COMPUTER EVOLUTION

EARLY COMPUTERS
COMPUTER GENERATIONS
• ABACUS- FIRST COUNTING DEVICE INVERTED OVER 2000 YEARS
AGO
• 1617-JOHN NAPIER INVERTED NAPIER ROD/BONE USED FOR
SIMPLE CALCULATION OF PRODUCTS AND QUOTIENTS OF
NUMBERS
• 1622-WILLIAM OUGHTRED INVERTED SLIDE RULE (WHICH IS A
MECHANICAL ANALOG COMPUTER) SLIDE RULE IS USED
PRIMARILY FOR MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION, AND ALSO FOR
FUNCTIONS SUCH AS ROOTS, LOGARITHMS AND TRIGONOMETRY
• 1642- BLAISE PASCAL INVERTED THE PASCALINE. WHICH WAS
THE FIRST MECHANICAL CALCULATOR
• 1674- GOLTFRIED LIEBINIZ- IMPROVED PASCALINE MECHANICAL
CALCULATOR WHICH ALSO DO NOT WORK PROPERLY
• 1822-CHARLES BABBAGE INVERTED THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE TO
COMPILE MATHEMATICAL TABLES AND ANALYTICAL ENGINE WHICH
WAS INTENDED AS A GENERAL SYMBOL MANIPULATOR, AND HAD
SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TODAY’S COMPUTERS. NEITHER
OF HIS MACHINES WORKED PERFECT, BUT HE IS KNOWN AS THE
FATHER OF COMPUTERS DUE TO GREAT IDES HE INTRODUCED.
• LADY ADA AUGUSTA KING WROTE A FIRST PROGRAM TO RUN
CHARLES BABBAGE MACHINE AND BECOME THE FIRST COMPUTER
PROGRAMMER. ALSO SHE IS KNOWN AS MOTHER OF COMPUTER.
• 1889-HERMAN HOLLERITH INVERTED TABULATING MACHINE
WHICH USES PUNCHED CARDS AS THE INPUT DEVICE. PUNCHED
CARDS WERE INVERTED BY JACQUARD IN 1901. TABULATING
MACHINE USED IN AMERICAN CENSUS.
• 1944-HOWARD AIKEN AND IBM USED CHARLES BABBAGE IDEA
TO CREATE THE FIRST COMPUTER CALLED HAVARD MARK 1 OR
ASCC WHICH USED VACUUM TUBES.
• 1945-VON NEWMAN IMPROVED HAVARD MARK 1 AND INVERT
ENIAC AND EDVAC WHICH LEAD TO POPULAR UNIVAC. AFTER
THAT, COMPUTERS WERE DEVELOPED RAPIDLY.
 EARLY COMPUTERS

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COMPUTERS

• THE HISTORY OF COMPUTERS CAN BE TRACED BACK TO

THE TIME WHEN HUMAN WERE STRUGGLING TO INVERT
TOOLS THAT COULD PERFORM MATHEMATICAL
CALCULATIONS SUCH AS ADDITION, SUBTRACTION,
DIVISION, MULTIPLICATION.
• THE FOLLOWING ARE TOOLS DEVELOPED FOR THE
PURPOSE OF PERFORMING MATHEMATICAL
CALCULATIONS.
• 
 ABACUS
• ABACUS MEANS A CALCULATING BOARD. IT WAS
INVENTED BY CHINESE PEOPLE BACK IN 3000 BC. ABACUS
IS A MECHANICAL COUNTING DEVICE INVENTED TO
COUNT LARGE NUMBERS BY EARLY MAN.
 NAPIER’S BONES

• NAPIER’S BONES WAS DEVELOPED BY A SCOTTISH

MATHEMATICIAN CALLED JOHN NAPIER IN THE 17TH
CENTURY. IT PERFORMED CALCULATIONS OF PRODUCTS AND
QUOTIENTS OF NUMBERS. IT IS MADE UP OF MARKED STRIPS
OF WOOD OR BONES, PLACED SIDE BY SIDE TO EACH OTHER.
 SLIDE RULER

• SLIDE RULER IS A MECHANICAL MACHINE USED TO PERFORM

ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS. IT WAS INVERTED BY WILLIAM
OUGHTRED IN 17TH CENTURY. SLIDE RULER WAS COMMONLY
USED TO PERFORM ARITHMETIC OPERATION UP TO 1970’S
WHEN ELECTRONIC CALCULATORS WAS INVENTED AND TOOK
OVER
Linear Slide ruler Circular Slide ruler
 LA PASCALINE MACHINE (PASCAL’S ADDING
AND SUBTRACTION MACHINE)

