Blue Unit: Computational Tinkering
1A: The Logic of Hardware and Programming
Background Knowledge Probe
Bring to mind an everyday computing tool at your regular disposal. On initial reflection:
- What design motivations may have inspired the original creators of this tool?
- What may have been happening that they perhaps wanted to happen more through creation of this new/improved/remixed tool?
- What may have not been happening that they perhaps wanted to happen for the first time through the creation of this new/improved/remixed tool?
- What may have been happening that they perhaps wanted to reduce or stop from happening through creation of this new/improved/remixed tool?
- Who may have been involved in the design, development, and creation of this tool?
- What may have been some of the motivations for those involved?
An Evolution of Computing Tools
From abacus to tabulating machine, early computing tools were designed to achieve inspirational goals. Who was inspired to guide the design and creation of the tools, their strategies for failing forward in that design and creation process, the motivating factors for their involvement, and the ultimate implementation of these early computing tools varied considerably. Further, the impact of these early tools on more recent computing devices, including the digital computers of today, are sometimes embedded within the design inspirations and creation process of past computing devices, even if they aren’t specifically interrelated.
Keep these knowledge probes in mind as you take 11 minutes to watch this video on “Early Computing” from Carrie Anne Philbin’s Crash Course Computer Science series hosted by PBS Digital Studios:
Knowledge Probe #2
As we gather information on the journeys of hardware and programming logic, let’s build up a picture of real situations and real people as they relate to an everyday computing tool. On further reflection:
- What design motivations may have inspired the original creators of this tool?
- What may have been happening that they perhaps wanted to happen more through creation of this new/improved/remixed tool?
- What may have not been happening that they perhaps wanted to happen for the first time through the creation of this new/improved/remixed tool?
- What may have been happening that they perhaps wanted to reduce or stop from happening through creation of this new/improved/remixed tool?
- Who may have been involved in the design, development, and creation of this tool?
- What may have been some of the motivations for those involved?
Many factors have influenced the growth of human civilization. The ways in which this growth was shaped by the design and creation of computing machines, and the ways in which this growth inspired and shaped the design and creation of these machines varies considerably. What is certain is that the demand for more sophisticated and powerful devices was an outcome of the growth of human civilization, whether it was a designed and planned ob