Computer History

CSCE 101
Computer History
In 40 years computers went from being giant
expensive machines that only corporations could
own to the personal computer we see today.
Early Calculating Devices
• People have been using devices to aid in
calculation for thousands of years.
• Devices include
– fingers
– tally sticks (animal bones carved with notches)
– counting rods ( I, II, III, IIII, IIIII, T)
– the abacus, …
Abacus – Calculator 2700-2300BC

• A counting device
• Beads are moved to perform
arithmetic functions
• Still used by traders and
clerks in Asia, Africa, …
• Demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=FTVXUG_PngE
Slide Ruler 1620

• An early analogue computer used primarily for

multiplication and division.
• Invented by William Oughtred
• Slide rulers were taken to the moon in the 1960s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD0NfshRyh8
• Demonstration:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waiprjueVp
Q
Pascaline 1642

• Blaise Pascal created the first mechanical

calculator
• Performed addition and subtraction
• Was too expensive for the time, hence it didn’t
become a commercial device.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h71HAJWnVU
Tables
• Mathematical tables were created by people called
’computers’.
• They were large charts showing the results of
calculations, e.g. multiplication, division, and
trigonometry
• However, these were known to be error prone,
• Thus the need for more accurate math drove innovation.
Charles Babbage
• Noticed errors in mathematical tables
(1820)
• Created the difference engine to compute
this math more accurately
• Used tons of grant money as well as his
own
• Only built a small part, as he also had to
construct the tools to build it
• The difference engine wasn’t finished, and
he went on to design the Analytical
engine.
Difference Engine 1821

• The first mechanical

computer
• Created by Charles Babbage
a “father of computing”
• Compiled mathematical
tables
– add, subtract, polynomial
functions
Ada Lovelace
• She wrote the first algorithm
that would have been
executed by the Analytical
Engine
• She is considered the worlds
first programmer
What are Punch Cards?
• Stiff paper that holds commands
• Commands and data are indicated by holes/no
holes
• Early computers used these as input commands
Herman Hollerith
• During the Industrial revolution the population 30%
each decade.
• They were still tabulating census data by hand.
• In 1887 they still had not completed tallying the 1880
census data
• Herman Hollerith an MIT prof introduced punch cards
and a machine to read them to tally this information.
• Took only 6 weeks to tally the 1890 census
• He continued to improve the machine, and created
the company IBM
1 Generation Computers
st

• 1951 – 1959
• Based on Vacuum tubes
• Vacuum tubes: Control electric
current using the vacuum, and
• Can be used to start/stop, or
change the flow based on the
current
Alan Turing
• During WWII Turing created an
electromechanical machine to break German
Ciphers.
• It is estimated that his efforts in breaking the
ciphers reduced the length of the war by 2 – 4
years.
Harvard Mark 1 1944

• A electro-mechanical computer
• Created by Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper
• Developed and built by IBM
• Could store 72 numbers
• Multiplication took 6 seconds
• Used in WW II to compute artillery tables
• Produced Mathematical
Tables
First Computer Bug 1947

• Grace Hopper found the first computer bug

while working on the Harvard Mark II
• A moth was trapped between two relay switches
• She took a photo to document it
ENIAC 1946

• First electronic general purpose computer

• Created at the University of Pennsylvania
• Cost almost $500,000 (approx. $6,000,000 today)
• One of first programs a study of the hydrogen bomb
• A secret military project designed to improve the
construction of artillery firing tables
ENIAC
• Contained 17,500 Vacuum tubes 7,200 crystal
diodes, …
• Tubes burnt out fast, hence the machine
normally could only run for 10 to 30 minutes at a
time
• Speed was 1000 times of electro-mechanical
machines (Wikipedia)
• 5000 adds, 357 multiplications, and 38 divisions
per minute
UNIVAC
• Inventors of ENIAC made UNIVAC which is a
programmable (held data and printed)
• Few people bought it as they didn’t understand
the value
• Then they used it to project the 1952
presidential election, and it got the answer with
<1% error
Second Generation Computers
• Based on Transistors
• 1959-1965
• Stored instructions in memory
• Relied on punch cards for input and printers for
output
Transistors
• Replaced vacuum tubes
• Invented at Bell laboratories
• Enabled computers to be smaller, cheaper, more
reliable, and efficient
• Transistors work as switches on current, turning
it on or off (like binary 0 or 1).
• Still generate a lot of heat, but less than vacuum
tubes
IBM 1400 1960

