The Evolution of Computers

Manual Calculating Devices

The Abacus
• Invented in 3000
BC
 Mechanical Calculating Devices

• Codex Madrid
• Discovered from the manuscripts of
Leonardo da Vinci
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• Replica of Codex Madrid

• Created in 1967
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1642

The Pascaline
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Stepped Reckoner
• Gottfried von Leibniz (1674)
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The Arithmometer
• First commercially
constructed
mechanical
calculating device
Mechanical Calculating Devices

Difference Engine
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1832

Analytical Engine
 Mechanical Calculating Devices

1843

Ada Lovelace
• First
programmer
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Punch cards
• First used in the Jacquard Loom
• Earliest secondary storage device
Electromechanical Calculating Device

Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine

 Facilitated the
tabulation of the
1890 census

 Used punch cards

to store information
 Electrical Calculating Devices

First Keyboard
• Developed in
1936 by John
Dvorak
• Designed such
that the least
used keys are
on the outside
corners
 Electrical Calculating Devices

Colossus: Alan Turing

•The first electronic computer, which used
vacuum tubes, was placed into operation in
1943 to break secret German military code.
•Invented by Alan Turing
•Its only problem was that the program was
fixed and could not be changed.
 Electrical Calculating Devices

Vacuum Tubes

•Vacuum tubes are glass

tubes with circuits inside.
•Vacuum tubes have no air
inside of them, which protects
the circuitry.
 Electrical Calculating Devices

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer)

• Was created to compute artillery
trajectory
• Completed in 1945
 Electrical Calculating Devices

UNIVAC I
• Created in 1951
• Predicted the 1952 presidential
elections
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First Computer Bug Reported

• Discovered in 1945 by a naval
officer
 Electrical Calculating Devices

• Relay switches part of computers

• Grace Hopper found a moth stuck
in a relay responsible for a
malfunction
• Called it “debugging” a computer
 Programming Advancements

• Early stage programming was

programmed by rewiring its circuits.
• Because this proved to be
cumbersome for practical applications
• Computer languages began to appear
in order to control computer.
 Programming Advancements

Machine Language
•The first programming language
•Was constructed with ones and zeros using
binary codes that were stored in the
computer memory system as groups of
instructions called program.
•But it was still time consuming because of
the sheer number of codes that were
required.
 Programming Advancements

Assembly Language
•Once computer systems such as the
UNIVAC became available in the early
1950’s, assembly language was used to
simplify the chore of entering binary code
into a computer as its instructions.
 Programming Advancements

Assembly Language
•The assembler allowed the programmer to
use mnemonic codes, such as ADD in place
for the binary number such as 01000111.
 Programming Advancements

Assembly Language
•Most video games written for the personal
computer are written exclusively in assembly
language and also interspersed with C/C++
and PASCAL to perform machine control
functions effeciently.
 Programming Advancements

FLOW-MATIC
•first high-level programming language
•It was developed for the UNIVAC I
computer by Grace Hooper in the early
1950’s.
•This led to FORTRAN and other early
programming languages such as COBOL,
ALGOL,RPG…..BASIC,C/C++,PASCAL and
ADA…..Visual BASIC
 Programming Advancements

Stored-Program Concept

•Programming could be facilitated if program

could be represented in a form suitable for
storing in memory alongside the data. Then a
computer could get its instructions by reading
from memory, and a program could be set or
modified by setting the values of a portion of
memory
 Programming Advancements

Stored-Program Concept

•Proposed by Von Neumann in 1945

•Developed by Turing about the same time.
• Applied to IAS computer by Von Neumann
et al.
 Programming Advancements

John von Neumann

•A mathematician
•The first person to develop a system that
accepted instructions and stored then in
memory.
•Computers are often called von Neumann
machines in his honor.
 Electrical Calculating Devices

IAS Computer
•Named for the Institute for Advanced Study at
Princeton University
•Began 1946, completed 1952
•The prototype of all subsequent
general-purpose computers

•Structure

•Von Neumann machines

 Electrical Calculating Devices

The Integrated Circuit (ICs)

• Computers
become less
expensive,
more reliable
and smaller
in size
 Timeline

before 1600’s 1600’s to 1900’s 1930’s to 1960’s

Manual Calculating Mechanical Calculating Electrical Calculating
Devices: Devices: Devices:

• biological appendages • Pascaline • ABC

• stones, sticks, rocks, etc • Stepped Reckoner • Z3

• clay tablets • Arithmometer • Colossus

• abacus • Difference Engine • MARK I

Beginnings of TRADE • Analytical Engine • ENIAC

• Comptometer • EDVAC

Industrial Revolution • UNIVAC

World War II
 Modern Day Computers

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak,

Paul Allen, Bill Gates
 Modern Day Computers

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

• founders of Apple
• sold Blue Boxes
– devices used for
phreaking (phone tap)
• Wozniak worked for
HP; Jobs worked for
Atari
 Modern Day Computer

Bill Gates
 together with Paul Allen, founded
Microsoft
 was exposed to computers in high
school together with his friends
 gifted programmer
 Modern Day Computer

Altair 8800 (1975)

 First electronic PC
 Sold as a do-it-yourself-kit
 Paved the founding of Microsoft
 Modern Day Computer

Apple I (1976)
 Assembled boards with wooden casing
 Had video terminals and keyboard interface
 Includes cassette interface and Apple BASIC
 Modern Day Computer

Apple II (1977)
 First PC with plastic case
 Fully-colored graphical video
interface (no more blinking lights
and toggle switches)
 Jobs encouraged programmers to
write programs for it
Modern Day Computer

IBM PC (1980)
 IBM needed an OS, so they contacted
Microsoft
 Bill Gates bought QDOS (Quick and
Dirty Operating System) and renamed
it
MS-DOS
 IBM became a best-seller
 Modern Day Computer

Lisa (1983)
 First PC to use GUI (use
of mouse, windows-like
interface, etc)
 Too costly
 Modern Day Computer

Macintosh (1984)
 Next version of Lisa; less
expensive
 First to use a 400K 3½” FD
 Made famous by the Big Brothers
commercial
 Modern Day Computer

• 1984 – Steve Jobs approached

Microsoft to create programs for Mac
• 1987 – first version of Windows was
released, engineered after the MacOS
• Apple sued Microsoft, but opted to
compromise instead
 Snippets

1976
• Kentucky Fried Computers is founded.
• Steve Wozniak proposes that Hewlett-
Packard create a personal computer.
Steve Jobs proposes the same to Atari.
Both were rejected.
1980
 Atari ad: "Atari promises to be the most

popular Personal Computer System of the

1980's!“
 Snippets

1981
• "640k should be enough for anybody."
- Bill Gates.
1991
 Microsoft vice president Brad Silverberg
quote: DOS will be "with us forever.
We've learned how passionate people
are about DOS.“
Electrical Age History of Computers