COMPUTER APPLICATIONSMRS. CUNNINGHAM'S CLASSJOHNSON SCHOOL

COMPUTER HISTORY

EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY

Technology has been constantly changing

COMPUTER HISTORY

Computers have been around for a very, very, very, long time!

Computer were first known as humans that would perform calculations.

The Worlds first computers!

Photo: http://campus.udayton.edu/~hume/Computers/comp2.htm

ABACUS

4th Century B.C.

The abacus, a simple counting aid, may have been invented in Babylonia (now Iraq) in the fourth century B.C.

This device allows users to make computations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack.

BLAISE PASCAL (1623 - 1662)

In 1642, the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal invented a calculating device that would come to be called the "Adding Machine".

First Functional Computer

Charles Babbage(1791 - 1871) Differential Engine

Designed for Navigational Calculation for ships. Very Impractical to use!

Charles Babbage

Born in 1791, Charles Babbage was an English mathematician and professor.

In 1822, he persuaded the British government to finance his design to build a machine that would calculate tables for logarithms.

With Charles Babbage's creation of the "Analytical Engine", (1833) computers took the form of a general purpose machine.

HOWARD AIKEN (1900 - 1973)

Aiken thought he could create a modern and functioning model of Babbage's Analytical Engine.

He succeeded in securing a grant of 1 million dollars for his proposed Automatic Sequence Calculator; the Mark I for short. From IBM.

In 1944, the Mark I was "switched" on. Aiken's colossal machine spanned 51 feet in length and 8 feet in height. 500 meters of wiring were required to connect each component.

HOWARD AIKEN (1900 - 1973)

The Mark I did transform Babbage's dream into reality and did succeed in putting IBM's name on the forefront of the burgeoning computer industry. From 1944 on, modern computers would forever be associated with digital intelligence.

The Eniac1943

Short for Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator, was developed by the US Government to fill the increasing need for computer capacity to calculate trajectory tables and other essential data.

Eniac

It could do nuclear physics calculations (in two hours) which it would have taken 100 engineers a year to do by hand.

The system's program could be changed by rewiring a panel.

The Univac

• Inspired by the Eniac

• Was used by the US census to calculate population data

Grace Murray Hopper

• Invented the first Computer Language Cobol

DeBugging!Grace Murray Hopper, who lived from 1906-1992, found the first computer bug while working in a temporary World War I building at Harvard University on the Mark I computer where a moth had been beaten to death in the jaws of a relay. She glued it into the logbook of the computer and thereafter when the machine stops (frequently) they say that they are "debugging" the computer.

TRANSISTOR

1948 In the laboratories of Bell Telephone, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley discovered the "transfer resistor"; later labeled the transistor.

Advantages:

increased reliability

1/13 size of vacuum tubes

consumed 1/20 of the electricity of vacuum tubes

were a fraction of the cost

TRANSISTOR

1948 This tiny device had a huge impact on and extensive implications for modern computers. In 1956, the transistor won its creators the Noble Peace Prize for their invention.

BASIC was well… Basic

10 print"Hello World!" 20 goto 10

“Hello World”

First mainstream computer language Developed in 1964 by 2 grad

students at Dartmouth

ALTAIR

1975

The invention of the transistor made computers smaller, cheaper and more reliable. Therefore, the stage was set for the entrance of the computer into the domestic realm. In 1975, the age of personal computers commenced.

ALTAIR

1975

Under the leadership of Ed Roberts the Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Company (MITS) wanted to design a computer 'kit' for the home hobbyist.

ALTAIR 1975

What did the Altair do? Nothing! It gave computers enthusiasts

something to do!

MICROSOFT

• In 1974 Bill Gates and Paul Allen developed Basic code that could be used to install programs on the Altair

• Remember BASIC already had been developed

• Gates and Allen revolutionized a way for the Altair to read BASIC programs from a tape code format

APPLE I

Ed Roberts’ Altair inspired computer enthusiasts to experiment with creating their own computers

Steve Wozniac and Steve Jobs began to develop the Apple I and started a company called Apple Computer Co. in 1976

APPLE I

The Apple I was created in Steve Jobs Garage

First one was built with a wooden case

APPLE II

Steve Jobs decided to take the Apple to the market in 1977Jobs and Steve Wozniac recreated the Apple for consumers with a new caseSelling price base model: $598 (no monitor or keyboard)

IBM (PC)

1981

On August 12, 1981 IBM announced its own personal computer. Using the 16 bit Intel 8088 microprocessor, allowed for increased speed and huge amounts of memory. Unlike the Altair that was sold as unassembled computer kits, IBM sold its "ready-made" machine through retailers and by qualified salespeople.

MACINTOSH(1984)

Created by Apple

Introduced in January 1984 it was an immediate success.

The GUI (Graphical User Interface) made the system easy to use.

FROM THE APPLE TO THE PC…

• As you can see from this point on personal computers would flourish

• By 2001 computers were in 51% of homes

• The computer revolution has occurred

Last thoughts…

• Think about all the ways the computers have bettered our world

• What are some disadvantages of the digital age?

• Look around you and list all the things in your house that run on computers. (I bet there are more things than you think!)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Information was gathered from the following sites:

http://www.pbs.org/nerds/timeline/micro.html

(Triumph Of The Nerds)http://campus.udayton.edu/~hume/Comput

ers/comp2.htm (The Early History of Computers)http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?y

ear=1948 (Computer History Timeline)

THE ENDCOMPUTER HISTORY