HISTORY OF

COMPUTER: BASIC
COMPUTING
PERIODS

Week 3 Living in the IT Era

Maria Michelle Vinegas
Earliest Computers originally calculations
were computed by humans, whose job title
was computers.

● These human computers were

typically engaged in the calculation of
a mathematical expression.
● 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.
a) Tally sticks
A tally stick was an
ancient memory aid
device to record and
document numbers,
quantities, or even
messages.
b) Abacus
An abacus is a mechanical device
used to aid an individual in
performing mathematical
calculations.
○ The abacus was invented in
Babylonia in 2400 B.C.
○ The abacus in the form we are
most familiar with was first used
in China in around 500 B.C.
○ It used to perform basic
arithmetic operations.
 c) Napier’s Bones
● Invented by John Napier in
1614.
● Allowed the operator to
multiply, divide and calculate
square and cube roots by
moving the rods around and
placing them in specially
constructed boards.
d) Slide Rule
Invented by William Oughtred in 1622.
■ Is based on Napier's ideas about logarithms.

■ Used primarily for – multiplication – division – roots –

logarithms – Trigonometry
■ Not normally used for addition or subtraction.
 e) Pascaline
● Invented by Blaise
Pascal in 1642.
● It was its limitation to
addition and
subtraction.
● It is too expensive.
f) Stepped Reckoner
● Invented by Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz in 1672.
● The machine that can add,
subtract, multiply and divide
automatically.
 g) Jacquard Loom
● The Jacquard loom is a
mechanical loom, invented
by Joseph-Marie Jacquard
in 1881.
● It is an automatic loom
controlled by punched
cards.
 h) Arithmometer
● A mechanical calculator invented by
Thomas de Colmar in 1820,
● The first reliable, useful and
commercially successful calculating
machine.
● The machine could perform the four
basic mathematical functions.
● The first mass-produced calculating
machine.
i) Difference Engine and
Analytical Engine
■ It an automatic, mechanical
calculator designed to
tabulate polynomial functions.
■ Invented by Charles
Babbage in 1822 and 1834
■ It is the first mechanical
computer.
j. First Computer
Programmer
■ In 1840, Augusta Ada Byron
suggests to Babbage that he
use the binary system.
■ She writes programs for the
Analytical Engine.
k. Scheutzian
Calculation Engine
● Invented by Per Georg
Scheutz in 1843.
● Based on Charles Babbage's
difference engine
● The first printing calculator.
l. Tabulating Machine
● Invented by Herman
Hollerith in 1890.
● To assist in summarizing
information and
accounting.
m. Harvard Mark 1

