The History of Computers

(or “How we’ve come a long way in a short

time.”)
What is a computer?
 The modern
definition of a
computer is:
286 Computer
“An electronic machine
that accepts information
(called data); processes
it according to specific
instructions, and
provides the results as
Alienware’s
new information” 4GHz ALX
What a Computer Was
 The term “computer” has been in
used since 1646.
 It was originally defined as a “person
who performs calculations.
 Before 1940 machines that did
calculations were called:
 Calculators
 Tabulators
 NOT computers
 The modern definition started in the
40s.
The Origins of Computers
 The Abacus It ruled in the world of
 Dates back to the ancient calculations until the
Orient 1500s and is still
 Beads represent different considered useful today.
values
 In used by the Greeks
and Romans in 500
B.C.E.
 In this example the top
frame beads are valued
at 5 and the bottom
frame beads represent 1
 The Pascaline
 Invented in 1642 by the French
mathematician Blaise Pascal
Mechanical
Calculators

 It used sets of gears to perform calculations

 It could only perform addition
 It could not perform: multiplication or division
 Only 50 ever built
 Built to help his father, a tax collector

Numbers are displayed

in these windows

Dials are used to

input values
Notes
 The Stepped Reckoner
 Built in the late 1600s by Gottfried Wilhelm
Mechanical

von Leibniz, another famous

Calculators

mathematician
 It was supposed to be able to add AND
subtract, multiply, divide and calculate square
roots. (There is some debate on this.)
Numbers are displayed
in these windows

Dials are used to

input values
Notes
An Aside
 In 1801 Joseph Jacquard decides to
make a better “mouse trap.”
 He creates a loom that can follow
“pattern instructions” using a punch
card.

 The significance is:

Programming!
 The Difference Engine
 Designed in 1822 by Charles Babbage, an
Mechanical

English Mathematics Professor.

Calculators

 He felt that machines should be used for and

were best at doing repetitive tasks, and that
they could do this WITH OUT mistakes.
 The Difference Engine was supposed to be
able to calculate Differential equations

 It was never built and it would be 10 years

before he could build something that
worked…
 The Analytical Engine
 Designed by Charles Babbage:
Mechanical

The Analytical Engine was powered by STEAM!

Calculators


 It used punch cards to enter instructions

 It had MEMORY!
 It could store up to 1,000 numbers 50 decimals long

 It could make DECISIONS!

 It could provide OUTPUT!

 He could not have done this with out the help of

Ada Lovelace, considered by many to be the
FIRST programmer.
Notes
Mechanical
Calculators
The Analytical Engine

Numbers are
displayed on
these dials
 The Electronic Tabulation
Machine
 Built by Herman Hollerith for the 1890 U.S.
census
Calculators
Electronic

 Used punch card idea of Jacquard to great

success
 The 1890 U.S. census data took only 6 months
to compile.
 The 1880 census took 10 years to compile!

Notes
The Modern Computer
5 generations long and still growing
“Take the Money and Run.”
In the 1969 movie spoofing prison
movies Woody Allen’s character, Virgil
Starkwell is asked if he has ever used
a high speed digital computer. He
replies:
“Yes, my aunt has one at home.”

In 1969, that was hilarious, 30+ years

later, it’s very true.
This joke was stolen from Dr. Cecil E. Greek
of the FSU School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
The 5 Generations of Computers
 1st Gen => 1940-1956: Vacuum Tubes

 2nd Gen => 1956 – 1963: Transistors

 3rd Gen => 1964 – 1971: Integrated

Circuits

 4th Gen => 1971 – Present:

Microprocessors

 5th Gen => Present & Beyond: AI

1st Generation
1st Generation: Vacuum Tubes
 Very expensive
1940 - 1956

 Very big
 Very hot
 Used a lot of electricity
 Broke down a lot
 But boy…were they cool at the time
1st Generation
The Mark I
 Built in the 1930s by a joint team
1940 - 1956

from IBM and Harvard University

 Project leader: Howard Aiken
 It is not considered to be a real
computer
 Length: 51 feet (15.5 meters)
 Weight: 5 tons

Note
1st Generation
The ENIAC
 Built: 1943
1940 - 1956

 Project Leaders: John Mauchly & J.

