History of Computers Essay Sample
Computers have become one of the most of import parts of modern society. About everything that is modern required or uses computing machine related engineering in some manner. But how did computing machines as we know them come to be? Did person sitting in his lab merely one twenty-four hours say. “Aha! I’ve got it! The computing machine? ! Well. no. that is non how this happened. Rather. many old ages of superb thoughts and research from many different persons contributed to modern calculating. The field is invariably germinating at a gait unlike anything earlier it as techniques are polished and new discoveries are made.
The Early yearss ( 1. 000 B. C. to 1940 )
“Ancient Civilizations”
Computers are named so because they make mathematical calculations at fast velocities. As a consequence. the history of computer science goes back at least 3. 000 old ages ago. when ancient civilisations were doing great paces in arithmetic and mathematics. The Greeks. Egyptians. Babylonians. Indians. Chinese. and Persians were all interested in logic and numerica cubic decimeter calculation. The Greeks focused on geometry and reason. the Egyptians on simple add-on and minus. the Babylonians on generation and division. Indians on the base-10 decimal enumeration system and construct of nothing. the Chinese on trigonometry. and the Persians on algorithmic job work outing. These developments carried over into the more modern centuries. fueling promotions in countries like uranology. chemical science. and medical specialty.
Pascal. Leibnitz. and Jacquard
During the first half of the seventeenth century there were really of import promotions in the mechanization and simplification of arithmetic calculation. John Napier invented logarithms to simplify hard mathematical calculations. The slide regulation was introduced in the twelvemonth 1622. and Blaise Pascal spent most of his life in the 1600’s working on a reckoner called the Pascaline. The Pascaline was largely finished by 1672 and was able to make add-on and minus by manner of mechanical cogs and cogwheels. In 1674 the German mathematician Gottfried Leibnitz created a mechanical reckoner called the Leibnitz Wheel.
This ‘wheel’ could execute add-on. minus. generation. and division. albeit non really good in all cases. Neither the Pascaline nor Leibnitz wheel can be categorized as computing machines because they did non hold memory where information could be stored and because they were non programmable. The first device that did fulfill these demands was a loom developed in 1801 by Joseph Jacquard. Jacquard built his loom to automatize the procedure of weaving carpets and vesture. It did this. utilizing punched cards that told the machine what pattern to weave. Where there was a hole in the card the machine would weave and where there was no hole the machine would non weave. Jacquard’s thought of punched cards was subsequently used by computing machine companies like IBM to plan package.
Babbage
Charles Babbage was a mathematics professor at Cambridge University who was interested in machine-controlled calculation. In 1823 he introduced the Difference Engine. the largest and most sophisticated mechanical reckoner of his clip. Along with add-on. minus. generation. and division to 6 digits– the Difference Engine could besides work out multinomial equations. It was ne’er really completed because the British Government cut off funding for the undertaking in 1842. After this Babbage began to pull up programs for an Analytic Machine. a all-purpose programmable calculating machine. Many people consider this to be the first true computing machine system even though it merely of all time existed on paper. The Analytic Machine had all the same basic parts that modern computing machine systems have. While planing the Analytical. Babbage noticed that he could hone his Difference Engine by utilizing 8. 000 parts instead than 25. 000 and could work out up to 20 figures alternatively of merely 6.
He drew schematics for a Difference Engine no. 2 between 1847 and 1849. After 12 old ages spent seeking to acquire his Difference Engine No. 2 built. Babbage had to give up. The British Government was non interested in funding the machine and the engineering to construct the cogwheels. cogs. and levers for the machine did non be in that clip period. Babbage’s plans for the Difference Engine and Difference Engine No. 2 were hidden off after his decease. and eventually resurfaced around 150 old ages after they’d each been conceived. In 1991 a squad of applied scientists at the Science Museum in London completed the ciphering subdivision of Babbage’s Difference Engine. In 2002 the same museum created a to the full fledged theoretical account of the Difference Engine No. 2 that weighs 5 dozenss and has 8. 000 parts. Miraculously. it worked merely as Babbage had envisioned. A extra of this engine was built and was sent to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. CA to be demonstrated and displayed until May 2009.
