History of Computer

 

History of Computer

1. Mechanical Era

v Abacus

v Napier’s Bone

v Slide Rule

v Pascaline

v Stepped Reckoner

v Charles Babbage

v Lady Augusta Ada

v Tabulating Machine

2. Electro-Mechanical Era

v Mark I

v ABC(Atanasoff Berry Computer)

3. Electronic Computers Era

v ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator)

v John Von Neumann

v EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer)

v EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)

v UNIVAC-1 (Universal Automatic Computer)

 

Abacus

—  First calculating machine

—   Developed by the Chinese 3000 years ago.

—  It consists of a rectangular wooden frame with horizontal rods which carry round beads.

—  The wooden frame is divided into two parts which are separated by a mid bar.

—  The upper part is called heaven which consists of two beads and each beads equal to value 5.

—  The lower part is called earth which consists of five beads and each beads equal to value 1.

—  Counting is done by shifting the beads from one side to another.

—  It is used for addition and subtractions.

 

Napier's Bone

—  A set of 10 numbered rods  (as of wood or bone) which can multiply and divide based on the principle of logarithm (method which can quickly multiply and divide) .

—  John Napier invented in 1617 AD.

Slide Rule

—  First analog computing device.

—  William Oughtred invented in 1620 AD.

—  It consists of two set of rulers sliding by one another to perform multiplication and division. 

 

Pascaline

—  Blaise Pascal  invented in 1642 AD.

—  It consists of chain and  eight rotating toothed wheels representing digits from 0 to 9. When one wheel completes rotation then next wheel moves. Addition and Subtraction is done by movement of wheels.

—  He invented this machine to help his father’s profession (tax calculation).

—  It was first mechanical calculating device which can do addition and subtraction quickly.

—  It performed multiplication by repeated addition and division by repeated subtraction.

—  The  numbers of calculating the capacity of pascaline was 9,99,99 and 999.

—  Eg. In petrol pump, the number shown while filling petrol.

 

Stepped Reckoner

—  Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz invented in 1671 AD.

—  First calculator to perform all four basic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

—  It can extract square root by a series of repeated addition.

—  The shift mechanism is applied for multiplication and division.

—  Also known as modified version of pascaline.

 

Jacquard's Loom

—  Joseph Marie Jacquard invented in 1801 AD.

—  Automatic weaving machine.

—  First machine to use punched card.

—  Punched card controlled the weaving to produce beautiful patterns.

—  The function of the loom depended upon the absence or presence of holes on the card.

—  It paved the way for the modern storage mechanism on punched cards and the binary coding system.

 

Difference Engine

—  Charles Babbage invented in 1823 AD.

—  Designed to calculate mathematical tables.

—  Accurate and able to calculate upto twenty decimal places mechanically.

—  This project stopped when Babbage's funds ran out.

 

Analytical Engine

—  Charles Babbage invented in 1833 AD.

—  Could be programmed to solve particular problems.

—  This machine had five units: input, output, store, mill and control, which are similar to the units of a modern computer.

—  Thus, Charles Babbage is regarded as the “Father of Computer”.

—  Due to lack of technology, Analytical Engine was never completed.

 

Lady Augusta Ada        

—  First computer programmer.

—  She suggested Charles Babbage to use binary number system in Analytical Engine.

—  The US Department of Defense developed programming language named Ada in her honor in 1979 AD.

—  Because of her first initiative in the development of programming concept, she is honored as the first computer programmer.

 

Tabulating Machine

—  Dr. Herman Hollerith invented in 1887 AD.

—  It used the method of card punching to storing the data, which is fed into a machine that compiled the result mechanically.

—  This machine was designed to compute the US census record of 1890 AD.

—  It was able to complete compilation in 3 years which earlier used to take around 10 years.

—  He formed the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896 AD to manufacture his inventions.

—  The Tabulating Machine Company (TMC) and other two companies merged in 1924 AD. To form International Business Machine(IBM).

—  IBM is the largest computer manufacturing company in the world.

 

Mark – I

—  Professor Howard Aiken along with his staff invented  in 1937 AD.

—  First electro mechanical computer.

—  Also known as ASCC (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator)

—  It was 51 ft. long, 8 ft. tall and weighted nearly 5 tons.

—  This machine took 1 second to perform 3 mathematical calculations.

—  It was used for military purposes, including development of the atomic bomb.

 

Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC)

—  Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry invented in 1942 AD.

—  First electronic digital computer.

—  It was the first computing machine which introduced the idea of binary arithmetic, regenerative memory and logic circuits.

—  It used 18,000 vacuum tubes and other 45 vacuum tubes for internal logic and capacitors for storage and punched cards as secondary storage.

 

Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC)

—  John William Mauchly and John Presper Eckert invented in 1946 AD.

—  First general purpose electronic computer.

—  It contained 18000 vacuum tubes, 1500 relays and thousands of resistors and capacitors.

—  It weighted nearly 30 tons and consumed 200 kilowatts of electric power.

—  It was based on decimal number system.

—  It could add two numbers in 200 microseconds and multiplication of two numbers in 2800 microseconds.

 

Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC)

—  John William Mauchly and John Presper Eckert invented in 1952 AD.

—  First electronic computer to use stored program concept introduced by Hungarian Mathematician, John Von Neumann.

—  It contained 6000 vacuum tubes.

—  It weighted nearly 7850 kg and consumed 56 kilowatts of electric power.

—  It used binary number system rather than decimal number system.

—  It contained magnetic tape as a memory device

 

Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer (EDSAC)

—  Professor Maurice Wilkes invented in 1949 AD.

—  First operational stored program computer.

—  The term Stored Program Control Concept refers to the storage of instructions in computer memory to enable it to perform a variety of tasks in sequence

—  John Von Neumann introduced in 1945 AD.

—  It could do 700 additions and 200 multiplications per second.

—  It contained 6000 vacuum tubes and required 30 kilowatts of electronic power.

 

Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC)

—  John William Mauchly and John Presper Eckert invented in 1951 AD.

—  First commercially general purpose electronic computer.

—  It was used for  census data processing until 1963 AD. In America.

—  It was 8 feet high, 15 feet long and weighted 5 tons.

—  It contained 5600 vacuum tubes, 18000 crystal diodes and 300 relays.

—  A magnetic tape was used for data input and output.