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and their capabilities and limitations. You may already own several computers. What's

that? You don't own any computers at all? Are you sure?

Contact with Computers

Most likely you really do have at least a couple of computers. They are probably in the form of

microprocessor chips embedded in an object. The object could be a digital clock or watch, a TV

set, a home video game, a microwave oven, or an automobile. People come into contact with

computers hidden in common items daily. And it is most probable that all people come into

contact with the more traditional kind of computer daily also.

The bank check your account balance on a computer terminal when you cash a check. When you

take your car back to the dealer for servicing, the service supervisor types your name into a

computer terminal and all the information about your car appears on the screen. When you ask

the machinery dealer for a replacement part for your riding lawn mover, the person at the deskpresses a few keys and finds out whether the part is in stock, where it is located in the warehouse,

how many of these parts are in stock, and how much each one costs?

At the grocery store checkout, the clerk pulls the food items over a scanner panel and price of the

item is automatically rung up. All of these are computer encounters.

Computers are popular and widely used, and they have the capacity to simplify our lives.

Computers can help us manage our daily lives. They can assist us in making difficult decisions. They

seem to be in all parts of society. In fact, it looks as though in a few years you will need to know

something about computers for just about any job you could imagine yourself doing.

The Information Society(Revolution)

Our society is in the midst of an Information Revolution that seems to be having as much of an

impact on the daily fabric of our lives as the Industrial Revolution did in its time.

Computers are just the only way to handle the masses of information that are generated, stored,

summarized, and studied everyday.

Computers have become so integral to our lives that some educational journals have begun using

the phrase technologically disadvantaged to refer to young children who have not had the

opportunity to learn about computers.

Computers are so much as part of our lives that the terminology of the computer world has spilled

over into everyday life. The Help Wanted Advertisements in the newspapers will often describes a


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salary as "17k to 20k." We talk about "getting the bugs out" when we are refering a new system or

process. We deal with data in countless areas. How many times has someone requested your

input on a particular topic? We routinely interface with others. We use the terms without really

knowing where they come from and what they mean. Theres's nothing wrong with that. We also

use many traditional and sometimes antiquated terms whose origins are lost in time. Consider the

furlong (one eight of mile) or the admonition concerning "a pig in a pole (sack)". Perhaps you

remember when it was not unusual to see someone pushing a perambulator (baby carriage) or

someone cranking (starting) an automobile. These terms evoke laughter or raise eyebrows, but

with computers the common usages give us a head start. They provide a familiar point of

reference in an otherwise alien territory.

The New World

It is easy to imagine the confusion that Christopher Columbus and his crew must have felt when

they arrived in the New World. They didnt even end up where they thought they would and

probably couldnt figure out how to accomplish what they had planned.

As computers have proliferated, our society has become a New World. Most businesses,

industries, and even homes have felt the impact of computers. Computers calculate our bills at the

discount store checkout counter; they control electronic equipment during surgery. (They single

out specific income returns to be audited.)

The takeoff and landing of our airplanes, rockets and space shuttles, are controlled by computers.

Controlling the operation of nuclear power plants and (purchasing pills) in pharmaceutical plants

are accomplished by computers. This is indeed a New World with computers as an integral part.

Computers are excellent at performing repetitive tasks. They can perform rapid and accurate

calculations. But computers are not infallible, and we would do well, because computers are very

dependable, people often find that any discrepancy between their answer and the computers is

caused by a human error. Unfortunately, this had led us to believe that computers are perfect and

extremely exacting. (We accept the idea of all knowing computers with four questions ``Our

computers shows or `this is required for the computer are phrases that often produce

immediate surrender of more human reason.)

This was not always so because computers were once very limited. At first computers were

primarily used on science or engineering applications, but as the cost of the machines decreased

and the speed and performance potential increased, businesses increasingly began to use

computers.


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Uses of Computers today

Today it is safe to say either directly or indirectly the computer has affected the lives of everyone.

Computers can monitor and control air and water pollution. They are fundamental to weather

forecasting. Improved medical techniques for analysis and diagnosis have been more possible bycomputers.