Hollerith
In America during the late 1800’s there were many immigrants pouring in from all over the universe. Officials at the U. S. Census Bureau estimated that it would take 10 to twelve old ages to make the 1890 nose count. By the clip they finished it would be 1900. and they’d have to make the nose count all over once more! The job was that all of the computations for the nose count were performed manually. To work out their jobs the U. S. Census Bureau held a competition that called for proposals sketching a better manner to make the nose count. The victor of the competition was Herman Hollerith. a statistician. who proposed that the usage of mechanization machines would greatly cut down the clip needed to make the nose count. He so designed and built programmable card processing machines that would read. tally. and kind informations entered on clout cards. The nose count information was coded onto cards utilizing a keypunch.
Then these cards were taken to a counter ( numbering and matching ) or sorter ( telling alphabetically or numerically ) . Hollerith’s machines were non general-purpose computing machines but they were a measure in that way. They successfully completed the nose count in merely 2 old ages. The 1880 nose count had taken 8 old ages to finish and the population was 30 % smaller so. which meant that automated processing was decidedly more efficient for big scale operations. Hollerith saw the potency in his tabulating and screening machines. so he left the U. S. Census Bureau to establish the Computer Tabulating Recording Company. His punch-card machines became national best sellers and in 1924 Hollerith’s company changed its name to IBM after a series of amalgamations with other similar companies. The computing machine age was about to get down.
Birth of Computers ( 1940-1950 )
World War II
World War II brought concerns about how to cipher the logistics of such a big scale conflict. The United States needed to cipher ballistic trajectories. deploy monolithic sums of military personnels. and cleft secret codifications. The military started a figure of research undertakings to seek and construct computing machines that could assist with these undertakings and more. In 1931 the U. S. Navy and IBM began working together to construct a all-purpose computing machine called the Mark 1. It was the first computing machine to utilize the base-2 binary system. was programmable. and made of vacuity tubings. relays. magnets. and cogwheels. The Mark 1 was completed in 1944. The Mark 1 had a memory for 72 Numberss and could execute 23-digit generation in 4 seconds. It was operational for 15 old ages and performed many computations for the U. S. Navy during WWII. The Mark 1 was still a mix of electronic and mechanical. At the same clip as the Mark 1. nevertheless. there was another undertaking taking topographic point. During WWII the United States ground forces was constructing new heavy weapon that required firing tabular arraies.
These firing tabular arraies were created by manner of intense mathematical computation that took a really long clip to manually calculate. To assist do this procedure quicker the Army started a undertaking in 1943 to construct a wholly electronic calculating device. J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly headed the undertaking and finally created the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator ( ENIAC ) . which was completed in 1946. The ENIAC had 18. 000 vacuity tubings and perfectly mammoth ; 100 pess long. 10 pess high. and 30 dozenss. It was about a 1000 times faster than the Mark 1 at multiplying Numberss and 300 times faster at add-on. Another computing machine designed during WWII was the Colossus. by Alan Turing. This computing machine cracked the German Enigma codification. assisting us win the war against the Nazis. Germany themselves were planing a computing machine much like the ENIAC. codification named the Z1. The Z1 undertaking. headed by Konrad Zuse. was ne’er completed. Von Neumann
Though the computing machines developed in the 2nd World War were decidedly computing machines. they were non the sort of computing machines we are used to in modern times. Jon Von Neumann helped work on the ENIAC and figured out how to do computing machines even better. The ENIAC was programmed externally with wires. connections. and stoppers. Von Neumann wanted to do programming something that was internalized. Alternatively of rerouting wires and stoppers. a individual could compose a different sequence of instructions that changes the manner a computing machine runs. Neumann created the thought of the stored computing machine plan. which is still implemented today in computing machines that use the ‘Von Neumann Architecture’ .
