History of Computer

Abacus

The First Abacus

It Does Not Require The Use Of Pen And Paper, And It's Good For Any Base Number System. There Are Two Basic Forms For The Abacus: A Specially Marked Flat Surface Used With Counters (Counting Table) Or A Frame With Beads Strung On Wires (Bead Frame)

The Evolution Of The Abacus Can Be Divided Into Three Ages: Ancient Times, middle Ages, and And Modern Times. The Time-Line Below Traces The Developing Abacus From Its Beginnings Circa 500 B.C., To The Present.

Pascal's Calculator Machine(1642)

Pascal's Calculator				Blaise Pascal (1623~1662)

Pascal Was A French Mathematician And Philosopher. Pascal Did Considerable Research With Regard To The Pressure Of Liquids. He Explained Principle That Described How A Liquid In A Vessel Carried Pressure Equally In All Directions. This Came To Be Known As Pascal's Law, And Had Importance In The Field Of Hydraulics. Pascal's Interest In Calculating May Have Come From A Desire To Assist His Father With The Numerous Calculations Required In His Job As Superintendent Of Taxes. In About 1642, Pascal Developed A Calculator Called The "Arithmatique" Or "Pascaline." 

 

Pascal's Device Used A Series Of Toothed Wheels, Which Were Turned By Hand And Which Could Handle Numbers Up To 999,999.999. Pascal's Device Was Also Called The "Numerical Wheel Calculator" And Was One Of The World's First Mechanical Adding Machines.

Analytical Engine

Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine(1834-1871)

This Was The First Fully-Automatic Calculating Machine. British Computing Pioneer Charles Babbage (1791-1871) First Conceived The Idea Of An Advanced Calculating Machine To Calculate And Print Mathematical Tables In 1812. This Machine, Conceived By Babbage In 1834, Was Designed To Evaluate Any Mathematical Formula And To Have Even Higher Powers Of Analysis Than His Original Difference Engine Of The 1820s. Only Part Of The Machine Was Completed Before His Death In 1871. This Is A Portion Of The Mill With A Printing Mechanism. Babbage Was Also A Reformer, Mathematician, Philosopher, Inventor And Political Economist.

Henry Babbage's Analytical Engine(1910)

Henry Babbage's Analytical Engine (Incomplete), With Various Spare Parts and Patterns for Casting. Henry Prevost Babbage (1824-1918), The Youngest Son Of Charles Babbage. The English Computer Pioneer, Built A Hand-Operated Printing Calculator, Based On The Plans For The Mill Of His Father's Analytical Engine. It Was A Four-Function Calculator Designed For Addition(+), Subtraction(-), Multiplication(x) And Division(/).

World First Electronic Computer

  MARK I (1944)

Howard Aiken And Grace Hopper Designed The MARK Series Of Computers At Harvard University. The MARK Series Of Computers Began With The Mark I In 1944. Imagine A Giant Roomful Of Noisy, Clicking Metal Parts, 55 Feet Long And 8 Feet High. The 5-Ton Device Contained Almost 760,000 Separate Pieces. Used By The US Navy For Gunnery And Ballistic Calculations, The Mark I Was In Operation Until 1959. The Computer, Controlled By Pre-Punched Paper Tape, Could Carry Out Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division And Reference To Previous Results. It Had Special Subroutines For Logarithms And Trigonometric Functions And Used 23 Decimal Place Numbers. Data Was Stored And Counted Mechanically Using 3000 Decimal Storage Wheels, 1400 Rotary Dial Switches, And 500 Miles Of Wire. Its Electromagnetic Relays Classified The Machine As A Relay Computer. All Output Was Displayed On An Electric Typewriter. By Today's Standards, The Mark I Was Slow, Requiring 3-5 Seconds For A Multiplication Operation.

World First Electronic Digital Computer

ENIAC (1946)

In 1946, John Mauchly And John Presper Eckert Developed The ENIAC I (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator). The American Military Sponsored Their Research; The Army Needed A Computer For Calculating Artillery-Firing Tables, The Settings Used For Different Weapons Under Varied Conditions For Target Accuracy. The ENIAC Contained 17,468 Vacuum Tubes, Along With 70,000 Resistors, 10,000 Capacitors, 1,500 Relays, 6,000 Manual Switches And 5 Million Soldered Joints. It Covered 1800 Square Feet (167 Square Meters) Of Floor Space, Weighed 30 Tons, Consumed 160 Kilowatts Of Electrical Power. There Was Even A Rumor That When Turned On The ENIAC Caused The City Of Philadelphia To Experience Brownouts, However, This Was First Reported Incorrectly By The Philadelphia Bulletin In 1946 And Since Then Has Become An Urban Myth.