Computers have impacted upon areas as diverse as urban planning, and land enforcement. In

business, computers are used to calculate bills, control equipment, predict market changes, and

control financial and management activities.

The most visible computers are the ones we see on desktops in a variety of settings, but there are

huge size computers too. Home of this equipment or the uses of it appeared overnight. So how did

I get here? Did someone sit down and decide to increment a computer? Not at all. It was more of a

necessity in response to a series of increasingly complex problems involving informationprocessing. And the history of computers is intimately tied to business concerns.

Today is safe to say that either directly or indirectly the computer has affected the lives of

everyone. Computers can monitor and control air and water pollution. They are fundamental to

weather forecasting. Improved medical techniques for analysis and diagnosis have been made

possible by computers. Computers have impacted upon areas as diverse as urban planning.

Development of computers

People throughout history have used technology to solve problems. Just as the wheel

developed in response to the need to transport heavy loud, so computing devices were

developed to deal with information need. The expansion of commerce and the need for

accurate records created a demand for tools for calculation.

One of the first of these was the abacus. The Chinese have used the abacus for centuries, and

it is still in use today in some parts of the world. The abacus appeared in many forms. There

where knots in string, pebbles in a tray of sand, and beads in a wooden frame. Some sources

attribute the Babylonians with the development of the abacus, other credit the Chinese. In the

most widely used form of the abacus, moving beads on wires enabled the user to perform

addition and subtraction more rapidly and efficiently than would be possible otherwise.

Bankers especially found the abacus helpful in the course of doing business. On Chinese

restaurant owner still uses an abacus to calculate bills. When asked why, he explained that for

him abacus is faster. The abacus could be called the first mechanical calculator. A skilled user


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of the abacus and a skilled user of the electronic desk calculator were each given several

arithmetic calculations to perform as rapidly as possible. The abacus user won easily.

In 1615, John Napier, a Scottish mathematician, invented a computing device which makes

multiplication and division easier. His device used a number of sticks marked in a manner

similar to some currently used multiplication tables. The devices became known as Napiers

bones. The principles of Napiers bones were used by Edmund Gunther who, in 1620,

developed the first slide rule. The slide rule was used by scientists and mathematicians and

business people to perform rapid calculations. Engineering students could be spotted carrying

slide rules on college campuses up until the 1970s when the electronic pocket calculator was

introduced.

Then, after 350 years of reliable service, the slide rule was replaced almost overnight.

What is your personality aim?

This wasnt always so because computers use was once very limited. At first computers were

primarily used in research and in scientific or engineering applications but as the cost of the

machines decreased and the speed and performance potential increases, businesses increasingly

began to use computers.

Mechanizing Computations

In 1617 in France, Blaise Pascal devised his Machine Arithmetic which had a tremendous effect on

the work of mathematicians. Pascal was 19 years old when he developed this first mechanical

adding machine which he called the numerical wheel calculator.

With this machine, which is also referred to as the PASCALINE, additions and subtractions were

performed mechanically instead of laboriously. The Machine Arithmetic could also count. It was

the first adding machine that could perform all these operations. It used gear driven counting

wheels to add. The odometers in cars today work much the some way. Even though he lived

before the Industrial Revolution, Pascals closing was so reliable that it was used for virtually all

adding machines until electronic calculators made then absolute.

In the Pascals day, the mayor problem with his machine was that he was the only person who

could repair the machine when the broke down. This severely limited the number of machines he


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could produce and sell. Business owners of that time considered Pascals machine to be too

complex to be practical.

Since multiplications and divisions were difficult to do with. Pascals Machine Arithmetic; Gottfried

Leibniz modified the design so that multiplication and division could be performed directly

Leibnizs Stepped Reckoner was completed in 1673 and was a great Stride for were in thedevelopment of automatic calculators. The Stepped Reckoner turned a complex arithmetic

operation into a series of simpler operation. For example multiplication was done by automatically

performing series of additions this principle is used in Modern Computer System.

As a philosopher and mathematician in Germany Leibniz knew that his machine was ideally suited

for calculating tables of common mathematical functions. Such tables represented a lifetime of

work in the seventeenth Century. There was guide a demand for the Stepped Reckoner.

