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Samar Colleges Inc.

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES


INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Computer 1/IT 103
A.Y. 2016 2017
2nd Semester
A computer is not an acronym and sometimes abbreviated
as comp or 'puter. The term "computer" was originally given to humans
(human computers) who performed numerical calculations using mechanical
calculators, such as the abacus and slide rule. The term was later given to a
mechanical device as they began replacing the human computers. Today's
computers are electronic devices that accept data (input), process that data,
produce output, and then store (storage) the results
- a programmable usually electronic device that can store, retrieve, and
process data
The first digital computer and what most people think of as a computer
was called the ENIAC, built during World War II (1943-1946). Early computers
like the ENIAC used vacuum tubes and were large (sometimes room size) and
only found in businesses, Universities, or governments. Later, computers
began utilizing transistors as well as smaller and cheaper parts that allowed
the common person to own a computer.
When was the first computer invented?
There is no easy answer to this question due to the many different
classifications of computers. The first mechanical computer, created
by Charles Babbage in 1822, doesn't really resemble what most would
consider a computer today. Therefore, this document has been created with
a listing of each of the computer firsts, starting with the Difference Engine
and leading up to the computers we use today.
Note: Early inventions which helped lead up to the computer, such as
the abacus, calculator, and tablet machines, are not accounted for in this
document.
The word "computer" was first used
The word "computer" was first recorded as being used in 1613 and originally
was used to describe a human who performed calculations or computations.
The definition of a computer remained the same until the end of the 19th
century, when the industrial revolution gave rise to machines whose primary
purpose was calculating.
JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

First mechanical computer or automatic computing engine concept


In 1822, Charles Babbage conceptualized and began developing
the Difference Engine, considered to be the first automatic computing
machine. The Difference Engine was capable of computing several sets of
numbers and making hard copies of the results. Babbage received some help
with development of the Difference Engine from Ada Lovelace, considered by
many to be the first computer programmer for her work and notes on the
Difference Engine. Unfortunately, because of funding, Babbage was never
able to complete a full-scale functional version of this machine. In June
of 1991, the London Science Museum completed the Difference Engine No 2
for the bicentennial year of Babbage's birth and later completed the printing
mechanism in 2000.
In 1837, Charles Babbage proposed the first
general mechanical computer, the Analytical
Engine. The Analytical Engine contained
an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), basic flow
control,punch cards (inspired by the Jacquard
Loom), and integrated memory and is the first
general-purpose computer concept. Unfortunately,
because of funding issues, this computer was also
never built while Charles Babbage was alive.
In 1910, Henry Babbage, Charles Babbage's
youngest son, was able to complete a portion of
this machine and was able to perform basic
calculations.

Figure 1

Analytical Engine

First programmable computer


The Z1 was created by German Konrad Zuse in his parents' living room
between 1936and 1938. It is considered to be the first electromechanical binary programmable computer, and the first really functional
modern computer.

JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

First concepts of what we consider a modern computer


The Turing machine was first proposed by Alan Turing in 1936 and became
the foundation for theories about
computing and computers. The
machine was a device that
printed symbols on paper tape in
a manner that emulated a person
following a series of logical
instructions. Without these
fundamentals, we wouldn't have
the computers we use today.
The first electric
programmable computer
The Colossus was the first
electric programmable computer, developed by Tommy Flowers, and first
demonstrated in December 1943. The Colossus was created to help the
British code breakers read encrypted German messages.
The first digital computer
Short for Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the ABC began development by
Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry in 1937. Its
development continued until 1942 at the Iowa State College (now Iowa State
University).
The ABC was an
electrical computer
that used vacuum
tubes for digital
computation, including
binary math
and Boolean logic and
had no CPU. On
October 19, 1973, the
US Federal Judge Earl
R. Larson signed his
decision that the
ENIAC patent by J.
Presper Eckert and
John Mauchly was
invalid and named
Atanasoff the inventor
of the electronic digital computer.
JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

The ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the
University of Pennsylvania and began construction in 1943 and was not
completed until 1946. It occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about
18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons. Although the Judge ruled
that the ABC computer was the first digital computer, many still consider the
ENIAC to be the first digital computer because it was fully functional.
The first stored program computer
The early British computer known as the EDSAC is considered to be the first
stored program electronic computer. The computer performed its first
calculation on May 6, 1949 and was the computer that ran the first graphical
computer game, nicknamed "Baby".

Around the same time,


the Manchester Mark 1 was another computer that could run stored
programs. Built at the Victoria University of Manchester, the first version of
the Mark 1 computer became operational in April 1949. Mark 1 was used to
run a program to search for Mersenne primes for nine hours without error on
June 16 and 17 that same year.
The first computer company
The first computer company was the Electronic Controls Company and
was founded in 1949 by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the same
individuals who helped create the ENIAC computer. The company was later
renamed to EMCC or Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and released a
series of mainframe computers under the UNIVAC name.

JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

First stored program computer


First delivered to the United States government
in 1950, the UNIVAC 1101 or ERA 1101 is
considered to be the first computer that was
capable of storing and running a program from
memory.
First commercial computer
In 1942, Konrad Zuse begin working on the Z4 that later became the first
commercial computer. The computer was sold to Eduard Stiefel, a
mathematician of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich on July
12, 1950.
IBM's first computer
On April 7, 1953 IBM publicly introduced the 701; its first commercial
scientific computer.
The first computer with RAM
MIT introduces the Whirlwind machine on March 8, 1955, a revolutionary
computer that was the first digital computer with magnetic core RAM and
real-time graphics.

JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

The first transistor computer


The TX-O (Transistorized Experimental
computer) is the
first transistorized computer to be
demonstrated at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1956.
The first minicomputer
In 1960, Digital Equipment
Corporation released its first of many
PDP computers, the PDP-1.

Figure 2 Transistors

The first desktop and mass-market computer


In 1964, the first desktop computer, the Programma 101, was unveiled to
the public at the New York World's Fair. It was invented by Pier Giorgio Perotto
and manufactured by Olivetti. About 44,000 Programma 101 computers were
sold, each with a price tag of $3,200.
In 1968, Hewlett Packard began marketing the HP 9100A, considered to be
the first mass-marketed desktop computer.
The first workstation
Although it was never sold, the first workstation is considered to be
the Xerox Alto, introduced in 1974. The computer was revolutionary for its
time and included a fully functional computer, display, and mouse. The
computer operated like many computers today
utilizing windows, menus and icons as an interface to its operating system.
Many of the computer's capabilities were first demonstrated in The Mother of
All Demos by Douglas Engelbart on December 9, 1968.
The first microprocessor
Intel introduces the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 on November 15,
1971.
The first micro-computer
The Vietnamese-French engineer, Andr Truong Trong Thi, along with
Francois Gernelle, developed the Micral computer in 1973. Considered as
the first "micro-computer", it used the Intel 8008 processor and was the first
commercial non-assembly computer. It originally sold for $1,750.
JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

The first personal computer


In 1975, Ed Roberts coined the term "personal computer" when he
introduced the Altair8800. Although the first personal computer is
considered by many to be the KENBAK-1, which was first introduced for
$750 in 1971. The computer relied on a series of switches for inputting data
and output data by turning on and off a series of lights.

JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

The first laptop or portable computer


The IBM 5100 is the first portable computer,
which was released on September 1975. The
computer weighed 55 pounds and had a five
inch CRT display, tape drive, 1.9MHz PALM
processor, and 64KB of RAM. In the picture is an ad
of the IBM 5100 taken from a November 1975
issue of Scientific America.
The first truly portable computer or laptop is
considered to be the Osborne I, which was
released on April 1981 and developed by Adam
Osborne. The Osborne I weighed 24.5 pounds, had
a 5-inch display, 64 KB of memory, two 5 1/4"
floppy drives, ran the CP/M 2.2 operating system,
included a modem, and cost US$1,795.
The IBM PC Division (PCD) later released the IBM portable in 1984, it's first
portable computer that weighed in at 30 pounds. Later in 1986, IBM PCD
announced it's first laptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12
pounds. Finally, in 1994, IBM introduced the IBM ThinkPad 775CD, the first
notebook with an integrated CD-ROM.
The first Apple computer

The Apple I (Apple 1) was the first Apple computer that originally sold for
$666.66. The computer kit was developed by Steve Wozniak in 1976 and
JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

contained a 6502 8-bit processor and 4 kb of memory, which was


expandable to 8 or 48 kb using expansion cards. Although the Apple I had a
fully assembled circuit board the kit still required a power
supply, display, keyboard, and case to be operational. Below is a picture of
an Apple I from an advertisement by Apple.
The first IBM personal computer
IBM introduced its first personal computer
called the IBM PC in 1981. The computer
was code named and still sometimes
referred to as the Acorn and had
a 8088processor, 16 KB of memory, which
was expandable to 256 and utilized MS-DOS.
The first PC clone
The Compaq Portable is considered to be
the first PC clone and was release in March
1983 by Compaq. The Compaq Portable was 100% compatible with IBM
computers and was capable of running any software developed for IBM
computers.
The first multimedia computer
In 1992, Tandy Radio Shack became one of the first companies to release a
computer based on the MPC standard with its introduction of the M2500 XL/2
and M4020 SX computers.
Other computer company firsts
Below is a listing of some of the major computers companies first computers.
Commodore - In 1977, Commodore introduced its first computer, the
"Commodore PET".
Compaq - In March 1983, Compaq released its first computer and the first
100% IBM compatible computer, the "Compaq Portable."
Dell - In 1985, Dell introduced its first computer, the "Turbo PC."
Hewlett Packard - In 1966, Hewlett Packard released its first general
computer, the "HP-2115."
NEC - In 1958, NEC builds its first computer, the "NEAC 1101."
Toshiba - In 1954, Toshiba introduces its first computer, the "TAC" digital
computer.

JONATHAN B. CAYAT
INSTRUCTOR

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