Available online
Description
The programme deals with the fundamental ideas underlying the computing process and makes considerable use of animated film. The presenters are Jim Burrows (O.U.) and Dr. Richard Howsden (Universit...y of East Anglia). The programme begins with Dr. Howsden typing the name of a month into the computer terminal. The computer program is based on the old saying "You can't eat pork unless there is a an r in the month". By observing the computer's response, deductions are made about the nature of computer storage and the idea of the computer searching its storage for an R. The programme also deals with the storage of a sequence of instructions and concludes with the idea of addressing and the nature of a computer program.
The programme deals with the fundamental ideas underlying the computing process and makes considerable use of animated film. The presenters are Jim Burrows (O.U.) and Dr. Richard Howsden (Universit...y of East Anglia). The programme begins with Dr. Howsden typing the name of a month into the computer terminal. The computer program is based on the old saying "You can't eat pork unless there is a an r in the month". By observing the computer's response, deductions are made about the nature of computer storage and the idea of the computer searching its storage for an R. The programme also deals with the storage of a sequence of instructions and concludes with the idea of addressing and the nature of a computer program.
| Module code and title: | PM951, Computing and computers |
|---|---|
| Item code: | PM951; 02 |
| First transmission date: | 31-03-1973 |
| Published: | 1973 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:25 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | John Richmond |
| Contributors: | Jim Burrows; Dick Housden |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Addressing; Animated film; Computer program; Computer storage; Computing process |
| Footage description: | Dick Housden at a computer terminal runs the program PORK and introduces the programme. Using an animated caption, Housden outlines the stages involved in PORK and shows that the basic breakdown applies to all computing jobs. An animated film is run to show what goes on inside the machine when PORK is run. Jim Burrows explains the mechanism of computer storage, using a die and vertical hexagonal cylinders as demonstration models. Housden continues his analysis of the stages the computer works through, using a flow diagram, and arrives at a complete statement of the program. Housden introduces the next section of the programme, in which Burrows discusses the two main features of digital computers: storage and sequential processing. His argument is illustrated with graphics. Burrows uses an animated film to show how the flow diagram drawn up by Housden is stored inside the computer. The operations have to be rearranged into a single straightforward sequence. Housden uses graphics to illustrate how the computer executes this sequence. Housden introduces the idea of "addressing" individual items of data within the computer store. He uses an animated film. Finally he shows how this brings the example under discussion into the form of the PORK program demonstrated at the beginning of the broadcast. Burrows concludes by summarising the programme and demonstrating the shortcomings of the PORK program as so far developed. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/70840 |
| Production number: | 00525_4069 |
| Videofinder number: | 657 |
| Available to public: | no |
