Chapter 8 7 Future world

Until now, what kind of concept do you have about computers?I believe it is still in the fog.Yes, I don't know if you have an experience?After groping in the vast fog for a long time, I suddenly smelled the fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus. Don't be fooled, it's almost impossible in real life.Because cinnamon and pink are difficult to relate, I insist on bringing them together today, just to let you understand that computers are a hodgepodge.You must not think that a computer is a computer, but it is not that simple! Let me analyze the computer in another direction, this time I want to explain its function.If you can understand by analogy, you are immediately free to use this patchwork method to develop more valuable computers.Of course, it may not be called a computer at that time, but I would like to solemnly tell you that you must enrich the basic theory and don't try to grasp it at your fingertips.

You must have seen an English typewriter, fifty-four or more keys, connected to a lever.With a light press, the shape formed by the tip of the lever will pass through the ribbon and be printed on the white paper. Well, let us simplify the above plot to avoid trivial explanations later.We call the fifty-four buttons a keyboard, the action of pressing the keyboard is called input, and printing the words on paper is called output. Obviously, the typing of the mechanical action is integrated. When it comes to electric typewriters, in some models, the input and output parts can be separated.If I'm worried about disturbing others when I'm working (you know the sound of a typewriter is not pleasant), I put the keyboard on the table, and put the output in the yard, and then use a wire to pass the input signal to the output.Do you know what I just invented?Long-distance electric typewriter, also known as teletypewriter, is an important information tool.

Don't underestimate it, it depends on it to command the army to fight, it depends on it to conduct overseas business, and most of our news, intelligence, and materials today rely on it.Of course, there is not just a wire between the input and output, but extremely complex and sophisticated equipment.However, the principle is as simple as that! Let's go back to the table, press a button, and the words are typed into the yard.Here comes the question, how do I know if I am right or wrong?Or hit there?The easiest way is to type each word and memorize each word, and be very careful.You will say, what is this for?Just write it down and forget it, what else to type?good!Just because someone thinks this way, he hopes to record it after typing it. This seemingly meaningless work is an important step.

The earliest recording method is the same as the current development, which is to punch holes in the paper tape (please note that I am just trying to pull the sweet-scented osmanthus and the peach blossom together. The French who invented the paper tape punching in 1745 did not typewriter game). IBM Corporation applied it to the input technology, and this burden has not been lost in some systems until today! The storage efficiency of paper cards was not high, and later there were inventions such as magnetic soy and magnetic cores.Today, magnetic disk tape and integrated circuits are popular. In the future, it depends on what new ideas you have.

After typing can be stored again, another problem arises, can we see it at any time?If we can, we can do another thing, that is, we don't have to print it out immediately, and wait until I have all typed it out and print it out again.This has many advantages. If I find this material is not good, I don't have to print it.If an error is found, it can be changed. How can we do this? This leads to another important invention, the cathode ray tube.You must have seen TV, and what the TV shows you is the electronic scanning afterimage of cathode rays.When the electron beam moves at high speed in a vacuum, it obeys the laws of the magnetic field, and we can control it at will, so it has become the most commonly used visual display.With a cathode ray tube, all we have to do is pass the input symbols into the electron beam and it will be visible to us.

The display that displays the data for us to watch is the display, and in some cases it can also be called a terminal, which means that the destination has been reached. Often, the terminal is with the keyboard so that it is immediately visible.In this case, the output section can be independent.Because it is no longer necessary to print it out immediately, and it is even very convenient to display it on the screen, the demand for printing on paper is relatively reduced, and it becomes not the most important function, so it becomes an accessory device. But the data still needs to be stored in the memory. There are many kinds of memory, and integrated circuits are the most commonly used nowadays.Based on different functions, some can be stored at any time; they can also be read out at any time. This is called a random reader.Some can only be stored in a special way and only for us to read out, just like a book, this is called a reader-only device.

