EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING

Objectives

At the end of the chapter, students must be able to:

● Gain familiarity of the different discoveries during the different periods.
● Learn different inventions and discoveries during electro-mechanical age that
lead to the inventions of today’s technology.
● Identify different technologies and their improvements during the different
generations.
Introduction
The computers in recent times have become a relevant too particularly in the areas
of storage and dissemination of information. The ease with which the computer function,
i.e. the speed, accuracy, and readiness. With the usefulness of the computer, it has
become fashionable for organizations to be computerized, that is, a computer department
is created to serve the whole organization and expert, or professionals are employed to
manage the department. It is today becoming increasingly difficult for computer
illiterates to get good employments, as computer literacy is now a pre-requisite for most
jobs. The world is becoming a global village using computer, thus there is the need for
everyone to be computer illiterate. The computer age was characterized by generation of
computers, which signified that computer had pass through stages of evolution or
development. Before we could arrive at the present-day computers, it has undergone
stages of development known as generation of computers
WHAT IS A COMPUTER?

A Computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of

instructions stored in its own memory, that can accept data (input), process
the data according to specified rules, produce information (output), and
store the information for future use. Computers contain many electric,
electronic, and mechanical components known as hardware. Electronic
components in computers process data using instructions, which are the
steps that tell the computer how to perform a particular task. A collection
of related instructions organized for a common purpose is referred to as
software or a program. Using software, you can complete a variety of
activities, such as search for information, type a paper, balance a budget,
create a presentation, or play a game.
3 Principal Characteristics of Computer

● It responds to a specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner.

● It can execute a pre-recorded list of instructions.
● It can quickly store and retrieve large amounts of data.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER

The text will engage a new generation of software developers

including not only the mathematically and scientifically inclined students
commonly found in programming courses, but also a new generation of
students from the arts and humanities who are finding that computing is
as relevant to their fields as it has ever been in the sciences.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER

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.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(HARDWARE)

TALLY STICKS - A tally stick was an ancient memory aid device

to record and document numbers, quantities, or even messages.

ABACUS
● The abacus was one of the earliest devices developed for
simplifying human arithmetic.
● It was used in ancient Mesopotamia, Asian, Indian, Persian,
Greco-Roman, and Mesoamerican societies and still in use
today in many parts of the world.
 NAPIER 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.

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.
PASCALINE

The young French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) invented one of the first gear-based
adding machines to help with the enormous amount of calculations involved in the computing of
taxes. Pascaline had much in common with a genre of calculators that were commonly used by
grocery store shoppers in the U.S. and elsewhere during the 1950s and 1960s.
DIFFERENCE ENGINE

In 1822, English mathematician Charles Babbage (1792-1871)

unveiled the first phase of his envisioned ―Difference Engine‖ which
also used ten-position gears to represent decimal digits. It could
perform more complex calculations than the basic arithmetic of an
adding machine like the Pascaline.

However, the engineering of the Difference Engine became so

complicated that, for this and other reasons, Babbage abandoned the
project. There are two main difficulties here, illustrating two key
concepts in computing. First, these devices were ―mechanical – i.e.,
they were devices that required physically moving and interconnected
parts. Such a device is almost certain to be slower, more prone to
failure, and more difficult to manufacture than a device that has no
moving parts.
ENIAC

● ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

Engineered by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of

Pennsylvania from 1943 to 1946, the 30-ton ENIAC required 18,000 vacuum tubes,
consuming enormous amounts of electrical power for its day. This is largely because
ENIAC required 10 vacuum tubes to represent each decimal digit.
ATANASOFF-BERRY COMPUTER

● It was the first electronic digital computing device

● It was also called as the “ABC”

In contrast, the first electronic digital computer developed by

John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University
from 1937-1942, like all electronic digital computers today,
used a binary – i.e., Base-2 numeral system.
ATANASOFF-BERRY COMPUTER

Likewise, the number ―two hundred fifty-five‖ could be represented with only 8 vacuum
tubes, instead of the 30 that ENIAC required:

In exchange for the cryptic unfamiliarity of binary representation, computer engineers

gained an efficient way to make electronic digital computers using two-state electronic
devices.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(PROCESSORS)

There are some similarities here to the way a processor works. A domino,
like a transistor, is a two-state device: just as a transistor can be in either an
on or off position, a domino can be either standing up or lying down. Thus,
like any other two state devices, a domino or transistor can model the two
possibilities that exist for a binary digit: a 0 or a 1.

