comp1153: history of computer, classification and uses of computer

I. What is computer? The first computers were people! That is, electronic computers (and the earlier mechanical computers) were given this name because they performed the work that had previously been assigned to people. "Computer" was originally a job title: it was used to describe those human beings (predominantly women) whose job it was to perform the repetitive calculations required to compute such things as navigational tables, tide charts, and planetary positions for astronomical almanacs. Imagine you had a job where hour after hour, day after day, you were to do nothing but compute multiplications. Boredom would quickly set in, leading to carelessness, leading to mistakes. And even on your best days you wouldn't be producing answers very fast. Therefore, inventors have been searching for hundreds of years for a way to mechanize (that is, find a mechanism that can perform) this task.

A. Earliest Computing DeviceThe first computing device invented was the Abacus, it was developed in China on 12th Century A.D, it was simple yet effective. The second one was the Napiers Bone, 1914, invented by a Scotish Mathematician John Napier who also invented the Logarithms in Trigonometry, it is significant in the development of computing device, It can perform both multiplication and division. Oughtreds Slide Rule followed, 1932, it was invented by an English Mathematician William Oughtred, It can perform both multiplication and division. Next is the The Pascaline also known as Pascals Calculator, named after the inventor Blaise Pascal, a French Mathematician and experimental Physicist, The device was built in 1642 and designed to help his father, a tax collector for the French Government. It was all mechanical, using gears, and powered by hand-operated crank. It only do addition and subtraction, but thirty years later, German and Mathematician Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716) built another mechanical machine that could multiply and divide as well. Therefore, Leibniz had built the equivalent of a four-function pocket calculator three centuries ago the Leibnizs Calculator or the Leibniz Stepped Drum, it can add, subtract, divide, multiply and extract square roots. Nothing much happened for 150 years until a professor of mathematics at University of Cambridge, Charles Babbage (1792-1871), designed and built his Difference Engine. The mechanical device which like Pascal could only add and subtract, was designed to compute tables of numbers useful for naval navigation. Although the Difference Engine worked reasonably as well, Babbage quickly got bored with the machine that could run only one algorithm, so he created the Analytical Engine which uses operation cards that contains functions to be performed by the machine and a Variable Cards to specify actual data. The great advance of the Analytical Engine was that it had a general purpose, it read instructions from punched cards and carried them out. Since the Analytical Engine was programmable in a smple assembly language, it needed software. He hired a young woman named Ada Augusta Byron, she was the worlds first computer programmer. (the modern programming language Ada was named in her honor. The next major development was the Holleriths Punch Card Machine, it was named in 1880 by Herman Hollerith, former statistician in US Bureau of the Census. This machine could help calculate their tabulating problems. He utilize electricity to build an electromagnetic counting machine that sorts data manually and tabulate the data. He then resigned and built his own company and become a part of IBM Corporation.

PHOTO GALLERY

ABACUS

NAPIERS BONE

SLIDE RULE

THE PASCALINE

LEIBNIZ STEPPED DRUM

DIFFERENCE ENGINE

ANALYTICAL ENGINE

HOLERITHS PUNCH CARD MACHINE

The next major development occurred in late 1930s, when a German Engineering student named Konrad Zuse built a Series of Calculating Machines using electromagnetic relays. He is not aware of Babbages work and his machine was destroyed by the allied bombing of Berlin in 1944, so his work did not have any influence on subsequent machines. Slighty later in United States, John Atanasofts machine was amazingly advanced for his time. It used binary arithmetic and had capacitors for memory, which were periodically refreshed to keep charge from leaking out, a process called jogging the memory. Numerous people consider that the modern computer era begun with the first large-scale automatic digital computer, which was established during 1939 to 1944. So while Zuse and Atanasoft were designing automatic calculators, a young man named Howard Akien was grinding out tedious Numerical Calculations by hand as part of his Ph. D. researchat Harvard. After graduating, Aiken recognized the importance of being able to do calculation by machines. He went to the library, discovered Babbages work and decided to build out the relays the general-purpose computer that Babbage had failed out to build of toothed wheels. Aikens first machine, MARK I, was completed at Harvard in 1944, which was built as a partnership between Harvard and IBM in 1944. This was the first programmable digital computer made in the U.S. But it was not a purely electronic computer. Instead the Mark I was constructed out of switches, relays, rotating shafts, and clutches. It had 72 words of 23 decimal digits each, and had an instruction time in three-tenths seconds in adding and subtracting, can multiply in four seconds and divide in ten seconds. Input and output devices used punch paper tape. By the time Aiken had completed its successor, MARK II, relay computers were obsolete. ENIAC short forElectronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator, theENIACwas the first electronic computer used for general purposes, such as solving numerical problems. It was invented byJ. Presper EckertandJohn Mauchlyat the University of Pennsylvania in an effort to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory.Its construction began in1943and was not completed until1946. The ENIAC occupied about 1,800 square feet, used 17,468vacuum tubes, 15,000 relays, weighed almost 50 tons, uses 200 kilowatts of electricity, and cost about $500,000. Although it was not completed until the end of the World War II, the ENIAC was created to help with the war effort against German forces.

