FAMOUS PEOPLE INVOLVED IN COMPUTERS AND TIMELINE

John Napier Napier s bones, based on logarithms which was able to multiply, divide
and calculate square and cube roots.
William Ougthred Slide Rule, it can compute complex arithmetic computations to
mechanical equivalent of addition and subtraction.
Blaise Pascal Pascaline, a mechanical adding machine.
Gottfried Leibniz Is known as one of the founding fathers of calculus.
Joseph-Marie Jacquard Invents an automatic loom controlled by punched cards
Charles Babbage Father of computer.
Alexander Graham Bell Invents the telephone called the Photophone.
Herman Hollerith Invents a counting machine which increment mechanical counters.
Founder of International Business Machine (IBM) Company.
Alan Turing Develops the concept of a theoretical computing machine.
Konrad Zuse Creates the Z1 Computer a binary digital computer using punch tape
William Hewlett and David Packard Founded the Hewlett Packard (HP) Company.
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry Developed the ABC (Atanasoft-Berry
Computer) prototype.
Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper Designed the MARK series of computers at Harvard
University. The term computer bug as computer bug was first used by Grace Hopper
John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly Develop the ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Computer), UNIVAC & EDVAC.
William Shockley William Shockley invents the transistor at Bell Labs
Douglas Engelbart Invents and patents the first computer mouse.
Howard Aiken Howard Aiken develops the Harvard-MARK II.
Bill Gates & Paul Allen The Microsoft Corporation was founded April 4, 1975 by Bill
Gates and Paul Allen.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs Founders of Apple Computers.
Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau Propose a 'hypertext' system starting the
modern Internet.
Larry Page & Sergey Brin Google is founded on September 7, 1998.

4 BASIC FUNCTIONS OF COMPUTER
Before learning how to use a computer, you must first learn the different functions that
a computer can perform. Basically, there are four functions, input, output, storage, processing.

Input
Computer can keep track of any different types of information. With software like
Microsoft word, notepad. it makes inputting any data such as words, articles relatively
easy. Examples of input devices include, your keyboard, computer mouse, microphone
etc.

Processing
Computer can rapidly solve all types of numerical problems. Solving numerical problems
can be considered as an example of computer processing. With the ability of data
manipulation of company, task can be completed efficiently with effectively. Saving lots
and lots of time and effort, compared to human work. Also, computer are accurate and
error free, they can process huge amount of information at the same time and they inexpensive.
Storage
Imagine you have a collections of ten thousand photos. You are going to London to meet
your relative and were told to bring that ten thousands photos over. Guess what? That is
a lot of things. So with the advent of computer, you can just save that ten thousand photos
and bring your laptop over. Thats that simple!. Example of computer storage include,
hard disk, cd rom, dvd rom and others.
Output
Output is one of the most commonly used functions in computer. It may refers to the
graph that is being plotted in Microsoft excel, the song that you are playing from media
player, the PowerPoint slide.
DATA and INFORMATION
DATA
Data is raw, unorganized facts that need to be processed. Data can be something
simple and seemingly random and useless until it is organized.
Latin 'datum' meaning "that which is given". Data was the plural form of datum
singular.
INFORMATION
When data is processed, organized, structured or presented in a given context so as
to make it useful, it is called Information.
Information is interpreted data.
Topic #2: GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER SYSTEM
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTER
1. Celerity (Speed) - It denotes the speed of a computer. The computer present in the
modern world has the speed of nano and pico second. The various speed that are
used by the computers from the former generations are as follows:
1 milli second=1*10^-3 second
1 micro second=1*10^-6 second
1 nano second=1*10^-9 second
1 pico second=1*10^-12 second
Thus the speeds are measured.
2. Authenticity (Accuracy) - It denoted the accuracy of the computer. They are
reliable and robust. It ever makes a mistake. Most probably the error occurs
due to the user rather than the computer. There may be certain hardware
mistake but with the advanced technique in hand they are overcome.
3. Spontaneous (Automatic) - The computers are automatic. It may execute the
process without any intervention of user once they are assigned to a work.
Once the data or instruction are fetched from the secondary devices such as optical
disks, hard disks etc. Immediately they get stored into RAM (primary memory) and
then sequentially they get executed.
4. Pertinacity (Endurance) - This denotes that the computers never get tried as the
humans do. If there are surplus amount of executions to be made then each and
every execution will be executed at the same time period. They can perform their
assigned task without taking any refreshment.
Example: Computers which are used for controlling the satellites.
5. Adaptabilty (Versatile) - In our day to day life computers has been a part, with their
extended flexibility they are used, all over the world. They can be used as personal
computers, for home uses, for business oriented tasks, weather forecasting, space
explorations, teaching, railways, banking, medicine etc. All Modern computer can
perform different kind of tasks simultaneously.
6. Storehouse (Memory) - Secondary storage devices are the key for the data storage.
They store the data for which the user wants to retrieve these data for future use. The
examples for various secondary devices are Floppy disk, Optical disks (CS and
DVD), Zip drives, Thumb drives etc. The data of smaller size can be easily fetched
and they can be copied to the primary memory (RAM).
Example: Data Warehousing made by IBM.
7. Cheaper (Reduction of cost) - Computers are short term investment in order to
achieve a long term gain. Though the investment is high they reduce the cost of each
and every transaction. They reduce man power and leads to an elegant and efficient
way for computing various tasks.

