Computer History

In this article, we will learn about Computer history. Where we have discussed from start to end, we will include following topics:

1.    The Dark Ages starts from (3000 B.C To 1890 A.D)

2.    The middle ages start from (1890 A.D To 1944 A.D.)

3.    The Modern Ages starts from (from Since 1944)

 1.       The Dark Ages (3000 B.C.- 1890 A.D)

Computer history starts from About 3000 B.C. the Abacus” was developed probably in China. This is the simplest manual device, which consists of a frame with beads strung on wires or rods. Arithmetic calculations are performed by manipulating the beads. In fact, the Abacus is a Very fast calculating device, by which an operator can calculate faster than a person using a digital calculator.

In 1917: John Napier designed a device, called “ Napier’s  bones”. This device contains a set of eleven bones or rods with numbers marked on them. By placing these rods side by side, products and quotients of large numbers can be obtained very easily. In1632: Another manual mechanical device “Oughtred’s  Slide Rule” was developed. In this device, a famous English mathematician William Oughtred used Logarithm’s concept. This device consist of two movable rulers placed side by side and these ruler has proportionally marked distances, By which operator can multiply and divide very quickly. In 1642: the great French mathematician Blaise Pascal invented a calculator called “Pascal’s Calculator”. This calculator manipulates numbers by rotating a cogwheel gear by one to ten steps with a carryover ratchet to operate next higher digit. We can fid this technique, even now in automobile odometer which used a series of cogwheels to calculate distance. In  1673: Leibniz much improved Pascal’s calculator. Such in a way that it could perform multiplication and division. The first punched card mechanism was invented by a French weaver named Joseph Marie Jacquard,   In 1801:  This mechanism is called “Jacquard’s Loom”.   In 1823:  “Babbage’s Difference Engine” was constructed, this is based on some predefined formulae. This mechanism was used by a number of business  organizations. After ten years Charles Babbage introduced another device called “Babbage’s Analytical Engine”. It was 15 feet tall and 20 feet long, consisting of hundreds of hundreds of vertical axis and thousands of wheels of gears.

2.      The middle ages of Computer History (1890 A.D – 1944 A.D.)

The compilation of census data was the biggest problem in middle ages. Dr. Herman Hollerith, a statistician with U.S. Bureau of the census, developed a 3×5 inch punched card to record data. Also constructed a box to sort data and an electro magnetic counting mechanism to tabularize data, The 1890 survey was processed in one-fourth time needed for 1880 survey. In 1908:  Dr. James Powers developed 20- column punching machine. In the same year, Dr. Herman Hollerith developed vertical sorting machine which can process almost 275 cards per minute until.  In1940:  there was no major invention, but performance, speed, and capabilities of existing machines were improved. Some other supporting devices were developed which assist the main punched card machines, such s the verifiers, these can verify inputted or outputted data, and the collators, which can merge a deck of sorted punched card into another sorted deck. Some other electro mechanical accounting machines were developed which could read cards containing both alphabetic and numeric data, perform simple arithmetic operations and print the result.

3.      The Modern Ages  Computer History (Since 1944)

In 1944: an electro-mechanical computer “ Mark-l” was built by IBM (International Business machines) Corporation. The IBM launched its new version as “Mark-II” After wards fully electronic computes were developed.

          HISTORY OF COMPUTERS AT A GLANCE

AGES/ GENERATIONS	DEVELOPMENT FEATURE INVENTION	INVENTOR COUNTRY OF ORIGINS
DARK AGES	Abacus came into use for calculation purposes.	China and other Oriental countries
5000 BC-1890 AD	Record keeping began. Double Entry System of  accounting was developed	Greek and Roman Empires
1617 AD	Napier’s Bons	John Napier
1632 AD	Slide Rule	William Oughtred
1642 AD	Mechanical calculating Machine	Blaise Pascal
1801 AD	Jacquard,s  Loom	Jacquard
1843 AD	Analytical Engine (The First complete computer)	Charies Babbage (The Father of Computers

                        MIDDLE AGES 1890- 1943

1890 AD	Punched Cards were used in Census	Herman Hollerith
1908 AD	20 Column Punched Card Developed	James Power
1908-43 AD	Speed & processing capabilities improved Verifies, Calculators and card readers introduced
1937-38 AD	ABC Computer (First Proto type computer was introduced)	Atanasoof & Clifford Berry
1940- 41 AD	First General purpose computer introduced	John Mauchly & Eckert

                        MODERN AGE 1943 – to date

1943	Mark-I Digital Computer that used Electro Magnetic Relays	Howard Aiken
1946 AD	ENIAC the first electronic general-purpose computer that used Vacuum Tube was introduced	, John Mauchly & Eckert
1949 AD	EDSAC first computer that used Stored Programs	John Von Neumann
1951 AD	UNVAC first Self Checking computer introduced	Mauuchly & Eckert
SECOND GENERATION 1959-1971	Computer became further smaller, and more reliable due to the use of Transistors	Transistors are developed by Barden Shockely and Brattain of Bell Laboratories in 1947
THIRD GENERATION 1964-1971	Computer became further smaller faster and reliable due to use of Transistors	Integrated Circuits were developed by Fairchild and Kilby in 1955
FORTH GENERATION 1971 todate	Micro Processors or Chip brought a further revolution in computer	Victor Poor & Tedhoff
1976 AD	Apple Micro Computer developed	Steve Wozniak & Steve Job
1881-todate	Personal Computer made computer a household word. Storage devices, optical disks/ CD ROM, Multimedia, Virtual Reality, Virtual, Reality, INTERNET WORLD WIDE WEB, Communication Super Highway, development of human centric approach to computing and parallel processing developed

What is Computer?

What is Information technology (IT)?

Computer Generations.

The Classification of Computer Type.

Classification of computer according to size.

Input Devices.

Output Devices.

Primary Storage Devices.

Secondary Storage Devices.

Application Software.

System Software.