In the Beginning was Information

A1.2.2 The Information SpiralThe quantities of information of a large number of examples from languages,everyday events, electronic data processing, and biological life,are given in Table 3 in terms of bits. A graphical representation of the fullrange of values requires more than 24 orders of magnitude (powers often), so that a logarithmic spiral has been chosen here. A selection of valuesfrom Table 3 is represented in Figure 33 where each scale divisionindicates a tenfold increase from the previous one.Two different information ranges are illustrated in Figure 34, namely biologicalinformation as stored in DNA molecules – represented by the ant –and a microchip as used in the latest computers.1. Computer technology: Konrad Zuse (1910-1996), a German inventor,pioneered the concept of a program-driven computer when he built thefirst operational electrical computing machine Z3 in 1941. It utilised 600telephone relays for calculations, and 2,000 relays for storage. It couldstore 64 numbers in every group of 22 binary positions, could performbetween 15 and 20 arithmetic operations per second, and one multiplicationrequired 4 to 5 seconds. The next advance was the introduction ofvacuum tubes (first generation electronic computers), and the ENIACcomputer became operational in 1946. It had more than 18 000 vacuumtubes and other components wired together by means of more than half amillion soldered connections. One addition operation required 0.2 thousandthsof a second and a multiplication could be performed in 2.8 thousandthsof a second. This installation utilised a word length 24 of 10 decimalplaces, it weighed 30 tons, and consumed 150 kW of electrical power.After several years of research transistors were invented in 1947. Theywere much smaller and faster than vacuum tubes, and their introduction asswitching elements initiated the second computer generation in 1955. Thenext milestone on the way leading to the powerful computers of today,was the idea of integrated circuits (ICs). Different components are incorporatedand interconnected in similarly looking units made of the samematerials. The first IC was made in 1958, based on the novel integrationidea proposed by Kilby and Hoerni. Further development of this conceptand the steady increase in the number of circuit elements per silicon chip,saw the advent of the third computer generation. ICs have undergone arapid development since the first simple ones introduced in 1958. Today64-Megabit chips are commonplace.24 Word length: A set of bits which is processed as a unit, is called a word. The rangeof numbers which can be handled, as well as the number of data storage locationswhich can be addressed, depends on the length and the structure of the word (seealso Table 3).182