The weaving Industrys Contributions

Josep Marie Jacquard was concerned with looms that were used in his native England to weave

designs into topestries. Great skill and concentration were required for the weaver to correctly

execute a design. Operating the loom required constantly adjusting the looms settings before

each row of threads was woven. In 1800, Jacquard developed and attachment for the weaving

loom that used card with holes punched in them to set the loom in certain ways. A series of these

cars were attached to each Ether in sequence to instruct a loom to create a specific pattern.

Jacquard designed a loom that could read the punched-card instructions and translate then into

corresponding settings on the loom. Using a linked series of cards, and entire design could be

woven without adjustment by the loom operator.

With Jacquards loom the design could be respected many times and exact copies of various rugs

and topestries could be made this represented a tremendous change in weaving industry. The

design was controlled by the punched cards which determined what color threads more used and

when each was used. No matter how the wave operating the loom, the design was the some. The

loom is considered by some to be the first significant use of automation. The series of punched

cards is the forerunner of the program currently used in computer. The success of the puncher

cards control of Jacquards loom inspired many of the important developments in computing

machines during the nineteenth century.

A man ahead of his time

Charles Babbage was born in England in 1791. Had he been born a hundred years later, he

probably would have hastened the development of computers. As a student, Babbage developed

the concept of a machine that could accurately perform complex calculations. He even planned a


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way that machine could print out the results. The computations and printing were to be done

without intervention. Babbage is said to have built a small prototype of this machine witch he

called the difference engine. The design of this mechanical calculator was prompted by Babbage's

work with astronomical tables. In checking data which had been calculated manually. Babbage

found many errors. In 1830 Babbage received a great from the British government to find a way to

perform calculations quickly and without errors. His blueprints specified astronomical equation

depending on a value that was indicated as the stand of the computation. In this way, entire

tables could be derived rapidly and dependably. Babbage never complete work on the difference

engine. When he tried to produce the large machine, he found the parts could not be produced to

his specifications.

The numerous gears needed for the difference engine had to be finished by hand and they were

not accurate enough to perform reliably in the machine.

While he was working on the difference engine, Babbage conceived the idea often even more

combinations calculating machine which he called the analytical engine.

He abandoned work on the difference engine in 1834 to began work on the analytical engine. The

analytical engine was designed to compute any mathematical function is any form.

It could be add, subtract, multiply or divide according to instruction that were coded or cards.

The design incorporated many of the characteristics of modern electronic computer.

As Babbage envisioned it, the analytical engine would have a store for the number used in a

calculations. The store could hold one thousand numbers.

Each number could have fifty decimal digits. The analytical engine would have a mill witch would

be a central mechanism where arithmetic operations where to performed.

Programs for the mill would be written on punched cards.

These would determine what process were used in manipulating the data. The data would be

transferred back and forth between the store and the mill by a system of gears and levers.

The engine would ring a bell if a value went below zero or above the capacity of the machine,

since either of these events would result in incorrect calculations.

The machine would use a typesetter to print the results of the operations. All of these operations

were to be performed mechanically.

In essence, the analytical engine was a general-purpose computer skeptics dubbed the machine

Babagge's Folly, the overall organizations is remarkably similar to be conceptual design of modern

computer

Ironically, some of the early pioneers of the electronic computer were not aware of Badagge's

ideas. Badagge was a hundred years ahead of his time in proposing his analytical engine.

Had be been born in a time of electronic technology, the modern computer might have been

developed much earlier it was. Babbage worked on his analytical engine until his death.

The state of manufacturing technology at the time was inadequate for producing the components

Babbage needed with the precision that was required. Another complicating factor was the lack of

a real need for a computing machine that had such powerful capabilities. The British stopped


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supporting Babbage's work leaving him without funds to continue his research.

Had Babbage completed his analytical engine it would have been the first completely automatic

general purpose computer. Babbage in called the "Father of the computer" Although Babbage

failed to construct either of the machine for which we remember him.

