HOW WE GOT HERE

A SHORT HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

WHY COMPUTERS?

• Measurement (e.g. property)

• Calculation (e.g. ballistic trajectory)
• Construction (e.g. pyramids)
• Navigation (e.g. GPS)
• Art/Entertainment (e.g. Toy Story, MP3)
• Transportation (e.g. your car)
IN THE BEGINNING…

• There was Mathematics

Abacus
MECHANICAL CALCULATORS (1600S)

Slide Rule

Leibniz Wheel

Pascal’s Mechanical Calculator

JACQUARD’S LOOM

• First computer stored computer

program
BABBAGE DIFFERENCE ENGINE (1823)

• Had the parts of a modern

computer
• Input and Output devices
• Memory
• Central Processing Unit

• He never built (too expensive)

• Built in 1855, #2 in 1980s
ADA LOVELACE

• First computer programmer

• Wrote programs for Babbage’s

machine
1890 US CENSUS

• Used the same punchcard idea as

Jacquard’s loom
HARVARD MARK I (1937-1944)

• Harvard and IBM started work on Mark

I in 1937
• Finished in 1944 at 5 tons!!
• First programmable digital computer
• Motivated by need for firing tables for
the military
• Obsolete as soon as built (vacuum
tubes)
ENIAC (1943)

• Built to calculate trajectory tables

for US Army
• 28 tons
• Used 18000 vacuum tubes and
6000 switches for programming
EDVAC (1944)

• First von Neumann machine (model

of current computers)
• Program was loaded and modified
in memory just like data
• Program run by Fetch, Decode,
Execute cycle
IBM (1950S-1980S)

• Known as “Big Blue” as salesman

wore blue shirts
• Dominated the mainframe market
until the 1980s
MOORE’S LAW

• Gordon Moore observed that the

number of transistors in an
integrated chip doubles every 2
years
MINICOMPUTERS

• Smaller versions of mainframes

• Introduced UNIX OS, first free OS
PERSONAL COMPUTERS (1970S-NOW)

• Hobbyist could build their own

• IBM introduced the PC with MS DOS
• Apple Macintosh introduces the GUI
• Microsoft soon created Windows

• Specialization and miniaturization of

components leading to parallel
processing
THE INTERNET (1990S-TODAY)

• Interconnected computers

• Revolutionized communication and

knowledge distribution
• Similar effect as the printing press

• Cloud computing
IN-CLASS EXERCISE (ROLES)

• Form a group of three people you don’t know well and designate:
1. A Speaker
• Speaks for the group to the class
2. A Recorder
• Records what the group’s answer is
3. A Manager
• Makes sure that the group stays on task, the work is divided equally and that one person
does not dominate the discussion or responses
DISCUSSION: COMPUTERS IN 10 YEARS…

DESCRIBE A COMPUTER 10 YEARS FROM NOW

(Hardware? Software? Interface?)

(Hand in before you leave)