There is a problem with the reader, it only works when there is power.If the power is cut off, it will go on strike immediately, and the data stored in it will be lost.Also, the data stored earlier can easily be replaced by the data stored later, which is its advantage and disadvantage.Therefore, if we want to save the input data and never change it, we have to use another method. The most commonly used accessory devices (generally referred to as peripheral devices, that is to say, they are peripheral organizations, which can be used or not.), are disks and tapes.Hard disks are divided into two types, soft and hard. As the name suggests, hard disks are hard, can rotate at high speed, have good performance, store a lot of data, and are expensive;As for magnetic tapes, the smaller ones are mostly similar to cassette tapes and are more economical.

What is a must-have device?Since it must be used, we call it the main system.Let's go back to the original idea, the keyboard can be input, the input data can also be stored, and can be displayed on the screen.What is the purpose of these actions?Of course, it needs to be used. Let’s first look at how to use it, and then analyze the process of how to achieve this purpose. The simplest usage is like typing a letter, now let's name the main system a computer!The computer must first know what you want to do, because it can do many things, not just type a letter. So the first procedure is that you have to select the item you want to use in the computer technology, which is distinguished by some simple keyboard symbols, and the one responsible for the discrimination is called the operating system.What's annoying is that there are too many computer manufacturers, each showing their own abilities, and the result is that each has its own operating system.Of course, if you want to use it, you have to understand it, don't be lazy!

When selecting an operation item, you need to know what actions are available in your job?To type a letter, save the data on disk or print the letter on paper.It can also be modified after typing a mistake.This work assumes that we are using a Chinese operating system, and there is an editing function to match.You can enter the editing code on the keyboard, and the system will start working immediately, and a screen will appear asking you to edit the file name.Because the letter has to be saved after typing, if there is no title, where can I find it? At this time, you enter a hypothetical name, and the system will compare whether the name is in the file, and if it is found, the file will be taken out (in this case, it is mostly found in the disk or tape); for the new file.

If it is an old file, the computer needs to know what you want to do, because it can print or modify it for you, or do various processing.If it's a new file, straight to the point, it's waiting for you to save the data into it.At this time, a word mark will appear on the screen to indicate the position of the input word. The word mark can be moved with the keys, and it is easy to advance and retreat. After typing, don't forget to ask the computer to save it for you, otherwise all previous efforts will be wasted. Editing is one of the most basic functions of a computer, and typing a letter is just a small test of it.If you have a lot of information, for example, there is a factory with 100 employees, and it is very troublesome to pay salaries, copy rosters, and calculate working hours every month. Computers are obliged to serve you.Here comes another problem. If every factory operates in the same way and the situation is the same, it will be easy to handle!The problem is that everyone thinks they are different, and each has his own special way.And the computer is stubborn. In the system, its operating procedures are executed one by one according to fixed steps. How can this immutable step match so many different operating methods?