First Generation ( 1950 – 1957 )
The first computing machine to implement Von Neumann’s thought was the EDVAC in 1951. developed in a undertaking led by Von Neumann himself. At the same clip a computing machine utilizing stored plans was developed in England. called the EDSAC. The EDVAC was commercialized and called the UNIVAC 1. It was sold to the U. S. Bureau of the Census in March. 1951. This was really the first computing machine of all time built for sale. The UNIVAC 1 made a celebrated visual aspect on CBS in November. 1952 during the presidential election. The telecasting web had rented the computing machine to hike evaluations. be aftering to hold the computing machine predict who would win the election. The UNIVAC predicted really early on that Eisenhower would crush Stevenson. which was correct. Network executives were disbelieving and did non travel unrecorded with the anticipation until they had arrived at the same decision utilizing manual methods.
The UNIVAC sat right behind CBS staff during the broadcast. and it was the first clip that many people had the opportunity to see this elusive new engineering called the computing machines. IBM’s first production computing machine was the IBM 701 Defense Calculator. introduced in April. 1952. The IBM 701 was used largely for scientific computation. The EDVAC. EDSAC. UNIVAC 1. and IBM 701 were all big. expensive. decelerate. and undependable pieces of technology– like all computing machines of this clip. [ Some other computing machines of this clip worth adverting are the Whirlwind. developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. and JOHNNIAC. by the Rand Corporation. The Whirlwind was the first computing machine to expose existent clip picture and usage nucleus memory. The JOHNNIAC was named in award of Jon Von Neumann. Computers at this clip were normally kept in particular locations like authorities and university research labs or military compounds. Merely specially trained forces were given entree to these computing machines. Because they used vacuity tubings to cipher and hive away information. these computing machines were besides really hard to keep. First coevals computing machines besides used punched cards to hive away symbolic scheduling linguistic communications. Most people were indirectly affected by this first coevals of calculating machines and knew little of their being. Second Generation ( 1957 – 1965 )
The 2nd coevals of calculating took topographic point between 1957 and 1965. Computers were now implementing transistors. which had been invented in 1947 by a group of research workers at Bell Laboratories. alternatively of vacuity tubings. Because of the transistor and progresss in electrical technology. computing machines were now cheaper. faster. more dependable. and cheaper than of all time before. More universities. concerns. and authorities bureaus could really afford computing machines now. In 1957 the first FORTRAN compiler was released. FORTRAN was the first high-ranking scheduling linguistic communication of all time made. It was developed by IBM for scientific and technology usage. In 1959. the Common Business-Oriented Language ( COBOL ) programming linguistic communication was released.
Where FORTRAN was designed for scientific discipline and technology. COBOL was designed to function concern environments with their fundss and administrative undertakings. These two scheduling linguistic communications basically helped to make the business of a coder. Before these linguistic communications. programming computing machines needed electrical technology cognition. This coevals of computing machines besides had an addition in the usage of nucleus memory and discs for mass storage. A noteworthy computing machine to advert from this clip period is the IBM System/360. a mainframe computing machine that is considered one of the of import mileposts in the industry. It was really a household of computing machine theoretical accounts that could be sold to a broad assortment of concerns and establishments.
Third Generation ( 1965 – 1975 )
The 3rd coevals of calculating spanned from 1965 to 1975. During this clip integrated circuits with transistors. resistances. and capacitances were etched onto a piece of Si. This reduced the monetary value and size of computing machines. adding to a general tendency in the computing machine industry of miniaturisation. In 1960 the Digital Equipment Corporation introduced the Programmed Data Processor- 1 ( PDP-1 ) . which can be called the first minicomputer due to its comparatively little size. It is classified as a 3rd coevals computing machine because of the manner it was built. even though it was made before 1965. The PDP-1 was besides the computing machine that ran the really first picture game. called Space war ( written in 1962 ) . The package industry came into being in the mid 1970’s as companies formed to compose plans that would fulfill the increasing figure of computing machine users. Computers were being used everyplace in concern. authorities. military. and instruction environments. Because of their mark market. the first package companies largely offered accounting and statistical plans. This clip period besides had the first set of calculating criterions created for compatibility between systems. E-mail originated sometime between 1961 and 1966. leting computing machine users to direct messages to each other every bit long as they were connected through a web. This is closely tied to the work that was being done on Advanced Research Projects Agency Network ( ARPANET ) . networking engineering and invention that would one twenty-four hours convey the cyberspace.