The detailed plans that he left enabled others to construct them later. In 1855, a Swedish printer

named George Scheutz built a difference engine from Babbage's plans. It worked as Babbage had

envisioned. Babbage's son, Henry, built a working model of the mill portion of the analytical

engine in 1871. Both of Babbage's machines influenced future researches.

The First Programmer

Babbage designed his analytical engine to use punched cards. The color on the cards would

instruct the mall in the operations the performed. A scientific paper written in I talian explaining.

Babbages concepts was translated into English by Ada Augusts counters of Lovelace and daughter

of the past Lord Byson. An excellent mathematician sometimes termed or mathematical genious.Ada Lovelace understand Babbages concepts and added fifty pages of notes to twenty pages of

the original paper. Included was detracted sequence of instructions for the analytical engine to

perform contain complex calculations. This is generally considered to be the first computer

program.

Ada Lovelace is thus regarded by many as the worlds first computer program. Ours of Ada

Lovelaces ideas was the preparation of cards that would instruct the analytical engine to repeal

certain operations she had deserned that repeating the same sequence of instructions was

frecuently necessary in performing a specific calculation she suggested that only a single set of

cards containing the sequence of instructions was frecuently necessary in performing a specificcalculation she suggested that only a single set of cards containing the sequence of instructions as

used and the deviced facility to jump back to the beginning of the sequence under certain

conditions. This powerful concept is now one of the fundamental structures of program design.

We call it a loop.

In recognition of Ada Lovelaces contributions to the development of computers, a computer

language has been named for her. Ada is a major programming language which has been adopted

by the United States Department of Defense.

Calculating MachinesIn 1885, Darr E. Felt used a modern macaronic box to build a calculating machine meat skewers

served as keys; staples were used as key guides; and rubber bands functioned as springs. With

these everybody components, felt built an experimental model of key-driven calculating machine.

Known only as the macaroni box, Felts invention was successful and was replaced in 1887 by the

Comptometer. This machine was used for business calculations even before the printing device

was added a couple of years later.


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In 1890, W. S. Burraughs produced and marketed the Burraughs Adding and Listing Machine. With

a lever on the side and a device for printing the computations, it employed a series of bars and

toothed racks. Many businesses utilized this machine especially in the area of accounting.

The industrial revolution had led to more mechanization and numerous nead inventions. It also

dramatically increased the needs for information and for the distribution of that information. As a

result information processing became increasingly more important. And the jobs kept getting

bigger.

Punched Cards come to the rescue

The United States Constitution requires a census every ten years. This population count was

originally conceived as a simple head count to determine congressional districts. Over time,

additional social, ethnie, and economic factors have been included so the variety of data being

collected as increased. The 1880 census was analyzed and tabulated manually and required more

than seven years to complete. Between 1880 and 1890 the growth rate of the population was

explosive. The population of 50 million in 1880 had grown to over 60 million by 1890.

Thus the 1890 census presented and unprecedented challenge. It was stimulated that counting

and classifying each resident and generating the statistics for the 1890 census would take until

1902. That would be two years after the next required census in 1900. Work on the 1900 census

would begin before the 1890 census was completed and the problem could only be expected to

get worse.

In 1879, an employee of the census information. He also suggested that these should be away to

process the cards mechanically, Dr. Herman Hollerith allyings associate was fascinated by that

idea. He immediately begun working on a design for such equipment.

The Importance of Software

In early development of computers, hardware was everything. All effort was concentrated on

getting the processor to work properly and on making improvements. This was appropriate sinceat first there literally was no software. Programing was accomplished by wire and switches, and

computers were designed for one specific purpose. Once a machine was wired to accomplish

specific calculations, no further changes were made. Data was fed in results who obtained. There

was no thought of changing the wiring so the computer could perform a different process. At last,

not very frequently; and not unless the new process, otherwise it just wasnt worth the time,

trouble, and expense. Sometimes just keeping the equipment functioning took so much time it


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was hard to think about modification, but, with the advent of the generation computers, as

hardware prices came down and computers were more dependable, software became increasingly

import.

