HISTORY

OF
COMPUTERS
The first computers were people! That is,
electronic computers (and the earlier
mechanical computers) were given this name
because they performed the work that had
previously been assigned to people.
"Computer" was originally a job title: it was
used to describe those human beings
(predominantly women) whose job was to
perform the repetitive calculations required
to compute such things as navigational
tables, tide charts, and planetary positions
for astronomical almanacs.
Imagine you had a job where hour after
hour, day after day, you were to do
nothing but compute multiplications.
Boredom would quickly set in, leading to
carelessness, leading to mistakes. And
even on your best days you wouldn't be
producing answers very fast.
Therefore, inventors have been
searching for hundreds of years for a way
to mechanize (that is, find a mechanism
that can perform) this task.
The need to use devices to calculate to
keep track of information has long been
recognized by man.

At some point of antiquity, our ancestors

used some objects to represent digits
since it is impossible to perform
calculations beyond the limited scope of
one’s fingers and toes.
The word “to calculate” is
derived from the Latin word
“calculus” which means “small
stones”, suggests that pebbles
or beads were used as illustrated
by Chinese as early as 1200 A.D.
(used in Egypt in 500 BC) for
calculating data.
I. EARLY COUNTING AND
CALCULATING DEVICES

• ABACUS
• NAPIER’S BONES
• SLIDE RULE
 ABACUS
•first man made computing device made
up of beads, by moving the beads that
have different positional significance on
the rods
• performs Addition and Subtraction.
• were used by the Chinese around 200
B.C known as “saunpan”; in Japan it was
known as “soroban”
 A very old abacus Modern abacus

Its only value is that it aids the memory

of the human performing the calculation
The Abacus was so efficient that it
spread far and wide and in some lands,
it is still in use.
The Abacus met competition as a
computing tool in the 17th century.
During this era, European thinkers were
fascinated by the challenge of making
devices to aid in calculations.
 NAPIER’S BONES
JOHN NAPIER
Scotchman,
theologian,
mathematician
and designer of
military weapons
who discovered
LOGARITHMS in
1614.
LOGARITHMS - a technology that
allows multiplication to be performed
via addition. The magic ingredient is
the logarithm of each operand, which
was originally obtained from a printed
table.
An alternative to tables, where the
logarithm values were carved on ivory
sticks are called Napier's Bones.
consists of segmented rods so that answer to
multiplication is found by adding numbers in
horizontally adjacent section invented in 1617.
 SLIDE RULE
William Oughtred
English
mathematician
who combined
Napier’s Table
into a handy
device for rapid
calculation
Invented in late 1620s (1632) that makes
multiplication done faster.
It is operated by sliding one ruler over the
other.
II. MECHANICAL
CALCULATING DEVICES
• ARITHMETIC ENGINE
• STEPPED RECKONER
• MECHANICAL LOOM
• DIFFERENCE MACHINE (DIFFERENCE
ENGINE)
• ANALYTICAL ENGINE
• SCHEUTZ DIFFERENCE ENGINE
 ARITHMETIC ENGINE
BLAISE PASCAL
French
mathematician
and
experimental
physicist, at
age 19
better known as PASCALINE
a cigar box sized, patterned after the
abacus, but instead of using hands to
move the beads or counters, using
pegged wheels.
Invented in 1642 for tax collection
problems in France
 FRONT REAR

