1.1 The Computer Revolution
Computer Revolution
 Early calculating machines
 Mechanical devices used to add and subtract
 By Babylonian (Iraq) 5000 years ago
 In 17th century, John Napier developed a series of rods called bones
to produce first table of algorithms (arithmetic operation)
 In 1642, Blaise Pascal produced Pascaline which use wheel to add
number
 After 30 years. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz produced device call
Stepped Reckoner which used gear or wheel to perform
computations (multiplication and division)
Stepped Reckoner
Computer Revolution
 Early calculating machines
 1801 Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented an automatic loom
 The Jacquard loom was the first machine to use punch
cards to control a sequence of operations.
 Although no computation involved, it is considered an
important step in the history of computing hardware
Jacquard Loom
Jacquard loom on display at Museum of Science and Industry in
Manchester, England
Computer Revolution
 Early calculating machines
 1820 Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar
produced the arithmometer, the first four
function practical mechanical calculator
 In 19th century, Charles Babbage designed a
steam-powered machine called the
difference engine to calculate numbers of
mathematical table
 Analytical engine capable to do a variety of
mathematical computations
Computer Revolution
 Early calculating machines
 Herman Hollerith an employee of Census
Office in Washington developed punch card
processing machine called Census
Tabulator to process census data
 Consisted of a manual card puncher, an
electronic card reader and an
electromechanical card sorter
 The company merged and change its name
several times
 Today, its new name is International
Business Machine Corporation (IBM)
Computer Revolution
 Early calculating machines
 A new class of computing device called
analog computer used electrical voltages to
represent physical quantities
 Function by establishing an analog between
a physical quantity and a voltage lever
 In 1940s, first electronic computer ABC
(Atanasoff Berry Computer) and ENIAC
(Electric numerator, Integrator, Analyzer
and Computer) were built.
ENIAC
Computer Revolution
 Early calculating machines
 In 1949, the first electronic computer
operating under the control of a stored
program called EDSAC (Electronic Delay
Storage Automatic Computer) was
completed
 Stored program is a set of instruction stored
internally that guide the computer step by
step through a process
 The first integrated circuit (IC) produced by
Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments in 1960
Computer Revolution
 First generation (1942 – 1959)
 Utilized vacuum tubes in their circuitry and
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for the storage of data and instructions
The vacuum was bulky, cause tremendous
heat problem and it caused a great number
of breakdown
Magnetic core replaced the vacuum tube
Programming done in machine language
that is combination of bit or binary digits 0
and 1
Binary digit is the way of representing data
Computer Revolution
 Second generation (1959 – 1965)
 The replacement of vacuum tube in
computer circuit with the transistor
 Because of the speed and small size,
computer were developed to perform a single
operation in microseconds (millionths of
second)
 Capable to store tens of thousand of
characters
 2nd generation computers extremely more
reliable, compact in size and virtually free of
heat problem
Computer Revolution
 Second generation (1959 – 1965)
 Business oriented computer with more
efficient storage and faster input and output
capabilities
 Programming language written both in
machine language and symbolic language
 Symbolic language utilized symbolic names
or representations for computer command
and symbolic names for items of data
Computer Revolution
 Third generation (1965 - 1970)
 Characterized by microminiaturized integrated
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circuits with components so small
Increased input/output, storage and processing
capabilities
Input/output introduced to communicate with
computers over telephone line, display pictures
on a television and musical
Could process instruction in nanoseconds
(billionths of a second)
Process set of instructions (programs)
concurrently
Computer Revolution
 Fourth generation (1970 - )
 Introduced monolithic storage device (the
components and surface that supports them
utilized the same materials eg. Silicon)
 Improved and further miniatured integrated
logic circuits and as actual laser memory was
constructed for NASA
 The beam of the laser has the ability to carry
all the conversations going on at one time on
the planet earth
Computer Revolution
 Fourth generation (1970 - )
 IBM has introduced the concept of virtual
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storage
Virtual storage capable to store billions and
trillions of characters
CD ROM become a data storage memory in
choice
Encoded with a series of on and off bits
The average CD can store 4,800 millions bit
or 600 millions characters of data