For example, we could think of a domino that is standing up as a 1, and a

domino that is lying down as a 0. Knocking over some or all of the
dominoes in that first row of eight, then, is like "inputting" an eight-digit
binary number into this domino "machine.“
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(PROCESSORS)

Thus, even today, a modern electronic digital

computer is still, at the core of its hardware, a
machine that performs basic arithmetic
operations. More specifically, it is a machine that
mimics or models the way that digits change
when humans do basic arithmetic. Today’s
microprocessors are typically 32 bits or higher,
meaning that their instructions are comprised of
binary numbers that are 32 or more digits. Their
instruction cycles are described in "gigahertz,"
meaning that such processors can perform literally
billions of instructions cycles every second.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(SOFTWARE)
Provides such meaningful, useful direction. Indeed, it is the rise of software that has enabled computers to
evolve from mere number crunchers into technologies that now enrich so many areas of human life.

Charles Babbage, already identified as a key figure in the history

of computer hardware, is also a key figure in the history of
software. Babbage began work on a much more sophisticated
machine that he called his ―Analytical Engine. The operation of
this machine was to be far more versatile and automatic than his
earlier invention. In hardware terms, Babbage conceived of a
machine built to perform the basic operations of arithmetic upon
numeric digits – i.e., a calculator. However, borrowing a
technology from the automated ―Jacquard looms that began to
appear during the early 1800s.

Analytical Engine
 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.

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 mathematic
functions.
● The first mass-produced calculating machine.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(SOFTWARE)
FIRST COMPUTER PROGRAMMER
● In 1840, Augusta Ada Byron also known as “Ada Lovelace” suggested to
Babbage to use the binary system

Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, was one of the few people other than
Babbage who understood the Analytical Engine’s enormous potential. She
described the similarity of Jacquard’s and Babbage’s inventions: ―The Analytical
Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and
leaves, ‖ in both cases, simply by performing a carefully devised sequence of basic
operations.
Lovelace designed and wrote out demonstrations of how complex mathematical
computations could be constructed entirely from sequences of the basic set of
arithmetic operations of which the Analytical Engine would be capable. Ada
Lovelace is often deemed to be ―the first programmer, and her work certainly has
much in it that recommends this title for her – even more, in fact, than is usually
acknowledged.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING AND PERSONAL COMPUTING)
In certain ways, Lovelace anticipated a shift in conceptions of computer programming. She saw computing
and programming as extending beyond the realm of numerical data and traditional notions of algebraic
sequences of arithmetic operations.

- Object-oriented programming (OOP) emerged

largely from attempts in the latter half of the 1970s to
develop a new generation of ―personal computers‖ and
―graphical user interfaces,‖ and the rapid rise in
popularity of these technologies beginning in the latter
half of the 1980s was accompanied by a similar rise to
prominence of the object-oriented notions of
programming that enabled them.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING AND PERSONAL COMPUTING)

As part of an attempt to demonstrate the value of the

Dynabook project, an example of such a GUI was created that
featured a virtual "desktop" designed to emulate the activities
and workspace typical of office work in a way that even such
an employee with no prior computer experience would find
interacting with the system to be an intuitive, productive, and
enjoyable experience. This experiment failed to convince
Xerox executives; however, several years later in 1979, Apple
Computer cofounder Steve Jobs saw a demonstration of this
GUI.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING AND PERSONAL COMPUTING)

The Apple II personal computer system, first introduced

in 1977, had, like other early microcomputer systems,
interacted with users via a command line interface.
However,
after seeing the PARC system, Jobs said that within
―ten minutes it was obvious to me that all computers
would work like this someday.‖ Jobs immediately set to
work on creating the new generation of Apple
computers that began when the Macintosh was
introduced in January 1984. The graphical user interface
of the Macintosh, as well as that of the Microsoft
―Windows‖ operating system that was introduced a
year later, bore much resemblance to the ―desktop‖
GUI developed at Xerox PARC.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING AND PERSONAL COMPUTING)
Like other early microcomputers, initially the Apple II was designed and marketed on the assumption that
users would usually write their own software (probably using one of the introductory procedural
programming languages of that era, such as the widely-used ―BASIC‖). However, another key event had
taken place in 1979, one that subsequently propelled the Apple II to heights of popularity that went far
beyond computer hobbyists and programmers.