• General purpose system

• Used punch cards for input and line printer for
output
Third Generation Computers
• Modern computers
• 1965-1971
• Used Integrated Circuits
• Keyboards instead of punch cards
• Monitors for display
• Different applications used through operating
system
Integrated Circuits
• Small chips containing thousands of transistors
• Invented by Jack Kilby, Nobel Laureate of Physics
IBM 360 1964

• Small and large applications

• Commercial and Scientific applications
• From 8K to 8M of memory
• Room sized
• A whole suite of compatible computers for
different needs
Fourth Generation Computers
• Microprocessor
• Development of the personal computer
• 1971 – 1981
• Addition of GUI’s, the mouse, and handheld
devices
Microprocessor
• Thousands of Integrated Circuits were built on a
silicon chip.
• Created by Intel corp.
• Becomes the Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• Allow computers to be smaller, more powerful,
faster, and cheaper
Altair 8080 1975

• First personal computer

• Make it yourself kit
• Switches for input, lights for output
• No keyboard, and no monitor
• People were so excited, within 3 months 4000
orders were placed
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKeiQ8e18Q
Y
Altair 8080
• Gates and Allen were trying to meet with MITS
founder who created the Altair
• They built an interpreter for the 8080 to make
programming software for the machine easier.
• Allen created a Bootstrapper to load the tape to
load the program on a plane ride on final
approach to their meeting
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_BASIC
Apple I and II 1976

• Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs built the Apple I

in Wozniak’s garage
• Apple II had a color monitor, sound, and game
paddles
IBM PC 1981

• IBM released it’s first personal computer

• Sold in companies such as Sears
BASIC
• Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
• A programming language that students could
learn
• Used by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to write a
program for the Altair
MS-DOS (Disc Operating System)
• IBM hired Bill gates and Paul Allen to build an
Operating System for the IBM PC
• They bought the rights to an existing operating
system built in Seattle
• IBM allowed Gates and Allen to keep the
marketing rights to DOS
Reverse Engineering
• Companies like Compaq took apart IBM
computers, and reverse engineered their BIOS to
create very similar machines.
• They built a fully compatible machine, and sold it
for a bit cheaper.
• In first year they sold 47,000 pcs and made 111
million dollars
• Hence, the competition began
• And everyone bought Microsoft OS
Spreadsheets and Word Processing
• In 1978 VisiCalc was created for Spreadsheets
and WordStar was created for Word Processing
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
• In 1972 Apple and Xerox were working on
making a graphical user interface
• WYSIWIG (What you see is what you get)
• The idea being you want to be able to preview
your work on the computer
Apple’s 1984 Commercial
• As Microsoft was aiming their products towards
business users, apple tried to make the first user
friendly PC.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSnW-ygU
5g

• This commercial was fighting out against IBM

which they saw as Big Brother
Fifth Generation Computers
• 1990 - Present
• Enhancement of Artificial Intellegance
• Nanotechnology
• Natural Language Processing
• …
Cellular Phones and Smart Phones
• Now we’re able to have a ton of processing
power is such tiny devices
Wearable Computing
• Now we can track so much of what we do, and
have the internet at our finger tips
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSnB06um5r4
3D Printing
• Uses digital files to create 3d plastic objects
• 3D Printing is being used for:
– Prosthetic Legs in Dogs
– Human Organs (Not ready yet)
– Clothing
Artificial Intelligence
• Teaching a computer to learn to think
• Imagine the future of:
– SIRI
– Video Game Characters
– Self Driving Cars
– Online Customer Support
– Purchase Predictions,…