The idea of using software to modify the processor routines seemed a more efficient alternative to

hard wiring. Initially, not much time was spent developing software since software representedsuch a small part of the total system cost. Now it I common to advise a potential computer system

purchaser to first determine the software needs and then to pick a computer system on which the

required software will run.

The best computer system is not necessarily the one which the best hardware. If it cant run the

particular software needed to get the job done, then the very best hardware is useless.

Software Defined

Software is generally defined as instructions that direct a computer to process data. These

instructions are also called programs. The distinction between hardware is generally whether or

not the items are tangible hardware, is intangible. You can touch it. See it, and describe it in

physical terms. Software is intangible, the programs are stored electronically so you cannot feel

them the way you can touch and feel hardware.

Software is an interface between people and computer machinery. When a message such Enter

Password is displayed on a computer screen, it is software that caused the computer to do that.

Software also determines what message would be displayed. When the person using computer

types in a response, it is software that accepts that information and checks it out software

provides the instructions that determine what the computer does. Ultimately, software enhances

the user friendliness of the computer.

The Dawn of Modern Computer Age

The punched card equipment which was developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s proved to be

very valuable. Both government and business uses punched card devices to carry out the various

functions of their business. These machines however, were not true computers. Work on the

development of modern computers didnt begin until the late 1930s. The government funded the

work on new computing devices because the potential of those devices in the war effort was

tremendous. The war brought changes which required increased information-handling

capabilities. Additional were required to finance World War II. Changes in payroll processing were

necessary. Millions of people enlisted in the armed forces. The administration and record keeping

involved in tracking military were a new challenge to the existing systems of processing

information. Development of new weapons and defense research demanded better computing

devices. The existing punched card system was just too slow.

The Mark I


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The first real step in the development of the modern computer was taken by Howard Aiken of

Harvard University. In 1939 with substantial support from IBM. Aiken began working on a machine

to perform the needed calculations more rapidly. The Mark I was completed in 1944. Instead of

using mechanical years like Pascal and Leibniz had done Aikens design for the Mark I used

electromagnetic relays and mechanical counters.

Mark I facts

Dimentions: 5 feet long

8 feet high

3 feet deep

Components: 3000 mechanical switches.

750 000 electronic components.

500 miles of wiring.

Speed: 3 additions for second, 1 multiplication in 6 seconds, 1 division in 12 seconds.

The Mark I was huge machine that weigh many tons. It had thousands of switches and electrical

components and 500 miles of wiring. It could perform calculations accurately to 23 digits, and it

was much faster than any other machine in existence at that time. In fact, it could complete three

additions per second. It could perform a multiplication in six seconds and a division in twelve

seconds. In actually, the Mark I was the first working realization of Babbages analytical engine

which had been designed a century earlier. The Mark I was the first working general purpose

digital computer. It was also the first real stop toward the development of the modern computer,

the year of its completion(1944) is generally called the dawn of modern computer age.

Electronic Processing

At the some that Aiken was developing the Mark I, researches were investigating the possibility of

designing a computer that would use electricity rather than mechanical devices. A mechanical

design is limited by the speed with the interacting years can operate. Although the Mark I used

electricity to stimulate the movement of the years, it still cared not perform faster than the years

could rotate. An electronic device would have the potential to handle much move complex

mathematical function, since it would operate much faster. There were some problems with the

idea, though. How to represent numbers, for example, was a mayor common.

On mechanical devices, the positions of the wheels or years corresponded to numbers, but how

could this be done electronically? An electronic device would rely on electrical currents which

have only two fundamental states: on(the presence of current) and off(the absence of current).


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Representing numbers with only those two conditions presented a challenge which was solved by

adopting the binary or base two system.

Base 10: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

Base 2: 0,1

Figure the familiar decimal system is base ten. The binary system is base two.

Boolean Logic

Applying the binary system to computing machines was facilitated by work done much earlier.

George Boole, a British mathematician, had published the principles of Boolean logic in 1889.

Boolean logic uses variable whose only values are true and false. These two values could be

represented by the binary digits which are zero and one while it was extremely difficult to build on

electrical element to represent the decimal digit zero through nine, it was much easier to build

one that could represent the binary digits Booles logic was a perfect match for electrica l

capabilities much could depict zero and one as off and on.

