COMPUTER HISTORY

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ABACUS (4 Century B.C.)
 The abacus, a simple counting aid, may have been invented in Babylonia (now Iraq.
 This device allows users to make computations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack.
 Considered the first computer
PASCALINE
 Also known as PASCAL’S CALCULATOR or ARITHMETIC MACHINE.
 It is especially successful in the design of its carry mechanism, which adds 1 to 9 on one dial, and when
it changes from 9 to 0, carries 1 to the next dial.
 Pascal designed the machine in 1642.
BLAISE PASCAL (1623 - 1662)
 In 1642, the French mathematician and philosopher invented a calculating device that would come to
be called the "Adding Machine".
 Originally called a "numerical wheel calculator" or the "Pascaline", Pascal's invention utilized a train
of 8 moveable dials or cogs to add sums of up to 8 figures long. As one dial turned 10 notches - or a
complete revolution - it mechanically turned the next dial.
 Pascal's mechanical Adding Machine automated the process of calculation. Although slow by modern
standards, this machine did provide a fair degree of accuracy and speed.
 Only performed addition, not multiplication or division
NAPIER’S BONES
 Is a device that can be used for multiplication and long division
JOHN NAPIER (1550 – 1617)
 is best known as the discoverer of logarithms. He also invented the so-called "Napier's bones" and
made common the use of the decimal point in arithmetic and mathematics.
STEP RECKONER
 Supposed to be able to add, subtract, multiply, divide and calculate square roots
 Device never worked properly
GOTTFRIED WILHELM VON LEIBNIZ (1646 – 1716)
 He was a German Mathematician who created the mechanical calculator known as step reckoner and
inside it is the Leibniz Wheel.
DIFFERENCE ENGINE (1822)
 Device was to calculate numbers to 20th place and print them at 4 digits per minute.
ANALYTICAL ENGINE (1833)
 used to perform a variety of calculations by following a set of instructions or programs stored on punch
cards
 Machine only designed but never built
CHARLES BABBAGE (1792 – 1871)
 considered the “Father of Computers”
 invented the Difference and Analytical Engine
JACQUARD MACHINE
 is a device fitted to a power loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such
complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé.
JOSEPH JACQUARD (1752 – 1834)
 He was a French inventor who improved on the idea of Jacques de Vaucanson to store information on a
punched paper or wood.
PUNCH CARD
 is used as a control mechanism for the Analytical Engine.
 Hollerith would use this for his computers in his company IBM.
HERMAN HOLLERITH (1860-1929)
 He is a German who was born in America. He used the idea of punched cards and invented the card
reader.
HOWARD AIKEN (1900 - 1973)
 Aiken thought he could create a modern and functioning model of Babbage's Analytical Engine.
 He succeeded in securing a grant of 1 million dollars for his proposed Automatic Sequence Calculator;
the Mark I for short. From IBM.
 The Mark I did transform Babbage's dream into reality and did succeed in putting IBM's name on the
forefront of the computer industry.
1939-1942
 First electronic computer built by JOHN ATANASOFF and CLIFFORD BERRY
 Computer used binary number system of 1 and 0
ENIAC (1943-1946)
 Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer
 a machine that computed at speeds 1,000 times faster than the Mark I was capable of only 2 years
earlier.
  Using 18,000-19,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors and 5 million soldered joints this massive
instrument required the output of a small power station to operate it.
 It could do nuclear physics calculations (in two hours) which it would have taken 100 engineers a year
to do by hand.
 The system's program could be changed by rewiring a panel.
 Weighed 30 tons and was 1500 square feet (average area of a 3 bedroom house)
COMPUTER
 An electronic machine accepts data, processes it according to instructions and provides the results as
new data
PROGRAM
 List of instructions written in a special language that the computer understands
ALAN TURNING (1930’s – 1940’s)
 developed “Universal Machine”
 He envisioned a computer that could perform any different tasks by simply changing a program rather
than by changing electronic components
JOHN VON NEWMANN (1945)
• Developed stored programs concept
• Program would be stored in CPU or Central Processing Unit
TRANSISTOR (1947)
• In the laboratories of Bell Telephone, JOHN BARDEEN, WALTER BRATTAIN and WILLIAM
SHOCKLEY discovered the "transfer resistor"; later labeled the transistor.
• This tiny device had a huge impact on and extensive implications for modern computers. In 1956, the
transistor won its creators the Noble Peace Prize for their invention.
Advantages:
• increased reliability
• consumed 1/20 of the electricity of vacuum tubes
• were a fraction of the cost
GRACE HOPPER
 given credit for the invention of the term “Computer Bug”
 invented the first compiler
 invented COBOL
JOHN HUFF (1970)
 Transistors were replaced by integrated circuits or chips, giving computers tremendous speed to process
information at a rate of millions of calculations per second.
 In 1970 John Huff invented the microprocessor, an entire CPU on a single chip. This allowed for the
building of a microcomputer or personal computer.
ALTAIR (1975)
 The invention of the transistor made computers smaller, cheaper and more reliable. Therefore, the stage
was set for the entrance of the computer into the domestic realm. In 1975, the age of personal
computers commenced.
 Under the leadership of Ed Roberts the Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Company (MITS) wanted
to design a computer 'kit' for the home hobbyist.
ALTAIR FACTS:
 No Keyboard
 No Video Display
 No Storage Device
PERSONAL COMPUTER
 On August 12, 1981 IBM announced its own personal computer.
 Using the 16 bit Intel 8088 microprocessor, allowed for increased speed and huge amounts of memory.
 Unlike the Altair that was sold as unassembled computer kits, IBM sold its "ready-made" machine
through retailers and by qualified salespeople.
 To satisfy consumer appetites and to increase usability, IBM gave prototype IBM PCs to a number of
major software companies.
 For the first time, small companies and individuals who never would have imagined owning a
"personal" computer were now opened to the computer world.
MACINTOSH (1984)
 IBM's major competitor was a company led by STEVE WOZNIAK and STEVE JOBS; the Apple
Computer Inc.
 The "Lisa" was the result of their competitive thrust.
 Apple's brainchild was the Macintosh. Like the Lisa, the Macintosh too would make use of a graphical
user interface.
 Introduced in January 1984 it was an immediate success.
 The GUI (Graphical User Interface) made the system easy to use.