• LA PASCALINE MACHINE (PASCAL’S MACHINE) WAS

INVENTED BY BLAISE PASCAL IN THE 17TH CENTURY. THIS
MACHINE PERFORMED ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION
OPERATIONS. IT CONSISTED OF GEARS AND CYLINDERS.
 LEIBNIZ MULTIPLICATION AND DIVIDING
MACHINE

• THIS WAS THE FIRST MECHANICAL CALCULATOR

CAPABLE OF PERFORMING MULTIPLICATION AND
DIVISION, IT WAS INVENTED BY A GERMAN
MATHEMATICIAN GOTTFRIED LEIBNITZ.
BABBAGE’S ANALYTICAL ENGINE (THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE)

• ANALYTICAL ENGINE WAS A PROJECT BY AN ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN

CALLED CHARLES BABBAGE. BEFORE DESIGNING ANALYTICAL ENGINE
CHARLES BABBAGE DESIGNED A MACHINE THAT COULD CALCULATE A
LONG SERIES OF NUMBERS AND PRINTING THE OUTCOME.
• THIS MACHINE WAS CALLED THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE IN 1830. LATER
IN 1832 HE IMPROVED THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE BY INTRODUCING AN
IDEA OF PROGRAMMING BY USING PUNCHING CARDS AND CALLED
THAT MACHINE THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE
• IT IS BELIEVED THAT CHARLES BABBAGE IS THE FIRST COMPUTER
PROGRAMMER AND THUS HE IS ENTITLED THE FATHER OF
COMPUTERS. LATER IN 1936 HOWARD AIKEN DEVELOPED THE
The difference machine

The Analytical Engine

 THE MARK I

• It was invented in 1944 by Howard Aiken who was funded by IBM

Company. In this project Howard Aiken approached IBM for funding and
received $1Mil (1 million US-Dollars).
• Mark-I Launched IBM into business machine development. IBM stands
for International Business Machines

The Mark I
 COMPUTER GENERATIONS

• AFTER THE DESIGN OF ANALYTICAL ENGINE BY

CHARLES BABBAGE IT TOOK SOME YEARS BEFORE
EMERGENCE OF ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS.
COMPUTER EVOLUTION IS CLASSIFIED INTO FIVE
GENERATIONS DEPENDING ON THE TECHNOLOGY
USED.
 FIRST GENERATION COMPUTERS (1951-1957)

Computers in this generation were characterized mainly by vacuum tubes. The

following are the basic characteristics of first generation computers

Characteristics:
i. Used vacuum tubes
ii. Emitted a lot of heat
iii. Very large in size (occupied a large space)
iv. Consumed a lot of power (high power consumption)
v. Difficult to program, use and maintain
vi. Slow in operation and unreliable
vii. Short life span
viii. Used machine language
ix. Used magnetic drum memories
• HARDWARE TECHNOLOGY THE FIRST GENERATION OF COMPUTERS
USED VACUUM TUBES FOR CIRCUITRY AND MAGNETIC DRUMS FOR MEMORY. THE
INPUT TO THE COMPUTER WAS THROUGH PUNCHED CARDS AND PAPER TAPES.
THE OUTPUT WAS DISPLAYED AS PRINTOUTS.
• SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE WRITTEN IN MACHINE
LANGUAGE. MACHINE LANGUAGE USES 0S AND 1S FOR CODING OF THE
INSTRUCTIONS. THE FIRST GENERATION COMPUTERS COULD SOLVE ONE
PROBLEM AT A TIME.
• COMPUTING CHARACTERISTICS THE COMPUTATION TIME WAS IN MILLISECONDS.
• PHYSICAL APPEARANCE THESE COMPUTERS WERE ENORMOUS IN SIZE AND
REQUIRED A LARGE ROOM FOR INSTALLATION.
• APPLICATION THEY WERE USED FOR SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS AS THEY WERE
THE FASTEST COMPUTING DEVICE OF THEIR TIME.
EXAMPLES OF FIRST GENERATION COMPUTERS INCLUDE
• ELECTRONIC NUMERIC INTEGRATOR AND CALCULATOR (ENIAC),
• ELECTRONIC DISCRETE VARIABLE AUTOMATIC COMPUTER (EDVAC)
• UNIVERSAL AUTOMATIC COMPUTER (UNIVAC I).
(ENIAC COMPUTER)

