History of computer

• Early humans counted on their fingers, leading to the evolution of the base 10 numbering system
• The abacus, invented 3000 years ago, was the first calculating mechanism where beads represent digits and rods represent places like units, tens, hundreds, and higher multiples of ten
• Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline in 1642, the first mechanical adding machine
• Joseph Jacquard's Loom in 1810 emphasized three computer concepts:

  • Instructions using punched cards
  • Simple Program as a series of instructions
  • Automation of jobs due to programming
• Charles Babbage, the Father of Computers, invented the Analytical Engine in 1832, which had 5 characteristics of a modern computer:

  • Input device using punch cards
  • Processor known as the mill
  • Control Unit
  • Storage Facility to store data
  • Output device
• Ada Augusta, the first computer programmer, wrote programs for the Analytical Engine, and her notes on the engine were used in the future development of computers
• Herman Hollerith invented the Tabulating Machine for the 1890 Census, the first machine capable of processing statistical information from punched cards
• Alan Turing worked on the Colossus computer in 1943, used in World War II for cracking German codes (ENIGMA)
• John Mauchly and Presper Eckert developed the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator & Calculator) in 1946, the first electronic computer to go into operation
• John von Neumann's EDVAC was the first electronic computer to use stored-program, initiating the modern computer era with activities like input data, storing data, processing data, and outputting data/results
• First Generation Computers (1951-1958) used vacuum tubes for electronic circuits, punched cards for secondary memory/storage, operated in milliseconds, and used machine and assembly languages
• Second Generation Computers (1959-1964) replaced vacuum tubes with transistors for electronic circuits, used magnetic tape for secondary memory/storage, operated in microseconds, and introduced programming languages like COBOL, Fortran, and Symbolic
• Third Generation Computers (1965-1970) utilized Integrated Circuits (IC) for electronic circuits, magnetic tape for secondary memory/storage, operated in nanoseconds, and introduced the silicon chip
• Fourth Generation Computers (1971-Present) introduced personal micro-computers, microprocessors, magnetic disks for secondary memory/storage, operated in picoseconds, and featured virtual memory that mimics the behavior of primary memory
• Fifth Generation Computers (Future) are envisioned to include Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language communication with computers, Parallel Processing for simultaneous processing of millions of instructions, and operate at gigaseconds speed with quadrillions of operations per second
• Blaise Pascal invented the PascalinE in 1642, the first mechanical adding machine
• Gottfried Leibniz invented the Step Reckoner in 1671, capable of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, calculating square roots, and evaluating
• Joseph Jacquard invented Jacquard's Loom in 1810
• Early humans counted on their fingers, leading to the evolution of the base 10 numbering system
• The abacus, invented 3000 years ago, was the first calculating mechanism where beads represent digits and rods represent places like units, tens, hundreds, and higher multiples of ten
• Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline in 1642, the first mechanical adding machine
• Joseph Jacquard's Loom in 1810 emphasized three computer concepts:

  • Instructions were used punched cards
  • Simple Program consisted of a series of instructions
  • Automation of jobs was possible because of the program
• Charles Babbage, considered the Father of Computers, invented the Analytical Engine in 1832 with 5 characteristics of a modern computer: input device using punch cards, processor, control unit, storage facility, and output device
• Ada Augusta, the first computer programmer, wrote programs for the Analytical Engine, and her notes on the engine were used in the future development of computers
• Herman Hollerith invented the Tabulating Machine for the 1890 Census, the first machine capable of processing statistical information from punched cards
• Alan Turing worked on the Colossus computer in 1943, used in World War II for cracking German codes (ENIGMA)
• John Mauchly and Presper Eckert developed the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator & Calculator) in 1946, the first electronic computer to go into operation
• John von Neumann's EDVAC was the first electronic computer to use stored-program, initiating the modern computer era with activities like input, store, process, and output data
• First Generation Computers (1951-1958) used vacuum tubes for electronic circuits, punched cards for secondary memory/storage, operated in milliseconds, and used machine and assembly languages
• Second Generation Computers (1959-1964) replaced vacuum tubes with transistors for electronic circuits, used magnetic tape for secondary memory/storage, operated in microseconds, and introduced programming languages like COBOL, Fortran, and Symbolic
• Third Generation Computers (1965-1970) utilized Integrated Circuits (IC) for electronic circuits, magnetic tape for secondary memory/storage, operated in nanoseconds, and introduced the silicon chip
• Fourth Generation Computers (1971-Present) introduced personal micro-computers, microprocessors, magnetic disks for secondary memory/storage, operated in picoseconds, and featured virtual memory
• Fifth Generation Computers (Future) are envisioned to include artificial intelligence, natural language communication with computers, parallel processing, and operate at gigaseconds speed with quadrillions of operations per second
• Grace Hopper:

  • Got a moth in the Mark II computer, which shorted out a relay
  • Crawled in and removed the moth from inside the computer
  • Popularized the term "bug" to signify a system failure
  • The term "debugging" signifies solving a computer problem
• Gottfried Leibniz invented the Step Reckoner in 1671, a calculating machine that could add, subtract, multiply, divide, and evaluate square roots
• Konrad Zuse used vacuum tubes in 1941 instead of electromagnetic relays for electronic circuits in computers
• Vacuum tubes generated enormous amounts of heat
• Vacuum tubes burned out frequently, causing computers to be down for large amounts of time
• Transistors replaced vacuum tubes as electronic circuits in computers
• Transistors are a key component in electronic devices, serving as amplifiers, switches, and signal modulators