Computer history

Introduction to the History of Computing

2 + 2 =

4

John Napier’

s Bones

Pickett Electronic Model Slide Rule

1960’s Computers

Here’s the cursor!!

Blaise Pascal(1623-1662)

and his arithmetic

engine

punchedcards

Joseph Marie Jacquard

punch card operated loom

a sample woven cloth

Charles Babbage(1791-1871)

His AnalyticalEngine

Lady Ada Augusta ByronCountess of Lovelace

(1815-1852)

The World’s First Programmer

Herman Hollerith

HisTabulating Machine

An 80-column “Hollerith” card

• British Mathematician who did fundamental work on the theory of modern computer science.

• Defined a simple but elegant mathematical model of a general purpose computer, now called the Turing Machine, and used it to prove what was possible or impossible for computers to do. Couldn’t get the money to build one.

• Today, the ACM’s Turing Award is considered to be like the Nobel Prize of computing.

Alan Turing (1912- 1954)

Alan TuringInvented the Turing testLaid the foundation for modern computersHelped crack German codes during WWII

A German Enigma message encoder

• The first computers were results of world war 2 developments, aimed at military uses

• 1944 Aiken at HarvardMark 1: first electromechanical digital computer (electromagnetic relays -- magnets open and closes metal switches).

COMPUTER GENERATIONS

Howard Aiken and Mark I

Admiral Grace Hopper

Invented the compilerhelped develop COBOLrole-model for women in computing

THE “FIRST GENERATION:” VACUMN TUBES• 1946: ENIAC (Electronic Numerical

Integrator and Computer) • First electronic digital computer,

constructed with 19,000 vacuum tubes. Eight feet tall and 80 feet long.

• External (wired) program.• ENIAC could do 333 multiplications

per second and cost the equivalent of $5- $10 million

Some of the 19,000 vacuum

tubes

Women were theprogrammers who

plugged-in the programs

ENIAC

John Von Neumann & ENIAC

Computers Should:1. Use Binary2. Have Stored Programs3. Be Function-oriented

UNIVAC-1 the

1st Commercially

available

computer

"I think there is a world market for about five computers.”

--Thomas J. WatsonIBM Chairman of the

Board

SECOND GENERATION• Used semiconductor transistor chips

developed at Bell Labs• 1955 : IBM computer with 2000

transistors. By 1959, deliveries made the vacuum tube computers outmoded. Included very large mainframes, such as the IBM 7090, and smaller machines, such as the IBM 1401.

THIRD GENERATION• The distinction among subsequent

generations is not as clear as that between the first and second generation computers.

• Third generation is characterized by the ability to support multi-programming. Computers that use integrated circuit technologies are part of the third generation (LSI, or large scale integration).

THIRD GENERATION• As part of the third generation, we

also saw the emergence of “mini-computers”-

• 1968 DEC-- first mini• 1972 IBM 370 semi-conductor

memory chips• 60’s and 70’s punch card & batch

processing still dominant.

John Backus develops FORTRAN

John Kemeny develops BASIC

Nicklaus Wirth develops PASCAL

Applications and Impacts• Through the first three generations of

computers (40’s 50’s and 60’s) they were used almost entirely for business (payroll and inventory), government, and scientific computing.

• Punch cards and batch processing.

Trends of the

70’s and

80’s1. Cost is Down, Power is Up2. Usability is Better3. Networks, Networks, Networks

In the 1970’s-• Integrated circuits began to to make

computers smaller and cheaper. • 1974- first “personal computers” sold

as kits• 1977 Wozniak and Jobs released the

Apple II (first mass marketed PC)

FOURTH GENERATION• No generally accepted definition of

fourth generation. Some say it is the VSLI (very large scale integration) super-computers.

• Some say it is the emergence of the microcomputer in the form of personal computers and work stations.

1983 JAPANESE “5TH GENERATION” PROJECT

• COMPUTERS THAT WILL TAKE SPEECH INPUT AND OUTPUT, IN “NATURAL LANGUAGE”

• “Easy to use” computers require tremendous speed. By the end of the 20th century, speeds are measured in MIPS- millions of instructions per second. Many computers now do 1000 MIPS ( a billion instructions/sec)

SOME HISTORICAL EVENTS OF NOTE• 1971 : INTEL’S microprocessor chip (COST

$210 EACH IN 1977; 1984 $50 EACH; Today?? (is it 50c?)

• 1975- Bill Gates & Paul Allen found Microsoft

• 1977 PET- first fully assembled PC• 1982 IBM PC• Communicating with a computer has

evolved from writing assembly code or typing arcane commands, to pointing and clicking with a mouse.

Moore’s Law

Pervasive Computing• 1990’s: Spread of the Internet and adoption

of the “World Wide Web” conventions turn computing into a mass medium

• Smaller, cheaper, faster, easier to use, and interconnected through networks--

• By the end of the 20th century, computers have become “pervasive”- they are integrated into all aspects of post industrial or “information” based societies

Conclusion• No invention has ever had as great an

impact on human societies in such a short period of time as have computers.

• There is no end in sight to the revolutionary changes to be brought about by this.

• As the holders of the keys to technology it is your job to think about the impacts of the tools you will build and work to make them benefit the world.