The ABC

An early as 1935 Dr. John Vincent Atenasoff, a professor at Iown States University, was thinking of

a plan for a new machine. The machine would be an and to his graduate students in doing the long

and involved calculations that their study of physics required. In 1942, Atenasoff and Clifordberry,

a graduate student, completed work or an electronic vacuum tube computer. The machine was

named the ABC for Atenasoff Berry Computer. Today ABC is recognized as the first true electronic

digital computer. This was not always the case. For years not much known about the ABC. Only

after a court ruling in 1973 was it revended that the ABC was indeed first with the technology. The

lock of recognition may have been partly due to the way in which Atenasoff perceived his own

device and partly to his retiring personality. Open the completion of ABC in 1942 an Iown state

publication mentioned the ABC in an article as a machine that could be important after the war,

since it could solve equations with thirty variables faster than any machine in existence. Atenasoff

himself through of it at that time primarily as an aid to students. There was so little enthusiasm for

Atenasoffs machine at Iown State that the school did not even patent it. It is possible that this

oversigh led to a loss in revenge to Iown state of an estimated 500 million dollars. Ironically, when

Atenasoff left Iown State to work for the Department of the Navy during Worl War II. The ABC

stood selected in a basement room of the old physics building. The ABC was about the size of a

large desk. It was fully operational. And much of the critical design information was really stored

with other pioneers in computer technology. Today, a metal plaque in the lobby of the physics

building commemorations the construction of the ABC.

Software Changes


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Many companies have been formed to provide software packages that includes programs and

procedure for complete applications. Such software packages usually address familiar problems

such as keeping an invention. The program is provided on tape or disk and is accompanied by

printed or on-line documentation or both. Much time has been spent designing the routines and

assuring that they are error free. The software usually is generic enough to have a broad base of

application, but it can generally be customized to meet the needs of an individual business.

With such products, new lines of thinking have cropped up. Instead of a business having a

programmer to write a program for an inventory application, the business check out the available

software packages to see if one exist that will fill i requirements. In essence, the approach toward

obtaining the software needed in the building of computer systems applies a longstanding truth:

Do not reinvent something that already exist. Is a usable software package is available, it could

lead to considerable savings in time and money. An existing package should cost less, be more

reliable, and take less time from the early 1950s to the middle 1960s, business were purchasing

and installing the first computer system. During this period, computers were new and untried

devices. Although the provided innovative techniques for processing data, they were by no meanstoken for granted. System and application software usually were developed specifically for an

individual business. As a result, the programs that operated system for one business often were

much different from the software developed for other similar business. Business people and

programmers alike were still familiarizing themselves with the capabilities of these new machines.

The middle 1960s represented a turning point in the development of computer systems. Mary

large and medium sized business. That could benefit from computer systems has already

converted their functions to the computer. Mary other were in the process of making the

changeover. By 1970, hundreds of thousands of businesses government agencies had installed

computers which were being used in their fundamental business operations. This development of

new computer system was relegated to the back burned in many cases. A more processingconcern was the maintenance of existing systems. At the same time, people began to recognize

that several computerized applications were common to many businesses. For example, all

business must file tax returns. And all businesses must file payroll with holding reports with the

Internal Revenue Service. Common requirements extend even beyond government regulations. All

businesses that sell products and services must issue invoices to their customers. All businesses

write checks. Common needs of businesses also apply to internal Operations. For instance, in

manual data processing systems, companies need to organized and stored transaction documents

reports, and other data. A traditional method for providing this type is through the use of file

folders housed in file cabinets. With automated data processing systems, the needed to file

transaction data in an organized still exist. In increasing numbers, computer user recognized these

common needs. And the emergence of specialized software companies became a natural

development. Today, remaining available packages for any given application can become a mejor

task. There are many packages for performing any business function. Hundreds, even thousands,

of options may exist. Just as each business is different, so different packages functions best in

different environments. A business should have to totally change its way of doing business in order

to use a computer. New computer applications should solve identified problems.


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