Lesson 1: History of Computers Throughout time, humans have invented ingenious calculating machines.

One of the earliest was the abacus. It's about 5,000 years old. Mechanical calculators that could add and multiply (but not subtract!) were invented in the 1600s. In 1820, Charles Xavier Thomas de Colman invented the arithmometer, a machine that could add, subtract, multiply and divide. It was Charles Babbage though, in the early 1800s, who designed mechanical calculating machines that were the true ancestor of today's computers. Ada Byron King (Countess of Lovelace) was his programmer and today is considered the mother of computer programming. Who is Charles Babbage? Babbage originated the modern analytic computer. By 1834 he invented the principle of the analytical engine, the forerunner of the modern electronic computer But Babbage's design for his ultimate calculator, the Analytical Engine, was never produced. But It did anticipate the four components essential to modern computing. These components are input, storage,processing and output. The problem with Babbage's and other mechanical calculators was just thatthey were mechanical. The moving parts they relied on were slow and subject to breakdown. What made modern computers possible was the invention of something that could do calculations and other information processing with no moving parts and do it very fast. That something was electroniccomponents. With electronic components, a fast and efficient machine such as Babbage proposed could be built with all four components essential to modern computing.

Computer History Timeline Computer History Year/Enter 1936 1942 Computer History Inventors/Inventions Konrad Zuse - Z1 Computer John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry ABC Computer Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper Harvard Mark I Computer Computer History Description of Event First freely programmable computer. Who was first in the computing biz is not always as easy as ABC. The Harvard Mark 1 computer.

1944

1946

John Presper Eckert & John W. 20,000 vacuum tubes later... Mauchly ENIAC 1 Computer Frederic Williams & Tom Kilburn Manchester Baby Computer & The Williams Tube Baby and the Williams Tube turn on the memories.

1948

1947/48

John Bardeen, Walter Brattain No, a transistor is not a computer, & Wiliam Shockley but this invention greatly affected The Transistor the history of computers. John Presper Eckert & John W. First commercial computer & able Mauchly to pick presidential winners. UNIVAC Computer International Business Machines IBM enters into 'The History of IBM 701 EDPM Computer Computers'. John Backus & IBM FORTRAN Computer The first successful high level programming language.

1951

1953 1954

Programming Language 1955 (In Use 1959) Stanford Research Institute, Bank of America, and General Electric ERMA and MICR Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce The Integrated Circuit Steve Russell & MIT Spacewar Computer Game Douglas Engelbart Computer Mouse & Windows ARPAnet Intel 1103 Computer Memory Faggin, Hoff & Mazor Intel 4004 Computer Microprocessor Alan Shugart &IBM The "Floppy" Disk Robert Metcalfe & Xerox The Ethernet Computer Networking Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 5100 Computers Apple I, II & TRS-80 & Commodore Pet Computers Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software Seymour Rubenstein & Rob Barnaby WordStar Software The first bank industry computer also MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) for reading checks. Otherwise known as 'The Chip' The first computer game invented. Nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end. The original Internet. The world's first available dynamic RAM chip. The first microprocessor.

1958 1962 1964 1969 1970 1971

1971 1973

Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility. Networking.

1974/75 1976/77 1978 1979

The first consumer computers. More first consumer computers. Any product that pays for itself in two weeks is a surefire winner. Word Processors.

1981 1981

IBM From an "Acorn" grows a personal The IBM PC - Home Computer computer revolution Microsoft MS-DOS Computer Operating System Apple Lisa Computer Apple Macintosh Computer Microsoft Windows TO BE From "Quick And Dirty" comes the operating system of the century. The first home computer with a GUI, graphical user interface. The more affordable home computer with a GUI. Microsoft begins the friendly war with Apple. CONTINUED

