COMPUTER HISTORY

COMPUTER HISTORY
In 40 years computers went from being giant expensive machines that only
corporations could own to the personal computer we see today.
EARLY CALCULATING DEVICES
▪ People have been using devices to aid in calculation for thousands of years.
▪ Devices include
▪ fingers
▪ tally sticks (animal bones carved with notches)
▪ counting rods ( I, II, III, IIII, IIIII, T)
▪ the abacus, …

Tally
sticks
 2700-2300BC
ABACUS – CALCULATOR
▪ A counting device
▪ Beads are moved to perform arithmetic
functions
▪ Still used by traders and clerks in Asia,
Africa, …
▪ Demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTV
XUG_PngE
 1620
SLIDE RULER
▪ An early analogue computer used primarily for multiplication and division.
▪ Invented by William Oughtred
▪ Slide rulers were taken to the moon in the 1960s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD0NfshRyh8
▪ Demonstration:
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waiprjueVpQ
 1642
PASCALINE
▪ Blaise Pascal created the first mechanical calculator
▪ Performed addition and subtraction
▪ Was too expensive for the time, hence it didn’t become a commercial device.

▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h71HAJWnVU
TABLES
▪ Mathematical tables were created by people called
’computers’.
▪ They were large charts showing the results of
calculations, e.g. multiplication, division, and
trigonometry
▪ However, these were known to be error prone,
▪ Thus the need for more accurate math drove innovation.
CHARLES BABBAGE
▪ Noticed errors in mathematical tables
(1820)
▪ Created the difference engine to compute
this math more accurately
▪ Used tons of grant money as well as his
own
▪ Only built a small part, as he also had to
construct the tools to build it
▪ The difference engine wasn’t finished,
and he went on to design the Analytical
engine.
 1821
DIFFERENCE ENGINE
▪ The first mechanical computer
▪ Created by Charles Babbage a “father
of computing”
▪ Compiled mathematical tables
▪ add, subtract, polynomial functions
ADA LOVELACE
▪ She wrote the first algorithm that would
have been executed by the Analytical
Engine
▪ She is considered the worlds first
programmer
WHAT ARE PUNCH CARDS?
▪ Stiff paper that holds commands
▪ Commands and data are indicated by holes/no holes
▪ Early computers used these as input commands
HERMAN HOLLERITH
▪ During the Industrial revolution the population 30% each decade.
▪ They were still tabulating census data by hand.
▪ In 1887 they still had not completed tallying the 1880 census data
▪ Herman Hollerith an MIT prof introduced punch cards and a machine to read them
to tally this information.
▪ Took only 6 weeks to tally the 1890 census
▪ He continued to improve the machine, and created the company IBM
1 ST GENERATION COMPUTERS
▪ 1951 – 1959
▪ Based on Vacuum tubes
▪ Vacuum tubes: Control electric current using
the vacuum, and
▪ Can be used to start/stop, or change the flow
based on the current
ALAN TURING
▪ During WWII Turing created an electromechanical machine to break German
Ciphers.
▪ It is estimated that his efforts in breaking the ciphers reduced the length of the war
by 2 – 4 years.
 1944
HARVARD MARK 1
▪ A electro-mechanical computer
▪ Created by Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper
▪ Developed and built by IBM
▪ Could store 72 numbers
▪ Multiplication took 6 seconds
▪ Used in WW II to compute artillery tables
▪ Produced Mathematical
Tables
 1947
FIRST COMPUTER BUG
▪ Grace Hopper found the first computer bug while working on the Harvard Mark II
▪ A moth was trapped between two relay switches
▪ She took a photo to document it
 1946
ENIAC
▪ First electronic general purpose computer
▪ Created at the University of Pennsylvania
▪ Cost almost $500,000 (approx. $6,000,000 today)
▪ One of first programs a study of the hydrogen bomb
▪ A secret military project designed to improve the construction of
artillery firing tables
ENIAC
▪ Contained 17,500 Vacuum tubes 7,200 crystal diodes, …
▪ Tubes burnt out fast, hence the machine normally could only run for 10 to 30
minutes at a time
▪ Speed was 1000 times of electro-mechanical machines (Wikipedia)
▪ 5000 adds, 357 multiplications, and 38 divisions per minute
UNIVAC
▪ Inventors of ENIAC made UNIVAC which is a programmable (held data and
printed)
▪ Few people bought it as they didn’t understand the value
▪ Then they used it to project the 1952 presidential election, and it got the answer
with <1% error
SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS
▪ Based on Transistors
▪ 1959-1965