You would think that the salary table should have a certain format, but in Europe and the United States, there may be, at least only a few different forms.But in our country, there is no standard, especially in some small companies, almost every family is different.Once I persuaded a company owner with many employees to slightly modify his way of working.But he said: I started from scratch because I have a unique method! . Gossip less, since each method is different, there is no standard common method, the computer is stupid!So there must be a method or teaching of the computer so that it can be applied in a variety of different situations. In order to achieve this goal, first find some functions that can be used by anyone, and put them in the main system. This is the operating system we just talked about.In addition, there are some tasks that not everyone needs, but there are common standards, and they are well prepared one by one.Just like the practice of personnel salary table in Europe and America, those who want to use it only need to buy the application method and put it in the computer, and then it can be used as an added function of the operating system. Having said a lot, it is actually just one thing, which is computer software programs.When introducing new concepts, I am most afraid of proper nouns, but without proper nouns, it becomes Grandma Wang's foot-binding cloth.Software means something that users can modify, and it is often necessary to modify (in fact, it is not a thing, but a lot of commands that make the computer work); in addition, there is firmware, which is software designed by experts, but it is fixed. Inside the machine, the user has nothing to change.Finally, there is the hardware, which is a very fixed device. The user can use it as long as it is used. Don’t even touch the case, because if you don’t understand computers, it’s not worthwhile to insist on touching the hardware. To use another analogy, you bought a TV, and this TV is the hardware (but be careful, don't say that you bought a hardware).You turn on the TV, there are programs in it, these can barely be called firmware.Because Teresa Teng is singing, you can't tell her not to move, to look more clearly.But the director of the TV station can, but he must take care of the general situation and not just show it to you.If you think this is not enough, you might as well use a video recorder and buy another video tape, do it yourself and use the program to control it, and watch it however you want.On TV, software refers to programs, and on computers, software refers to programs. Strictly speaking, firmware cannot be compared to a program, but an operating program between the TV director, the computer room, and the main control room. So what is a program?Simply put, a program is a programmed formula that is designed to use a series of instructions to complete certain tasks.Firmware is also a program that is used to combine software and hardware.Therefore, when operating a computer, some of the most basic tasks require it, so it is firmly installed in the system. Now we can say this: the program is the law used to control the computer, if there is any program, the computer can do something for you.Without the program for playing basketball, the computer cannot play basketball with you. If you want the computer to play basketball with you, you have to find another way to write a program. Of course, the prerequisite is that you can write such a program. I wonder if you read martial arts novels?I remember one book that started like this! Silent night, breath of wind!Dogs and chickens in Wanjia Village don't crow! Flat earth, quiet forest tops. Suddenly, a horse gallops past, the color of the horse is red, it is obviously a precious horse! Immediately, he was a young chivalrous man in high spirits. Suddenly, the knight reined in his horse and stopped, raised his head and shouted: Who is it? A black shadow in the forest shoots drifts away, With a flash of his figure, the chivalrous man launched an eight-step cicada catching stunt, chasing after him relentlessly. There are a total of seven or eight books in this book, and everyone is curious, what happened to Wanjia Village?What is so mysterious in the night?A red horse?Who is the knight?Who is the shadow?I can't help but watch this excitement, I chased it down one by one, and the more I chased, the more confused I became.Because of all the previous and subsequent questions, they only increased and did not decrease. Wanjia Village never mentioned it again, and the scarlet red horse generously disappeared.The more he watched, the hotter he became, the more he wanted to see clearly, until finally, after this knight-errant killed all the villains in the world, he came and floated away! To this day, I still hate this deceitful novel, but think about myself, what have I confessed in this book so far?It's definitely not that I'm a joke, because I am a student of agriculture, and I only have the opportunity to touch computers when I am nearly forty years old.At the beginning, I spent a lot of effort, read various related books, and asked many experts. I just wanted to know what a computer is.The answer is 100% correct and accurate, who can say that a computer is a computer?How can you and I easily understand this cutting-edge technology? When I really think I understand computers (it is impossible to understand all of them thoroughly, for example, if you understand yourself, do you know that you have been involved in all disciplines, psychology, sociology, biology, physics, chemistry, etc. Knowing that academics become more and more detailed, more and more refined, it is impossible for people to understand everything.), I want to explain