1983 1984 1985 SERIES

Lesson 2: Four Components of a Computer A computer processes information. A toaster processes bread. Although it's a simpler device, a toaster is a good way to demonstrate the four components of computer processing: input, storage,processing, and output. Just watch the animation on this page for a moment. Both a toaster and a computer have physical parts you can touch such as the keyboard and mouse. We call these parts hardware. Here the similiarites between toaster and computer end and the differences begin. Only the computer has something called software that enables it to figure out what to do with the input

you give it. You can't touch software. Software gives the computer the ability to process many kinds of information. In contrast, all a toaster can process is bread (and the occasional waffle). Another difference is a computer has a microprocessor. The microprocessor is the device in the computer that performs most of the tasks we ask the computer to dofrom playing computer games to graphing the number of people who prefer cricket to curling. The microprocessor reads and performs different tasks according to the software that instructs it. This ability is what makes the computer such a versatile machine. The key thing to remember is this: both computer and toaster have four basic components to how they operate (input, storage, processing, and output.) Unlike the toaster, the computer is unlimited in the things it can do. Lesson 3: How Computers Get Input

Computers are information processing machines. That means that you can use them to access and change information like numbers, text, pictures, and even music. Think of what you can do to modify a single sentence. Using the computer, it's easy to add, delete, or rearrange words. To change a sentence with your computer, though, first you have to get the sentence into your computer. Input devices are used to put information in your computer. You type a sentence on your keyboard and it goes into the computer. You speak into a microphone and your computer records your words. You make funny faces at the video camera and your computer records every one of them. Even the mouse you are about to click to move on to the next section is an input device. So, when you are ready, click it! Lesson 4: How Computers Store Information When you use a telephone, it does not store information. You speak into the phone, the person on the other end hears what you say and then your words are gone. An answering machine is different. It answers the phone and stores the information given by the caller.

To process information, computers need to be able to store it. Otherwise, like the phone, information would come and go before anything could be done with it. Computers store all kinds of information. They store the information you give them, instructions from the software you're using, plus the instructions they need to operate. To store all this, they use two basic kinds of storage. Temporary storage is for information actively being used for processing. Random Access Memory (RAM) accepts new infomation for temporary storage. Long-term storage is for information computers use again and again, such as the instructions the computer prepares itself with every time you turn it on. These instructions are stored in read only memory (ROM), a type of memory that does not accept new information. Computers also use a variety of devices to store information that isn't actively being used for processing. Hard drives, Optical Discs, storage, and Removable Media

Computers Need to Remember, Too Just as you need to remember how to add when you face an addition problem, computers also rely on memory. A computer needs an addition program in itsRandom Access Memory (RAM) to "remember" how to perform addition. When the user switches to a word-processing program, the computer can check spelling because the word-processing program is now in RAM. Some things come automatically to humans. When you breathe or move your arm, you do so without having to remember how your muscles work. Computers have a kind of built-in memory, too. It is called read only memory (ROM). ROM remembers only what it has been programmed to remember at the time the ROM chip was manufactured. "Read only" means it can never be told to do something different after it has left the factory. That would be like trying to reprogram you to breathe water instead of air.

Different Kinds of Storage Media Computers use Random Access Memory for the information they currently need to do a task. Parts of the program you are currently using and the data you are manipulating are held in RAM while you are working with them. But what about the rest of the programs and information on your computer? They are stored in a variety of other media. You are probably familiar with many of the ones shown on this page. What you might not know is the amazing amount of information some of these can hold.

Lesson 5: How Computers Process Information

Computers use integrated circuit to process information. Of the many chips in a computer, the microprocessor is the most complex. It is where the information you give a computer is processed. A simpler kind of chip is used to make DVD players, remote controls, and electronic calculators. The chips in these devices are embedded processors . They're made to do one thing well and the instructions are coded into them. You can't install new software to change what they do. For example, you can't do word processing on your VCR. Microprocessors are much more versatile than embedded processors. Change the software you're using and you can go from doing word processing to playing a computer game. Change the software again and you can explore the Internet. Instead of being designed to do one thing, microprocessors are designed to do whatever the software you select instructs them to do.

Lesson 6: How Computers Deliver Information All the processing power in the world wouldn't matter much if you couldn't get output from a computer. You told the computer you wanted to view a page and the software and microprocessor inside it responded by putting the page on your monitor.

Other kinds of output include sound from your computer's speakers and documents printed by your printer. Output can also include things like MP3 files. They allow you to download music from the Internet onto an MP3 player you can take with you anywhere.