a mechanical adding machine that could

ADD and SUBTRACT numbers up to 8
digits.
performs computation by dialing a number
of series of wheels.
 STEPPED RECKONER
GOTTFRIED
WILHELM VON
LEIBNIZ
a German
Philosopher and
mathematician
• an improvement of Pascal’s machine
which is a form of calculator in 1674
• for his father’s mercantile business
• it can add, subtract, multiply, divide
and extract square roots.
Although stepped reckoner employed the
decimal number system (each drum had
10 flutes),
Leibniz was the first to advocate use of
the binary number system which is
fundamental to the operation of modern
computers.
He is considered one of the greatest of
the philosophers but he died poor and
alone.
When the age of industrialization
spread throughout Europe, machines
became regular fixtures in agricultural
and production sites.
 MECHANICAL LOOM
JOSEPH MARIE
JACQUARD
A Frenchman
 It uses punched
cards that is
used to weave
fabrics in1801
The invention was not
a computer; its only
contribution was the
idea that a machine
can do repetitious
jobs 24 hours a day
without subject to
boredom.
noting the repetitious nature
of the task requires weavers
working on looms devised a
stiff card with a series of
holes punched in it. The card
blocked certain threads from
entering the loom and let
other threads go on to
complete the weave. It can
weave flower design or any
pictures of animals with ease.
The idea of using a punched card to
store a pre determined pattern to be
woven by the loom ingrained in the
mind of Charles Babbage.
 DIFFERENCE MACHINE
CHARLES BABBAGE
a French mathematician
He constructed a
demonstration model based
on the rotating wheel
principle. His preliminary
model was made with toothed
wheels on shafts turned by a
crank. The model was so
received that he built a full
scale working version.
 Enlisting the aid of a prestigious
association of scientists in
England of the Royal Society,
hem was able to get a grant
from the British Government to
construct a full scale working
version. Expected to be finished
in 3 years, Babbage however
worked on it for 10 years with
the engine growing more
complex as he modified,
enhanced and redesigned it.
The British Govt. had decided
then to withdraw its financial
Invented in 1822 support.
.
Despite the setback, Babbage kept going………

Babbage conceived on another machine in 1835.

It can perform all

mathematical
calculations, store values
in its “memory” and
perform logical
comparisons among
values.
Babbage was the first person to conceived
that a computing machine must be
composed of an input device (he used a card
reader), a memory (he called it “The Store”),
a central processing unit (he called “The
Mill”), and an output device (he used a
printer”) making him to be called as
“THE FATHER OF MODERN DAY
COMPUTER”
He conceived of a machine that could direct to
work by means of punched cards. The machine
could store partial answers which are later used in
performing additional operations. The machine
could also print the results of its calculations.
It was never built however all that exists of it
are reams of plans and drawings and a small
portion of the mill and printer built by
Babbage’s son.
What was missing in Babbage’s dream was
electronics-because technology at that time has
not even thought of electronics.
LADY ADA
AUGUSTA worked with Babbage
BYRON when she was 27. She
helped developed the
instructions for doing
computations for the
analytical engine. She
translated Charles
ideas and she was
better at explaining
Charles machine than
he was.
Her suggestions
that punched
cards could be
prepared to
instruct Babbage
engine to repeat
certain operations
has led some
people to call her
”THE FIRST
COMPUTER
PROGRAMMER.”
SCHEUTZ DIFFERENCE ENGINE
PEHR GEORG
SCHEUTZ
A Swedish
Printer, Inventor
and Translator
A modified version
of Babbage
Difference
Machine

A generous advice
by Babbage
where he finally saw
the creation
performed in London
 III. DEVELOPMENT OF
ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS
• PUNCHED CARD MACHINES
• Atanasoff-Berry Computer
• MARK 1 (AUTOMATIC SEQUENCED
CONTROLLED CALCULATOR )
• COMPLEX NUMERICAL CALCULATOR
• Z1-Z4
• ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer)
• EDSAC ( ELECTRONIC DELAY STORAGE
AUTOMATIC CALCULATOR)
• EDVAC (ELECTRONIC DISCRETE VARIABLE
COMPUTER)
PUNCHED CARD MACHINES
HERMAN
HOLLERITH