it in the simplest terms, it is not easy, I hope you will bear with me. Closer to home, now when it comes to programs, you may have written a lot of programs.It's very simple, as long as you follow certain rules and follow the process, you will finish writing step by step.I don't think it's that simple. It's not that it's not easy to write a program, I mean it's not easy to understand what a program is.We can't be satisfied with being able to write programs, we have to study it, understand it thoroughly, and improve it to make it our own. After being scorned by Westerners for nearly a hundred years, Chinese people always feel ashamed when they look at foreigners, and their national self-esteem has long since disappeared.Therefore, it is too late to learn from foreign goods, so how dare you criticize them, let alone re-study them? It is not too difficult to imitate any known thing in the world, just consider whether it is worth it?But to know what those known things are?How could that be?So what?What should it look like?Shouldn't it be? It is very tiring to move your brain, and it has nothing to do with whether it is worthless. It is absolutely not worth it for people who are eager for quick success.People often advise me: Isn't it enough for you to have a computer?You can gain both fame and fortune, why sing the opposite tune all day long?My answer is: Fame and fortune are lovely. What I want is fame and fortune. I want to elevate the fame and fortune of the Chinese nation to be equal to that of foreigners!To achieve this, I am not enough alone, nor are a thousand or ten thousand people. Only if all Chinese people have the same ambition as me! Young friends, this hope can only be realized by you.To realize this hope, we must get rid of the shackles of superstitious authority. Authority is visible, and the visible will disappear sooner or later.The factors that lead to authority are hard study and thinking and research. This is the right way.Since you have to think about research, don't let go of the established authority itself! Since we dare to doubt, let's discuss and analyze this.To be honest, we are not qualified to start from scratch with the hardware. Fortunately, the hardware has no cultural barriers, but the software is what we understand directly, and it is what we Chinese need to use.Since we have our own language and characters, we must not only change it to Chinese, but also change it in terms of concepts and practices. A programming language, as the text implies, is a language for writing programs.Language must be expressed in words at present. Due to the different ideas of developers and the different functions of applications, there are many kinds of programming languages. I can only give a brief introduction. In terms of structure, it can be divided into two types: one is basic structural language, also known as low-level programming language, and the other is high-level language.The basic structure language is the foundation of the programming language, that is to say, the high-level language depends on it as the basic structure.Why bother?We have to go back and understand the characteristics of computers to understand. The computer only understands the on and off of the power supply, that is, the actual actions of the two codes of 0 and 1. If I use transistors as switches, connected in series like an ecstasy array, I can control many actions.To give the simplest example, the power company has a main switch in a certain area, which can control the power supply of the whole area.Therefore, with this switch, the lights in the whole area can be turned on or off.When you arrive at your home, there must be a master switch and another switch.Suppose you have three rooms in your house, each with a light, and each with a light switch.For the sake of illustration, we give each switch a code: The switch of each district of the electric power company is set as A. The main switch in the home is set to B. The three room switches are C, D and E respectively. If we turn on the switch, that is to say, the power is turned on, it will be written as 1; if the power is cut off, it will be written as 0.We can list the results of all switches as follows: Causes of ABP results 00000 All lights off Power company control 01111 Still off power company control 11111 All lights and electricity 10111 Still not on, the main switch in the house is off 11100 Room C lights on 11010 Small room lights on 11001 Room E lights on 11110 Bingding room lights on If you are interested, there are also many changes that can be made with switch values.You will find that the aforementioned five switches can produce 32 permutations and combinations, but many of the results are the same, because there are only three lights, and there are only 9 permutations and combinations of on and off. You can see that there is a small problem with the above-mentioned arrangement, because the items A and B are connected in series, and no other changes are allowed.If the two items of A and B are changed to a single switch, and there is no longer a main switch, then there are 32 kinds of on and off changes for the five lights. This is the mystery of the use of binary numbers in computers. Only five switches can control five lights to make 32 kinds of on and off changes.Suppose we design a stage, use ten lights and ten switches, put the lights in different positions, and use different colors.Then use the switch to turn on the lights one by one, match them one by one until all the lights turn on and off together, how many changes will there be?The answer is 1024 kinds, and the calculation formula is: X=2^N N is the type of change, 2 means that there are only two changes of on and off, and the Nth power