Discussion on computer culture

Computer Culture

1. Computer Culture

The world is undergoing a transition from a to b, that is, from the atom era to the bit era. Change, in which advances in computer science and technology undoubtedly play a key role. After more than 50 years of quantitative changes, the application fields of computer technology are almost ubiquitous, becoming an indispensable and important part of people's work, life, and study, and thus forming a unique computer culture.

The so-called computer culture is a new cultural form resulting from the fundamental changes in the way of survival of human society due to the use of computers. This new cultural form can be reflected in: (1) Computer theory and The extensive penetration of its technology into natural sciences and social sciences reflects the rich culture; (2) Computer software and hardware equipment, as material equipment created by human beings, enriches the variety of material equipment in human culture; (3) Computer applications intervene in human beings All aspects of society, thus creating and forming scientific ideas, scientific methods, scientific spirit, value standards, etc., have become a new cultural concept.

Computer culture, as the most dynamic new cultural form today, has accelerated the pace of progress of human society. The ideological concepts it has produced, the material basic conditions it has brought, and the popularization of computer culture education have Conducive to the progress and development of human society. At the same time, computer culture has also brought mankind a new concept of learning: Facing the vast ocean of knowledge, the knowledge that the human brain can accept is limited, and we simply cannot "memorize" it all. Computers are a tool that can liberate us to "memorize" Instead of heavy memory work, the human brain should be used more to complete "creative" work.

Computer culture represents a new era of culture. It has raised a person's ability after cultural education from traditional reading, writing, and arithmetic to a new level: that is, in addition to being able to read, write, In addition to computing, you must also have computer application capabilities (information capabilities). And this ability can be realized through the popularization of computer culture.

Computer culture comes from computer technology, and it is the development of the latter that breeds and promotes the emergence and growth of computer culture; and the popularization of computer culture, in turn, promotes the progress of computer technology and computer applications extension.

As mankind enters the 21st century, it has ushered in the network-centered information age. As an important part of computer culture, network culture has become a part of people's lives and has a profound impact on people's lives. At the same time, it has also brought us unprecedented challenges. The information age is the age of the Internet, and skillfully controlling the Internet will become an important means for people's work and life. In the information age, when the four major industries of microelectronics, data communications, computers, and software technology were created, the "three-in-one" of computers, televisions, and telephones was realized around network interconnection. "Three-in-one" has two meanings: first, the computer network, television network, and telephone network are integrated into one, and all three signals are transmitted through the Internet; second, the terminal equipment is integrated. This is a technology that people are paying close attention to at present. Its implementation has greatly enriched the connotation of computer culture, allowing everyone to appreciate the infinite charm of computer culture and appreciate the vastness of computer culture.

Today, computer culture has become an important part of modern human culture. A complete and accurate understanding of computing science and engineering and its social impact has become an important task for young people in the new era.

2. The formation of computer culture

It has only been 26 years since the first microcomputer came out in 1975. There are nearly 250 million personal computers in the world all over the world. run. The penetration rate of PCs in American households has exceeded 50%. In China, PC sales are growing at an annual rate of approximately 20%. In addition, millions of microcontrollers are installed in cars, microwave ovens, washing machines, telephones and televisions every year. An era of computer popularization has begun, and a uniquely charming computer culture has been formed.

Looking back on the history of the past 20 years, the achievements of PCs are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

(1) Prices continue to fall

The first microcomputer (A1tair 8800) came out in 1975 ) is valued at US$4,000. In 1977, the famous APPIE II 8-bit machine (with 64 KB memory and no monitor) sold for $1,300. The first-generation IBM PC launched in 1981 (4.77MHZ 8088 CPU, 512KB memory, monochrome display and 5 in* floppy disk drive) was priced at US$3,200. By 1996, a fully equipped PC (90MHz Pentium CPU, 8MB memory, VGA color display, 54MB hard drive), plus standard peripherals such as keyboard and printer, could be purchased for US$2,500. In China, microcomputers equipped with the latest Pentium IV CPUs now cost only a few thousand yuan. Like many other home appliances, PCs have now become affordable home appliances for ordinary people.

(2) Performance is greatly improved

Early microcomputers had low speed and small memory capacity, and their functions were far inferior to those of minicomputers and mainframes. Many large-scale software cannot run on a PC due to memory limitations. Advances in hardware have enabled PCs to reach speeds of GIPS* and memory capacities of hundreds of MB. Many software that could only run on workstations and even mainframes in the past can now run on PCs. Some advanced technologies, such as virtual storage, database management, graphics systems and multimedia applications, can all be implemented on PCs. "Microcomputer is not microcomputer". Today's PCs not only surpass the minicomputers or some mainframes 26 years ago in terms of functionality, but also cover many contemporary new technologies in terms of software and hardware technology.

