COMPUTER HISTORY & EVOLUTION

Introduction

All computing is based on the coordinated use of computer devices, called hardware, and the computer programs that drive them, called software, and all software applications are built using data and process specifications, called data structures and algorithms. The introduction to computer system includes computer system hardware components such as mother board, hard disk drive (Disk Memory), power unit, Central Processing Unit (CPU) also referred to as micro-processor, Random Access Memory (RAM), computer buses, cooling fans and other hardware components.

 History of Computers

A computer is an electronic machine that accepts information, stores it, processes it according to the instructions provided by a user and then returns the result. Today, we take computers for granted, and they have become part of our everyday activities. While computers as we know them today are recent, the concepts and ideas behind computers have quite a bit of history - time for a whirlwind tour of how we got to the age of email, YouTube and Facebook.

Early Computing Devices

Attempts by humans to develop a tool to manipulate data go back as far as 2600 BC when the Chinese came up with the abacus. The slide rule was invented in 1621 and remained widely used until the emergence of electronic calculators in the 1970s. Both these examples of early devices were mechanical and on a human scale.

In 1830 the English mathematician Charles Babbage conceived an analytical engine, which could be programmed with punched cards to carry out calculations. It was different from its predecessors because it was able to make decisions based on its own computations, such as sequential control, branching and looping. Almost all computers in use today follow this basic idea laid out by Babbage, which is why he is often referred to as 'the father of computers.' The analytical engine was so complex that Babbage was never able to build a working model of his design. It was finally built more than 100 years later by the London Science Museum.

What is computer?

The introduction to computer system includes computer system hardware components such as mother board , hard disk drive ( Disk Memory ) , power unit , Central Processing Unit ( CPU ) also referred to as micro-processor , Random Access Memory ( RAM ) , computer buses , cooling fans and other hardware components.

The First Electronic Computers

Many different types of mechanical devices followed that built on the idea of the analytical engine. The very first electronic computers were developed by Konrad Zeus in Germany in the period 1935 to 1941. The Z3 was the first working, programmable and fully automatic digital computer. The original was destroyed in World War II, but a replica has been built by the Detaches Museum in Munich. Because his devices implemented many of the concepts we still use in modern-day computers, Zeus is often regarded as the 'inventor of the computer.'

Around the same time, the British built the Colossus computer to break encrypted German codes for the war effort, and the Americans built the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer, or ENIAC. Built between 1943 and 1945, ENIAC weighed 30 tons and was 100 feet long and eight feet high. Both Colossus and ENIAC relied heavily on vacuum tubes, which can act as an electronic switch that can be turned on or off much faster than mechanical switches, which were used until then. Computer systems using vacuum tubes are considered the first generation of computers.

Vacuum tubes, however, consume massive amounts of energy, turning a computer into an oven. The first semiconductor transistor was invented in 1926, but only in 1947 was it developed into a solid-state, reliable transistor for the use in computers. Like a vacuum tube, a transistor controls the flow of electricity, but it was only a few millimeters in size and generated little heat. Computer systems using transistors are considered the second generation of computers.

It took a few years for the transistor technology to mature, but in 1954 the company IBM introduced the 650, the first mass-produced computer. Today's computers still use transistors, although they are much smaller. By 1958 it became possible to combine several components, including transistors, and the circuitry connecting them on a single piece of silicon. This was the first integrated circuit. Computer systems using integrated circuits are considered the third generation of computers. Integrated circuits led to the computer processors we use today

Generations of Computers

First generation computers also used an extremely basic programming language that is referred to as machine language. The second generation (from 1956 to 1963) of computers managed to do away with vacuum tubes in lieu of transistors. ... Transistor computers also developed core memory which they used alongside magnetic Storage.

The period of first generation was from 1946-1959. The computers of first generation used vacuum tubes as the basic components for memory and circuitry for CPU (Central Processing Unit). These tubes, like electric bulbs, produced a lot of heat and the installations used to fuse frequently.

Charles Babbage, an English mechanical engineer, and polymath originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered the "father of the computer", he conceptualized and invented the first mechanical computer in the early 19th century.

First Generation Computers

The first generation of electronic computers used vacuum tubes, which generated copious amounts of heat, were bulky and unreliable.

Second Generation Computer

 A second generation of computers, through the late 1950s and 1960s featured circuit boards filled with individual transistors and magnetic core memory.

Third Generation Computer

The period of third generation was from 1965-1971. The computers of third generation used Integrated Circuits (ICs) in place of transistors. A single IC has many transistors, resistors, and capacitors along with the associated circuitry. Jack Kilby invented the IC.

Fourth Generation Computer

The period of fourth generation was from 1971-1980. Computers of fourth generation used Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. VLSI circuits having about five thousand transistors and other circuit elements with their associated circuits on a single chip made it possible to have microcomputers of fourth generation.

Fifth Generation Computer

In the fifth generation, VLSI technology became ULSI (Ultra Large-Scale Integration) technology, resulting in the production of microprocessor chips having ten million electronic components. This generation is based on parallel processing hardware and AI (Artificial Intelligence) software.

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