a German-American
statistician
It adopted the
punched card concept
of Jacquard. It is
developed for use by
the U.S. Bureau of
Census in tabulating
and sorting data
developed in 1886.
Overview…
Since 1790, the US Congress has required
the census of the country’s population be
taken every 10 years. The tabulation of the
census in 1880 took 7 ½ years because all
the counting had to be done by hand. A
competition was held to find a way to speed
up the counting process. Hollerith won a
contract to tabulate the 1890 US census. As
a result, the count for 1890 population was
announced only six weeks after the census.
Preparation of punched cards An operator working
for the U.S. census at a Hollerith Desk
The census data were translated into a series of
holes in a punched card to represent the digits
and the letters of the alphabet and then passed
on through a machine with a series of electrical
contacts that were either turned off or on
depending on the existence or non existence of
holes in the punched cards.
These different combinations of off/on situations
were recorded by machine and represented a
way of tabulating the result of the census.
THOMAS J. WATSON – the Founder of
IBM.
He had worked for the Tabulating Machine
Company. But due to its differences of
opinions on how to run the company with
Hollerith, he resigned. In 1924, he went to
form another company, IBM, and became
giant in business market first as a supplier
of calculators then as developer of
computers.
Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
JOHN
VINCENT
ATANASOFF
a physics and
mathematics
professor at Iowa
State College
Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)

CLIFFORD
BERRY
an American
inventor
A graduate student
of John
Atanasoff
 The first digital
computer that worked
electronically. It made
use of the base 2 or
binary system.
It had the capability of
solving simultaneous
equations in as many
as 24 unknowns with a
degree of accuracy.
The idea came up to Atanasoff for linking the computer
memory and associated logic - the basic concepts for the
electronic digital computer developed in 1939.
However, the machine was not
programmable, it lacked a conditional
branch, its design was appropriate for only
one type of mathematical problem, and it
was not further pursued after World War II.
It's inventors didn't even bother to preserve
the machine and it was dismantled by
those who moved into the room where it
lay abandoned.
MARK 1 (AUTOMATIC SEQUENCED
CONTROLLED CALCULATOR )

HOWARD AIKEN

a pioneer in
computing
• developed in1944
• 8 feet high and 55 feet long, made of
streamlined steel and glass that weighed 5
tons.
• can perform division, multiplication,
addition, and subtraction in a specified
sequence determined by setting the
switches.
the first general-purpose electromechanical
computer
 IBM was not into manufacturing computers,
until Howard Aiken convinced Watson to
finance a project of building a computer
based on Charles Babbage concept.
Watson gave him I million US dollar to put
up the computer.
Watson however was pessimistic about the
device so he just donated it at Harvard
University because he thought that the
world did not need it at that time..
• One of the primary
programmers for the Mark I
was a woman, Grace
Hopper. Hopper found the
first computer "bug": a dead
moth that had gotten into the
Mark I and whose wings
were blocking the reading of
the holes in the paper tape.
The word "bug" had been
used to describe a defect
since at least 1889 but
Hopper is credited with
coining the word
"debugging" to describe the
work to eliminate program
faults.
The first computer bug
 COMPLEX NUMERICAL
CALCULATOR
GEORGE STIBITZ
a research
mathematician with
Bell Telephone Lab.

SAMUEL WILLIAMS
Bell Switching
Engineer
 Can subtract, multiply
and as well as add
complex numbers. This
calculator was
presented to be used
for remote controlled
electromechanical
computation.

Stibitz realized that Boolean Logic (an idea

developed by George Boole based on the Binary
number system) can be used for circuitry of
electromechanical telephone relays.
 Z1-Z4
KONRAD ZUSE
an Engineer in
Berlin

built a sequence
of general
purpose
computers in
Nazi Germany.
 The
Z1

• Built in 1938
• It had a keyboard for feeding problems into
it. At the end of calculation, the answer was
flashed on a board composed of many little
bulbs.
Finding out the keyboard as clumsy
slow, he was able to develop the Z2
where instructions are encoded by punching
holes in discarded 35mm film and feeding
this to the machine.

HE continued with his work and able to

complete Z3, a program controlled device
based on binary system
The Z4 were used to solve engineering
problems of aircraft and missile design.
 Zuse's accomplishments are all the more
incredible given the context of the material
and manpower shortages in Germany during
World War II.

