Information and

Communications
Technology ( ICT )
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
A. Periods of ICT Development
B. Brief History of Computer
C. Early Developments in Electronic Data
Processing
D. Computer Generations
ICT?
• Information technology (IT) is the term used to
describe the items of equipment (hardware) and
computer programs (software) that allow us to
access, retrieve, store, organise, manipulate, and
present information by electronic means
• Communication technology (CT) is the term used
to describe telecommunications equipment through
which information can be sought and accessed, for
example, phones, faxes, modems, and computers’

http://education.massey.ac.nz/lt/NETerm.asp
Information and Communications
Technology - ICT
 Collectively refers to the technologies,
both hardware and software, that enable
humans to communicate with one another.
Evolution of ICT
The beginning of ICT can be traced back
when humans started to use objects to
communicate with one another.
There are four main periods in history that
divide the era of ICT, namely:
1. Premechanical;
2. Mechanical;
3. Electromechanical; and
4. Electronic periods.
Periods of ICT Development

THE PREMECHANICAL
PERIOD
• During this time, humans started
communicating with one another using words
and pictograms curved in rocks.

Sumerian Pictogram-
dating back 3100 BCE
that shows the earliest
form of communication
among humans.
The Premechanical Period
• It happened around 1450 BCE to 1450
CE.
• Humans started communicating with one
another using words and pictograms
curved in rocks.
• Paper from papyrus plant was invented;
storing of information was revolutionized.
• Paper were compiled and bound together,
eventually giving birth to books.
…
• They needed to be compiled and stored in
areas; hence libraries were created.
• “Libraries” were considered as the first
data centers in history.
• Humans started using numerical system
during the late stage of this period.
• The most popular device created in this
period is said to have come from China-
the abacus. The first device to process
information.
Periods of ICT Development

THE MECHANICAL
PERIOD
The Mechanical Period
• Served as the bridge between our current
period and the premechanical period.
• It started around 1450-1840.
• The interest in automating and speeding
up numerical calculations grew during this
period.
• The machines driven by mechanical
means such as steam and gears
dominated information processing and
calculation.
…
• The mechanical calculator, “Pascaline”
was the highlight of this period. It was
invented by the famous mathematician
inventor Blaise Pascal along with Wilhelm
Schickard.
• Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine,
which is considered as the first
programmable mechanical computer, was
also invented during this period.
• Charles Babbage- “Father of Computers”
Periods of ICT Development

THE
ELECTROMECHANICAL
PERIOD
The Electromechanical Period
• It started around 1840-1940.
• The use of electricity for information
handling and transfer bloomed.
• This period saw the use of telegraph to
transmit information over long distances.
• The telephone was later invented,
enabling voice transmission over long
distances.
• Humans started to control electricity using
vacuum tubes in devices that eventually
led to the development of today’s
electronic gadgets.
…
• Telegraph- considered as the first
electrical communications device.
• First invented by in 1837 by William Cooke
and Sir Charles Wheatstone, the first
working model used five magnetic needles
that could be pointed around set of letters
and numbers by using electric current.
• Samuel Morse, an American inventor,
introduced the first single-circuit telegraph
in 1844, which give rise to the Morse code.
…
• In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was
granted patent for the telephone.
Periods of ICT Development

THE ELECTRONIC
PERIOD
The Electronic Period
• It started in the 1940’s up to present.
• The highlight of this period is focused on
the advent of solid state devices/electronic
devices.
• There are four main event found in this
period, these are:
1. The late vacuum tubes period;
2. the transistors period;
3. the integrated circuits period; and
4. The computer processors period.
…
• Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer (ENIAC)- the first electronic
general purpose computer.
 It is around 167 square meters
 Its processing speed was slower than those
machines used today.
…
• The transistor was invented in 1947. It is
an electronic device with properties and
functions similar to vacuum tubes, but it is
lightweight and faster. It is the foundation
of every electronic device today.
• The first full transistor computer was
developed in 1957 and was faster than
vacuum computers.
• Jack Kilby was credited for introducing the
integrated circuit in 1958. It is a device that
is composed of transistors and circuit
elements compressed in a single package.
…
• ICs are used in processing devices, and
processors are constructed in IC forms .
Personal Computers then used these
processors to deliver user applications.
• Computers are evolving from basic textual
interfaces to Graphical User Interfaces or
GUI.
• The result of developed methods of
connectivity for sharing processed
information stored in computers and
processing devices is the internet or the
World Wide Web.
…
• ICs are used in processing devices, and
processors are constructed in IC forms .
Personal Computers then used these
processors to deliver user applications.
• Computers are evolving from basic textual
interfaces to Graphical User Interfaces or
GUI.
• The result of developed methods of
connectivity for sharing processed
information stored in computers and
processing devices is the internet or the
World Wide Web.
Brief History of Computer

