HISTORY AND EVALUTION OF THE COMPUTERS

History of the computers date back to the 1800s with the English mathematician
Charles Babbage inventing different machines for automatic calculations.
However, history of computing date back to as ancient as 2,700s BC. While the
development and the use of the Abacus around 2,700 BC in different world
civilizations marked as the beginning of the computing, innovations such as the
Jacquard loom (1805) and Charles Babbage’s “Analytical Engine” (1834) signified
the new age communication of this development.

The modern history of the computers primarily comprise of the development of

mechanical, analog and digital computing architectures. During the early days of
the electronic computing devices, there was much discussion about the relative
merits of Analog vs. Digital computers.

THE MECHANICAL ERA (1623-1945)

Indeed the history of the computers is quite extraordinary. The history of the
computers can be tracked back to 2700 BC in different civilization such as
Sumerian, Roman and Chinese, which made use of abacus for mathematical
calculations. Abacus, wooden rack holding two horizontal wires with beads strung
in them. Numbers are represented using the position of the beads on the rack.
Fast and simple calculations can be carried out by appropriately playing the
beads.

In 1620, an English mathematician by the name WILLIAM OUGHTRED invented

the slides rule – a calculating device based on the principle of the logarithms. It
consist of two graduated scales devised in such a manner that suitable alignment
one scale against the others, made it possible to perform additions, computers
product etc. just by inspection.

Blaise pascal (1642)

An adding machine is developed by the French Scientist Blaise Pascal. The
machine was digital device with numbers 0-9, once sum reached the decimal
place the wheel roll over the next column. This machine was used to calculate
rate of national currencies.

Leibnitz (1671)
In 1671 Leibnitz, German mathematician invented the calculating machine which
was able to perform additions and multiplications. He invented a special gear
mechanism for introducing the added digits, which is still being used.

The first generation computers

Mark 1:
After the World War II there was a need for the advance calculations. Howard A.
Aiken of Harvard University, while working his doctorate in physics designed a
machine that could perform a sequence of arithmetic operations in 1973. He
completed this in 1944 and named it Mark I. This machine performs the
multiplications and division at an average of about four and eleven seconds.

ENIAC
The World War II also produced the large need for computer capacity especially
for the military. New weapons were made for which calculating tables and other
calculations were needed. In 1942, Professor John P, Eckert and John W. Mauchly
at the Moore School of Engineering of the University of the Pennsylvania, USA,
decode to build the high speed computer to do the job. This was called the
Electronic Numerical Integrator and calculator. It used 18,000 vacuum tubes;
1,800 square feet of the floor space, and consumed about 180,000 watts of
electrical power. It had punched cards and its programs were wired on the
boards. And it was used from 1946 to 1955.

EDVAC
Fascinated the success of the ENIAC, John Von Neumann. A Mathematician,
undertook an abstract study of computation in 1945. In this he aimed to show the
computer should be able to execute the any kind of information by means of
proper program control. His ideas, referred to as ‘Stored Program Technique’
became the essential for the future generations of high speed digital computers.

UNIVAC
The Universal Automatic Calculator developed in 1951, was the first digital
computer to be produced and was installed in the Census Bureau. The first
generation stored program computers needed a lot of maintenance. EDVAC and
UNIVAC fell in to this type of group of computers and were first commercially
available computers.

Transistor Computers (Second Generation mid- 1950s)

The development of the Transistors lead to the replacement of the vacuum tubes,
and resulted in significantly smaller computers. In the beginnings, they were less
reliable than vacuum tubes they replaced, IBM 360 used disk drives. The first disk
drive IBM 360 was the first of the introduced in 1956.