Because these machines were unknown

outside Germany, they did not influence the
path of computing in America.
But their architecture is identical to that still in
use today: an arithmetic unit to do the
calculations, a memory for storing numbers, a
control system to supervise operations, and
input and output devices to connect to the
external world.
In 1942, Konrad Zuse with his sometime
associate Helmut Scheyer wanted to redesign
the Z3 so that it used vacuum tubes rather
than electromechanical switches since
vacuum tubes has no moving parts.
In about this time, the British were developing
a similar machine for the purpose of breaking
the German codes in World War.
The British intelligence gathered a group of
brilliant researchers and sequestered them
at Blatchley Park, a large Victorian estate
near London. One of these so called Alan
Turing- one of the backroom boys. Some of
his ideas where used in building the
Colossus- a machine used to intercept
enemy messages during the war. The new
machine used 2000 vacuum tubes.
Colossus dedicated to code breaking, and was
routinely able to read coded Germany radio
transmissions. But Colossus was definitely not
a general purpose, reprogrammable machine.
Computers that used vacuum tubes are
considered part of the 1st gen. Though
these computers used vacuum tubes, they
were however developed by research teams
in an academic setting mostly to see if the
machine could be built and not to be sold to
the open market.

When World War II broke out, countries

involved in the war intensified their scientific
experiments to develop new technology.
The nation with the more advanced
technology had the edge of winning the war.
Many projects on computer development
went under way simultaneously during the
period.
 ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Computer)
working for
the Dept. of
Defense of
United
States

John Presper John Mauchly

Eckert
Built in 1945, a machine built using electronics
at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering
of the Univ. of Pennsylvania
• It is the first general-purpose electronic digital
computer
• The ENIAC was built based on Atanasoff’s
ABC. When it was built, it was filled a 20 by 40
foot room, weighed 30 tons, and consisted of
18,000 vacuum tubes, all of them operating
simultaneously, 1000 times faster than its
mechanical predecessors did.
• It was a proposal beforehand to the Military that
they build a machine that would cut the time
needed to produce military artillery and
bombing trajectories from 15 minutes. to 30
seconds.
 EDSAC ( ELECTRONIC DELAY
STORAGE AUTOMATIC
CALCULATOR)
JOHN VON
NEUMANN
A Hungarian American
mathematician
• developed in 1949
• It is the World’s first-stored program
computer in Cambridge University.
• The first machine that has the capability to
feed information into the computer. It
perform computations and write out info at
the same time. It contained the first written
documentation of a stored program

• This first successful incorporation of the

stored program concept marked the final
major step in the series of breakthrough
inspired by war
 EDVAC (ELECTRONIC DISCRETE
VARIABLE COMPUTER)
Year 1952, when
University of
Pennsylvania completed
the EDVAC that
computers had reached
the stage of
development where an
automatic sequence of
events could be
successfully handled by
machines
GENERATION
OF
COMPUTERS
 1st Generation Computers (1951-
1958): The Vacuum Tube
• Vacuum Tubes about the
size of a light bulb were
used as the internal
computer components
because thousands of such
tubes were required, they
generated a great deal of
heat causing many
problems in temperature
regulation and control .
The beginning of computer age can be dated on
06-14-1951.

All tubes had to be working simultaneously

they were subject to frequent burn out , and
the people operating the computer often did
not know whether the problem is in the
programming or machine.