(3) Operations are becoming increasingly easier

Early computer operations were complex and could only be used by experts. With the promotion of time-sharing systems and minicomputers, keyboards began to be used to replace card readers and paper tape machines, and character displays were used to supplement separate teletypes or printers, simplifying input and output operations. Establish a user-friendly interface so that the computer adapts to people rather than people adapting to computers. The rapid expansion of the user team has led to a large increase in non-professionals among users, which further highlights the urgency of being "user-friendly". In 1982, the American Xerox Company used devices such as graphics monitors and mice. It first used human-computer interaction technologies such as cascading windows and pop-up menus in the Small Talk programming environment on the Alto computer, which attracted the public's attention in one fell swoop. In 1984, when the American Apple Company launched the Macintosh PC, in addition to using window and menu technology, it also added eye-catching "dialog box" and other technologies. Since then, graphic user interfaces have begun to replace traditional character user interfaces. Window systems characterized by "multi-windows", "drop-down menus" and "online help" have been rapidly popularized and are almost used by today's PC users. A household name. With the development of multimedia technology, multimedia user interfaces with both visual and audio features are beginning to emerge. In the near future, computer operation and application will become easier and more natural. A high-performance tool, coupled with a friendly user interface, coupled with a low price, has made the computer from "a swallow in the palace of kings in the past" to a "flying into the homes of ordinary people" today. Computers have become an integral part of our daily lives.

3. The impact of computer culture on society

The popularization of computers and the formation and development of computer culture have had a profound impact on society. The rapid development of network technology has made the Internet penetrate into all areas of people's work and life, becoming an important source for people to obtain information and enjoy network services. With the advent of the network economy era, we have a more comprehensive understanding of computers and the computer culture they form. We will understand the impact of computer culture on society from two aspects: the information highway and the characteristics of the information society.

(1) Information Superhighway

In 1991, the U.S. Congress passed the "High Performance Computing Act" (The High Performance Computing Act) proposed by Senator Al Gore. Performance Computing Act, later also known as the "Infornation Highway Act". In January 1993, Gore was elected as the Vice President of the Clinton administration. In September of the same year, he issued the "National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action" on behalf of the U.S. government, namely: "U.S. Information Highway" Plan", or "NII" plan. According to this schedule, the United States plans to connect 1 million households to high-speed information transmission networks in 1994, connect schools, hospitals, and libraries across the United States by 2000, and ultimately connect information high-speed networks within 10 to 15 years (that is, before 2010). The "pavement" of the highway - a large-capacity, high-speed optical fiber communication network, extends to 95 million homes in the United States. After the NII plan was announced, it not only received widespread support from large domestic companies in the United States, but also received great attention from countries around the world (first of all, Japan and EU countries). Many developing countries (including my country) are also studying the NII plan and formulating and proposing their own national countermeasures. Network systems are the foundation of the NII program. As early as 1969, the United States built the first national wide area network, ARPAnet. With the development of network technology and the popularity of PCs, local area networks with PCs as the main body have developed greatly. Currently, the world's largest computer network - the Internet (often called the "Internet") is a global network interconnected by more than 35,000 local area networks, metropolitan area networks (MAN) and national networks based on ARPAnet. . The Internet has connected tens of millions of computers and tens of millions of users in more than 190 countries and regions around the world. The amount of data and information on the Internet is increasing at a rate of more than 10% every month. Taking electronic mail (Electronic Mail or E-mail) as an example, tens of millions of people use Internet e-mail mailboxes every day. Users who send e-mails only need to enter the content of the letter and the e-mail address of the recipient according to Once the regulations are sent to a networked computer, the E-mail system will automatically send the letter to the destination through the network. If the user who receives the mail is regularly connected to the Internet, he can see the mail sent to him by anyone in his E-mail mailbox. The proposal of the NII plan has drawn a clear outline for the future information society, and the expanded operation of the Internet has also provided a prototype for future global information infrastructure to learn from. The information society that everyone longs for is no longer an idealistic castle in the air.

(2) Characteristics of the information society

Compared with the society before informationization, the information society has the following main characteristics:

●Information has become an important strategy resource. In industrial society, energy and materials are the most important resources. The development of information technology has made people increasingly aware of the important role of information in promoting economic development. Information is regarded as an important strategic resource. If an enterprise does not implement informatization, it will be difficult to increase production and improve its competitiveness with other enterprises; if a country lacks information resources and does not pay attention to the ability to utilize and exchange information, it can only be a poor and backward country. At present, the information industry has become the most important industry in a country. American scholar M·U·Poftat proposed a macroeconomic structure theory, which listed the information industry, industry, agriculture, and service industry as four major industries. The information industry cannot replace industry in producing cars, nor can it replace agriculture in producing food. But it is a "multiplier" for the development of the national economy. It can produce obvious economic benefits by improving the production level of enterprises, improving product quality, and improving working conditions. It is foreseeable that in the future information society, the information industry will become the largest industry in the world.

●Information network has become the infrastructure of society. With the proposal of the NII plan and the expansion of the Internet network, the idea that "the network is the computer" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, informatization is not only about bringing computers into ordinary homes, but more importantly, connecting information networks to thousands of households. If the power supply network, transportation network and communication network are indispensable infrastructure in the industrial society, then the coverage and utilization rate of the information network will naturally become a symbol of the maturity of the information society.

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