Fourth Generation ( 1975 – 1985 )
The 4th coevals of calculating spanned from 1975 to 1985. Computer engineering had advanced so quickly that computing machines could suit in something the size of a typewriter. These were called personal computers. the first one being the Altair 8800. The Altair 8800 debuted in 1975 as a mail-order avocation kit. Many people acknowledge the Altair 8800 as the computing machine that sparked the modern computing machine revolution. particularly since Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft with a scheduling linguistic communication called Altair BASIC– made specifically for the 8800 Now that computing machines could suit on desks they became much more common.
A little company called Apple Computer. Inc. was established in 1976 and individual handedly changed the industry everlastingly. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs began to sell their Apple 1 computing machine that same twelvemonth. and it rapidly gained popularity. It came with a keyboard and merely required a proctor to be plugged into the dorsum of the system. which was a fresh thought for computing machines at that clip. The Apple II was released the following twelvemonth and was the first mass produced personal computer to be commercially sold. and besides ushered in the epoch of personal computer science. In 1981. Microsoft Disk Operating System ( MS-DOS ) was released to run on the Intel 8086 microprocessor. Over the following few old ages MS-DOS became the most popular operating system in the universe. finally taking to Microsoft Windows 1. 0 being released in 1985. In 1984 Apple introduced their Mac OS. which was the first operating system to be wholly graphical. Both Mac OS and Windows used pull-down bill of fare. icons. and windows to do calculating more user-friendly.
Computers were now being controlled with a mouse every bit good as keyboard. The first mouse was developed in 1981 by Xerox. Software became much more common and diverse during this period with the development of spreadsheets. databases. and pulling plans. Computer webs and e-mail became much more prevailing every bit good. The first genuinely portable computing machine. called the Osborne 1. was released in 1981. Portable computing machines like the TRS-80 Model 100 / 102 and IBM 5155 followed subsequently. Not all the computing machines of the clip were little. of class. There were still being supercomputers built with the purpose of being as fast as possible. These supercomputers were sold to companies. universities. and the armed forces. An illustration of one such supercomputer is the Cray-1. which was released in 1976 by Cray Research. It became one of the best known and most successful supercomputers of all time for its alone design and fast velocity of 250 MFLOPS. This coevals was besides of import for the development of embedded systems. These are particular systems. normally really bantam. that have computing machines inside to command their operation. These embedded systems were put into things like autos. thermoregulators. micro-cook ovens. wrist watchs. and more.
Fifth Generation ( 1985 – Present )
The alterations that have occurred since 1985 are plentiful. Computers have gotten tinier. more dependable. and many times faster. Computers are largely built utilizing constituents from many different corporations. For this ground. it is easier to concentrate on specific constituent promotions. Intel and AMD are the chief computing machine processor companies in the universe today and are changeless challengers. There are many different personal computing machine companies that normally sell their hardware with a Microsoft Windows runing system preinstalled. Apple has a broad line of hardware and package every bit good. Computer artworks have gotten really powerful and are able to expose full three dimensional artworks at high declaration. Nvidia and ATI are two companies in changeless conflict with one another to be the computing machine artworks hardware king. The package industry has grown a batch as good. offering all sorts of plans for about anything you can believe of.
Microsoft Windows still dominates the operating system scene. In 1995 Microsoft released Windows 95. an operating system that catapulted them to a new degree of laterality. In 1999 Apple revamped its operating system with the release of Mac OS X. In 1991 Linus Torvalds wrote the Linux meat that has since spawned countless unfastened beginning runing systems and unfastened beginning package. Computers have become more and more online orientated in modern times. particularly with the development of the World Wide Web. Popular companies like Google and Yahoo! were started because of the cyberspace. In 2008 the IBM Roadrunner was introduced as the fastest computing machine in the universe at 1. 026 PFLOPS. Fast supercomputers assistance in the production of film particular effects and the devising of computing machine animated films.