Programmers at first had to write programs

in machine language using numbers -
difficult and time consuming.
 Examples of First Gen.Computers
• UNIVAC – Universal
Automatic Calculator
or Computer- The first
General- Purpose
Computer to be mass
produced by Eckert &
Mauchly. Manufactured
by Remington Rand
Corp.
It can calculate at the
rate of 10,000 additions
per second.
This marked the
beginning of the
“First Generation
Computers”
Computers using
vacuum tubes
sold to business
or research
institution.
It used magnetic
tapes
• IBM 650 –
developed by IBM
Corp. in 1957. It
reads punched cards
The main memory of
these computers
was either banks of
liquid memory
(magnetic core) It do
not have RAM nor
ROM
 2nd Generation Computers
(1954-1964): The Transistor
• In 1947, 3 Bell Lab.
Scientists John Bardeen,
Walter Brattain and
William Shockley
developed the transistor,
a small device that
transfers electronic
signals across resistor.
(TRANsfer reSISTOR).
It is much smaller than
vacuum tubes .
Advantages: no more warm up time,
consumed less energy, generated much less
heat and more faster and more reliable.
• In the late 1950s, transistors were
incorporated into computers. Another
important development was the development
of assembly language was developed, then
FORTRAN and COBOL.
• With transistor, it can perform 200,000 to
250,000 calculations per second.
• GRACE HOPPER – invented the first
programming language.
 3rd Generation Computers
(1965-1970): Integrated Circuits
• Integrated Circuits –made up
of silicon, one of the most
abundant element in the
earth’s crust found in common
Beach sand. The importance
of these element to Santa
Clara county, 30 miles south
of San Francisco, is
responsible for the county’s
nickname: Silicon Valley which
is the principal site for the
manufacture of the so-called
silicon chip: the IC
• It replaces transistors in
computers starting
1965. The resulting
machine were called
3rd Gen computers.
• Advantages: reliability,
compactness, and low
cost-characteristics of
the chips.
The beginning of the 3rd gen. was trumpeted
by the IBM 360 series (named for full circle
service-360 degrees). The System/360 family
of computers designed for business and
scientific use came in several models and
sizes leads to the introduction of families of
computer. Perhaps the most far reaching
contribution of the 360 series was IBMs
decision to to unbindle the software, that is is
to sell software separately from the hardware.
This approach led to the creation of today’s
software industry. Software became more
sophisticated.
IBM 360 SERIES
 4th Generation Computers (1978-
1988:Present): The Microprocessor
• 4th Generation was in fact an
extension of 3rd Generation
technology. In the early part
of 3rd Generation,
specialized chips were
developed for computer
memory and logic: the
general-purpose processor
on a chip otherwise known as
Microprocessor which
became commercially
available in 1971.
In addition, the common
applications of microprocessor:
digital watches, pocket
calculators, PC, copy machines,
TV etc.
Computers today are 100 times
smaller than those of the 1st
generation and a single chip is
far powerful than ENIAC.
Intel began shipping the first
microprocessor (complete CPU on
a chip) in 1971 with a word of only 4
bits and was called 4004. In 1972,
Intel came up with 8008, whose
word had 8 bits with a better version
in 1973 called as 8080.
 5th Generation Computers:
Artificial Intelligence
• The term 5th Gen. was
coined by Japanese to
describe the powerful,
intelligent computers they
wanted to build by mid
1990’s.
• True focus is connectivity,
the massive industry
effort to permit users to
connect their computers
to other computers.
FIRST GEN.COMPUTERS SECOND GEN.COMPUTERS
• Internal Component: • Internal Component:
TRansistors
Vacuum tubes
• External storage:
• External storage: Magnetic Core, Magnetic
Magnetic Tape- Tape
• For input: Punched • For input: Punched
Cards Cards and Magnetic Tape
• For output : Punched • For output: Punched
Cards and paper Cards and paper
• Programming • Programming
Language: FORTRAN,
Language: Machine COBOL, BASIC,
language ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE
• Human operators to set • Human operators to set
switches switches
• Example: UNIVAC 1 • Example: HONEYWELL
200
THIRD GEN.COMPUTERS FOURTH GEN.COMPUTERS
• Internal Component: • Internal Component:
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS MICROPROCESSOR
• External storage: • External storage
IMPROVED DISK :MAGNETIC DISK
STORAGE • Programs: Application
• For input AND output: software for microcomputer
MONITOR AND • Microcomputer were used-
KEYBOARD IBM PC
• Programming • Example: Burroughs B7700
Language: Complete and HP 3000
operating system (minicomputer)
• Less involvement of
Human operators
• Example: Family
computers, minicomputer-
used commercially, IBM
360