THE HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

EARLY HISTORY (before 1800’s)

SLIDE RULE 1600’s

ABACUS

BLAISE PASCAL adding machine

LEIBNITS adding machine 1642
early 1700’s
 Jacquard loom
The first was developed by a
French textile manufacturer
called Joseph Jacquard.
He invented a punch card
system for programming the
designs on a carpet making loom.
First he used single cards to
control the pattern of the threads.
On later machines the cards were
joined together to form repeating
patterns.
This idea of punch cards was
adopted for use with musical
instruments, such as the
barrel organ.
Here a sequence of valves were
opened and closed controlling air flow
into various organ pipes.
Tunes could be programmed and
loaded into the machine.
BABBAGE difference engine

In the 1820’s Charles Babbage

designed a mechanical machine
called the Difference engine.
The purpose of this machine was to
calculate and print out tables for the
Admiralty. (i.e., tides, tables and
planetary positions for navigation).
The machine consisted of cog wheels
that could be set in keyed positions,
these turned as the computations
were performed.
Due to the limitations of mechanical
engineering in this period, and lack
of money, the machine was never
completed.
 BABBAGE’S analytical engine

A mechanical computer that can solve any

mathematical problem.
It used punch-cards similar to those used
by the Jacquard loom and can perform
simple conditional operations.
According to Babbage ,an automatic
Computing machine must have:-
A store for the numbers.
- Referred to as memory.
A device for performing arithmetic
operations, he called this a mill.
-Referred to as the arithmetic unit or
central processor unit (CPU).
A device for causing the operations of
the machine, for example transferring
numbers from one place to another.
-Referred to as the control unit.
An input and output device. Such as
card reader or printer.
- Includes screen, mouse & Keyboard.
COMPUTER MATHEMATICS AND PHILOSOPHY

George Boole
(1815 to 1864)

Bertrand Russell
(1872 to 1970)

Kurt Godel
(1906 to 1978)

1718 medallion
Showing binary
numbers
 HARVARD MARK I and II
The modern computer era commenced with the first large-scale automatic
digital computer, which was developed between 1939 and 1944.
The Harvard Mark I and II was the invention of Howard Aiken.
The machines were constructed out of switches, relays and rotating shafts.

In 1945, LTJG Grace Murray was working on

the Harvard University Mark II Aiken Relay
Calculator.
While testing Mark II due to a malfunction, a
moth was found trapped between the points
of a Relay.
The operators removed and affixed the moth to the computer log, with the
entry: "First actual case of bug being found."
They put out the word that they had "debugged" the machine, thus
introducing the term "debugging a computer program."
 DECODING MACHINES
COLOSSUS Bletchley park’s bombe

The worlds first electronic computer (ie, using valves) called

Colossus was built in 1943.
It became operational on February 1944 at Dollis Hill in North
London and was designed help decode German messages during the
war.
It read data at 5000 characters per second, had a clock speed of
5KHz and used 4. 5 KWatts of power.
The computers program had to be “patched” in (ie, hardware re-
wired) every time a new program was needed, this could take many
hours.
 THE MANCHESTER COMPUTER
(first generation)
The world's first stored-
program electronic digital
computer successfully
executed its first program on
21st June 1948.
It was designed and
constructed at Manchester
University.
Later that year Ferranti Ltd.
Was given the rights to
manufacture and sell a
commercial version of the
machine (Manchester mark I)

Electronic 1946: Williams

valve Tube CRT Memory
Storage Unit
 FERRITE CORE MEMORY

Current passing through

The core flips the magnetic
field direction, this is detected
by a “sense wire”
THE TRANSISTOR

Transistor Logic Gate

First Transistor

Uses Silicon
developed in 1948

Second Generation
Computers used
Transistors
 Computing in the 1960’s
(second generation)

Large main frame computers

discrete transistor circuit boards

modem

Teletype Computer room

 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
(third generation)

Mini computers made from logic gates

on IC chips

Small scale integrated circuits (RTL, DTL, TTL, CMOS)

Integrated Circuits
 MICROPROCESSOR
(fourth generation)

Name date Transistors Microns Clock speed Data bits MIPS

8080 1974 6000 6 2MHz 8 bit 0.64 (first home computers)

8088 1979 29000 3 5MHz 16 bit 0.33 (first IBM PC)
80286 1982 134000 1.5 6MHz 16 bit 1 (12 MHz AT version)
80386 1985 275000 1.5 16MHZ 32 bit 5 (eventually 33MHz)
80486 1989 1200000 1.0 25MHz 32 bit 20 (eventually 50MHz)
Pentium 1993 3100000 0.8 60MHz 32 bit 100 (eventually 200MHz)
Pentium II 1997 7500000 0.35 233MHz 32 bit 400 (eventually 450MHz)
Pentium III 1999 9500000 0.25 450MHz 32 bit 1000 ?
 The First
Microprocessor – 1971

The 4004 had 2,250 transistors

four-bit chunks (four 1’s or 0’s)
108Khz,Called “Microchip”
 Computer architectures
(fifth generation)
Computer Architecture is the science and art of selecting and
interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet
functional, performance and cost goals

Harvard:-
Separate data paths exist for the transfer of instructions and data

Von Neumann:-
Uses the same storage device for both instructions
and data
COMPUTER CONCEPTS
Vocabulary
 Central processing unit
(CPU)
The main processing unit in a
computer,
consisting of circuitry that executes
instructions to process data.
 Computer
A device that accepts input,
processes
data, stores data, and produces
output.
 Data
In the context of computing and
data
management, data refers to the
symbols
that a computer uses to represent
facts
and ideas.
 Input
As a noun, "input" means the
information
that is conveyed to a computer.

