Dear all Greetings IEEE CS Cordially invites you to a webinar Topic: "Past, Present, and Future of Computing" Speaker: Dr V Rajaraman, Emeritus Professor Supercomputer Education & Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India Date: Saturday, 31st Oct 2020 Time: 4 pm IST / 6.30 am ET For event details & registration, pl visit https://bit.ly/3iAegf0 Webinar Flyer at https://bit.ly/2SufVZ8 About the Presentation The first question I ask in this talk is how do I define “Past” in computing? When the first commercial computers appeared, they were batch machines used primarily for numerical computing by scientists and engineers. The application of computers in businesses followed and thrived with the appearance of mass storage devices such as magnetic tapes and disks. The first major breakthrough during this era was the design of high-level programming languages: Fortran for scientists and engineers and Cobol for business users that eased programming and consequently a large number of professionals started using computers. Computers were large and expensive and batch processing cumbersome. The advent of Time-shared operating systems allowed interaction and improved programmer productivity. Database management systems eased business data processing. Input and output systems were primitive. Input was from card readers and later teletype terminals and output units were mechanical printers. Computing was still an esoteric activity reserved for well trained professionals. This was “Past”. Advances in Integrated Circuits led to a processor on a single chip and fast semi-conductor memories. This ushered in the era of Personal Computers. Computers became inexpensive and moved to homes and small businesses. Advances in operating systems, input/output devices (keyboard, mouse, and displays), user interfaces (windows, icons, menu and pointing) led to a plethora of application programs easing the use of computers. This allowed “lay persons” to use computers for tasks such as word processing and accounting using spread sheets. Advances in graphic display devices and software led to computer games and computer-generated movies. Local area networking led to inextricable intertwining of computers and communications and was accentuated by the arrival of the Internet. This was followed by opening up of the ISM band leading to Wi-Fi and consequent mobility of computers. The availability of inexpensive computing power, huge amounts of multimedia data from the world wide web and devices to store them led to the resurgence of research in artificial neural networks and deep learning making computer recognition of images and speech reasonably accurate. Advances in sensors and AI made Robots more “intelligent”. Inexorable advances in Integrated Circuits shrank the size of processors while increasing their speed, and the capacity of memories with no significant increase in price. Concurrent revolutionary advances in wireless communication that increased the bandwidth for communication without cost increase led to smart phones that we all carry in our pockets. The “Present” is defined by computers becoming mobile, entering every home and pocket, interconnected, becoming an information repository, an entertainer, becoming part of all complex system (such as automobiles, aircrafts, satellites, and even bridges – endowing them with “intelligence”), performing recognition tasks and in general becoming our indispensable assistant in carrying out many day to day tasks. It is very hazardous to predict the future. One can only extrapolate from the past and often unpredictable “mutations” take place. Some trends are clear. Progress is being made rapidly in quantum computing and if good algorithms are invented to utilize their power and strange non-intuitive behaviour they could enable realistic simulations of complex systems that are currently not feasible. New ultra-secure systems may emerge using them. Storage requirements are increasing geometrically. New ideas for storage may emerge from biological systems. The emergence of new sensors and shrinking of computers would literally make them enter our bodies to assist our living. Many seemingly pure human traits such as “sympathy” may appear in future Robotic systems. About the Speaker [image: V. Rajaraman] V. Rajaraman Professor Emeritus Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Dr. V. Rajaraman, PhD (Wisconsin) is Emeritus Professor, Supercomputer Education and Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. Earlier Dr. Rajaraman was Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at IIT Kanpur (1963-1982), Professor of Computer Science and Chairman, Supercomputer Education and Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (1982-1994) and IBM Professor of Information Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (1994-2001). A Padma Bhushan awardee in 1998, he is also a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in 1976, the Homi Bhabha Prize by U.G.C., Om Prakash Bhasin award, the ISTE award for excellence in teaching computer engineering, Rustam Choksi award, the Zaheer Medal by the Indian National Science Academy. He is a lifetime contribution awardee of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Computer Society of India. He received a DSc (h.c.) from IIT Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy, the National Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and the Computer Society of India. An author of several well established and highly successful computer books, Prof. Rajaraman has published a large number of research papers in reputed national and international journals. He is a life member of IEEE. In 2012, he had contributed a monograph titled "History of Computing in India: 1955-2010", written as a project of the IEEE Computer Society History Committee. You can access the entire book (96 pages) free at: https://history.computer.org/pubs/2012-12-rajaraman-india-computing-history.... t