● Also known as IBM

Automatic Sequence
Controlled Calculator
(ASCC).
● Invented by Howard H. Aiken in
1943
● The first electro-mechanical
computer.
n. Z1
● The first programmable
computer.
● Created by Konrad Zuse in
Germany from 1936 to 1938.
● 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.
o. Atanasoff-Berry
Computer (ABC)
● It was the first electronic digital
computing device.
● Invented by Professor John
Atanasoff and graduate student
Clifford Berry at Iowa State
University between 1939 and
1942.
p. ENIAC
● ENIAC stands for Electronic
Numerical Integrator and Computer.
● It was the first electronic
general-purpose computer.
● Completed in 1946.
● Developed by John Presper Eckert
and John Mauchly
q. UNIVAC 1
● The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal
Automatic Computer 1)
was the first commercial
computer.
● Designed by John
Presper Eckert and John
Mauchly.
r. EDVAC
● EDVAC stands for Electronic Discrete
Variable Automatic Computer
● The First Stored Program Computer
● Designed by Von Neumann in 1952.
● It has a memory to hold both a stored
program as well as data.
s. The First Portable
Computer
● Osborne 1 – the first portable
computer.
● Released in 1981 by the
Osborne Computer
Corporation.
t. The First Computer
Company
■ The first computer company was
the Electronic Controls Company.
■ Founded in 1949 by John
Presper Eckert and John
Mauchly.
BASIC
COMPUTING
PERIODS
a. Premechanical
The premechanical age is the earliest age of
information technology. It can be defined as the time
between 3000B.C. and 1450A.D. We are talking
about a long time ago. When humans first started
communicating they would try to use language or
simple picture drawings known as petroglyths which
were usually carved in rock. Early alphabets were
developed such as the Phoenician alphabet.
 a. Premechanical
As alphabets became more popular and more
people were writing information down, pens
and paper began to be developed. It started off
as just marks in wet clay, but later paper was
created out of papyrus plant. The most popular
kind of paper made was probably by the
Chinese who made paper from rags.
 a. Premechanical
Now that people were writing a lot of information
down, they needed ways to keep it all in permanent
storage. This is where the first books and libraries
are developed. You’ve probably heard of Egyptian
scrolls which were popular ways of writing down
information to save. Some groups of people were
actually binding paper together into a book-like form.
 a. Premechanical
Also, during this period were the first numbering systems.
Around 100A.D. was when the first 1-9 system was created
by people from India. However, it wasn’t until 875A.D. (775
years later) that the number 0 was invented. And yes, now
that numbers were created, people wanted stuff to do with
them, so they created calculators. A calculator was the very
first sign of an information processor. The popular model of
that time was the abacus.
 b. Mechanical
The mechanical age is when we first start to see connections
between our current technology and its ancestors. The mechanical
age can be defined as the time between 1450 and 1840. A lot of
new technologies are developed in this era as there is a large
explosion in interest with this area. Technologies like the slide rule
(an analog computer used for multiplying and dividing) were
invented. Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline which was a very
popular mechanical computer. Charles Babbage developed the
difference engine which tabulated polynomial equations using the
method of finite differences.
 b. Mechanical
There were lots of different machines created during this era
and while we have not yet gotten to a machine that can do
more than one type of calculation in one, like our modern-day
calculators, we are still learning about how all of our all-in-one
machines started. Also, if you look at the size of the machines
invented in this time compared to the power behind them it
seems (to us) absolutely ridiculous to understand why
anybody would want to use them, but to the people living in
that time ALL of these inventions were HUGE.
 c. Electromechanical
Now we are finally getting close to some technologies that
resemble our modern-day technology. The electromechanical
age can be defined as the time between 1840 and 1940. These
are the beginnings of telecommunication. The telegraph was
created in the early 1800s. Morse code was created by Samuel
Morse in 1835. The telephone (one of the most popular forms of
communication ever) was created by Alexander Graham Bell in
1876. The first radio developed by Guglielmo Marconi in 1894.
All of these were extremely crucial emerging technologies that
led to big advances in the information technology field.
 c. Electromechanical
The first large-scale automatic digital computer in the
United States was the Mark 1 created by Harvard
University around 1940. This computer was 8ft high, 50ft
long, 2ft wide, and weighed 5 tons - HUGE. It was
programmed using punch cards. How does your PC match
up to this hunk of metal? It was from huge machines like
this that people began to look at downsizing all the parts to
first make them usable by businesses and eventually in
your own home.
 d. Electronic
The electronic age is what we currently live in. It can be
defined as the time between 1940 and right now. The
ENIAC was the first high-speed, digital computer capable
of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing
problems. This computer was designed to be used by the
U.S. Army for artillery firing tables. This machine was even
bigger than the Mark 1 taking up 680 square feet and
weighing 30 tons - HUGE. It mainly used vacuum tubes to
do its calculations.
 d. Electronic
There are 4 main sections of digital computing. The first
was the era of vacuum tubes and punch cards like the
ENIAC and Mark 1. Rotating magnetic drums were used
for internal storage. The second generation replaced
vacuum tubes with transistors, punch cards were replaced
with magnetic tape, and rotating magnetic drums were
replaced by magnetic cores for internal storage. Also
during this time high-level programming languages were
created such as FORTRAN and COBOL.
 d. Electronic
The third generation replaced transistors with integrated circuits,
magnetic tape was used throughout all computers, and magnetic
core turned into metal oxide semiconductors. An actual
operating system showed up around this time along with the
advanced programming language BASIC. The fourth and latest
generation brought in CPUs (central processing units) which
contained memory, logic, and control circuits all on a single chip.
The personal computer was developed (Apple II). The graphical
user interface (GUI) was developed.
History of Computer: Generations of
Computer

There are five generations of computer:

• First generation – 1946 to 1958
• Second generation – 1959 to 1964
• Third generation – 1965 to 1970
• Fourth generation – 1971 to Today
• Fifth generation – Today to future
 a. The First Generation
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.

Examples: – ENIAC – EDSAC – UNIVAC I, UNIVAC II, UNIVAC 1101

 b. The Second Generation
Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of
computers. One transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 vacuum tubes. 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 moved from cryptic binary machine language to
symbolic, or assembly, languages, which allowed programmers to specify
instructions in words. 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.
Examples: UNIVAC III, RCA 501, Philco Transact S-2000, NCR 300 series, IBM
7030 Stretch, IBM 7070, 7080, 7090 series
c. The Third Generation
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. It could carry out instructions in
billionths of a second. Much smaller and cheaper
compare to the second-generation computers
d. The Fourth Generation
The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of
computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built
onto a single silicon chip. 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.
e. The Fifth Generation
Based on Artificial Intelligence (AI). 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.