Timeline of History of Computer
Timeline of History of Computer
⮚ Originally calculations were computed by humans, whose job title was computers.
⮚ The calculations of this period were specialized and expensive, requiring years of training in
mathematics.
⮚ The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in 1613, referring to a person who carried
out calculations, or computations, and the word continued to be used in that sense until the
middle of the 20th century
TALLY STICKS
Was an ancient memory aid device to record and document numbers, quantities, or even messages.
Tally sticks were a form of receipt for government income which originated in the middle ages.
Tallies were regularly destroyed over the centuries by the Exchequer which had offices in the Palace
of Westminster, but following its abolition in 1826
Abacus
• The abacus in the form we are most familiar with was first used in China in around 500 B.C.
❑ Allowed the operator to multiply, divide and calculate square and cube roots by moving the rods
around and placing them in specially constructed boards.
Slide Rule
❑ It is too expensive.
Stepped Reckoner
❑ The machine that can add, subtract, multiply and divide automatically.
Jacquard Loom
❑ In 1840, Augusta Ada Byron suggests to Babbage that he use the binary system.
Tabulating Machine
Havard Mark 1
❑ To program the Z1 required that the user insert punch tape into a punch tape reader and all
output was also generated through punch tape.
❑ Invented by Professor John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry at Iowa State
University between 1939 and 1942
ENIAC
❑ Completed in 1946.
❑ The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer 1) was the first commercial computer.
EDVAC
Computer Generations
❑ The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory, and were
often enormous, taking up entire rooms.
❑ They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of electricity,
generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.
❑ First generation computers relied on machine language, the lowest-level programming language
understood by computers, to perform operations, and they could only solve one problem at a
time.
❑ Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed on printouts
The Second Generation
❑ Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of computers.
❑ Allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more
reliable.
❑ Still generated a great deal of heat that can damage the computer.
❑ Second-generation computers still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for output.
❑ These were also the first computers that stored their instructions in their memory, which moved
from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.
❑ The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of
computers.
❑ Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors, which
drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers.
❑ Users interacted with third generation computers through keyboards and monitors and
interfaced with an operating system, which allowed the device to run many different
applications at one time with a central program that monitored the memory.
❑ Computers for the first time became accessible to a mass audience because they were smaller
and cheaper than their predecessors.
The Fourth Generation
❑ As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form
networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet.
❑ Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and handheld
devices.
❑ Still in development.
❑ The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a
reality.
❑ The goal is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of
learning and self-organization.
❑ There are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today.