Evolution & History of Computers

Indroduction :Modern word without computer is not possible. Today computers do muchmore than computing. For example computerized traffic control, suppermarket scanners, ATM,social networking etc we are using computer in

everyaspect of our life. But where this all techno logy come from?It is veryimportant to also understand and appreciate the evolution and history of computers . The time when early machines and calculators which camebefore electronic computers was evolution time later some basic ideas weretaken from these machines to make computer. Development of computersfrom early calculators to current generation can be broadly classified intoupcoming categories:

2made by- Rohan Deshmukh

1. mechanical calculating devicesThese can be further classified into two categories:Manual Calculating Devices-• Abacus- The first manual calculating device(3500 BC) . Consist of rectangular frame carrying no. of rods with beads

unequally divided by a bar . The position of the beads on particular rod represents a digit In

that particular decimal position.

• Napier Bones- Used in early 17th century for multiplication,division,powers, square roots. Rectangular stripes of wood or bones with figures marked on

one side. Invented by John Napier.

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Semi-automatic Calculating Devices• Pascal’s Adding Machine - Pascaline

(1642)- First semi-automatic mechanical device, developed by Baise

Pascal. Had eight movable dials to add sums up to eight digits. Drawback-limitation to addition.

• Leibnitz Machine(1673)- German mathematician Gottfried Wilhem Von Leibniz

improved pascaline with this machine. Was able to add,subtract,multiply and divide.

• Joseph Jacquard’s Loom(1802-1804)- Joseph Jacquard devised mechanical means of controlling

the weaving to make the complex pattern easy. Used punch cards to control movements of threads and store

instructions. made by- Rohan Deshmukh 4

• Difference Engine (1822)- Charles Babbage proposed a machine to compile mathematical

tables. Powered by steam ,it was so large as locomotive. Would store programm,perform calculation and print the

result. Never completed because of mechanical difficulties.

• Analytical Engine (1832)- During the making of difference engine Babbage was suddenly

inspired to make it. First general purpose computer ,with over 5000 components. had input devices,the main idea of input and output that is even

today comes from here. Borrowed idea of punch cards from jacquard to encode

instructions and store 1000 numbers of 50 digits. Not just perform one task but different types of calculation.


• Punch Card (1889)- American inventor Herman Hollerith applied Jacquard loom

concept to computing. Used to store data information which was fed into the machine

that compiled the results mechanically. Each punch represented a number and combination of two

represented one letter. Could store 80 characters. Hollerith later brought punch-card reader in the market.2.Electromechanical Calculating Devices• Mark I[Harward Automatic Sequence Controlled

Calculator] (1889)- Invented by Howard H. Aiken with IBM. Was about half as long as football field and had 500 miles of

wiring. Was an electronic relay computer and used electromagnetic

signals to mave mechanical parts. Was slow but could perform complex equation. made by- Rohan Deshmukh 6

3.Electronic Computers There were many other technological advancement ,whereby

recordingdevices,thermionic valves etc were invented which also contributed in

makingof first electronic computer. Electronic computers are classified into various generations on

thebasis of technological advancement.Each generation represents a

majorimprovement over its predecessor. And here starts the history of

computer. ABC(1937-1938) or Atansoft Berry Computer was first fully

electronic computer.It used vacuum tubes and was special purpose computer.

In 1941 Konard Zuse developed Z3 to design airplane and missiles. In 1943 British completed a secret code breaking computer named

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First Generation Computers(1946-1958)• ENIAC(1939-1946)- Full name- Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. Developed by John Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly. First fully electronic general purpose computer consisting

18000 vacuum tubes,70000 resistor sand 5 million soldered joints.

1000times faster than Mark I it could add two large numbers in 200 microseconds.

• EDSAC(1947-1949)- Full name- Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer. Designed by M.Wilkes of Cambridge University. Slightely faster than ENIC and also used vacuum tubes. Not binary but the first stored program electronic computer. Program was fed by means of paper tape.


EDSAC (1949)- Full name- Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer. Designed by John Von Neumann. Hold both stored program as well as data. Key element control processing unit. The project to develop the EDVAC got delayed. This made

EDSAC first computer using stored program concept.

• UNIVAC I(1951)- Full name-Universal Automatic Computer. Built by Remington Rand. Became one of the first commercially available computer .


oCharacteristics of First Generation Computers

They used vacuum tubes and magnetic drum for storage. Operating instructions were made for specific task. Each computer had different binary coded program called

machine language.

Some other examples of I generation Computer are; Mark I Mark II UNIVAC II BURROUGHS


Second Generation Computers(1959-63)Second Generation computers

usedtransistors and magnetic corememory.This led II generationcomputers to become

smaller,faster,more reliable and more

energyefficient.

Examples: UNIVAC III 400 and 800 series B 5000 CDC1604

o Characteristics Replaced machine language with

assembly language. The also contained components we

associate with modern day computer:- printers,tape storage,disk storage,

memory,operating systems and stored programs.

High-level languages such as COBOL and FORTRAN came into use.


Third Generation Computers(1964-71)Jack Kilby, an engineer with Texas instruments,developed theintegrated circuit (IC) in 1958.The

ICcombined three electroniccomponents onto a small silicon

diskwhich was made from quartz.Scientists later managed to fit

evenmore components on a single chipcalled semiconductor. Example: System 360 System 370 UNIVAC 1100 PDP-11

o Characteristics They used IC as aresult

computers became smaller as more components were squeezed onto the chip.

They used an operating system that allowed machines to run many different programs at one time.

Capacity of main memories was greatly enlarged.

New input and out put devices came in market.


Fourth Generation Computers(1972-84) Present generation of computer. Large scale integration could fit hundreds of components

onto one chip. Very large scale integration sqeezed hundreds of thousands

of components on chip,later millions by Ultra large scale integration.

Intel 4004 chip,assembled CPU,memoryand input/output controlon single chip called microprocessor.

Size lessened, much greater computing power,extremely large memories,storage device improved,cost lessened.

Computers became more powerful, they could be linked together or networked to share memory space, software, information and communicate with each other,Internet was a great advancement.


Fifth Generation ComputersThe only drawback of present computers is lack of thinking power.

The fifth generation computers are expected to fill this gap and are

being referred to as Supercomputers.Such computers have very large

storage capacity, high speed, capacity to do highly sophisticated

operations, and the capability to make decisions of the right kind.

New technology is capable of implementing human thought precess is

called ‘artificial intelligence’.This refers to the use of computers in

such away that they perform various operations and at the same time

take decisions as human beings.these computers are still to be

introduced. Scientist are working hard on this project.



Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery

AbacusPascaline

Leibnitz machine

Jacquard’s loom

Difference engine

Analytical engine

Photo Gallery


Photo Gallery

Punch Card

Mark 1

ENIAC

EDSAC

EDVAC

UNIVAC I

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B5000

12made by- Rohan Deshmukh.

Evolution & History of Computers

Technology

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