As a verb, "input" means to enter

data
into a computer.
 Memory
The computer circuitry that holds
data
waiting to be processed.
 Output
The results produced by a computer
(for example, reports, graphs, and
music).
 Process
A systematic series of actions that a
computer performs to manipulate
data;
typically represented on a DFD(Data
Flow
diagram) by a rounded rectangle.
 Storage
The area in a computer where data
is
retained on a permanent basis.
 Hardware
Electronic and mechanical devices
used
for input, output, processing, and
storing
data.
 Peripheral devices
Components and equipment that
expand
a computer's input, output, and
storage
Capabilities.
Examples: Printer or scanner.
 Software
The instructions that set up a
computer
to do a task, indicate how to interact
with
a user, and specify how to process
data.
 Desktop microcomputer
A computer that is built around a
single
microprocessor chip and is small
enough
to fit on a desk.
 Microcomputer
A category of computer that is built
around a single microprocessor chip.
The
computers typically used in homes and
small businesses
(also called a personal computer).
 Notebook computer
A small lightweight portable
computer
that usually runs on battery power.
Sometimes called a laptop.
 Personal digital assistant
(PDA)
A computer that is smaller and more
portable than a notebook computer
(also called a palm-top computer).
 Minicomputer
A midrange computer, somewhat
larger
than a microcomputer, that can
carry out
processing tasks for many
simultaneous
users.
 Terminal
A device with a keyboard and a
monitor,
used for input and output, but not
for
processing.
 Mainframe
A large, fast, and expensive
computer
generally used by businesses or the
government to provide centralized
storage processing and
management for
large amounts of data.
 Supercomputer
The fastest and most expensive type
of
computer, capable of processing
more
than one trillion instructions per
second.
 CD-ROM disk
A high capacity read-only optical
disk that
can store up to 700 MB of data. An
acronym for compact disc read-only
memory.
 CD-ROM drive
A storage device that uses laser
technology to read data from a CD-
ROM.
 Disk drive
A computer storage device that records
and retrieves data on disks.
Drive types include floppy, Zip, hard disk
drives.
 DVD
An optical storage medium similar in
appearance and technology to a CD-
ROM
but with higher storage capacity.
The
acronym stands for "digital video
disc" or
"digital versatile disc."
 Floppy disk
A removable magnetic storage
medium,
typically 3.5" in size with a capacity
of
1.44 MB.
 Mouse
An input device that
allows the user to
manipulate objects
on
the screen by
moving the mouse
on
the surface of a
desk.
 Computer platform
A hardware and software
configuration
shared by a group of computers that
use
the same software and peripheral
devices.
 PC
A microcomputer that uses the
Windows
software and contains an Intel-
compatible
micro-processor.
A personal computer.
 Computer network
A collection of computers and
related
devices, connected in a way that
allows
them to share data, hardware, and
software.
 Password
A special set of symbols used to
restrict
access to a user's computer or
network.
 Internet
The worldwide communication
infrastructure that links computer
networks using TCP/IP protocol.
 Web
Short for World Wide Web. An
Internet
service that links documents and
information from computers
distributed all
over the world. Uses HTTP protocol.
 User interface
The software and hardware that
enable
people to interact with computers.
 Command-line interface
A type of user interface that requires
the
user to type in commands.
 Syntax
Specifications or rules for the
sequence
and punctuation of command words
and
parameters.
 Syntax error
An error that results when an
instruction
does not follow the syntax rules, or
grammar, of the programming
language.
 Icon
A graphical representation of an
object
such as a disk, printer, or program.
 Window
A rectangular representation of a
work
area in a graphical user interface.
 Graphical user interface
(GUI)
A type of user interface that features
on-
screen objects such as menus and
icons,
manipulated by a mouse.
Abbreviated GUI (pronounced
"gooey").
 Pixel
Short for picture element, a pixel is
the
smallest unit in a graphic image.
Computer display devices use a
matrix of
pixels to display text and graphics.
 Resolution
The density of the grid used to
display or
print text and graphics. The greater
the
horizontal and vertical density, the
higher
the resolution.
 Web browser software
Computer software, such as
Netscape
Navigator and Microsoft Internet
Explorer,
that allows users to view Web pages
and
follow links to jump from one
document
to the next.
 Web search engine
A feature of a Web site that allows
users
to search for information by entering
key
terms.
 Artificial intelligence (Al)
A characteristic of computers that
exhibit
human-like intelligence or behaviors.
A field of research that includes
robotics,
expert systems, and speech
recognition.
 Computer program
A set of detailed, step-by-step
instructions that tells a computer
how to
solve a problem or carry out a task.