ленты на перфокарты; скорость обработки; позволяет пользователю разместить; вращающийся на большой скорости; без необходимости считывать; обеспечивать прямой доступ; концепция модульной аппаратуры; включать; метод стандартных блоков; создание электронных схем; с помощью данного подхода; упрощая задачи обслуживания; непосредственно подключенные к; без значительного снижения общей эффективности системы; трудоемкий; индексный регистр; арифметические действия с плавающей точкой.

Task 2 Comment on the following:

1 How did transistor technology change computers?

2 What were the main changes that occurred in most second-generation computers?

Task 3 Find 5 sentences with passive construction in the text and translate them into Russian.

Task 4 Write down the Past forms of the verbs written below:

to lead -	to replace -	can -
to develop -	to wind -	to need -
to make -	to pass -	to have -
to characterize -	to represent -	to read -
to occur -	to store -	to come -
to increase -	to locate -	to provide -
to require -	to retrieve -	to design
to operate -	to substitute -	to simplify -
to lower -	to go -	to consume -

Task 5 Single out the main points of the text. While giving the information you think important use the following phrases:

The text looks at…

According to the text…

We should specify that…

One of the main points is…

We shouldn’t forget that…

The text deals with…

TEXT 2 THE SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS
HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT (PART 2)

Along with the refinements in hardware, second-generation computers were also characterized by further refinements in programming languages. Second-generation computers often used high-level languages to instruct the computer on how to perform processing tasks. High-level languages resembled English much more than symbolic languages and hence were easier to use. The first high-level language to achieve widespread acceptance was FORTRAN (Formula Translator), developed in the mid-1950s by IBM. libraries, and batch monitors.1954. The first transistorized digital computer, The version of the language known as FORTRAN IV was standardized in 1963 and is still used extensively for scientific applications. Because FORTRAN lacked many features desirable for business data processing, another language, called COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language), was developed in 1961. This language was geared toward processing large numbers of business transactions easily. ALGOL (Algorithmic Language) and APL (A Programming Language) were developed in 1960 as scientific languages. With these languages, computer manufacturers began to provide system software such as compilers, subroutine TRADIC, was built by Bell Laboratories.

1958. The National Cash Register computer NCR 304 was delivered. It was the first commercial transistorized digital computer.

I960. The IBM 1401 was delivered, and many thousands of this small tran­sistorized computer were sold. IBM also delivered the 7090, a transistorized scientific computer using magnetic core memory with over 32,000 36-bit words of storage.

The TRANSAC S-2000 was manufactured by Philco Corporation. This was a large-scale, scientific, stored-program, transistorized digital computer with magnetic core storage. The CDC 1604 was delivered by Control Data Corporation. This was a transistorized machine with a 48-bit word length.

The ATLAS computer system, built at the University of Manchester in England, was introduced. It incorporated a technique for performing program overlays auto­matically, which is known today as virtual memory. With main memories becoming larger and cheaper, the concept of virtual memory was expanded to facilitate mul­tiprogramming.

1960-1961. The UNTVAC LARC (Livermore Atomic Research Computer) and IBM 7030 (STRETCH) computers were delivered. These rival machines were very large transistorized computers for their time. Only two LARC and seven STRETCH machines were delivered, serving as test vehicles for many features found in third-generation computers.

1964. The CDC 6600 computer was delivered to the Livermore AEC Lab­oratory. This machine was more than three times as powerful as the IBM 7030 computer. It could execute, on the average, more than 3 million instructions per second and achieved this effective speed by its parallel architecture, which had multiple arithmetic and logical units and used ten small computers for I/O operations.

Terms and phrases to remember:

programming languages
high level languages
to perform processing tasks
symbolic languages
widespread acceptance
version of the language
scientific applications
business data processing
Compiler
Subroutine library
transistorized digital computer
virtual memory
Multiprogramming
parallel architecture
Word length

Words you may need:

refinement – уточнение batch monitor – монитор пакетного режима program overlay – оверлейный сегмент программы test vehicle – контрольный аппарат to be geared – быть приспособленным

Verbs to remember:

to be characterized

to instruct

to resemble

to achieve

to be standardized

to lack

to be introduced

to incorporate

to be sold

to overlay

to be manufactured

to incorporate

Auxiliary words:

Further	As… as	Because
Hence	much more	on the average
Forward	More than

Task 1 Use the verbs in brackets in passive construction:

1 Computers (to characterize) by further refinements in programming languages.

2 FORTRAN (to develop) in the mid – 1905 s by IBM.

3 Special I/O processors (to introduce) to supervise I/O operations.

4 I/O instructions (to store) in main memory.

5 The results (to place) on a magnetic tape.

6 A small auxiliary computer (to use) to process the input and output magnetic tapes offline.

7 This technique (to know) today as virtual memory.

8 These features (can find) in third generation computers.

9 Only some of them (to deliver) by the corporation this year.

10 The concept of virtual memory (to expand) to facilitate multiprogramming.

Task 2 The following suffixes are used to form different parts of speech:

nouns: -ty; -er; -ment; -tion; -sion;

adjectives: -able; -ance; -ing; -ic; -al;

verbs: -ize/ise

There are some words in the chart. With the help of the suffixes above fill in the gaps.

Noun	Adjective		Noun	Adjective
Desire				resist
	computable		acceptance
technology				manufacture
program				achieve
accessibility			standardization
	Magnetic			provide
	scientific instructive			perform

Noun	Verb	Adjective
Avail	avail
	to access
development
		computable
Operation		operating
	to symbolize
	to signify	significant

Task 3 Remember the names of different programming languages and their meanings.

Fortran – formula translator, Cobol – common business-oriented language, ALGOL – algorithmic language, APL – a program language

Task 4 Match the verbs from (A) with the nouns from (B).

A	B
to characterize to program to instruct to develop to provide to standardize to incorporate to perform to execute to achieve	a version a program instructions a technique effective speech a language subroutine library computers scientific applications a computer

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