Session One: An Introduction to Computing History of Computers.

Session One: An Introduction to ComputingHistory of Computers

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History of Computers

First mechanical calculators 1623 – William Schickard built first

mechanical calculator 1642 – the Pascaline by Blaise Pascal 1671 – Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz

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History of Computers 1801: Punch card technology

Joseph-Marie Jacquard developed loom in which pattern woven controlled by punch cards

1833: Charles Babbage began designing an analytical engine based on punch cards for programming

1890 – US Census Board used punch cards and sorting machines designed by Herman Hollerith to handle data from decennial census

Hollerith’s company eventually became the core of IBM

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History of Computers

1835-1900s: First programmable machines 1835 – Babbage described

analytical machine

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History of Computers 1930s-1960s: Desktop

calculators 1930s – Desktop calculators able to

add, subtract, multiply, divide 1948 – the Curta; small, portable

mechanical calculatir approx. size of pepper grinder

1961 – first electronic desktop calculator considered to be by Sumlock Comptometer (Anita C/VII)

1963 – four-function EC-130 with 13-digit capacity; $2200

1965 – LOCI-2 by Wang Laboratories

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History of Computers

Pre-1940: Analog computers Used continuously varying amounts of

physical quantities (voltages, currents, rotational speed of shafts) to represent quantities being processed

Not very flexible and needed to be reconfigured/reprogrammed manually to switch from one problem to another

Most widely developed used for aiming weapons; e.g: Norden bombsight and artillery aiming for battleships

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History of Computers 1940s and early 1950s: First electrical

digital computers (First Generation) Electronic circuits, relays, capacitors, vacuum

tubes replaced mechanical equivalents; by 1954, magnetic core memory replacing most other forms of temporary storage

1940 – first computing machine used remotely over phone line

1945 – US-built ENIAC 1,000 times faster than contemporaries

Colossus was first totally electronic computing device

1941 – Z3 by Konrad Zuse becaome first functional program-controlled computer

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History of Computers 1940s and early 1950s: First electrical

digital computers (First Generation) 1947 – invention of transistor to replace

valves 1950 – MESM(Malaya elesktron schetnaya

mashina) became operational 1951 – LEO I(lyons electronic office) ran the

world’s first regular routine office computer job

1951 – UNIVAC was the first ‘massed produced’ computer; 46 machines sold at more than US$1 million each

1955-1957 – FORTRAN developed and released

1955 – microprogramming invented by Maurice Wilkes

1956 – IBM sold its first magnetic disk system (RAMAC: Random Access Method of Accounting and Control)

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History of Computers Late 1950s and early 1960s: Second

Generation Transistorized computers normally referred to

as Second Generation Computers became smaller – IBM 1620 was

size of office desk, as opposed to IBM 650 which weighed over 900kg with power supply of 1350kv, both held in separate cabinets of approx. 1.5 metres by 0.9 metres by 1.8 metres

Second generation computers still expensive however

Mainly used by universities, governments and large corporations

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History of Computers Late 1950s and early 1960s: Second

Generation 1959 – 12,000 medium scale IBM 1401

shipped; most successful machine in computer history at the time

1960 – 2,000 IBM 1620; smaller, transistor based

1960 – DEC launched the PDP-1 to be used by technical staff in labs and for research

1961 – first dual processor and virtual memory computer released (B5000)

1962 – IBM S/360 series able to run same software at different combinations of speed, capacity and price

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History of Computers

Post-1960: Third Generation and beyond Use of computers became more

popular Invention of microchip (integrated

circuit) by Jack St. Clair Microchip later led to invention of

microprocessor at Intel 1970 – Microprocessor led to

development of small, low-cost computers for ownership by individuals and small businesses (microcomputer)

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Timeline

http://www.scsite.com/dc2005/index.cfm?action=time&chapter=home

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Links

References http://www.computernostalgia.net http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Colossus_computer http://www.scsite.com/dc2005/

Of Interest http://www.picotech.com/

applications/colossus.html http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/research/

pubs/books/papers/133.pdf

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Assignment

Go through the online Timeline as referenced on the relevant slide

Together with these slides, develop a general understanding of the steps that brought us to current day levels of computing

Be ready to discuss in class

THANK YOU

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