refers to the change of N lights. Well, let’s go back to what we talked about earlier. English letters and symbols use eight digits, which is 2^8. There are 256 permutations and combinations in total, which we call characters.In the same way, one character can control eight lamps for 256 changes. Can the on and off of the lamp be regarded as a special meaning?For example, we design a car toy, expressing the concept of lights on and off directly with switches.For example, A 1 means that the A switch is connected to the power supply, and A 0 means that it is not connected.At this time, we design that A 1 B 0 C 0 D 0 E 0 calls the car to move forward, A 1 B 1 C 0 D 0 E 0 calls the car to turn left, and A 1 B 0 C 1 D 0 E 0 calls the car to turn right, so , we can make a table to see what changes will occur: ABPBP 10000 cars forward 11000 Go ahead and turn left 10100 Go ahead and turn right 10010 forward acceleration 00001 Car reverse These are our assumptions. Obviously, if you compare them, you will find that each switch has a function, tube A goes forward or does not move; tube B turns left or goes straight; tube C turns right or goes straight; tube D accelerates or normal speed ;Therefore, in addition to the above five actions, you can flip the switch at will, and the car will have many other actions. In the computer, this principle is used, and the most commonly used method is the basic method of eight sets of switches.However, in order to add more functions, the new design is 16 sets of switches. You can calculate how many functions the 16 sets of switches have. We still talk about the eight-group switch group, and we have to assign a new term to the eight-group switch group, which is machine code, because the computer only recognizes it and accepts its control. However, the human mind is too complicated to just memorize those few binary machine codes.And people want to use it to control the computer, so a computer language that is easier to accept has been developed.In fact, this language just uses some familiar letters to replace those cold and unfamiliar binary numbers. The above-mentioned language that directly replaces machine code with text symbols is called an infrastructure language, which is also a so-called low-level language.This is still troublesome. In order to be widely used, it is people who use it. The best way is to use natural language spoken by people. This is an ideal, which has not yet been achieved.The next best thing is COBOL, a high-level language designed for business reports; BASIC for general applications and learning, as well as FORTRAN for scientific calculations and various other languages. These high-level languages ​​all use machine codes to achieve the purpose of operating computers. Therefore, converting these high-level languages ​​into machine codes requires a compiler.From this, you should imagine that English must be compiled to communicate with computers. Why can't Chinese communicate directly with machine code?Of course, as long as we design the Chinese compiled language. Now you have an understanding of the switch. The machine code is equivalent to an eight-seat switch. As long as you flip this switch, you can tell the computer to do things.That's true, that's how the robot is designed, the problem is that you have to take all the actions of the robot into account, and this is the hardest part, why?Let me give you an example. It’s not difficult to raise your thumb, right?But to complete this action, at least eight switches are needed, that is to say, there are eight muscle bonds for relaxation and contraction.It must be coordinated at the same time, but this does not include the speed and strength of the thumb, just move it casually. Human beings are the most mysterious invention. No matter how smart a computer is, it can't match the human brain. I'm afraid that people's inertia, if they rely too much on computers, is the danger. Now you will also doubt that the work that a computer can do is not as simple as a thumb up, right? How are 256 variations enough?Yes, it is not enough, so sometimes it is necessary to extend the switch to sixteen, which is one of the reasons for the new design improvement, and even the 32-bit in the future has been considered. According to the base camp of the machine code commander, we call it the center.There are many central design manufacturers, but the most successful and most used ones are Z80, 8080, 6502, and 6800. These are all models, and we don’t care about them (if you are interested, you can refer to the more in-depth series of books published by our company ).What we need to know is, how did they design this center?Do we have the need and ability to design a better hub? In this book, it is impossible for us to discuss too deeply, but the concept must be established first.A concept is not a dead dogma, let alone a finished product that others have already done.A concept is an understanding from which we can apply it according to our needs and circumstances.When we find that something is not quite in line with the ideal, we can go back and make amendments and improvements based on the basic concepts.If this is not the case, we only get other people's finished products, and we can use them as we are taught. It would be terrible, wouldn't it be like a robot? The existing center is evolved according to the functions of the computer. The computer is best at numbers, and because there are few English letters, it can also be regarded as a kind of number, called alphanumeric.The difference between alphanumeric and numerical is that the value contained in the former is hypothetical and can be changed at will.For example: If A=10, X=Y+6, etc., but the number itself is a fixed value, we