Contents 2
Bill Gates and Microsoft 2
1．General Introduction 2
Exercise 1 6
2．William H．Gates Ⅲ 11
Exercise 2 23
3．Microsoft is Born 31
Exercise 3 42
4．IBM and Microsoft 50
Exercise 4 60
5．Microsoft Pressure 68
Exercise 5 75
Appendix Stock Options 83
Answers to the Exercises 85
Step by Step—the Short History of ComputersChapter 1 The First Mechanical Calculators 85
1.1 The Abacus and Hindu-Arabic Numerical System 96
1.2 Napier and Logarithms 99
1.3 Schickard and the First Calculator 103
1.4 Blaise Pascal and Pascaline 107
1.5 Gottfried—the Third Great Calculator Inventor 110
Exercise 1 120
Chapter 2 The Engines of Charles Babbage 132
2.1 The Arithmometer 132
2.2 Charles Babbage and the Difference Engine 133
2.3 The Scheutzes and the Tabulating Machine 143
2.4 The Analytical Engine 145
Exercise 2 155
Chapter 3 The Bidge between Two Centuries 167
3.1 Hollerith and his Machine 167
3.2 Other Inventors and their Machines 170
3.3 Differential Equations and Differential Analyzer 174
3.4 Zuse and Boolean Algebra 176
Exercise 3 187
4.1 A Useful and Impressive Achievement—Model I 198
Chapter 4 The Invention of ENIAC 198
4.2 Mark I—a Powerful Mechanical Calculator 200
4.3 The Story of ENIAC—the Historical Device which Kicked off Computer Industry 202
Exercise 4 215
Chapter 5 The Stored-Program Computer 226
5.1 ENIAC，EDVAC and Von Neumann 226
5.2 Alan Turing，his Paper and Machine 232
5.3 Controversy over ENIAC and EDVAC 235
5.4 The Invention of UNIAC 239
Exercise 5 248
Chapter 6 The Rise of IBM 260
6.1 Watson—the Brilliant Manager and his Successful Creation IBM 260
6.2 IBM’s Prosperity in Computer Industry under Thomas Jr．’s Leadership 270
Exercise 6 277
Chapter 7 The Whirlwind Project 288
7.1 Forrester and Whirlwind 288
7.2 IBM and its Computers 293
7.3 The Computer Languages and the FORTRAN Compiler 299
7.4 Disputes over ENIAC Patent 306
Exercise 7 311
Chapter 8 The Integrated Circuit 324
8.1 The Research on Semiconductors and Transistors 324
8.2 The Research on Transistors and Semi-conductors 328
8.3 The Invention of IC 333
8.4 The Influence of IC on Computers 335
Exercise 8 341
9.1 Time-sharing Computer—a Progress in Computer Process 353
Chapter 9 The Personal Computer 353
9.2 The Appearance and Development of Minicomputers 356
9.3 The Idea of Constructing Personal Computers 363
9.4 Altair—the First Personal Computer，and its Designer MITS 367
Exercise 9 378
Appendix 1 The List of Biographieal Names 390
Appendix 2 Chronology of the History of Computers 392
Answers to the Exercises 397