The Microchips and the Microprocessors (Third Generation computers

1960s)
The microchips or Integrated circuit is one of the most expensive advances in
computing technology. Many overlaps in the history existed microchip-based
computers and transistor-based computers throughout the 1960s. Microchips
allowed the manufacturing of the smaller computers. The microchip spurred the
production of the minicomputers and microcomputers, which are small and
inexpensive enough for small businesses and even individual to own. The
microchips also lead to the microprocessor, another breakthrough technology
that was important in the development of the personal computers.

The first processors were 4 bit models quickly followed by the 1972. 16-bit
models were produced in 1973, and 32-bit models soon followed. AT and T Bells
Labs created the first fully 32-bit single chip microprocessor, which used 32-bit
buses, 32- bit data paths, and 32-bit data addresses, in 1980. The first 64-bit
microprocessor was in use in early 1990s in some markets, though they did not
appear in the market until the early 2000s.

Personal computers (Fourth Generation 1970s)

The first personal computers were built in the early 1970s. Most of these were
runs, and worked based on the small-scale integrated circuits and multiple chips
CPUs.

The commodore PET was a personal computer in the 1970s. The Altair 8800 was
fast popular computer using a single chip microprocessor. Clones of this machine
quickly cropped up, and soon there was an entire market based on the design and
architecture of the 8800. It also spawned a club based around hobbyist computer
builders, the Homebrew Computer Club. In 1977 saw the rise of “Trinity” the
Commodore pet, the Apple II, and the Tandy Corporation’s TRS-80. These three
computer models eventually went on to sell millions.

These early PCs had between 4kb and 48kb of RAM. The Apple II was the only one
with full-color, graphics-cable display, and eventually became the best-seller
among the trinity, with more than 4 million units sold.

The Early Notebooks and Laptops (1980s-1990s)

One particularly notable development in the 1980s was the advent of the
commercially available portable computer. Osborne 1 was a small and portable
enough to transport.

The first of these was the Osborne 1, in 1981. It had tiny 5” monitor and was the
large and heavy compared to the modern laptops (weighing in at 23.5 pounds).
Portable computers continued to develop, though, and eventually became the
streamlined and easily portable, as the notebooks we have today are. These are
early portable computers were portable only in the most sense of the word.
Generally, they were anywhere from the size of a large electric typewriter to the
size of the suitcase. The GAVILAN SC was the first PC to be sold as a “Laptop”.
The first laptop with a flip form factor was produced in the 1982, but the first
portable computer that was actually marketed as a “Laptop” was the GAVILAN in
1983.

Early models had monochrome displays, though there were color displays
available starting in 1984 (the Commodore SX-64). Laptops grew in popularity as
they became smaller and lighter.

The Rise of Mobile Computing (present and beyond 2000s)

Mobile Computing is one of the most recent major milestones in the history of
computers. Many smartphones today have higher processor speed and more
memory than desktop PCs had even ten years ago. With phones like iPhone and
the Motorola, it’s becoming the possible to perform most of the functions one
reserved for desktop PCs from anywhere. The Droid is a smartphone capable of
the basic computing tasks such as emailing and browsing.

Mobile computing really had its start in the 1980s with the pocket PCs of the era.
These were the something like a cross between a calculator, a small home
computer and a PDA. During the 1990s the, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant)
became popular.

A numbers of manufacturers had models, including Apple and Palm. The main
feature of the PDAs had that not all pocket PCs had was a touch screen interface.
Most of the basic computing feature can now be done on a smartphone, such a
emailing, browsing, and uploading photos and videos.

Netbooks (Artificial Intelligence Late 2000s)

Another recent progression in computing history is the development of the
Netbook computers. Netbooks are smaller in size and more portable than
standard laptops. Some of the netbooks go so far to have not only built in WI-FI
capabilities, but also built in mobile Broadband connectivity options.

The ASUS EEE PC 700 was the first netbook to enter the mass production. The first
mass produced netbook was the ASUS PC in 2007. They were originally released
In Asia, but were released in the US not long afterward. Other manufacturers
quickly followed the suit, releasing the additional models throughout 2008 and
2009.

The End