History of Computer

 

History Of Computer

 

 

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER

A computer is an electronic data processing machine or device that performs processes, calculations and operations based on instructions provided by a program. Computers are now used vastly in every field of life. The advancement in computer caused advancement in knowledge, science and technology. Today, computers are used in fields of business, industry, education, banking, transportation, research, explorations, media, entertainment, etc.

 History of Computers

     The computers which we see today are modern shape of computers which have been evolved since centuries. The evolution of computers is generally divided in following three eras.

 (i) Mechanical Era (Dark Age)

Men have been trying to invent machines that can solve mathematical problems. In mechanical era, human became successful to make simple machines that could help performing simple arithmetic operation, in other words computing. These machines were manually operated since the electricity was not invented. Some of the important machines of this era are:

            (a) Abacus (3000 B.C.) Abacus was invented about 5000 years ago. It is also known as counting frame. Abacus is still used to teach basic arithmetic operations to the students. Abacus is considered as first computer prototype.  Demonstrate the understanding about the history of computers Ÿ Outline the various gener
ations of computers Ÿ Classify the computers as per their size and technology used to date SLOs 1.1 2

            (b)Napier's Bones (1612 A.D.)  Scottish mathematician John Napier developed Napier's Bones, in 1612.It is also called Napier's Rods. It was a small machine that contained ten rods. The rods were made up of bones, wood or metal. Napier's Bones was used for multiplication and division.

            (c) Slide Rule (1622 A.D.)   English mathematician William Ought red invented a Slide Rule. This was basically a pair of two moveable rules placed side by side. They had a standardized set of markings called scales. These scales were used for mathematical computations. Slide Rule was used to multiply and divide numbers. The modern      

 slide rules are still used in some countries.

           (d) Pascaline or Pascal's Calculator (1642 A.D.) French mathematician Blasé Pascal invented a mechanical calculator which was called Pascaline. He developed this machine to help his father who was a tax collector. Pascaline can perform addition and subtraction by eight figures. User had to adjust wheels in order to perform these calculations.

           (e) Leibniz's Calculator (1694 A.D.)  Leibniz's Calculator was developed by the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. It was also called stepped reckoner. It was the first calculator that could perform all four basic arithmetic operations; addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

           (f) Babbage's Difference and Analytical Engines (1822 and 1837 A.D.) Charles Babbage was an English mathematician and mechanical engineer. He is known as Father of Computer because he is known as Father of Computer because he developed the first complete computing machine. His first invention was Difference Engine. It was an automatic mechanical calculator. Difference Engine was a large machine, made of metal and was powered by steam. The Difference Engine had storage (mechanical memory) that could hold the data temporarily for processing and to store results. It was used to allow a user to enter calculations and get printed results. The Difference Engine worked on difference equations. Then, Charles Babbage designed but could not build a very big machine in 1837. This was named Analytical Engine. The proposed design included an ALU with basic programmatic flow control. It was programmed using punched cards and contained integrated memory. Historians consider it to be the first design concept of a general-purpose computer because of its comprehensive design.

        (ii) Electro-Mechanical Era (Middle Age)   This era starts from the mid of 19 century. In this era scientists became able to develop faster and more accurate computing machines as they were powered by steam and electricity. One of such machines was Tabulating Machine

(a)        Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine (1890 A.D.) It was invented by American inventor Herman Hollerith in 1890.Hollerith's first tabulator was used for the U.S. 1890 Census. Because of Hollerith's tabulating machine census data took only six months to compile, which was very fast as compared to previous U.S. census in  1880 which took 7 years to be completed. Hollerith Tabulating Machine became very famous and used in many offices of U.S. Government.

 (iii) Electronic Era (Modern Age) The advancement in the vacuum or electron tube gave birth to the electronic era. In this era the true computers were invented which worked on the principle of input, store, process and output. Continuous advancement in electronic engineering increased efficiency and speed of computers considerably.  The electronic era may be categorized in generations on the basis of core technology used to build computers. 

(a) First Generation of Computers (1940 to1956) Based on vacuum tubes, first generation computers were very large in size. This generation computers used machine language (i.e. 1's and 0's).Magnetic drums were used as primary internal storage medium and punched cards for input. In this generation mainly batch processing operating system was used. Computers of this generation were primarily used for scientific and research purposes. Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC), Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC) are examples of first generation computers.

(b) Second Generation of Computers (1956 to 1963) Because of transistors computers became smaller, faster, cheaper and more efficient. Assembly language and a high-level language FORTRAN were introduced. Magnetic core was used as primary internal storage medium. Punched Cards were used for input. Batch processing and Multiprogramming Operating systems were used. These computers were mainly used for commercial productions, scientific and engineering analysis and design. Examples are IBM 7094 and IBM 1401.

(c) Third Generation of Computers (1964 to 1971) Use of ICs further decreased size of computers and increased the speed and efficiency. Less expensive  computers were introduced. High level programming languages such as Pascal and COBOL were used. Keyboard as input and monitor as output also eased the use of computer. Time-sharing and Real-time Operating Systems were used. The use of computers was extended to database management and automatic industrial control. IBM 360 and IBM 370 are the examples of this generation's computers.

 (d) Fourth Generation of Computers (1971 to Present) The invention of microprocessors was revolutionary which caused the development of faster, less expensive, smaller and more reliable computers. They used semi-conductor memories RAM and ROM and magnetic storage became popular. More high-level languages were introduced like C, C++, Java, etc. These computers are used in almost every field of life, like space applications, business and art work, Microprocessors Time sharing, real time and distributed operating system are used. This generation also saw the development of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). Examples are Apple Macintosh, IBM PC.

(e) Fifth Generation of Computers (Present and Beyond) Fifth Generation computing devices are still being developed. In this generation computers will be capable of self- learning, reasoning and generalization. These computers or controlled machines like robot will also be able to process human languages. The branches of AI include; Machine Learning, Deep Learning. Natural Language , Processing, Robotics and Expert Systems.