Abacus

In search of the history of the search of computers, almost everyone has the same opinion that it first started
in the sixteenth century in China where the academics made a machine called Abacus for calculating.
NAPIER'S BONES
Another calculating device developed in 1614 by a scientist, whose name was John, Napier. This device calls
Napier's bones because it consists of rods made up of bones and could easily use for multiple cation and
division along with addition and subtraction.
LEIBNIZ CALCULATOR
NAPIER BONEA Leibniz wheel or step drum is a cylinder consists of a set of increment lengths when connecting
to a counting wheel, which can be used in a calculating engine of a class of mechanical calculators, contrive by
Leibniz in 1671. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Sliderule
Napier invented logarithms, Edmund Gunter invented the logarithmic scales (lines etched on metal or wood),
but it was William Oughtred, in England who invented the sliderule.
Pascal calculator
Then in 1642, there another Pascal's mechanical calculating tool evolve by a French mathematician and
philosopher, named Blaise Pascal (19 years old) and known as PASCALINE. He became very successful and
popular. This device also called 'Arithmatique'.
Charles Babbage is known as the Father of the modern computer. Automatic Difference Engine. It was
designed to help in the construction of mathematical tables for navigation. He proposed the construction of a
machine he called the Analytic Engine.
Ada Lovelace (the 1st Programmer) translated Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's memoir on Charles
Babbage's Analytic Engine (0 and 1).
Colossus I
The first really successful electronic computer was built in Bletchley Park, England. It was capable of
performing only one function, that of code breaking during World War II. It could not be re-programmed.
Mark I
Another calculating device known as 'MARK – l, was developed in 1930 by Dr. Howard Aiken and Grace
Hopper. This was the first electromechanical computer and was very big in size. In 1944 Dr. Howard Aiken of
Harvard finished the construction of the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, popularly known as the
Mark I. The first computer bug ,One of the primary programmers for the Mark I was Grace Hopper.
ENIAC
The first all-electronic computer was the Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator, known as ENIAC. Itwas
designed by J. Prosper Eckert and John W. Mauchly
The Transistor
In 1948 an event occurred that was to forever change the course of computers and electronics. Working at
Bell Labs three scientists, John Bordeen (1908-1991) (left), Waltar Brattain (1902-1987) (right), and William
Shockly (1910-1989) (seated) invented the transistor.
UNIVAC
The first practical electronic computer was built by Eckert and Mauchly (of ENIAC fame) and was known as
UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer). The first UNIVAC was used by the Bureau of Census. The unique
feature of the UNIVAC was that it was not a one-of-a-kind computer. It was mass produced.
Programming languages
From 1958-1962 many programming languages were developed.
FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslator)
COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented Language)
LISP (LISt Processor)
ALGOL (ALGOrithmic Language)
BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)
Integrated Circuits
By the early 70s the state of the art in computer technology allowed for 1000 components per chip.
First microprocessor chip
The Intel corporation produced the first microprocessor chip which was a 4-bit chip. Today’s chips are 64-bit.
At approximately 1/16 x 1/8 inches in size, this chip contained 250 transistors and had all the computing
power of ENIAC. It matched IBM computers of the early 60s that had a CPU the size of an office desk.
First Generation Computers: Vacuum Tubes (1940-1956)
Second Generation Computers: Transistors (1956-1963)
Third Generation Computers: Integrated Circuits. (1964-1971)
Fourth Generation Computers: Micro-processors (1971-Present)