EDVAC(ElectronicDiscreteVariableAutomaticComputer) was one of the initialelectroniccomputers. Unlike its predecessor theENIAC, it wasbinaryrather thandecimal, and was astored program computer. ENIACinventorsJohn MauchlyandJ. Presper Eckertproposed the EDVAC's construction in August 1944. A contract to build the new computer was signed in April 1946 with an initial budget ofUS$100,000. EDVAC was delivered to the Ballistics Research Laboratory in August 1949.Functionally, EDVAC was a binaryserial computerwith automatic addition, subtraction, multiplication, programmed division and automatic checking with anultrasonic serial memory capacity of 1,000 44-bitwords. EDVAC's average addition time was 864microsecondsand its average multiplication time was 2,900 microseconds. By 1960 EDVAC was running over 20 hours a day with error-free run time averaging eight hours. EDVAC ran until 1961 when it was replaced byBRLESC. During its operational life it proved to be reliable and productive for its time.UNIVAC Short forUniversal Automatic Computer, theUNIVAC I, a trademark of the Unisyscorporation, was released in1951and1952when first developed byJ. Presper EckertandJohn Mauchly. TheUNIVACis an electrical computer containing thousands of vacuum tubes that utilizes punch cards and switches for inputting data and punch cards for outputting and storing data. The UNIVAC was later released the UNIVAC II, and III with various models, such as the 418, 490, 491, 1100, 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, and 1108. Many of these models were only owned by a few companies or government agencies.

MARK I

ENIAC

EDVAC

EDSAC

UNIVAC

B. Milestone In Computer ArchitectureThe milestone of computer development is normally denoted to in situation to the different generations of computing devices. Each generation of computer is considered by a major technological development that essentially changed the way computers operate, subsequent in progressively smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient and reliable devices. The First Generation- Vacuum Tubes (1945-1955)Computers of this generation used vacuum tubes to perform calculations vacuum tubes were expensive because of the amount of material and skill needed to manufacture them. Vacuum tubes get hot and burn out computers of this generation were very large machines. Special rooms with air conditioning were needed to house them because of the heat generated by the vacuum tubes. During the period of 1940 to 1956 first generation of computers were developed.The first generation computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drumsfor memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms.The vacuum tubewas developed by Lee De Forest. Avacuum tubeis a device generally used to amplify a signal by controlling the movement of electrons in an evacuated space.The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing devices. The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer delivered to a business client, the U.S. Census Bureau in 1951.

The Second Generation- Transistors (1955-1963)The computers built in the 1950s and 1960s are considered the 2nd generation computers. These computers make use of the transistors invented by Bell Telephone laboratories and they had many of the same components as the modern-day computer. For instance, 2nd generation computers typically had a printer, some sort of tape or disk storage, operating systems, stored programs, as well as some sort of memory. These computers were also generally more reliable and were solid in design.This generation using the transistor were cheaper, consumed less power, more compact in size, more reliable and faster than the first generation machines made of vacuum tubes. In this generation, magnetic cores were used as primary memory and magnetic tape and magnetic disks as secondary storage devices. High-level programming languages were also being developed at this time, such as early versions of COBOL and FORTRAN. These were also the first computers that stored their instructions in their memory, which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology. The first computers of this generation were developed for the atomic energy industry.