Computer Generations

Generation In Computer Terminology Is A Change In Technology A Computer Is/Was Being Used. Initially, The Generation Term Was Used To Distinguish Between Varying Hardware Technologies. But Nowadays, Generation Includes Both Hardware And Software, Which Together Make Up An Entire Computer System. There Are Totally Five Computer Generations Known Till Date. Each Generation Has Been Discussed In Detail Along With Their Time Period, Characteristics. We've Used Approximate Dates against Each Generations Which Are Normally Accepted. 

Following Are The Main Five Generations Of Computers:

First Generation Computer (1940-1956)

The First Vacuum Tube(1904)

1904, British Engineer John Ambrose Fleming Invents and Patents the Thermionic Valve, the First Vacuum Tube. With This Advance, The Age Of Modern Wireless Electronics Is Born. He Remains The Acknowledged Inventor Of The Vacuum Tube, A Diode (Having Two Electrodes) That Would Have Far-Reaching Applications. The Tube Was Standard Equipment In Radio Receivers, Radar Sets, Early Television Sets And Other Forms Of Electronic Communication For At Least Half A Century, Until It Was Replaced By Solid-State Electronics In The Mid-20th Century.

---

The First Computer Used Vacuum Tubes For Circuit And Magnetic Drums For Memory And Was Often Enormous, Talking Up Entire Room. 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 Malfunction. First Generation Computer Relied On Machine Language To Perform Operation And They Could Only Solve One Problem At A Time. Input Was Based On Punched Card And Paper Tape And Output Was Displayed On Printout. 

 

The UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) and ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) Computer Are Examples Of First Generation Computer Devices. The UNIVAC Was The First Commercial Computer Delivered To A Business Client The U.S Census Bureau In 1951.

 

Characteristics of the Generation

1) First Generation Computers Were Based On Vacuum Tubes.
2) The Operating Systems Of The First Generation Computers Were Very Slow.
3) They Were Very Large In Size.
4) Production Of The Heat Was In Large Amount In First Generation Computers.
5) Machine Language Was Used For Programming.
6) First Generation Computers Were Unreliable.
7) They Were Difficult To Program And Use.

Examples of First Generation Computers:

UNIVAC I				ENIAC				EDSAC

Second Generation Computer (1956-1963)

The First Transistors(1947)

The First Transistor Was Invented At Bell Laboratories On December 16, 1947 By William Shockley Seated At Brattain's Laboratory (Bench), John Bardeen (Left) And Walter Brattain (Right). The First Semiconductor Amplifier. The Point-Contact Transistor, With Two Metal Points In Contact With A Sliver Of Germanium.

Punched Cards								Magnetic Drums

 

 

 

Transistors Replaced Vacuum Tubes and Used In the Second Generation of Computers. The Transistors Was Far Superior To The Vacuum Tube, Allowed Computers To Become Smaller, Faster, Cheaper, More Energy-Efficient And More Reliable Than Their First Generation Predecessors. Though The Transistors Still Generated A Great Deal Of Heat That Subjected The Computer To Damage, It Was A Vast Improvement Over The Vacuum Tubes. Second Generation Computers Still Relied On Punched Cards for Input & Printouts for Output.

 

Second Generation of Computers Moved From Cryptic Binary Machine Language to Symbolic, Languages Which Allowed Programmers to Specify Instruction in Words. High Level Programming Languages Were Also Being Developed At This Time, Such As Early Of COBOL & FORTRAN. These Were Also The First Computer That Stored Their Memory, Which Moved From Magnetic Drums To Magnetic Core Technology. The First Computer Of This Generation Was Developed For The Atomic Energy Industry.Magnetic Core Was Used As Primary Storage. Second Generation Computer Has Faster Input Output Devices Which Thus Brought Improvement In The Computer.

Characteristics of the Generation

1) Transistors Were Used In Place Of Vacuum Tubes.
2) Second Generation Computers Were Smaller In Comparison With The First Generation Computers.
3) They Were Faster In Comparison With The First Generation Computers.
4) They Generated Less Heat And Were Less Prone To Failure.
5) They Took Comparatively Less Computational Time.
6) Assembly Language Was Used For Programming.
7) Second Generation Computers Has Faster Input/Output Devices.

Examples of Second Generation Computers:

IBM 7000				NCR 304				MARK III

Third Generation (1964-1971)

The First Integrated Circuits(1958)

Integrated Circuits(IC) Are Transistors, Resistors, And Capacitors Integrated Together Into A IC Was Invented By Robert Noyce(Right) And Jack Kilby(Left) In (1958-1959). IC Is a Single Component Containing a Number Of Transistors.Comprised Of Only A Transistor And Other Components On A Slice Of Germanium, Kilby's Invention, 7/16-By-1/16-Inches In Size, Revolutionized The Electronics Industry. The Roots Of Almost Every Electronic Device We Take For Granted Today.

