History of Computing PDF

Napier's Bones (1600s) Napier's bones is a manually-operated calculating device created by John Napier of Merchiston for calculation of products and quotients of numbers. Pascaline (1642) Blaise Pascal invented the mechanical calculator called Pascaline. This calculating machine could...

Napier's Bones (1600s) Napier's bones is a manually-operated calculating device created by John Napier of Merchiston for calculation of products and quotients of numbers. Pascaline (1642) Blaise Pascal invented the mechanical calculator called Pascaline. This calculating machine could add and subtract two numbers directly and multiply and divide by repetition. Difference Engine (1812) Charles P. Babbage, the "father of the computer", designed a machine, the difference engine which would be steam- powered, fully automatic and commanded by a fixed instruction program. Ada Lovelace (1840s) Ada Lovelace, world's first computer programmer, provided the first algorithm intended to be processed by Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She suggested that a binary system should be used for storage rather than a decimal system. Boolean Logic (1850s) George Boole developed Boolean logic which would later be used in the design of computer circuitry. Hollerith’s Tabulator (1890s) Dr. Herman Hollerith introduced the first electromechanical, punched- card data-processing machine which was used to compile information for the 1890 U.S. census. Hollerith's tabulator became so successful that he started his own business to market it. His company would eventually become International Business Machines (IBM). HOLLERITH CARD PUNCHER USED BY THE UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU Vacuum Tube (1906) The first generation of computers is characterized by the use of "Vacuum tubes" and it was developed in 1904 by the British engineer "John Ambrose Fleming". A vacuum tube is an electronic device that is used to control the flow of electric current in a vacuum. It is used in CRT(Cathode Ray Tube) Tv, Radio, etc. Turing Machine (1943) British mathematician Alan Turing developed a hypothetical device, the Turing machine which would be designed to perform logical operation and could read and write. Harvard Mark I Howard Aiken, in collaboration with engineers from IBM, constructed a large automatic digital sequence-controlled computer called the Harvard Mark 1. This computer could handle all four arithmetic operations, and had special built-in programs for logarithms and trigonometric functions. Eniac The giant ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator) machine was developed by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, Jr. at the University of Pennsylvania. It used 18, 000 vacuums, punch-card input, weighed thirty tons and occupied a thirty-by-fifty-foot space. 1951: Mauchly and Eckert built the UNIVAC I, the first computer designed and sold commercially, specifically for business data-processing applications. 1950s: Dr. Grace Murray Hopper developed the UNIVAC I compiler. 1957: The programming language FORTRAN (Formula Translator) was designed by John Backus, an IBM engineer. Second Generation (1959-1965) 1960s: Gene Amdahl designed the IBM System/360 series of mainframe (G) computers, the first general-purpose digital computers to use integrated circuits. 1961: Dr. Hopper was instrumental in developing the COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) programming language. 1963: Ken Olsen, founder of DEC, produced the PDP-I, the first minicomputer (G). 1965: BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) programming language developed by Dr. Thomas Kurtz and Dr. John Kemeny. Third Generation (1965-1971) 1969: The Internet started. 1970: Dr. Ted Hoff developed the famous Intel 4004 microprocessor (G) chip. 1971: Intel released the first microprocessor, a specialized integrated circuit which was able to process four bits of data at a time. It also included its own arithmetic logic unit. PASCAL, a structured programming language, was developed by Niklaus Wirth. Fourth Generation (1971-Present) 1975: Ed Roberts, the "father of the microcomputer" designed the first microcomputer, the Altair 8800, which was produced by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). The same year, two young hackers, William Gates and Paul Allen approached MITS and promised to deliver a BASIC compiler. So they did and from the sale, Microsoft was born. 1976: Cray developed the Cray-l supercomputer (G). Apple Computer, Inc was founded by Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak. 1977: Jobs and Wozniak designed and built the first Apple II microcomputer. 1970: 1980: IBM offers Bill Gates the opportunity to develop the operating system for its new IBM personal computer. Microsoft has achieved tremendous growth and success today due to the development of MS-DOS. Apple III was also released. 1981: The IBM PC was introduced with a 16-bit microprocessor. 1984: Apple introduced the Macintosh computer, which incorporated a unique graphical interface, making it easy to use. The same year, IBM released the 286-AT. 1986: Compaq released the DeskPro 386 computer, the first to use the 80036 microprocessor 1987: IBM announced the OS/2 operating-system technology. 1988: A nondestructive worm was introduced into the Internet network bringing thousands of computers to a halt. 1989: The Intel 486 became the world's first 1,000,000 transistor microprocessor. 1993s: The Energy Star program, endorsed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), encouraged manufacturers to build computer equipment that met power consumption guidelines. When guidelines are met, equipment displays the Energy Star logo. The same year, Several companies introduced computer systems using the Pentium microprocessor from Intel that contains 3.1 million transistors and is able to perform 112 million instructions per second (MIPS).