This is a short history of Computer. You can get benefit from it if you want to have an idea about the developments in the story of computer technology.
4. Brief History of Computer
THE EARLIEST COMPUTING
DEVICES
The earliest data processing equipment were all manual
- mechanical devices due to the absence of electricity and
adequate industrial technology.
5. ABACUS ( 300 B.C. by the Babylonians )
The abacus was an early aid for mathematical
computations. Its only value is that it aids the
memory of the human performing the
calculation.
6. ABACUS
A more modern abacus. Note how the abacus is
really just a representation of the human fingers: the
5 lower rings on each rod represent the 5 fingers
and the 2 upper rings represent the 2 hands.
7. In 1617 an eccentric Scotsman
named John Napier invented
logarithms, which are a technology
that allows multiplication to be
performed via addition. The magic
ingredient is the logarithm of each
operand, which was originally
obtained from a printed table. But
Napier also invented an alternative
to tables, where the logarithm
values were carved on ivory sticks.
John Napier
( 1550 – 1617 )
John Napier is best known as
the inventor of logarithms. He
also invented the so-called
"Napier's bones" and made
common the use of the decimal
point in arithmetic and
mathematics.
Napier's birthplace, Merchiston
Tower in Edinburgh, Scotland,
is now part of the facilities
of Edinburgh Napier University.
After his death from the effects
of gout, Napier's remains were
buried in St Cuthbert's Church,
Edinburgh.
8. An original set of Napier's Bones
A modern set of Napier's Bones
9. Blaise Pascal
In 1642 Blaise Pascal, at the
age of 19, he invented the
Pascaline as an aid for his
father who was a tax
collector. Pascal built 50 of
this gear-driven one-
function calculator (it could
only add) but couldn't sell
many because of their
exorbitant cost and because
they really weren't that
accurate (at that time it was
not possible to fabricate
gears with the required
precision).
Pascaline or Pascal
Calculator
• It can be called “Arithmatique Machine”
• The first calculator or adding machine to be
produced in any quantity and actually used.
• It was designed and built by the French
mathematician-philosopher Blaise Pascal
between 1642 and 1644. It could only do
addition and subtraction, with numbers being
entered by manipulating its dials.
10. A 6 digit model for those who couldn't afford the
8 digit model
11. By 1822 the English
mathematician Charles
Babbage was proposing a
steam driven calculating
machine the size of a room,
which he called the Difference
Engine. This machine would
be able to compute tables of
numbers, such as logarithm
tables.
Charles Babbage
(26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871)
13. A small section of the type of mechanism
employed in Babbage's Difference Engine
14. The Analytical Engine
• It was a proposed mechanical general-
purpose computer designed by English
mathematician Charles Babbage.
• 2 main parts: the “Store” where
numbers are held and the “Mill”
where they were woven into new
results
Babbage’s Analytical
Engine
15. Ada Lovelace
Augusta Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace (10
December 1815 – 27 November
1852)
•English mathematician and writer
chiefly known for her work on Charles
Babbage's early mechanical general
purpose computer, the Analytical
Engine.
•Her notes on the engine include what
is recognized as the first Algorithm
intended to be processed by a
machine. Because of this, she is often
described as the world's first computer
programmer.
•Referred to as the “First Programmer”
20. EDVAC
Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic
Computer
• Developed by John
Von Neumann
• a modified version of
the ENIAC
• employed binary
arithmetic
• has stored program
capability
21. EDSAC
Electronic Delay Storage Automatic
Calculator
•built by Maurice
Wilkes during the
year 1949
•one of the first
stored-program
machine computers
and one of the first
to use binary digits
29. FIRST GENERATION
(1946-1959)
•Vacuum tube based
•The use vacuum tubes in place of
relays as a means of storing data in
memory and the use of
stored‐program concept.
•It requires 3.5 KW of electricity per
day to keep the vacuum tubes
running
30. Generation in computer terminology is a
change in technology a computer is/was being
used.
Initially, the generation term was used to
distinguish between varying hardware
technologies. But nowadays, generation includes
both hardware and software, which together
make up an entire computer system.