▪ Stored instructions in memory
▪ Relied on punch cards for input and printers for output
TRANSISTORS
▪ Replaced vacuum tubes
▪ Invented at Bell laboratories
▪ Enabled computers to be smaller, cheaper, more reliable, and efficient
▪ Transistors work as switches on current, turning it on or off (like binary 0 or 1).
▪ Still generate a lot of heat, but less than vacuum tubes
 1960
IBM 1400
▪ General purpose system
▪ Used punch cards for input and line printer for output
THIRD GENERATION COMPUTERS
▪ Modern computers
▪ 1965-1971
▪ Used Integrated Circuits
▪ Keyboards instead of punch cards
▪ Monitors for display
▪ Different applications used through operating system
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
▪ Small chips containing thousands of transistors
▪ Invented by Jack Kilby, Nobel Laureate of Physics
 1964
IBM 360
▪ Small and large applications
▪ Commercial and Scientific applications
▪ From 8K to 8M of memory
▪ Room sized
▪ A whole suite of compatible computers for different needs
FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS
▪ Microprocessor
▪ Development of the personal computer
▪ 1971 – 1981
▪ Addition of GUI’s, the mouse, and handheld devices
MICROPROCESSOR
▪ Thousands of Integrated Circuits were built on a silicon chip.
▪ Created by Intel corp.
▪ Becomes the Central Processing Unit (CPU)
▪ Allow computers to be smaller, more powerful, faster, and cheaper
 1975
ALTAIR 8080
▪ First personal computer
▪ Make it yourself kit
▪ Switches for input, lights for output
▪ No keyboard, and no monitor
▪ People were so excited, within 3 months 4000 orders were placed
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKeiQ8e18QY
ALTAIR 8080
▪ Gates and Allen were trying to meet with MITS founder who created the Altair
▪ They built an interpreter for the 8080 to make programming software for the
machine easier.
▪ Allen created a Bootstrapper to load the tape to load the program on a plane ride
on final approach to their meeting
▪ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_BASIC
 1976
APPLE I AND II
▪ Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs built the Apple I in Wozniak’s garage
▪ Apple II had a color monitor, sound, and game paddles
 1981
IBM PC
▪ IBM released it’s first personal computer
▪ Sold in companies such as Sears
BASIC
▪ Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
▪ A programming language that students could learn
▪ Used by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to write a program for the Altair
MS-DOS (DISC OPERATING SYSTEM)
▪ IBM hired Bill gates and Paul Allen to build an Operating System for the IBM PC
▪ They bought the rights to an existing operating system built in Seattle
▪ IBM allowed Gates and Allen to keep the marketing rights to DOS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
▪ Companies like Compaq took apart IBM computers, and reverse engineered their
BIOS to create very similar machines.
▪ They built a fully compatible machine, and sold it for a bit cheaper.
▪ In first year they sold 47,000 pcs and made 111 million dollars
▪ Hence, the competition began
▪ And everyone bought Microsoft OS
SPREADSHEETS AND WORD PROCESSING
▪ In 1978 VisiCalc was created for Spreadsheets and WordStar was created for Word
Processing
GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI)
▪ In 1972 Apple and Xerox were working on making a graphical user interface
▪ WYSIWIG (What you see is what you get)
▪ The idea being you want to be able to preview your work on the computer
APPLE’S 1984 COMMERCIAL
▪ As Microsoft was aiming their products towards business users, apple tried to make
the first user friendly PC.
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSnW-ygU5g
▪ This commercial was fighting out against IBM which they saw as Big Brother
FIFTH GENERATION COMPUTERS
▪ 1990 - Present
▪ Enhancement of Artificial Intellegance
▪ Nanotechnology
▪ Natural Language Processing
▪…
CELLULAR PHONES AND SMART PHONES
▪ Now we’re able to have a ton of processing power is such tiny devices
WEARABLE COMPUTING
▪ Now we can track so much of what we do, and have the internet at our finger tips

▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSnB06um5r4
3D PRINTING
▪ Uses digital files to create 3d plastic objects
▪ 3D Printing is being used for:
▪ Prosthetic Legs in Dogs
▪ Human Organs (Not ready yet)
▪ Clothing
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
▪ Teaching a computer to learn to think
▪ Imagine the future of:
▪ SIRI
▪ Video Game Characters
▪ Self Driving Cars
▪ Online Customer Support
▪ Purchase Predictions,…