Section 3 lesson 1

History of the Computer

Abacus

• First used in China, then by early Greek and Roman civilizations.

• Consists of strings of beads on rods mounted on a rectangular frame.

• Beads moved back and forth represent stored values, necessitating a human operator for calculations.

Leibniz Machine

• Designed to perform basic arithmetic operations with an algorithm for addition embedded in the hardware.

Babbage’s Analytical Engine

• Programmable machine designed to read instructions from holes on paper cards.

• Ada Lovelace is considered the world's first programmer for demonstrating its programmability.

Punched Cards

• Originated in 1801 for controlling weaving processes, using patterns of holes for design.

• Used by Herman Hollerith in the 1890 US census for tabulation, prevalent until the mid-1970s.

Electromechanical Machines

• Examples include George Stibitz's machine (1940) and Howard Aiken's Mark 1 (1944), which used mechanically controlled relays.

Fully Electronic Computers

• Emerged alongside electromechanical machines utilizing vacuum tubes.

• Examples: Atanasoff-Berry machine (1937-1941) and Colossus (World War II).

• ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) soon followed.

Development of Computer Systems

Technology Advancement

• Dependent on inventions like the transistor, leading to integrated circuits.

• Reduced the size of computers from room-sized to cabinet-sized.

• Processing power doubles every two years.

• Mass production lowers costs, making computers accessible.

Desktop Computer

• Early development by Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak in 1976, forming Apple Computer, Inc.

• Commodore offered similar models, but mainframe computers remained dominant in businesses.

Personal Computer (PC)

• Introduced by IBM in 1981, using software from Microsoft (newly formed company).

• Term "PC" encompasses all machines evolving from IBM’s model (desktops, laptops).

Internet Development

• Tim Berners-Lee proposed linking documents stored on computers via the internet, leading to the World Wide Web.

• Development of search engines (e.g., Bing, Google) and browsers (e.g., Edge, Chrome) for document accessibility.

Hand-Held Computers

• Tiny computers found in various electronic devices, expanding smartphone capabilities.

• Equipped with sensors like cameras, microphones, and wireless technologies.

First Generation: Vacuum Tubes (1946-1959)

• ENIAC was the first, weighing 30 tons with 18,000 vacuum tubes.

• Often caused power fluctuations and generated a lot of heat, leading to reliability issues.

• Utilized machine language, capable of running one program at a time.

• Notable examples include EDVAC, UNIVAC, IBM-701, and IBM-650.

Second Generation: Transistors (1959-1965)

• Replaced vacuum tubes with more reliable and economical transistors.

• Introduced binary states of 0 and 1, significantly less heat generation, and longer-lasting components.

Development of Second Generation Computers

• Still relied on punched cards for input, with tapes and disks for storage.

• Notable models: Honeywell 400, IBM 7094, CDC 1604, CDC 3600, UNIVAC 1108.

• Over 100 programming languages, including assembly languages for instructions, were developed.

Third Generation: Integrated Circuits (1965-1971)

• Enabled cheaper, faster, smaller, and more reliable systems through miniaturization on silicon chips.

• Allowed multiple applications running concurrently with advanced operating systems.

• Computation time reduced from milliseconds to nanoseconds.

Examples of Third Generation Computers

• PDP-8, PDP-11, ICL 2900, IBM 360, IBM 370.

Fourth Generation: Microprocessors (1971-Present)

• Integral to computers, integrating thousands of circuits on one chip, drastically reducing size and increasing capabilities.

• The Intel 4004 chip led to personal computers, including IBM’s offering in 1981 and Apple’s Macintosh in 1984.

• Introduction of graphical user interfaces and portable devices.

Features of Fourth Generation Computers

• High reliability, computational capability in picoseconds, high-level programming languages.

Fifth Generation: Artificial Intelligence (Future)

• Started in the early 1980s with ULSI chips capable of handling tens of millions of components.

• Focus on AI, parallel processing, and natural language understanding.

• Expected advancements through quantum computing, molecular technology, and nanotechnology.

Quantum Computing

• Represents a non-classical computation model, using quantum tunneling for higher efficiency.

• Projected power consumption reduction by 100 to 1,000 times.

Nanotechnology

• Involves nanoscale tools for building structures at the molecular level.

• Applications include medicine, automotive, aerospace, food technology, electronics, and materials science.