8. Needs a User interface - The only draw back of computer is it cannot make the
decision of its own. It needs a guidance to enhance the process. After all computers
is a machine.

GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
The history of computer development is often referred to in reference to the different
generations of computing devices. Each of the five generation of computers is characterized by a
major technological development that fundamentally changed the way computers operate,
resulting in increasingly smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient and reliable devices.
Learn about each generation and the developments that led to the current devices that we use
today.
First Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes
First generation computers relied on machine language, the lowest-level
programming language understood by computers, to perform operations, and they could
only solve one problem at a time. Input was based on punched cards and paper tape,
and output was displayed on printouts.
The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing
devices. The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer delivered to a business client,
the U.S. Census Bureau in 1951.
Second Generation (1956-1963) Transistors
Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of
computers. The transistor was invented in 1947 but did not see widespread use in
computers until the late 1950s. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum tube,
allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more
reliable than their first-generation predecessors. Though the transistor still generated a
great deal of heat that subjected the computer to damage, it was a vast improvement
over the vacuum tube. Second-generation computers still relied on punched cards for
input and printouts for output.
Second-generation computers moved from cryptic binary machine language to
symbolic, or assembly languages, which allowed programmers to specify instructions in
words. High-level programming languages were also being developed at this time,
such as early versions of COBOL and FORTRAN. These were also the first computers
that stored their instructions in their memory, which moved from a magnetic drum to
magnetic core technology.
The first computers of this generation were developed for the atomic energy
industry.

Third Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third
generation of computers. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips,
called semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of
computers.
Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation
computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an operating system,
which allowed the device to run many different applications at one time with a central
program that monitored the memory. Computers for the first time became accessible to a
mass audience because they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors.

Fourth Generation (1971-Present) Microprocessors
The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands
of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled
an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in
1971, located all the components of the computerfrom the central processing
unit and memory to input/output controlson a single chip. In 1981 IBM introduced its
first computer for the home user, and in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh.
Microprocessors also moved out of the realm of desktop computers and into many areas
of life as more and more everyday products began to use microprocessors. As these
small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks,
which eventually led to the development of the Internet. Fourth generation computers
also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and handhelddevices.

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) Artificial Intelligence
Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in
development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are
being used today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a
reality. Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers in
years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language input
and are capable of learning and self-organization.
CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
There are four main classifications of computers: Mainframe computers, micro-computers
mini-computers, and super-computers. Here is a brief breakdown of each:
Mainframe computers
Mainframe computers are extremely powerful and large computers that have the
capacity to process the activity of multiple users at one time. Many other smaller, less
powerful computers (otherwise known as terminals) are networked with the mainframe,
meaning they are attached to the central mainframe computer. From here, the mainframe has
the capability to process and store things that come from the connected terminals.

Micro-computers
These are most commonly known as personal computers and the computers that
people use on a daily basis. Micro-computers contain their own microprocessor,
which performs the job of a mainframe computer but with considerably less power as it is only
required to process the activities of one machine.
Microprocessors became the most common type of processing equipment as they
featured predominantly in personal computers. They had enough power to perform the basic
recreational activities that people owning personal computers required. Typically, personal
computers were used for playing music and movies as well as surfing the Internet and
word processing amongst other things. Micro-computers are your typical laptop or desktop
computers and are widely available at relatively affordable prices.

Mini-computers
These computers fall in the gap between micro-computers and mainframe
computers. They possess much more power than a micro-computer, but not enough to
perform the tasks of a mainframe computer. These were developed in the 60s and gradually
became less expensive as time moved on and technology became more widely available.

Super computers
Super computers are the most powerful computers ever invented. They are used
to process an enormous amount of terminal activity; even more than that of a mainframe
computer. In fact, in the event of optimizing the performance of a mainframe computer , that
will create a super computer.