31. WHO INVENT THE
VACUUM TUBES?
• First invented by a British scientist
named John A. Fleming in 1919,
although Edison had made some
dsicoveries while working on the
lightbulb. The vacuum tube was
improved by Lee DeForest.
33. The main features of
First Generation are:
• Vacuum tube technology
• Unreliable
• Supported Machine language only
• Very costly
• Generate lot of heat
• Slow Input/Output device
• Huge size
• Need ofA.C.
• Non-portable
• Consumed lot of electricity
34. Some computers of this
generation were:
• ENIAC
• EDVAC
• UNIVAC
• IBM-701
35. SECOND
GENERATION
(1959-1965)
•This generation using the
transistor were
cheaper, consumed less power, more
compact in
size, more reliable and faster than the
first generation machines made of
vacuum tubes.
•In this generation, magnetic cores
were used as primary memory and
magnetic tape and magnetic disks as
secondary storage devices.
36. WHO INVENTED THE
TRANSISTORS?
• The first transistor was invented at Bell
Laboratories on December 16, 1947 by
William Shockley (seated at Brattain's
laboratory bench), John Bardeen (left) and
Walter Brattain (right).
37. The main features of
Second Generation
are:
• Use of transistors
• Reliable as compared to First generation
computers
• Smaller size as compared to First generation
computers
• Generate less heat as compared to First
generation computers
• Consumed less electricity as compared to First
generation computers
• Faster than first generation computers
• Still very costly
• A.C. needed
• Support machine and assembly languages
38. Some computers of this
generation were:
• IBM 1620
• IBM 7094
• CDC 1604
• CDC 3600
• UNIVAC 1108
39. THIRD GENERATION
(1965-1971)
•Integrated Circuits (IC's) in place
of transistors
•A single IC has many transistors,
resistors and capacitors along
with the associated circuitry.
•Integrated solid‐state circuitry,
improved secondary storage
devices and new input/output
devices were the
most important advances in this
generation.
40. The main features of Third
Generation
are:
• IC used
• More reliable
• Smaller size
• Generate less heat
• Faster
• Lesser maintenance
• Still costly
• A.C. needed
• Consumed lesser electricity
• Support high-level language
41.
42. WHO INVENT THE IC?
• The idea of integrating electronic circuits into a
single device was born, when the German physicist
and engineer Werner Jacobi (de) developed and
patented the first known integrated transistor
amplifier in 1949 and the British radio
engineer Geoffrey Dummer proposed to integrate a
variety of standard electronic components in a
monolithic semiconductor crystal in 1952. A year
later, Harwick Johnson filed a patent for a
prototype integrated circuit (IC).
43. Some computers of this
generation were:
•IBM-360 series
•Honeywell-6000 series
•PDP (Personal Data
Processor)
•IBM-370/168
•TDC-316
44. FOURTH GENERATION
(1971-1980)
•Very-large-scale integration (VLSI)
•VLSI circuits having about 5000
transistors and other circuit elements
and their associated circuits on a single
chip made it possible to have
microcomputers of fourth generation.
45. • Fourth Generation computers
became more
powerful, compact, reliable, and
affordable. As a result, it gave rise
to personal computer (PC)
revolution.
• In this generation, Remote
processing, Time-sharing, Real-
time, Multi-programming Operating
System were used.
• All the higher level languages like
C and C++, DBASE, etc., were
used in this generation.
46. The main features of Fourth
Generation are:
• VLSI technology used
• Very cheap
• Portable and reliable
• Use of PC's
• Very small size
• Pipeline processing
• No A.C. needed
• Concept of internet was introduced
• Great developments in the fields of
networks
• Computers became easily available
47. Some computers of this
generation were:
• DEC 10
• STAR 1000
• PDP 11
• CRAY-1
(Super
Computer
• CRAY-X-MP
48. FIFTH GENERATION
Present and Beyond:
Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence is the branch
of computer science concerned with
making computers behave like
humans. The term was coined in
1956 by John McCarthy at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