The Third Generation- Integrated Circuits (1964-1971)The 3rd Generation computers replaced transistors with integrated circuits or I.C. was inverted by Jack Kilby as Texas instruments in 1958.The 3rd generation computers using integrated circuits proved to be highly reliable, relatively inexpensive, and faster. Less human labour is required at assembly stage. This allowed the device to run many different applications at one time with a central program that monitored the memory. Computers for the first time became accessible to a mass audience because they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors.Example of some main frame computers developed during this generation are-ICL(International computer limited.) and CDA(Control Data Corporation.). The Fourth Generation-Microprocessors (1971-Present)The microchip transported the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the components of the computerfrom the central processing unit and memory to input/output controlson a single chip. In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home user, and in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors also moved out of the realm of desktop computers and into many areas of life as more and more everyday products began to use microprocessors. As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet. Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and handheld devices.

The Fifth Generation- Artificial Intelligence (Present and Beyond)Fifth generation calculating devices, founded onartificial intelligence, are still in progress, though there are some applications, such asvoice recognition, that are being used today. The use ofparallel processingand superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality.Quantum computationand molecular andnanotechnologywill radically change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond tonatural languageinput and are capable of learning and self-organization.Less power consumption .High performance, lower cost and very compact. Computers based on artificial intelligence are available. Portable note book computers introduced .Memory chips up to 1 GB, hard disk drives up to 180 GB and optical disks up to 27 GB are available (still the capacity is increasing) .II. CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Computer are available in different shapes and weights, due to these different shapes and sizes they perform different sorts of jobs form one another.A. Computers are classified according to PurposeGeneral Purpose Computers are designed to perform different tasks.They have ability to store numerous programs , but lack in speed and efficiency, Specific Purpose Computers are designed to handle a specific problem or to perform a specific task.A set of instructions is built into the machine.B. Computers are classified according to Data HandlingAnalog computers, An analog computers works with current rather them by the process of counting .Analog computer works on supply of continuous signal and display continuous speed Thus we conclude that an analog computer is special purpose computer but cannot give accuracy more than .Digital computers,As its name suggest it works with digits is 0s and 1s.in other words digits computers is a counting device .All the expressions are coded with binary digits is called a bit information is represented in digital computer in groups of bits . Hybrid computer, It is a combination of Analog computers used in continuous system also non-linear discrete features of a digital computer such as storing values logical operations and switching.These computers are mostly used with process control equipment in continuous production plants like all refineries etc. and used at places where signals as well as data are to be entered into computer. Areas of applicationnuclear power plants mine etcC. Computers are classified according to Size and Storage CapacityMicro computers is a digital computer whose processing unit consists of one or more microprocessors, one or more input / output units and sufficient memory to execute instructions. They are used in schools, homes, office etc. Desktop computer: a personal or micro-mini computer sufficient to fit on a desk.Laptop computer: a portable computer complete with an integrated screen and keyboard. It is generally smaller in size than a desktop computer and larger than a notebook computer. Palmtop computer: a hand-sized computer. Palmtops have no keyboard but the screen serves both as an input and output device.Some popular microcomputer is IBM system 123, Apple 2 and 3 etc. Mini Computers are medium scale computer in the sense that they are faster than microcomputers. These computers have large storage capacity and can support up to 120 terminals. Mini computers have operating systems with multitasking and network capabilities enabling them to serve more than one user. Mainframe computers are generals purpose computers which are designed to handle all type of scientific and business application with large volume of data instruction and information .These can have large online secondary storage capacity and can support, variety of peripheral devices like magnetic taps driver, hard desk drivers, visual display unit and telecommunication terminals. Super computers, These computers are characterized by their large size and are very high processing speed and are generally used for complex and scientific applications these are most powerful computer and are very expensive .These can execute instructions in the large of 5 billion instructions per second .

