Assignment 1 - History Of Computer 622b16

Computer Technology (From Analog to Digital Age) 1200 AD – Abacus It is the first computing device developed by the Chinese. The abacus is made up of beads or pebbles arranged in rows that represent values to facilitate calculation. Up to the present, some Chinese merchants still use the abacus 1614 – Napier’s Bone Invented by John Napier, it can perform multiplication and division. It contains a set of 11 sticks which were bones, and used by placing them side by side. 1632 – Oughtred’s Slide Rule Developed by William Oughtred, it consists of two movable rulers places side by side. Sliding thee rulers can do multiplication and division. 1642 – Pascaline Machine Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, invented this machine. He used the principle of abacus, but instead of moving the beads manually, it worked mechanically and can add and subtract by means of rotating ten-toothed wheels and cogs. 1694 – Leibnitz Calculator (First Calculator) Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz improved the work of Pascal. He made a machine that can perform the four fundamental operations (adding, subtracting, multiplication, and division) and even extract square roots. 1780 – Jacquard Loom Another Frenchman invented the first automatic weaving loom that introduced the use of punched cards. He prepared a stiff card in which the pattern of a weave was encoded using punched holes that indicated where the thread was to or skip in a weave. 1800 – Boolean Algebra Contributed much in the design of switching circuits for ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) of computers. 1833 – Babbage’s Difference Engine Charles Babbage invented the first automatic calculator. He developed an idea of creating a machine that can store numbers and perform arithmetic computations and logical operations. 1876 – William Thomson He introduced the concept of automatic analog computer which was designed to solve complex differential equations. 1887 – Herman Hollerith He invented the first electro-mechanical system; the machine helped in the completion of an 1890 census. He adapted the Jacquard’s punched card device but his version involved the use of stiff paper punched with holes. Electricity was used for the first time in data processing. 1930 – Differential Analyzer It has the first reliable analog computer and was developed by Vannevar Bush. 1944 – MARK I (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator)

The first electro-mechanical digital computing machine called MARK I was developed by Howard Aiken. He revised the idea of Babbage, he thought that the analytical engine could be built using electromechanical power. He proposed his work to IBM which led to the birth of MARK I. 1945 – ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) It was the first general-purpose and programmable electronic computer. Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert introduced it. ENIAC was a very powerful machine with the ability to perform a single arithmetic operation in less than a second. It utilized 18,000 vacuum tubes that worked simultaneously. The size of this machine required a huge room. However the performance cannot hold programs simultaneously. The storage capacity is quite small and could easily process one program at a time. 1949 – EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) It was the first stored-program digital computer. This machine was more powerful than the ENIAC. This was capable of storing programs inside the computer itself. It can immediately read the next program from the computer storage; therefore was able to perform more than one operation at a time. 1951 – UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) Remington Rand manufactures the UNIVAC. It was the first computer specifically built for data processing application. This marked the development of a more advanced electronic digital computer. This computer correctly predicted the election of Eisenhower as US President. 1963 – BASIC (Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) – was developed at Dartmouth. 1964 – IBM System/360 was introduced 1967 – The first handheld calculator was produced. 1969 – ARPANET was established that led to development of the Internet. 1970 – Microprocessor chips came into use; floppy disk was introduced for storing data. 1975 – First pocket calculator was introduced 1977-78 – Apple II computer was unveiled. 1978 – the 5 ¼ floppy disk and Atari Home videogame were developed. 1981 – IBM introduced personal computers. 1984 – Apple Macintosh, first personal laser printer, desktop publishing were introduced. 1993 – Multimedia desktop computer; personal digital assistants proliferated. 1994 – Apple and IBM introduced PCs with built-in full-motion video, wireless data transmission for small portable computers; web browser was invented. 1997 – Computer Network was introduced 1998-2000 – Home video computers are used. Teleconferencing replaces a good portion of business travel.

2001-Present – better, faster PCs are made more affordable. Technological convergence has greatly changed lifestyles. Communications technology dominates development at almost quantum leap speeds with the introduction of text messaging, internet surfing, video streaming, on-line gaming, interactive televiewing, and more via cellphones.