Presper Eckert
 Electronic Numerical Integration and
Calculator
 It was considered to be a computer

Note
1st Generation
The ENIAC
 Specs:
1940 - 1956

 18,000 vacuum tubes

 70,000 resistors
 10,000 capacitors
 1,500 relays
 6,000 manual switches
 5 million soldered joints
 1800 sq. Feet (167 sq. meters.)
 30 tons
 Used 160 kilowatts of electricity
 1,000 times faster than the Mark I
Note
Important Historical Point
 John von Neumann and the CPU

 von Neumann, Mauchly & Eckert build

the EDVAC & the EDSAC
 EDVAC: Electronic Discrete Variable
Automatic Computer

 EDSAC: Electronic Delay Storage

Automatic Computer
2nd Generation
The Transistor
 Cheaper than vacuum tubes
 One transistor could replace many
1956 - 1963

tubes. 3 different transistors

 They made showing how they

computers
kept getting smaller
and smaller
smaller and
cheaper
 First appeared
in a computer
in 1956
Size vs. time
2nd Generation
Computers Take Off
 At this point in time (late 50s),
computers explode
1956 - 1963

 Mainframes are common

 Basically, things just keep getting

smaller and faster…
2nd Generation
First Non-binary Languages
 COBOL & FORTRAN were developed
to replace punch cards
1956 - 1963

 Programmers became a common

term

 Programs could be written using

“words,” sentences and mathematical
formula (sort of…)
Another Aside – Computer
Languages
 High level programming languages are
developed:
 FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslator)
 COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language)

LLL – Low Level HLL – High Level

Languages Languages
Based on 0s and 1s Based on English
words
3rd Generation Integrated Circuits, Semiconductors
and Silicon Discs
 Starts in the late 60’s
Transistors are
1964 - 1971


miniaturized and
built onto silicon
chips called
semiconductors
Circuit paths

This chip has ~14,000

transistors on it
3rd Generation Integrated Circuits, Semiconductors
and Silicon Discs
A close up of a circuit board.
This is a floppy drive controller
1964 - 1971
3rd Generation
OS & Mass Production
 Users could interact with 3rd Generation
computers using keyboards and monitors.
1964 - 1971

 OSs allowed multiple

programs to run at the
same time with a
central program
controlling memory
allocations

 Computers could be mass produced at

affordable rates. Your Aunt could finally
have a high speed digital computer at her
home!
4th Generation
Birth of the Personal Computer 1
 Characterized by single silicon chips
1971 - Present

containing 1000s of integrated circuits

 What used to fill an entire room now fit in

the palm of your hand

 Intel 4004 chip is developed in 1971

 The CPU, memory and all input/output controls
are located on the same chip
4th Generation
Birth of the Personal Computer 2
 1981 IBM sells its first computer designed
1971 - Present

for the “home user”

 1984 Apple introduces the Macintosh

 Microprocessors begin to move away from

the computer into other areas of everyday
products

 My Grandfather buys his first desktop

computer. It draws “great circles”
4th Generation
Birth of the Personal Computer 3
 Computers start to be networked
1971 - Present

 GUIs are developed

 Mice become something other than a

household pest

 Handheld computer devices are no longer

limited only to Star Trek

Note
5th Generation
Present and Beyond… Tomorrow…
 Still in development, computer engineers are
working toward the developing a functional
AI.
 Voice activated and controlled computers
 Parallel processing
 Quantum computing
 Natural language processing and response
by computers

Note
Summary
How we HAVE come a long way in a short time

 It took approximately 2000 years

before a significant step forward in
computational technology occurred

 It took 248 years to go from a

manual calculating machine (Pascal’s
Pascaline, 1642) to an electronic
calculating machine (Hollerith’s
Tabulating Machine, 1890)
Summary
How we HAVE come a long way in a short time

 It only took 50 years to advance to

the first real computer

 It took approximately 20 years for the

integrated circuit to be developed

 And in the last 30 years we’ve

connected the world through
computer technology
The End
Sources
 No research is possible without
valuable resources. This presentation
was built using the following:
 www.criminology.fsu.edu/book/chapter1.html
 Parsons & Oja, Computer Concepts 5th Ed., Course Technology,
Thompson Learning Center
 Brookshear, Computer Science, an overview 7th Ed., Addison
Wesley Pub.
 Webopedia, www.webopedia.com