CIT 111 – LECTURE 04

COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS I
By J.D.U Indumini
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Introduce the information era and the history of computers

• Introduce the computer generations and characteristics of
each generation
• Classify computers according to the size, technology and
purpose

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WHY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY?

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

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INDUSTRIAL AGE

A Watt steam engine, the steam engine fueled primarily by coal that
propelled the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and the world.
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INFORMATION AGE

A Visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet

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PRE-HISTORY ERA
4th century B.C. to 1930s

• The abacus is believed to have been invented in 4th century

B.C.
• Arabic numerals were introduced in Europe in the 8th and 9th
century A.D. and was used until the 17th century.

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PRE-HISTORY ERA (CONT’D)

• John Napier of Scotland invents logs in 1614 to allow

multiplication and division to be converted to addition and
subtraction.

• Wilhelm Schickard, a professor at the University of Tubingen,

Germany builds a mechanical calculator in 1623 with a 6-digit
capacity. The machine worked, but it never makes it beyond
the prototype stage.

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PRE-HISTORY ERA (CONT’D)

• Leonardo Da Vinci is now given credit for building the first

mechanical calculator around 1500. Evidence of Da Vinci’s
machine was not found until papers were discovered in 1967.

• Blaise Pascal builds a mechanical calculator in 1642 with an 8-

digit capacity. Pascaline

• Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents an automatic loom controlled

by punch-cards in the early 1800s.
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PRE-HISTORY ERA (CONT’D)
• Charles Babbage designs a “Difference Engine” in 1820 or 1821
with a massive calculator designed to print astronomical
tables. The British government cancelled the project in 1842;
Babbage then conceives the “Analytical Engine”, a mechanical
computer that can solve any mathematical problem and uses
punch-cards.

• Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace and daughter of

English poet Lord Byron, worked with Babbage and created a
program for the Analytical Engine. Ada is now credited as
being the 1st computer programmer.
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False Down- Babbage Engine - https://youtu.be/XSkGY6LchJs
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The Babbage Difference Engine - https://youtu.be/be1EM3gQkAY Page 17
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PRE-HISTORY ERA (CONT’D)

• Samuel Morse invents the Electric Telegraph in 1837.

• George Boole invents Boolean Algebra in the late 1840s.
Boolean Algebra was destined to remain largely unknown
and unused for the better part of a century, until a young
student called Claude E. Shannon recognized its relevance to
electronics design.
• In 1857, only twenty years after the invention of the
telegraph, Sir Charles Wheatstone (the inventor of the
accordion) introduced the first application of paper tapes as a
medium for the preparation, storage, and transmission of
data.
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PRE-HISTORY ERA (CONT’D)

• The first practical typewriting machine was conceived by three

American inventors and friends, Christopher Latham Sholes,
Carlos Glidden, and Samual W. Soule who spent their evenings
tinkering together.
• The friends sold their design to Remington and Sons, who hired
William K. Jenne to perfect the prototype, resulting in the
release of the first commercial typewriter in 1874.
• Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating Machines were used for the 1890
census; the machines used Jacquard’s punched cards.
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ELECTRICAL ERA Invention of the light bulb, 1878
Sir Joseph Wilson Swan
• English physicist and electrician
• first public exhibit of a light bulb in 1878
Thomas Edison
• Had a conducting filament mounted in a glass bulb from which the air
was evacuated leaving a vacuum in 1879
• Passing electricity through the filament caused it to heat up, become
incandescent and radiate light
• The vacuum prevented the filament from oxidizing and burning up
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INVENTION OF THE DIODE (LATE 1800’S)
• John Ambrose Fleming
• An English physicist who studied Edison effect and invented
the way to detect radio waves and to convert them to
electricity.
• Base on that concept, developed a two-element vacuum tube
known as a diode.
• In a diode, electrons flow within a tube from the negatively
charged cathode to the positively charged anode.
• today, a diode is used in circuits as a rectifier.
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THE SWITCHING VACUUM TUBE, 1906
• Lee de Forest an American inventor introduced a third
electrode into the vacuum tube.
• The new vacuum tube was called a triode and this new
electrode was called a grid
• This tube could be used as both an amplifier and a switch

many of the early radio transmitters were built by de Forest using triodes
revolutionized the field of broadcasting. Their ability to act as switches would
later be important in digital computing
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ON/OFF SWITCHES IN DIGITAL COMPUTERS
earliest:
 electromechanical relays
 solenoid with mechanical contact points
 physical switch closes when electricity animates magnet
1940’s:
 vacuum tubes
 no physical contacts to break or get dirty
 became available in early 1900’s
 mainly used in radios at first
1950’s to present
 transistors
 invented at Bell Labs in 1948
 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley
 Nobel prize, 1956 27
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ELECTRONICS ERA 1900-1964
• In 1926, Dr. Julius Edgar Lilienfield from New York filed for a
patent on a transistor.
• Konrad Zuse, a German engineer, completes the 1st general
purpose programmable calculator in 1941.
• Colossus, a British computer used for code-breaking, is
operational by the end of 1943.
• ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer) is
developed by Ballistics Research Lab in Maryland and built by the
University of Pennsylvania and completed in 1945.