---

During The Period Of 1964 To 1971 Third Generation Computers Were Developed. The Development Of The Integrated Circuit(IC) Was The Hallmark Or The Third Generation Of Computers. Transistors Were Miniaturized And Placed On Silicon Chip, Called Semiconductors, Which Drastically Increased The Speed And Efficiency Of Computers. Instead Of Punched Card And Printouts, Users Interacted With Third Generation Computer Through Key Board And Monitor And Interfaced With An Operating System, Which Allowed The Device The Run To Many Different Application At One Time With A Central Program That Monitored The Memory. Computer For The First Time Became Accessible To A Mass Audience Because They Were Smaller And Cheaper Than Their Predecessors.

Characteristics of the Generation

1) IC was used instead of transistors in the third generation computers.
2) Third generation computers were smaller in size and cheaper as compare to the second generation computers.
3) They were fast and more reliable.
4) High level language was developed.
5) Magnetic core and solid states as main storage.
6) They were able to reduce computational time and had low maintenance cost.
7) Input/Output devices became more sophisticated.

Examples of Third Generation Computers:

IBM 360				IBM 370				PDP 8

Fourth Generation (1971-Present)

The First Microprocessor (1971)

• The Invented was 1971-11-15.
• The Intel 4004 had 2,250 Transistors
• Four Bit Chunks (Four 1’s or 0’s)
• Speed 108Khz
• 0.6 Mips (Million Instructions/sec)
• Pentium (133 - 300 Mips)
• 16 Pin Included.

---

Fourth Generation Computers Are The Modern Day Computers.The Size Started To Go Down With The Improvement In The Integrated Circuits(IC). Very Large Scale(VLSI) And Ultra Large Scale(ULSI) Ensured That Millions Of Components Could Be Fit Into A Small Chip. It Reduced The Size And Price Of The Computers At The Same Time Increasing Power, Efficiency And Reliability.The Microprocessor Brought The Fourth Generation Of Computers, As 1000 Of Integrated(IC) Circuits Were Built Onto A Single Silicon Chip. What In The 1st Generation Filled An Entire Room Could Now Fit In The Palm Of The Hand. The Computer From The Central Processing Unit (CPU) And Memory To Input/output Controls- On A Single Chip. 

  

 "The Intel 4004 Chip Developed In 1971, Took The Integrated Circuit One Step Further By Locating All The Components Of A Computer Central Processing Unit(CPU), Memory, And Input And Output Controls) On A Minuscule Chip.

 

In 1981 IBM Introduced Its First Computer For The Home User And In 1984 Apple Introduced The Macintosh. Microprocessor Also Moved Out Of The Realm Of Desktop Computers And Into Many Areas Of Life As More And More Everyday Product Began To Use Microprocessor. As These Small Computers Became More Powerful, They Could Be Liked Together To Form Networks, Which Eventually Led To The Development Of The Internet.4th Generation Computers Also Saw The Development Of GUIs, The Mouse And Handheld Devices.

IBM PC (1981)

• IBM, Intel and Microsoft joint venture.
• First Wide Selling Personal Computer Used in business.
•In Included  8088 Microchip and 29,000 transistors.
• 4.77 Mhz Processing Speed.
• 256 K RAM (Random Access Memory) standard.
• One or two Floppy Disk Drives.

Apple Macintosh(1984)

Apple II	Apple Macintosh	Steve Jobs(1955-2011)

•Founded 1977.
•Apple II Released 1977 and Widely Used in Schools.
•Macintosh Invented by Steve Jobs in 1984.
•Macintosh is First Commercial Computer with Graphical User Interface (GUI) and Pointing Device (Mouse)

Characteristics of the Generation

1) The Fourth Generation Computers Have Microprocessor-Based Systems.
2) They Are The Cheapest Among All The Computer Generation.
3) The Speed, Accuracy And Reliability Of The Computers Were Improved In Fourth Generation Computers.
4) Many High-Level Languages Were Developed In The Fourth Generation Such As COBOL, FORTRAN, BASIC, PASCAL And C Language.
5) A Further Refinement Of Input/Output Devices Was Developed.
6) Networking Between The Systems Was Developed.

Fifth Generation Computer(Present & Beyond)

Fifth Generation Computing Device Based On Artificial Intelligence Are Still In Development, Though There Are Some Application, Such As Voice Recognition That Are Being Used Today. The Use Of Parallel Processing And Superconductor Is Helping To Make Artificial Intelligence A Reality. Quantum Computation And Molecular And Nano Technology Will Radically Change The Face Of Computer In Years To Come. The Goal Of 5th Generation Computing Is To Develop Devices That Respond To Natural Language Input Are Capable Of Learning And Self Organization.

Characteristics of the Generation

1) The Fifth Generation Computers Will Use Super Large Scale Integrated Chips.
2) They Will Have Artificial Intelligence.
3) They Will Be Able To Recognize Image And Graphs.
4) Fifth Generation Computer Aims To Be Able To Solve Highly Complex Problem Including Decision Making, Logical Reasoning.
5) They Will Be Able To Use More Than One CPU For Faster Processing Speed.
6) Fifth Generation Computers Are Intended To Work With Natural Language.