1/1/2009

Evolution of Computers &

computer system
Grade 12
Competency Level 2.1

Anuradha Dissanayake

Outline
• History of the Computer
o Pre Mechanical, Mechanical, Electromechanical,
Electronic
• Generation of computers
o 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and future
• Different types of classifications
o Technology  analog & Digital
o Purpose  Special & General
o Size  Super, Mainframe, Mini, Micro

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Pre mechanical era – before 1450

• Abacus is considered as the first calculating

device in the world used by Chinese around
5000 BC.

Mechanical era
• Napier's Bones (1617) by John Napier to perform
logarithm
• The Pascaline was introduced by Blaise Pascal in
1642. It could add and subtract two numbers.

• The Stepped Reckoner invented by German

scientist Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz completed in
1694. This device is carried out the operations
add, subtract, multiply and divide.

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• Jacquards Loom by Joseph Marie Jacquard (1801)

Used punch cards to direct the rods on the loom to
create patterns

• The difference engine, the first mechanical computer

was developed by Charles Babbage.
He presented the concept of Input, Process and Output
that is used in modern computers, for the first time.
Therefore, he is considered as the “Father of the
computer”.

• Tabulating machine & punch card(machine readable)-

Herman Hollerith (father of modern automatic
computation)

Lady Ada
AugestaLovelace(first
programmer)
In the 1980's, the U.S.
Defense Department
named a programming
language ADA in her
honor.

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Electro mechanical era

• Electronic valve (vacuum tube) invented by Forest in

1906.

• The Automatic sequence controlled calculator (ASCC)

or Mark 1 was the first automatic computer invented by
Professor Howard Aiken .

Electronic Era
• 1st Generation Computers
• 2nd Generation Computers
• 3rd Generation Computers
• 4th Generation Computers
• 5th Generation Computers

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First generation computers

(1940-1956)- Vacuum tube
• The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and
magnetic drums for memory.
• They were often enormous and taking up entire room.
• First generation computers relied on machine language.
• They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using
a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of heat
Raw materials consist of glass, so ; easily broken, and easy to
distribute the heat. This heat needs to be neutralized by
components another that serves as a coolant. And with the
additional component, the computer finally appeared to be a
big, heavy and expensive.

Eg:
• ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was the first
electronic digital computer designed by John Mauchly and J.
Presper Eckert in 1946.
• EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) was the first
full size stored program computer developed by Maurice Wilkes in
1947. EDSAC was built according to the von Neumann machine
principles.
• EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) is
considered as the first digital computer that could store program
was built in 1948.
• UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was an electrical
computer containing thousands of vacuum tubes that utilized
punch cards and switches to input data and punch cards to output
and store data. First commercially available computer

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UNIVAC

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Second generation computers

(1956-1963) - Transistors
• 2nd generation computers used transistors
• Moved from cryptic binary machine language to symbolic. (replaced
Machine language with the assembly language).
• Second generation computers also started showing the
characteristics of modern day computers with utilities such as
printers, disk storage and operating systems. Many financial
information was processed using these computers.
• The instructions (program) could be stored inside the computer's
memory. High-level languages such as COBOL (Common Business-
Oriented Language) and FORTRAN (Formula Translator) were used.
• These were also the first computers that stored their instructions in
their memory.

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Transistor has many advantages such as: not easily

broken, do not distribute the heat. And thus, the
computers that are becoming smaller and cheaper.

IBM-7090 , IBM Serie 1400, Serie NCR 304, MARK IV,

Honeywell Model 800, IBM 1620, IBM 7094, CDC 1604,
CDC 3600 and UNIVAC 1108 were some computers
developed in this generation

Second-generation computers relied on punched cards

for input and printouts for output.

Third Generation (1964-1971) –

Integrated Circuits
• The computers of third generation used Integrated Circuits (ICs) in
place of transistors.

• Jack Kilby, an engineer with Texas Instruments, had developed the

integrated circuit (IC).

• A single IC contains many transistors, resistors, and capacitors along

with the associated circuitry.

• IBM-360 series, PDP (Personal Data Processor), TDC-316 were the

computers of 3rd generation.

• Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third

generation computers through keyboards and monitors and
interfaced with an operating system

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Fourth generation computers

(1971-1989)- VLSI/ microprocessor
• The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of
computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were
built onto a single silicon chip made it possible to have
microcomputers.
• Fourth generation computers also saw the
development of GUIs, the mouse and
handheld devices.
• It reduced the size and price of the computers at the
same time increasing power, efficiency and reliability
• Offered different applications; word processors and
spreadsheets, Video game systems like Atari 2600

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•Eg: Intel 4004 chip, DEC 10, STAR 1000, PDP 11, Apple I , Zilog Z-
80,Apple II, Macintosh

1981 -IBM PC
First personal computer, 16,000 character memory, keyboard from
an IBM electric typewriter, and a connection for tape cassette
player
29,000 transistors,4.77 Mhz processing speed

Fifth Generation –
(1989 -present) – ULSI
• The ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) technology is used
in this generation resulting in the production of
microprocessor chips having millions transistors and other
electronic components.
• Eg: Desktop, Laptop, Notebook, Ultrabook
• The aim of these computers is to develop devices that
respond to natural language input and are capable of
learning and self-organization. Voice recognition is a special
feature in these computers. By using superconductors and
parallel processing computer geeks are trying to make
artificial intelligence a reality. Quantum computing,
molecular and nanotechnology will change the face of
computers in the coming years.

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Classification of Computers

1. Based on the Technology

(i) Analog Computer
(ii) Digital Computer

Analog
• An analog computer is a form of computer that
handles continuous values such as electrical,
mechanical, or hydraulic quantities
• Use to measure Data such as voltage, resistance,
pressure , temperature,etc
• Low cost and ease of programming
• The main disadvantages are the accuracy and
limited storage
• Eg: milometer, electric current meter, Fuel pump
station meters

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Digital
• A computer that performs calculations and
logical operations with quantities represented
as digits, usually in the binary number system.
• Main advantage is accuracy
• Disadvantages are high cost and complexity in
programming
• Eg: calculators, digital watches etc

2. Based on the Purpose

(i) Special purpose computer - Computers are
designed to handle a specific problem or to
perform a specific task. Eg: air traffic control,
Satellite tracking

(ii) General purpose computer – These are designed

to perform a range of tasks. These can be
theoretically used for any type of applications

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3. Based on Size
(i) Super Computer –
The lagest, fastest and most powerful type of
computers. Typically not used for commercial
data processing.
The first super computer was the ILLIAC IV
made by Burroughs
Supercomputers are very expensive and are
employed for specialized applications that
require immense amounts of computing power.
Eg: NECCRAY, CDC, FUGITSU, TIANHE

(ii) Mainframe Computer –

A very large and expensive computer capable
of supporting hundreds, or even thousands, of
users simultaneously.
Less powerful and cheaper than super
computers. These are general purpose
computers

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(iii) Mini Computer –

Mid size computers mainly used as small or
mid-range servers operating business and
scientific applications.
This type of computers performs data
processing activities in the same way as the
mainframe but in a smaller scale
Eg: Nova, DEC, PDP, IBM

(iv) Micro Computer –

This is the smallest category.
Desktop , Laptop ,Palmtop , Notebook , Smart
phone , Tablet , Phablet
(A phablet is a small pocket sized mobile device that
is a bit larger than the size of an average smartphone
and smaller than tablet. (Eg: Apple 6Plus, Galaxy
Note, etc)

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