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GENERATION OF THE COMPUTER
First Generation (1951-1958)

Second Generation (1958-1964)

Third Generation (1965-1970)

Fourth Generation (1971-today)

Fifth Generation (today -……)

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FIRST GENERATION (1951-1958)

• Used vacuum tubes for internal operations

• Used low-Level languages for programming (machine language)
• Used magnetic drums for primary memory.
• Primary memory was limited.
• Heat and maintenance problems were there.
• Used punch cards for input and outputs.
• Input and output was slow.
• e.g. UNIVAC I, EDVAC
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ELECTRONICS ERA

• The transistor is developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories in

1947.
• UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) is developed in 1951
and can store 12,000 digits in random access mercury-delay
lines.
• EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Computer) is completed
for the Ordinance Department in 1952.

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SECOND GENERATION (1958-1964)

• Used transistors for internal operations.

• Increased use of high level languages (FORTRAN, COBOL).
• Used magnetic cores for primary memory.
• Increased memory capacity.
• Binary coded data were used.
• Increasing processing speed.
• Used magnetic tapes and disks for secondary storage
• E.g. IBM 1620, UNIVAC 1108.
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ELECTRONICS ERA (CONT’D

• Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor both

announce the integrated circuit in 1959.
• The IBM 360 is introduced in April of 1964 and quickly
becomes the standard institutional mainframe computer. By
the mid-80s the 360 and its descendants have generated more
than $100 billion in revenue for IBM.

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THIRD GENERATION (1965-1970)

• Used (IC) on silicon chips for internal operations.

• Memory capacity was increased.
• Minicomputers became a common use.
• Software industry emerged.
• Reduction in size and cost of computers happened.
• Increase in speed and reliability.
• Operating system were introduced

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MINI ERA (1959-1970)

• The Mini Era began with the development of the integrated circuit in
1959 by Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor.
• Ivan Sutherland demonstrates a program called Sketchpad (makes
engineering drawings with a light pen) on a TX-2 mainframe at MIT’s
Lincoln Labs in 1962.
• By 1965, an integrated circuit that cost $1,000 in 1959 now costs less than
$10.

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MINI ERA (CONTD..)
• Doug Engelbart demonstrates a word processor in 1968.
• Also in 1968, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce founded a
company called Intel.
• Xerox creates its Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC) in 1969.
• Fairchild Semiconductor introduces a 256-bit RAM chip in 1970.
• In late 1970 Intel introduces a 1K RAM chip and the 4004, a 4-bit
microprocessor. Two years later comes the 8008, an 8-bit
processor.

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First Spreadsheet software presentation - https://youtu.be/yJDv-zdhzMY
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MICRO ERA 1971-1989
• Bill Gates and Paul Allen form Traf-O-Data in 1971 to sell their
computer traffic-analysis systems.
• Gary Kildall writes PL/M, the first high-level programming
language for the Intel Microprocessor.
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are building and selling “blue
boxes” in Southern California in 1971.
• Intel introduces the 8008, the first 8-bit microprocessor in
April of 1972.

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FOURTH GENERATION (1971-TODAY)
• Microprocessors were introduced as CPU
• Tens of thousands of transistors can be placed in a single chip.
• CRT screen, laser & ink jet printers, scanners were developed.
• Semiconductor memory chips were used as the main memory.
• Secondary memory was composed of hard disks –Floppy disks & magnetic
tapes were used for backup memory
• Cache memory and virtual memory were applied in a better way
• LAN and WANS were developed
• Introduced C language and Unix OS
• Introduced Graphical User Interface 45
MICRO ERA

• Jonathan A. Titus designs the Mark-8 and is featured in the

July 1974 Radio Electronics.
• In January 1975 Popular Electronics features the MITS Altair
8800; it is hailed as the first “personal” computer.
• Paul Allen and Bill Gates develop BASIC for the Altair 8800.
Microsoft is born!!!

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MICRO ERA

• Apple is selling its Apple II for $1,195, including 16K of RAM

but no monitor by 1977.
• Software Arts develops the first spreadsheet program,
Visicalc by the spring of 1979. 500 copies per month are
shipped in 1979 and sales increase to 12,000 per month by
1981.
• By 1980 Apple has captured 50% of the personal computer
market.