cannot change it. Because of this relationship, English can be easily used on computers.When the development of the computer is mature, it is natural that the design of the center takes numbers and alphanumerics as the application objects. This is not to say that Chinese is excluded, of course not!We have successfully verified that the Chinese computer is functionally identical to the English computer.However, is it possible to summarize all data signals with letters and numbers? As we mentioned earlier, the potential of Chinese in the future is far greater than that of English.But if we sit back and wait for that day, Chinese may already be in the museum!So how to give full play to the effectiveness of Chinese?In the transitional stage, we can use the existing finished product and change it into Chinese for application.At the same time, we have to start to design and develop better and more suitable products for us. I'm sorry for some technical issues, we'll talk about it when the time is right, I can only guide one direction here.That is to say, almost half of the countries and people in the world are using graphic characters that are different from phonetic alphabets. If the graphic characters are not good, they may have been eliminated long ago without waiting until today.These countries are currently on the verge of suffering for no other reason than that they have to stagnate because of the inconvenience of information processing. If you can fully appreciate this truth, you will have no reason to feel inferior.Obviously, as long as our information tools can be convenient and economical, and the whole system is established, everyone is equal, and I will continue to talk about it.I think that the current information tools only use half of the functions of text symbols, and the other half of graphic text is ignored.What would happen if we could apply the functions of graphics and text to information tools, specifically, to the backbone of computers? If you think about it again, we said that the phonetic alphabet must first spell out the pronunciation of the letter, and the concept can be formed based on the association of the sound.In other words, phonetic language is the domain of hearing, while pictographs are the domain of vision.Hearing and vision have their own advantages, but no one can deny that the visual experience is the most direct and strongest, and it is also the most ideal information symbol! Therefore, the picture is very clear. If we can design the computer center of graphic symbols, not only will a revolutionary new type of computer be born, but all countries in the world that use graphic characters can feel proud.At that time, the computer's way of thinking is no longer just a series of digital symbols, but also includes the analysis of graphics.The speed is increased, the capacity is expanded, and the function is also strengthened. One more thing to add, experts will say: What's so special about a graphics computer?Foreign countries already have computers with similar functions.As far as I know, there are many differences, and cost is one of them.The biggest problem is that these functions are additional, specially designed, and can only do certain special jobs. Let's take a simple example to prove our paradox, and regardless of the value of visual input, we only discuss it with the existing computer memory structure.If you save a piece of data, let's say it is five letters, what are the meanings of these five letters?It could be a thing, a person's name.Regardless of the reason, what we need to know is how recognizable five letters can represent in the same space!In the existing English language family, theoretically there should be 26<5 possibilities.However, since English is actually spelled out using fixed rules, there are not many words.It is roughly estimated that there should be between 10,000 and 20,000 words available for five letters.But if the space occupied by these five characters is regarded as graphic data storage, its implication is as high as 2<40 kinds! Some people may think that it is a fool's dream. It is because he is bound by the traditional American code and ignores the binary function.Of course, if we want to take full advantage of the functionality of binary graphics, we must redesign the graphics hub! With the graphics center, the storage and application of data is just an example, and the graphics and characters are directly benefited.Although we can combine millions of glyphs, 35,000 valid Chinese characters, and can make several font glyphs, we need a 64K template. 64K is nothing for a large system, but it is a huge burden for a personal computer.To even out the gap between Chinese and English, it is necessary to reduce the space of the Chinese font generator to the size of the English font generator, while English only needs 0.5K. The Chinese character generator is designed with the existing central function, since the function of drawing graphics is not considered in the central.We must use all methods to accommodate it. For example, a very simple stroke requires at least 48 instructions to complete in a 16*16 glyph. If an instruction takes five microseconds, it takes 240 microseconds. Seconds, more strokes, greater impact on speed.In addition, it is more serious in space. Since there is no graphic memory function, we must use various formulas to calculate the glyph.We can't be satisfied with this approach. After our research results, if we can increase the graphics function, the space will be saved by at least ten times, and the speed will be increased by more than fifty times. Therefore, in order to welcome the advent of the ultra-miniature computer era, a graphics hub is even more indispensable.