Computer History The history of the computer owes its existence to the fact that people, who are lazy by nature, have always sought to improve their ability to calculate, in order to reduce errors and save time. Origins: The abacus The "abacus" was invented in the year 700; it was in use for a long time, and still is in some countries.
Then came the logarithm The invention of the logarithm is generally credited to the Scotsman John Napier (1550-1617). In 1614, he showed that multiplication and division could be performed using a series of additions. This discovery led, in 1620, to the invention of the slide rule. However, the true father of logarithm theory is Mohamed Ybn Moussa Al-Khawarezmi, an Arab scholar from the Persian town of Khawarezm. This scholar also developed algebra, a term which comes from the Arabic "Al-Jabr", meaning compensation, with the implication being "looking for the unknown variable X in order to compensate by balancing the results of the calculations." The first calculating machines In 1623, William Schickard invented the first mechanical calculating machine. In 1642, Blaise Pascal created the arithmetic machine (called the Pascaline), a machine that could add and subtract, intended to help his father, a tax collector. In 1673, Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz added multiplication and division to the Pascaline. In 1834, Charles Babbage invented the difference engine, which could evaluate functions. However, once he learned that a weaving machine (called a Jacquard loom) was programmed with perforated cards, he started building a calculating machine that could take advantage of this revolutionary idea. In 1820, the first four-function mechanical calculators debuted. They could: • add • subtract • multiply • divide By 1885, they were being built with keyboards for entering data. Electrical motors quickly supplanted cranks.
Programmable computers In 1938, Konrad Zuse invented a computer based around electromechanical relays: The Z3. This computer was the first to use binary instead of decimals In 1937, Howard Aiken developed a programmable computer 17 metres long and 2.5 metres high, which could calculate 5 times faster than a human. It was IBM's Mark I. It was built using 3300 gears and 1400 switches linked with 800 km of electrical wiring. In 1947, the Mark II appeared, with its predecessor's gears being replaced by electronic components.
Vacuum tube computers In 1942, the ABC (Atanasoff Berry Computer), named after its designers, J.V. Atanasoff and C.Berry, was introduced. In 1943, the first computer with no mechanical parts was created by J.Mauchly and J.Presper Eckert: the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer). It was made using 18000 vacuum tubes, and took up 1500 m2 of space. It was used for calculations required for designing the H-bomb. The ENIAC's main drawback was its programming: It could only be programmed manually, by flipping switches or plugging in cables. The first computer error was caused by an insect, which was attracted to the vacuum tubes by the heat and became lodged in them, creating a short circuit. Thus, the name "bug" came to mean a computer error. Indeed, as the tubes were poor conductors, they required a great deal of electrical energy, which they released as heat. This problem was solved in 1946 with the creation of the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Computer), which could store programs in memory (1024 words in central memory and 20000 words in magnetic memory).
The transistor In 1948, the transistor was created by the firm Bell Labs (thanks to the work of the engineers John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley). With transistors, the computers of the 1950s could be made less bulky, less energy-hungry, and therefore less expensive: This marked a turning point in computing history. The integrated circuit The integrated circuit was perfected in 1958 by Texas Instruments, and made even smaller and cheaper computers possible, by integrating multiple transistors on the same circuit without using electrical wiring. The first transistor computers In 1960, the IBM 7000 became the first transistor computer. In 1964, the IBM 360 appeared, along with the DEC PDP-8.
Microcomputers In 1971, the first microcomputer came out: the Kenback 1, with a 256-byte memory. Microprocessors In 1971, the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, appeared. It could carry out 4 bits of operations at once. Around the same time, Hewlett Packard put out the HP-35 calculator. The Intel 8008 processor (which could process 8 bits at a time) was released in 1972. In 1973, The Intel 8080 processor was used in the first microcomputers: the Micral and the Altair 8800, with 256 bytes of memory. In late 1973, Intel came out with processors that were already 10 times faster than their predecessor (the Intel 8080) and included 64 Kb of memory. In 1976, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs created the Apple I in a garage. This computer had a keyboard, a 1 MHz microprocessor, 4 Kb of RAM and 1 KB of video memory. The story goes that the two friends didn't know what to name the computer; Steve Jobs, seeing an apple tree in the garden, decided he would call the computer "apple" if he couldn't think up another name in the next five minutes. In 1981, IBM sold the first "PC", made from an 8088 processor with a clock speed of 4.77 MHz.
Computers today It is very difficult today to tell where computers are going. Their development has followed Moore's Law: "Every three years, four times as many transistors can be put on a chip." This would imply that there will be 1 billion transistors on a chip around the year 2010. http://en.kioskea.net/contents/histoire/ordinateur.php3
Computer History Year/Enter Computer History Inventors/Inventions Computer History Description of Event 1936 Konrad Zuse - Z1 Computer First freely programmable computer. 1942 John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry ABC Computer Who was first in the computing biz is not always as easy as ABC. 1944 Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper Harvard Mark I Computer The Harvard Mark 1 computer. 1946 John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly ENIAC 1 Computer 20,000 vacuum tubes later... 1948 Frederic Williams & Tom Kilburn Manchester Baby Computer & The Williams Tube Baby and the Williams Tube turn on the memories. 1947/48 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain & Wiliam Shockley The Transistor No, a transistor is not a computer, but this invention greatly affected the history of computers. 1951 John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly UNIVAC Computer First commercial computer & able to pick presidential winners. 1953 International Business Machines IBM 701 EDPM Computer IBM enters into 'The History of Computers'. 1954 John Backus & IBM FORTRAN Computer Programming Language The first successful high level programming language. 1955 (In Use 1959) Stanford Research Institute, Bank of America, and General Electric ERMA and MICR The first bank industry computer - also MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) for reading checks. 1958 Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce The Integrated Circuit Otherwise known as 'The Chip' 1962 Steve Russell & MIT Spacewar Computer Game The first computer game invented. 1964 Douglas Engelbart Computer Mouse & Windows Nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end. 1969 ARPAnet The original Internet. 1970 Intel 1103 Computer Memory The world's first available dynamic RAM chip. 1971 Faggin, Hoff & Mazor Intel 4004 Computer Microprocessor The first microprocessor. 1971 Alan Shugart &IBM The "Floppy" Disk Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility. 1973 Robert Metcalfe & Xerox The Ethernet Computer Networking Networking. 1974/75 Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 5100 Computers The first consumer computers. 1976/77 Apple I, II & TRS-80 & Commodore Pet Computers More first consumer computers. 1978 Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software Any product that pays for itself in two weeks is a surefire winner. 1979 Seymour Rubenstein & Rob Barnaby WordStar Software Word Processors. 1981 IBM The IBM PC - Home Computer From an "Acorn" grows a personal computer revolution 1981 Microsoft MS-DOS Computer Operating System From "Quick And Dirty" comes the operating system of the century. 1983 Apple Lisa Computer The first home computer with a GUI, graphical user interface. 1984 Apple Macintosh Computer The more affordable home computer with a GUI. 1985 Microsoft Windows Microsoft begins the friendly war with Apple. SERIES TO BE CONTINUED
