HISTORY OF COMPUTER BASIC COMPUTING PERIODS
DEFINITION OF COMPUTER
PREMECHANICAL (3000 B.C. – 1450 A.D.)
A computer is a programmable electronic device.
It manipulates, stores, retrieves, and processes data. Considered the earliest age of information technology.
It operates based on a set of instructions (programs). Development of early alphabets (e.g., Phoenician alphabet).
It helps humans perform calculations and computations.
Pens, paper, books, and libraries were introduced.
THREE PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTER Indian mathematicians created the 1-9 number system (100
A.D.).
• It responds to a specific set of instructions in a well- defined The number 0 was invented in 875 A.D.
manner. The abacus was the first calculator and an early information
• It can execute a pre-recorded list of instructions. processor.
• It can quickly store and retrieve large amounts of data.
MECHANICAL (1450 – 1840)
MAIN PROCESS OF COMPUTER
Input >> Process >> Output Introduction of mechanical computing devices.
HISTORY OF COMPUTER Slide rule invented for multiplication and division.
Pascaline (Blaise Pascal) – Early mechanical calculator.
Early Computers – Initially, humans performed calculations and were Difference Engine (Charles Babbage) – Tabulated polynomial
called "computers." equations.
Mathematical Focus – These human computers specialized in
complex and costly calculations. ELECTROMECHANICAL (1840 – 1940)
Origin of the Term – The word "computer" was first recorded in
1613, referring to people doing computations.
Shift in Meaning – The term was used for humans until the mid-20th Telecommunication era begins with:
century, when it began referring to machines. o Telegraph (early 1800s)
o Morse code (1835, Samuel Morse)
EARLY COMPUTING DEVICES AND COMPUTERS o Telephone (1876, Alexander Graham Bell)
o Radio (1894, Guglielmo Marconi)
Ancient Computing Tools Mark 1 (1940, Harvard University) – First large-scale automatic
digital computer.
Tally Sticks – Used as a memory aid to record numbers and
messages.
Abacus (2400 B.C., Babylonia) – A mechanical device for performing ELECTRONIC (1940 – PRESENT)
arithmetic; refined in China (500 B.C.).
ENIAC (1946) – First high-speed, digital, reprogrammable computer,
Mechanical Calculators used vacuum tubes.
Napier’s Bones (1614, John Napier) – Allowed multiplication,
Four generations of electronic computing:
1. Vacuum tubes & punch cards – Used rotating magnetic drums
division, square, and cube root calculations.
for storage.
Slide Rule (1622, William Oughtred) – Based on logarithms, used for 2. Transistors replace vacuum tubes – Punch cards replaced
multiplication, division, and trigonometry. with magnetic tape; storage used magnetic cores.
Pascaline (1642, Blaise Pascal) – Early mechanical calculator for 3. Integrated circuits replace transistors – Magnetic core
addition and subtraction. storage shifts to metal oxide semiconductors.
Stepped Reckoner (1672, Leibniz) – Could perform all four basic 4. Modern computing era – CPUs (central processing units)
math operations automatically. integrate memory, logic, and control; rise of personal
Jacquard Loom (1801, Joseph-Marie Jacquard) – A weaving machine computers (Apple II) and graphical user interfaces (GUI).
controlled by punched cards.
Arithmometer (1820, Thomas de Colmar) – The first mass-produced
and commercially successful mechanical calculator.
Difference Engine & Analytical Engine (1822 & 1834, Charles
Babbage) – Considered the first mechanical computer.
Pioneers in Computing
First Computer Programmer (1840, Augusta Ada Byron) –
Suggested the use of the binary system and wrote programs for
Babbage’s Analytical Engine.
Scheutzian Calculation Engine (1843, Per Georg Scheutz) –
First printing calculator, based on Babbage’s ideas.
Tabulating Machine (1890, Herman Hollerith) – Used for
summarizing and accounting, later leading to IBM.
Early Computers
Harvard Mark 1 (1943, Howard H. Aiken) – First electro-
mechanical computer.
Z1 (1936–1938, Konrad Zuse) – First programmable computer
using punch tape input.
Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) (1939–1942, John Atanasoff
& Clifford Berry) – First electronic digital computing device.
ENIAC (1946, Eckert & Mauchly) – First general-purpose electronic
computer.
UNIVAC 1 (1951, Eckert & Mauchly) – First commercial computer.
EDVAC (1952, Von Neumann) – First stored-program computer
with memory for data and instructions.
Modern Advancements
First Portable Computer (1981, Osborne 1) – Released by
Osborne Computer Corporation.
First Computer Company (1949, Electronic Controls Company)
– Founded by Eckert & Mauchly.