VisiCalc, a radically new and powerful spreadsheet

software program that had been developed several years
earlier for larger computer systems was successfully
―ported for use on the Apple II microcomputer system in
1979.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(Programming Languages And Compiling)
The “processor” that is at its core operates on data‖ that are understood to be binary numbers. Each digit of
such a data item consists of either a 0 or 1 and is represented and sent to the processor in the form of an
electrical signal with a voltage that is evaluated to be either “high” or “low” which in turn serves to “flip”
certain of the processor’s on/off transistor switches in such a way that mimics the “inputting” of this binary
number into the processor.

Thus, at the most fundamental level, a software program that a computer’s processor performs consists of a
very long stream of binary numbers, some of which represent a particular arithmetic operation to be
performed and others of which represent the data to be used in that operation.

100011 00011 01000 00000 00001 00100

 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(Programming Languages And Compiling)
In fact, early electronic computers in the 1940s and 1950s required a human programmer to input long
sequences of binary numbers of this very sort to load a software program into the computer.

Fortunately, this is no longer the case. Over time, a wide variety of “high-level” programming languages
have been developed that allow a programmer to write software programs that allow the use of decimal
numbers and arithmetic symbols that are similar to the ones used when humans do math. Thus, adding 10 to
the current value of a variable named “x” could be encoded as:
x + 10

High-level programming languages also allow data that consists of letters and punctuation marks and
include commands that are very similar to words used in human languages. For example, in a typical
high-level programming language, an instruction to print the greeting “Hello!” on the screen could be
something like:

print(“Hello!”)
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(Platform Independence)

The explosion in the popularity of the World Wide Web beginning in the latter half of the 1990s
also served to underscore the problem of incompatible personal computer “platforms”. From
the very outset, the Internet was designed to be a “platform-independent‖ infrastructure”. For
example, because the “JPEG” digital image format was designed specifically for use on the
World Wide Web, it was designed to be platform independent. As a result, any given JPEG
image file can be Introduction to Computing accessed, viewed, manipulated, and exchanged
over the Internet by users of Macintosh, Windows/PC, and Unix/Linux personal computers
alike.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(Platform Independence)

The explosion in the popularity of the World Wide Web beginning in the latter half of the 1990s
also served to underscore the problem of incompatible personal computer “platforms”. From
the very outset, the Internet was designed to be a “platform-independent‖ infrastructure”. For
example, because the “JPEG” digital image format was designed specifically for use on the
World Wide Web, it was designed to be platform independent. As a result, any given JPEG
image file can be Introduction to Computing accessed, viewed, manipulated, and exchanged
over the Internet by users of Macintosh, Windows/PC, and Unix/Linux personal computers
alike.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(Processing)

The complexity of the procedure used to enter a program, compile it, and execute it commonly
known as the programming environment is often a hindrance to learning how to program. In a
command line environment, one may have to learn a collection of commands for the operating
system (e.g., Unix) that is being used and, in addition, editor commands for entering and
modifying the program. However, a variety of integrated development environments (IDEs)
such as Visual Studio developed by Microsoft and the popular open-source IDE Eclipse are
available that make this considerably easier.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(Processing)

However, the Processing environment

is one of the simplest to use. When it is
started, a simple "sketch window" appears
that has six buttons at the top, a program
editor window below this, and a text output
window at the bottom, as pictured:
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTER
(Processing)
The program editor currently contains
no program code i.e., it contains an empty
program. But if we click the leftmost (Run)
button at the top of the sketch window,
another window (pictured on the left Figure
1-1. Program editor window and (empty)
graphical output window -1.17- in Figure
1.1) appears. It is called the visual output
window because it contains graphical output
produced by a program. In this example, no
output is displayed because the program is
empty.
TO BE CONTINUED
UNTIL NEXT TIME . . .