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MICRO ERA
• In 1980 Microsoft is approached by IBM to develop BASIC for
its personal computer project. The IBM PC is released in
August, 1981.
• The Apple Macintosh, featuring a simple graphical interface
using the 8-MHz, 32-bit Motorola 68000 CPU and a built-in 9-
inch B/W screen, debuts in 1984.
• Microsoft Windows 1.0 ships in November, 1985.
• Microsoft’s sales for 1989 reach $1 billion.

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FIFTH GENERATION (TODAY - ……)

• Computers based on Artificial Intelligence are available.

• Quantum mechanism and nanotechnology will radically
change the phase of computers.
• Object oriented languages have been developed

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NETWORK ERA (LATE 50S TO PRESENT)

• Timesharing, the concept of linking a large numbers of users to a single

computer via remote terminals, is developed at MIT in the late 50s and
early 60s.
• Paul Baran of RAND develops the idea of distributed, packet-switching
networks.
• ARPANET goes online in 1969.
• Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf develop the basic ideas of the Internet in 1973.

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NETWORK ERA

• In 1974 BBN opens the first public packet-switched network –

Telenet.
• A UUCP link between the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill and Duke University establishes USENET in 1979.
• TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol)
is established as the standard for ARPANET in 1982.

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NETWORK ERA

• The number of network hosts breaks 10,000 in 1987; two

years later, the number of hosts breaks 100,000.
• Tem Berners-Lee develops the World Wide Web. CERN
releases the first Web server in 1991.
• By 1992, the number of network hosts breaks 1,000,000.
• The World Wide Web sports a growth rate of 341,634% in
service traffic in its third year--1993.

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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

• According to Size
• According to Technology
• According to Purpose

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 CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

According to size

• Supercomputers

• Mainframe Computers

• Minicomputers

• Microcomputers, or Personal Computers

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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Super Computers
It is the most powerful computer and used for problems requiring complex calculations.
Because of their size and expense, supercomputers are relatively rare.
Supercomputers are used by universities, government agencies, and large businesses.
Widely used in scientific applications
 Weather forecasting,
 Climate research,
 Molecular modelling
 Physical simulations
 Simulation of airplanes
 Simulation of the nuclear weapons
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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Mainframe Computers
Mainframe computers are also large and powerful computers, but they are
not as fast as supercomputers.
Mainframes are typically used by large businesses and government
agencies to process large volumes of data, such as financial transactions,
customer records, and census data.
A technique that allows many people at terminals, to access the same
computer at one time is called time sharing. .
They are usually very expensive, powerful and operate specialist software.

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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Minicomputers
Minicomputers are smaller and less powerful than mainframes, but they are still
capable of processing large amounts of data.
Minicomputers are often used by small businesses and mid-sized organizations to
run their core business applications.
It is generally easier to use.
Minicomputers usually have multiple terminals. Designed to support more than
one user at a time
Posses large storage capacities and operates at higher speed
It Can also communicate with main frames.

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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Microcomputers
It is the smallest, least expensive of all the computers.
Micro computers have smallest memory and less power, are physically smaller and
permit fewer peripherals to be attached.
They include personal computers (PCs), laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Microcomputers are used by individuals, businesses, and organizations for a wide
variety of tasks, such as web browsing, email, word processing, and gaming.
Desktop computers are the most common type of PC.

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DIFFERENCES OF COMPUTERS.

Type of computer Size Power Typical uses

Scientific and engineering calculations, weather

Supercomputer Very large Very high forecasting, climate modeling, nuclear weapons
research

Large-volume data processing, financial

Mainframe Large High
transactions, customer records, census data

Business applications, such as accounting,

Minicomputer Medium Medium
payroll, and inventory management

Web browsing, email, word processing, gaming,

Microcomputer Small Low to medium
other general-purpose tasks
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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

According to Technology

• Analog Computers
• Digital Computers
• Hybrid Computers

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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Analog Computers
These computers recognize data as a continuous measurement of a
physical property ( voltage, pressure, speed and temperature).
Automobile speedometer

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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Digital Computers
These are high speed programmable electronic devices that perform
mathematical calculations, compare values and store results.
They recognize data by counting discrete signal representing either a high
or low voltage state of electricity.

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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Hybrid Computers
A computer that processes both analog and digital data.

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CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
According to Purpose
General purpose Computers
A ‘General Purpose Computer’ is a machine that is capable
of carrying out some general data processing under program
control.
 •Refers to computers that follow instructions, thus virtually all
computers from micro to mainframe are general purpose.
Special Computers
A computer that is designed to operate on a restricted class
of problems.
 Use special purpose computer equipment to obtain patient
diagnostic information. 65
 The End
Any Questions?