THE EARLIEST
COMPUTING DEVICES
 The earliest data processing
equipment were all manual -
mechanical devices due to the
absence of electricity and
adequate industrial technology.
ABACUS ( 300 B.C. by the Babylonians )
• The abacus was an early aid for
mathematical computations. Its only
value is that it aids the memory of
the human performing the
calculation.
A very old Abacus
 ABACUS
A more modern abacus. Note how the abacus is
really just a representation of the human fingers: the 5
lower rings on each rod represent the 5 fingers and the
2 upper rings represent the 2 hands.
John Napier
( 1550 – 1617 )
John Napier is best known as the
inventor of logarithms. He also
invented the so-called "Napier's
bones" and made common the use
of the decimal point in arithmetic and
mathematics.
Napier's birthplace, Merchiston
Tower in Edinburgh, Scotland, is
now part of the facilities
of Edinburgh Napier University. After
his death from the effects of gout,
Napier's remains were buried in St
Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh.
NAPIER'S BONES
In 1617 an eccentric Scotsman named
John Napier invented logarithms, which
are a technology that allows multiplication
to be performed via addition. The magic
ingredient is the logarithm of each
operand, which was originally obtained
from a printed table. But Napier also
invented an alternative to tables, where
the logarithm values were carved on ivory
sticks.
An original set of Napier's Bones
[photo courtesy IBM]
A more modern set of Napier's Bones
William
Oughtred ’s
Slide Rule
William Oughtred and
others developed the
slide rule in the 17th
century based on the
emerging work on
logarithms by John
Napier.
Slide Rule
Blaise Pascal
In 1642 Blaise Pascal, at
the age of 19, he invented
the Pascaline as an aid for
his father who was a tax
collector. Pascal built 50 of
this gear-driven one-
function calculator (it could
only add) but couldn't sell
many because of their
exorbitant cost and
because they really weren't
that accurate (at that time it
was not possible to
fabricate gears with the
required precision).
Pascaline or Pascal Calculator
• It can be called “Arithmatique Machine”
• The first calculator or adding machine to be
produced in any quantity and actually used.
• It was designed and built by the French
mathematician-philosopher Blaise Pascal between
1642 and 1644. It could only do addition and
subtraction, with numbers being entered by
manipulating its dials.
A 6 digit model for those who couldn't
afford the 8 digit model
 A Pascaline opened up so you can
observe the gears and cylinders which
rotated to display the numerical result
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
(July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716)

A German mathematician
and philosopher. He
occupies a prominent
place in the history of
mathematics and the
history of philosophy.
Stepped Reckoner
• The Step Reckoner (or Stepped Reckoner)
was a digital mechanical
calculator invented by German
mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz around 1672 and completed in
1694.
Stepped Reckoner
Joseph Marie
Jacquard
(7 July 1752 – 7 August 1834)

A French weaver and

merchant. He played an
important role in the
development of the earliest
programmable loom (the
"Jacquard loom"), which in
turn played an important
role in the development of
other programmable
machines, such as
computers.
The Jacquard Loom
• A mechanical loom, invented by Joseph
Marie Jacquard, first demonstrated in
1801, that simplifies the process of
manufacturing textiles with complex
patterns such as brocade, damask and
matelasse. The loom was controlled by a
"chain of cards", a number of punched
cards, laced together into a continuous
sequence.
Jacquard's Loom showing the threads and
the punched cards
By selecting particular cards for Jacquard's loom
you defined the woven pattern
A close-up of a Jacquard card
This tapestry was woven by a
Jacquard loom
Charles Babbage
(26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871)