III. USES OF COMPUTER Computers are utilize in numerous aspects of our daily life. From Engineers to Doctors, Students, Teachers, and Government Organization they all use computers to perform specific tasks, for entertainment or just to finish office work. There are four main uses: word processing, internet/communications, digital video/audio composition, and desktop publishing. Because of these things, we can easily do our works like in business, education, entertainment, science and technology and telecommunications. If we are going to talk about business, we usually encounter things done in computer like advertising your business, saving your files, communication with costumers are easy, and also you can now able to learn things in the internet what people or your costumer wants especially if it is trending.We also know that education is also affected by this technology thing. Students in this generation mostly relies on the internet even if books are more reliable. Teachers now also use computer as a creative way of teaching. We cannot avoid entertainments from computer now that it is already a main source of entertainment. We love to listen to music, we also love to play games and watching movies. These things are already in computer through the help of internet.Science and technology definitely needs computer, they can easily do their works and store some files and studies in experiments. Nowadays, we can talk to someone through the internet not like before we mail each other in form of hand written. Now computer is a way of talking to our family, friends or people we want to talk especially if that person is an OFW.

A. BUSINESSComputers are used for all aspects of running a business. Computer use in a business enhances productivity and provides results that might not otherwise be possible. Businesses use computers to keep records, develop budgets and forecasts, prepare marketing documents, research and stay in contact with other employees and customers. Businesses should look at their operation and ensure that they are using their computers to the fullest extent. Keep records Computer programs such as QuickBooks and other accounting programs allow businesses to keep detailed records. These programs track accounts payable, accounts receivable and sales. They also provide an easy and quick way for a business to send out invoices to customers and handle payroll functions. Back office productivity and accuracy can increase greatly when using an accounting program. Today, in global markets, it is impossible to run the business without the use of computer technology. Many business activities are performed very quickly and efficiently by using computers. The administrative paperwork is also reduced by using computers. Many business use websites to sell their products and contact their customers.B. EDUCATIONComputers are a brilliant aid in teaching. Computers have given impetus to distance education. Computer software helps better presentation of information. Computers enable access to the Internet which has information on literally everything. Computer hard drives and storage devices are an excellent way to store data. Computers play a vital role in every field. They aid industrial processes, they find application in medicine; they are the reason why software industries developed and flourished and they play an important role in education. This is also why the education system has made computer education a part of school curriculum. Considering the use of computer technology is almost very sphere of life, it is important for everyone to have at least the basic knowledge of using computers. Computers as used in education allow the learners to learn modern tools and knowledge that will make him or her ready for the possible technological changes in the future. Computers are commonly used in education for applications such as communication, distributing education materials, remote learning, performing class work and admissions.C. ENTERTAINMENTComputers are also playing very important role for the entertainment of human beings. Nowadays, computer can be used to watch television programs on the Internet. People can also watch movies, listen music, and play games on the computer. Many computer games and other entertainment materials of different kinds are available on the Internet. Almost unlimited access to any song by any artist, movies and TV shows. Many website services allow users to purchase the media directly to their computer. Computer games are a quickly growing market just like all other forms of video games. However, computer games offer a very wide array of varieties and possibilities.D. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYUsed in automated machines, data collection, data manipulation and sharing of results. Used in experiments, vast data calculation, complex data analysis etc. Use of computer removes the possibility of errors in experiments and researches as long as data entered is correct. In the field of Health and Medicine, Used in maintaining a database of patients along with their medical history. To analyze patient information such as blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration and blood glucose levels. As a researching tool for the health care professional. Information can now be digitized. Software is now able to computer the risk of a disease. Computer technology is radically changing the tools of medicine. Mental health researchers are using computers to screen patient paralyzed by a stroke has received an implant that allows communication between his brain and a computer; as a result, he can move a cursor across a screen by brainpower and convey simple messages. Computer technology is radically changing the tools of medicine. All medical information can now be digitized. Software is now able to computer the risk of a disease. Mental health researchers are using computers to screen troubled teenagers in need of psychotherapy. A patient paralyzed by a stroke has received an implant that allows communication between his brain and a computer; as a result, he can move a cursor across a screen by brainpower and convey simple messages. E. TELECOMMUNICATIONMany corporations and companies are moving to telecommunication-style work due to increased costs in travel. Telecommunication essentially means communication through computers. There are a variety of ways to use computers in telecommunications, and it is not limited to work only. Individuals use telecommunications to stay in touch with friends and family around the world.

IV. CONCLUSION: As a result of the various improvements to the development of the computer we have seen the Computer being used in all areas of life. It is a very useful tool that will continue to experience new development as time passes. Computers are used in various areas of our life. Education, entertainment, sports, advertising, medicine, science and engineering, government, office and home are some of theapplication areas of the computers.

Research: Introduction to Information Communication Technology