History of Computer

Computer

It is an electronic machine that accepts information, processes it according to specific instructions, and provides the results as new information.

Data

It is the information processed by the computer.

Earliest Computer

These human computers were typically engaged in the calculation of a mathematical expression.

humans

Originally calculations were computed by ___, whose job title was computers.

1613

The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in ____, referring to a person who carried out calculations, or computations.

middle

The word “computer” continued to be used until the ___ of the 20th century.

Tally Sticks

This was an ancient memory aid device to record and document numbers, quantities, or even messages.

Abacus

It is a mechanical device used to aid an individual in performing mathematical calculations. It used to perform basic arithmetic operations.

Babylonia; 2400 B.C.

The abacus was invented in ___ in ___.

China; 500 B.C.

The abacus in the form we are most familiar with was first used in ___ in around ___.

Napier’s Bones

Allowed the operator to multiply, divide and calculate square and cube roots by moving the rods around and placing them in specially constructed boards.

John Napier; 1614

Napier’s Bones was invented by ___ in ___.

Slide Rule

This is based on Napier's idea about logarithms. It is used primarily for multiplication, division, roots, logarithm, and trigonometry.

William Oughtred; 1622

The Slide Rule was invented by ___ in ___.

Pascaline

It was its limitation to addition and subtraction. It is too expensive.

Blaise Pascal; 1642

The Pascaline was invented by ___ in ___.

Stepped Reckoner

The machine that can add, subtract, multiply and divide automatically.

Gotfried Wilhelm Leibniz; 1672

The Stepped Reckoner was invented by ___ in ___.

Jacquard Loom

It’s an automatic/mechanical loom controlled by punched cards.

Joseph-Marie Jacquard; 1881

The Jacquard Loom is a mechanical loom, invented by ___ in ___.

Arithmometer

The first reliable, useful and commercially successful calculating and mass-produced calculating machine. The machine could perform the four basic mathematic functions.

Thomas de Colmar; 1820

The Arithmometer is a mechanical calculator invented by ___ in ___.

Difference Engine and Analytical Engine

It’s an automatic, mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. It is the first mechanical computer.

Charles Babbage (Father of Computer); 1822 and 1834

The Difference Engine and Analytical Engine is invented by ___ in ___ and ___.

Augusta Ada Bryon; 1840

___ is the first computer programmer, and in ___ suggested Babbage to use the binary system.

Analytical Engine

Augusta Ada Bryon writes programs for the ___.

Scheutzian Calculation Engine

It is based on Charles Babbage's difference engine. The first printing calculator.

Per Georg Scheutz; 1843

The Scheutzian Calculation Engine is invented by ___ in ___.

Tabulating Machine

To assist in summarizing information and accounting.

Herman Hollerith; 1890

The Tabulating Machine is invented by ___ in ___.

Harvard Mark 1

The first electro-mechanical computer.

Howard H. Aiken; 1943

Harvard Mark 1 is invented by ___ in ___.

IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC).

Harvard Mark 1 is also known as ___.

Z1

The first programmable computer. To program it required that the user insert punch tape into a punch tape reader and all output was also generated through punch tape.

Konrad Zuse; Germany; 1936 to 1938

Z1 is created by ___ in ___ from ___ to ___.

Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)

It was the first electronic digital computing device.

Professor John Atanasoff; Clifford Berry; Iowa State University; 1939 and 1942

The ABC is invented by ___ and graduate student ___ at ___ between ___ and ___.

ENIAC

It was the first electronic general purpose computer.

Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

ENIAC stands for ___.

John Presper Eckert; John W. Mauchly; 1946

ENIAC was developed by ___ and ___ and completed in ___.

UNIVAC 1

It was the first commercial computer.

J. Presper Eckert; John Mauchly

The UNIVAC 1 was designed by ___ and __.

UNIVersal Automatic Computer 1

UNIVAC I stands for what?

Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer

EDVAC stands for ___.

EDVAC

The First Stored Program Computer. It has a memory to hold both a stored program as well as data.

Von Neumann; 1952

EDVAC is designed by ___ in ___.

Osborne 1

The first portable computer.

1981; Osborne Computer Corporation

Osborne 1 was released in ___ by the ___.

Electronic Controls Company

The first computer company was the ___.

1949; J. Presper Eckert; John Mauchly

Electronic Controls Company was founded in ___ by ___ and ___.

1946 - 1958

First Generation year

1959-1964

Second Generation year

1965-1970

Third Generation year

1971-today

Fourth Generation year

today-future

Fifth Generation year

vacuum tubes; magnetic drums

The first computers used ___ for circuitry and ___ for memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms.

The First Generation

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 malfunctions.

machine language

First generation computers relied on ___, the lowest-level programming language understood by computers, to perform operations, and they could only solve one problem at a time.

Input; printouts

First Generation: ___ was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed on ___.

Transistors

It replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of computers.

40

One transistor replaced the equivalent of __ vacuum tubes, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more reliable.

words

Second-generation computers moved from cryptic binary machine language to symbolic, or assembly, languages, which allowed programmers to specify instructions in ___.

The Second Generation

These were also the first computers that stored their instructions in their memory, which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.

integrated circuit

The development of the ___ was the hallmark of the third generation of computers.

semiconductors

Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called ___, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers

The Third Generation

Much smaller and cheaper compared to the second generation computers. It could carry out instructions in billionths of a second. Computers for the first time became accessible to a mass audience because they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors.

operating system

Users interacted with third generation computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an ___, which allowed the device to run many different applications at one time with a central program that monitored the memory.

microprocessor

The ___ brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip.

The Fourth Generation

As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet.

GUIs

Fourth generation computers also saw the development of ___, the mouse and handheld devices.

The Fifth Generation

The goal is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-organization. There are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today.

Artificial Intelligence

The Fifth Generation is based on this.