By 1822 the English

mathematician Charles
Babbage was proposing a
steam driven calculating
machine the size of a room,
which he called the Difference
Engine. This machine would be
able to compute tables of
numbers, such as logarithm
tables.
Babbage’s
Differential
Engine
Designed to automate a
standard procedure for
calculating roots of
polynomials
A small section of the type of mechanism
employed in Babbage's Difference Engine
The Analytical Engine
• It was a proposed
mechanical general-purpose
computer designed by English
mathematician Charles Babbage.
Babbage’s Analytical Engine
• 2 main parts: the “Store”
where numbers are held
and the “Mill” where they
were woven into new
results
Ada Lovelace
Augusta Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace
(10 December 1815 – 27 November
1852)

•English mathematician and writer

chiefly known for her work on Charles
Babbage's early mechanical general
purpose computer, the Analytical
Engine.
•Her notes on the engine include what
is recognised as the first Algorithm
intended to be processed by a machine.
Because of this, she is often described
as the world's first computer
programmer.
•Referred to as the “First Programmer”
Herman Hollerith
(February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929)

An American statistician and

inventor who developed a
mechanical tabulator based on
punched cards to rapidly tabulate
statistics from millions of pieces
of data. He was the founder of
the Tabulating Machine
Company that later merged to
become IBM. Hollerith is widely
regarded as the father of modern
automatic computation.
Hollerith machine
 Hollerith machine
• The first automatic data processing system. It was
used to count the 1890 U.S. census. Developed by
Herman Hollerith, a statistician who had worked for the
Census Bureau, the system used a hand punch to
record the data as holes in dollar-bill-sized punch
cards and a tabulating machine to count them. The
tabulating machine contained a spring-loaded pin for
each potential hole in the card. When a card was
placed in the reader and the handle was pushed down,
the pins that passed through the holes closed electrical
circuits causing counters to be incremented and a lid in
the sorting box to open.
More Detail
Each card was placed into
this reader. When the
handle was pushed down,
the data registered on the
analog dials.
Hollerith's Keypunch Machine

All 62 million
Americans were
counted by punching
holes into a card
from the census
forms.
What a Concept
in 1891
Imagine. Using electricity to
count. The date on this
issue of "Electrical
Engineer" was November
11, 1891. The page at the
top is a census form filled
out by a census taker.
High Tech, 1890
Style
The beginning of data
processing made the
August 30, 1890 cover of
Scientific American. The
binary concept. A hole or
no hole! (Image courtesy
of Scientific American
Magazine.)
EARLY DEVELOPMENTS
IN ELECTRONIC DATA
PROCESSING
Mark I
developed by
Howard Aiken at
Harvard
University
Mark I
•Official name
was Automatic
Sequence
Controlled
Calculator.
•Could perform
the 4 basic
arithmetic
operations.
ENIAC
Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator

• developed by
John Presper
Eckert Jr. and
John Mauchly

• 1st large-scale
vacuum-tube
computer
EDVAC
Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer

• Developed by John
Von Neumann
• a modified version of
the ENIAC
• employed binary
arithmetic
• has stored program
capability
EDSAC
Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator

•built by Maurice
Wilkes during the
year 1949

• one of the first

stored-program
machine computers
and one of the first
to use binary digits
UNIVAC
Universal Automatic Computer

Developed by George
Gray in Remington Rand
Corp.

Manufactured as the first

commercially available
first generation
computer.
IBM
International Business Machines

By 1960, IBM was

the dominant force
in the market of
large mainframe
computers
IBM 650
•built in the year 1953 by
IBM and marked the
dominance of IBM in the
computer industry.
IBM 701

IBM’s 1st
commercial
business
computer
GENERATIONS OF
COMPUTER
FIRST GENERATION
(1946-1959)

• Vacuum tube based

• The use vacuum tubes in place of
relays as a means of storing data
in memory and the use of
stored‐program concept.
• It requires 3.5 KW of electricity per
day to keep the vacuum tubes
running
 Per Day : 3.5 KW
Per Week : 24.5 KW
Per Month : 122.5 KW

Per Year : 1,470 KW

NAKAKALOKA!!
 Generation in computer terminology
is a change in technology a computer
is/was being used.
Initially, the generation term was used
to distinguish between varying hardware
technologies. But nowadays, generation
includes both hardware and software,
which together make up an entire
computer system.
WHO INVENT THE VACUUM
TUBES?
• First invented by a British scientist named
John A. Fleming in 1919, although Edison
had made some dsicoveries while working
on the lightbulb. The vacuum tube was
improved by Lee DeForest.
Vacuum Tubes
The main features of First Generation
are:
• Vacuum tube technology
• Unreliable
• Supported Machine language only
• Very costly
• Generate lot of heat
• Slow Input/Output device
• Huge size
• Need of A.C.
• Non-portable
• Consumed lot of electricity
Some computers of this
generation were:

• ENIAC
• EDVAC
• UNIVAC
• IBM-701
SECOND GENERATION
(1959-1965)
• This generation using the
transistor were cheaper,
consumed less power, more
compact in size, more reliable and
faster than the first generation
machines made of vacuum tubes.
• In this generation, magnetic cores
were used as primary memory
and magnetic tape and magnetic
disks as secondary storage
devices.
WHO INVENTED THE
TRANSISTORS?
• The first transistor was invented at Bell
Laboratories on December 16, 1947 by
William Shockley (seated at Brattain's
laboratory bench), John Bardeen (left) and
Walter Brattain (right).
The main features of Second
Generation are:
• Use of transistors
• Reliable as compared to First generation
computers
• Smaller size as compared to First generation
computers
• Generate less heat as compared to First
generation computers
• Consumed less electricity as compared to First
generation computers
• Faster than first generation computers
• Still very costly
• A.C. needed
• Support machine and assembly languages
Some computers of this
generation were:
• IBM 1620
• IBM 7094
• CDC 1604
• CDC 3600
• UNIVAC 1108
THIRD GENERATION
(1965-1971)
• Integrated Circuits (IC's) in
place of transistors
• A single IC has many
transistors, resistors and
capacitors along with the
associated circuitry.
• Integrated solid‐state circuitry,
improved secondary storage
devices and new input/output
devices were the most
important advances in this
generation.
The main features of Third Generation
are:
• IC used
• More reliable
• Smaller size
• Generate less heat
• Faster
• Lesser maintenance
• Still costly
• A.C. needed
• Consumed lesser electricity
• Support high-level language
WHO INVENT THE IC?
• The idea of integrating electronic circuits into a
single device was born, when the German physicist
and engineer Werner Jacobi (de) developed and
patented the first known integrated transistor
amplifier in 1949 and the British radio
engineer Geoffrey Dummer proposed to integrate a
variety of standard electronic components in a
monolithic semiconductor crystal in 1952. A year
later, Harwick Johnson filed a patent for a
prototype integrated circuit (IC).
Some computers of this
generation were:
• IBM-360 series
• Honeywell-6000 series
• PDP (Personal Data
Processor)
• IBM-370/168
• TDC-316
FOURTH GENERATION
(1971-1980)
• Very-large-scale integration (VLSI)
• VLSI circuits having about 5000
transistors and other circuit elements
and their associated circuits on a single
chip made it possible to have
microcomputers of fourth generation.
• Fourth Generation computers
became more powerful, compact,
reliable, and affordable. As a result,
it gave rise to personal computer
(PC) revolution.
• In this generation, Remote
processing, Time-sharing, Real-
time, Multi-programming Operating
System were used.
• All the higher level languages like
C and C++, DBASE, etc., were
used in this generation.
The main features of Fourth
Generation are:
• VLSI technology used
• Very cheap
• Portable and reliable
• Use of PC's
• Very small size
• Pipeline processing
• No A.C. needed
• Concept of internet was introduced
• Great developments in the fields of
networks
• Computers became easily available
Some computers of this generation
were:
• DEC 10
• STAR 1000
• PDP 11
• CRAY-1 (Super Computer)
• CRAY-X-MP (Super Computer)
FIFTH GENERATION
Present and Beyond: Artificial
Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence is the
branch of computer science
concerned with making
computers behave like
humans. The term was
coined in 1956 by John
McCarthy at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Artificial intelligence includes:
• Games Playing
– programming computers to play games
such as chess and checkers.
• Expert Systems
– programming computers to make
decisions in real-life situations (for
example, some expert systems
help doctors diagnose diseases
based on symptoms)
• Natural Language
– programming computers to
understand natural human
languages
• Neural Networks
– Systems that simulate intelligence
by attempting to reproduce the
types of physical connections that
occur in animal brains
• Robotics
– programming computers to see
and hear and react to other
sensory stimuli