EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING

HISTORY OF COMPUTER DEVELOPMENT

0th Generation Zeroth Generation:
Mechanical Generation/Calculating Machines The Mechanical Era (1642- 1934)
INSTRUCTOR :MARK IAN M. MUKARA

(ancient times – (1600s – early 40s)
1st Generation
Vacuum Tubes (late 40’s – early 50’s)
2nd Generation
Transistors (late 50’s – early 60s)
3rd Generation
Integrated Circuits (late 60s-early 70s)
4th Generation
Personal Computers and VLSI (Very Large-Scale
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Machines invented on this generation are
entirely mechanical. Early mechanical tools
to help humans with digital calculations, like
the abacus, were called "calculating
machines", called by proprietary names, or
referred to as calculators. The machine
operator was called the computer.
The first known
calculator, was invented
in Babylonia called

Integration) (late 70s – 80s) “ABACUS”

5th Generation
ULSI (Ultra Large-Scale Integration)
Pascal's Adding and
Babbage’s Analytical and Subtractory Machine
a mechanical calculator
Difference Engine capable of addition and
subtraction
had a central processing unit (which he
called the mill)
Leibniz’s Multiplication
a large amount of expandable memory and Dividing Machine
(which he called the store)
controlled by program stored on
EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING

punched cards, and punched cards can

also be used to input data
It was in the year 1823 that a famous English man
Charles Babbage built a mechanical machine to do
complex mathematical calculations. It was called
difference engine. Later he developed a general-
purpose calculating machine called analytical engine.
TOPIC :

You should know that Charles Babbage is called the

father of computer. 1944: Howard Aiken, an American physicist
and pioneer in computing, completed Mark I at
Harvard University, the first electromechanical
calculator
Used punched paper tape for input and output
Operated by the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships for
military purposes in solving mathematical problems
that until then required large teams of human
“computers”
 First Generation:
Vacuum Tubes Era (1935-1946)
Three machines have been promoted at various times as the first electronic computers. These
machines used electronic switches, in the form of vacuum tubes, instead of electromechanical relays.
In principle the electronic switches would be more reliable, since they would have no moving parts
that would wear out, but the technology was still new at that time and the tubes were comparable to
relays in reliability. Electronic components had one major benefit, however: they could ``open'' and
``close'' about 1,000 times faster than mechanical switches.
INSTRUCTOR :MARK IAN M. MUKARA

ENIAC – Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

EDVAC - Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer
UNIVAC - Universal Automatic Calculator
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*the term “computer” was used to refer to humans who did the computations (job description!), so
they usually used “automatic computer” to describe the first automatic computers
1946: John Mauchley and J. Presper Eckert built an electronic computer:

ENIAC – Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

used in calculating complex wartime ballistics tables
could perform 5,000 computations per second
had 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighed 30 tons, occupied 1,500 sq.ft. and consumed 140 KW of
power

EDVAC: It stands for Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer and was developed in 1950.
The concept of storing data and instructions inside the computer was introduced here. This allowed
much faster operation since the computer had rapid access to both data and instructions. The
other advantage of storing instruction was that computer could do logical decision internally.
EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING

1950s: the Remington Rand company manufactured the first commercially available first
generation computer

UNIVAC – Universal Automatic Calculator

could perform 10,000 additions per second
designed Mauchley and Eckert, the people behind ENIAC
intended as a commercial data-processing computer, intended to replace the punched-card
TOPIC :

accounting machines of the day

used 5,000 vacuum tubes and was 14.5 by 7.5 by 9 feet
first used by the U.S. Census Bureau

Second Generation:
Transistors Era (1947-1962 )
revolutionized computers and made possible the miniaturization of complex circuitry
Invented in 1947 by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley
 TX-0 – Transistorized experimental Computer
PDP-1 – Programmed Data Processor 1

1956: Engineers at MIT led by Kenneth Olsen built the first experimental high-speed digital
computer for testing transistor circuitry and very large magnetic core memory
“Transistorized experimental” (TX-0) computer
Used a total of 3,600 transistors with 65K, 18-bit words memory
1961: Digital Equipment Corporation (co-founded by Kenneth Olsen) launched the first computer to
focus in user interaction and affordability than efficiency
INSTRUCTOR :MARK IAN M. MUKARA

PDP-1 – Programmed Data Processor 1

Development was led by Benjamin Gurley, engineer and designer
had 512x512 CRT monitor with plottable points: a “Type 30” monitor and a light-pen permitted
users to point at objects or draw on the screen
Entire computer size was 8 x 2 x 6 ft
Cost $200,000 at a time when other computers sold for over $1,000,000 dollars
Inspired programmers soon created early debugging, text editing, music and game programs,
including the first computer video game, Spacewar!
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Third Generation:
Integrated Circuit Generation (1963-1972 )
Integrated circuit placed transistors, resistors, capacitors and all the connecting wiring on a single
‘chip’ Also called a computer chip or microchip

Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, working separately, invented almost identical IC’s at almost the
same time and both applied for patents for their respective inventions in 1959
EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING

System/360
UNIVAC 1108/1106
Honeywell 6000 Series

1964: IBM introduced the System/360

A family of mainframe computers designed for both scientific and commercial computing
had a massive memory of 16MB and allowed multiprogramming – having multiple programs in
memory at once
TOPIC :

Could perform up to 34,500 arithmetic operations per second

processed data concerning lunar landings at NASA
commercial distribution
The UNIVAC 1108 was introduced in 1964. Integrated circuits replace the thin film memory for
register storage. They contained smaller and faster cores for main memory of the UNIVAC 1107. In
the end, 296 were produced. In 1969, an identical machine was produced; the UNIVAC 1106. It was
slower but cheaper for its customers. A alternate memory system that wasn't as expensive or
efficient was used in it.
INSTRUCTOR :MARK IAN M. MUKARA

Fourth Generation:
PC and VLSI Generation (1980-present )
VLSI (Very Large-Scale Integration) made it possible to place millions of transistors (thousands of
integrated circuits) in a single chip; Led to smaller and faster computers

Computers of fourth generation used Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. VLSI circuits
having about 5000 transistors and other circuit elements with their associated circuits on a single
chip made it possible to have microcomputers of fourth generation.
Fourth generation computers became more powerful, compact, reliable, and affordable. As a
result, it gave rise to Personal Computer (PC) revolution. In this generation, time sharing, real time
networks, distributed operating system were used. All the high-level languages like C, C++, DBASE
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etc., were used in this generation

DEC 10
STAR 1000
PDP 11
CRAY-1 (Super Computer)
CRAY-X-MP (Super Computer)

Fifth Generation
Parallel Processing and ULSI
VLSI technology became ULSI (Ultra Large-Scale Integration) technology
Microprocessor chips having ten million electronic components
Based on parallel processing hardware and AI (Artificial Intelligence) software
EVOLUTION OF COMPUTING

The period of fifth generation is 1980-till date. In the fifth generation, VLSI technology became ULSI
(Ultra Large-Scale Integration) technology, resulting in the production of microprocessor chips
having ten million electronic components.
This generation is based on parallel processing hardware and AI (Artificial Intelligence) software. AI
is an emerging branch in computer science, which interprets the means and method of making
TOPIC :

computers think like human beings. All the high-level languages like C and C++, Java, .Net etc., are
used in this generation.

Desktop
Laptop
NoteBook
UltraBook
ChromeBook