(UNIVAC I Computer full view)

UNIVAC Used to predict the US United States) 1952 presidential
election.
 SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS (1958-
1963)
This generation introduced use of Transistors. Computers in second
generation used transistors to replace vacuum tubes.
Characteristics:
i. Emitted less heat compared to first generation computers.
ii. Transistors were used in place of vacuum tubes
ii. Relative smaller in size compared to first generation computers
iii. Used assembly language programming
iv. Relied on magnetic core memories.
• HARDWARE TECHNOLOGY TRANSISTORS REPLACED THE
VACUUM TUBES OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF
COMPUTERS. TRANSISTORS ALLOWED COMPUTERS TO
BECOME SMALLER, FASTER, CHEAPER, ENERGY
EFFICIENT AND RELIABLE. THE SECOND GENERATION
COMPUTERS USED MAGNETIC CORE TECHNOLOGY FOR
PRIMARY MEMORY. THEY USED MAGNETIC TAPES AND
MAGNETIC DISKS FOR SECONDARY STORAGE. THE INPUT
WAS STILL THROUGH PUNCHED CARDS AND THE OUTPUT
USING PRINTOUTS. THEY USED THE CONCEPT OF A
STORED PROGRAM, WHERE INSTRUCTIONS WERE
• SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE WRITTEN USING
THE ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE. ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE USES MNEMONICS LIKE ADD
FOR ADDITION AND SUB FOR SUBTRACTION FOR CODING OF THE INSTRUCTIONS. IT
IS EASIER TO WRITE INSTRUCTIONS IN ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE, AS COMPARED TO
WRITING INSTRUCTIONS IN MACHINE LANGUAGE. HIGH-LEVEL PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES, SUCH AS EARLY VERSIONS OF COBOL AND FORTRAN WERE ALSO
DEVELOPED DURING THIS PERIOD.
• COMPUTING CHARACTERISTICS THE COMPUTATION TIME WAS IN MICROSECONDS.
• PHYSICAL APPEARANCE TRANSISTORS ARE SMALLER IN SIZE COMPARED TO
VACUUM TUBES, THUS, THE SIZE OF THE COMPUTER WAS ALSO REDUCED.
• APPLICATION THE COST OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF THESE COMPUTERS
WAS VERY HIGH, THOUGH LESS THAN THE FIRST GENERATION COMPUTERS. THE
TRANSISTORS HAD TO BE ASSEMBLED MANUALLY IN SECOND GENERATION
COMPUTERS.
• EXAMPLES ARE IBM 7000, NCR 304 (NATIONAL CASH
REGISTER), IBM 650, IBM 1401, ATLAS AND MARK III
ARE THE EXAMPLES OF SECOND
GENERATION COMPUTERS.

IBM 650 Computer)

 THIRD GENERATION COMPUTERS (1964-1970)
• DURING THE PERIOD OF 1964 TO EARLY1970’S THIRD
GENERATION COMPUTERS WERE DEVELOPED. THE THIRD
GENERATION COMPUTERS EMERGED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT
OF IC (INTEGRATED CIRCUITS). THE INVENTION OF THE IC WAS
THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT DONE IN THE PERIOD OF THIRD
GENERATION OF COMPUTERS. IC WAS INVENTED BY ROBERT
NOYCE AND JACK KILBY IN 1958-59. IC IS A SINGLE COMPONENT
CONTAINING A NUMBER OF TRANSISTORS. TRANSISTORS WERE
MINIATURIZED AND PLACED ON SILICON
CHIPS, CALLED SEMICONDUCTORS, WHICH DRASTICALLY
INCREASED THE SPEED AND EFFICIENCY OF COMPUTERS.
• KEYBOARDS AND MONITORS DEVELOPED DURING THE PERIOD OF THIRD
GENERATION OF COMPUTERS. THE THIRD GENERATION COMPUTERS
INTERFACED WITH AN OPERATING SYSTEM, WHICH ALLOWED THE DEVICE
TO RUN MANY DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS AT ONE TIME WITH
A CENTRAL PROGRAM THAT MONITORED THE MEMORY.
CHARACTERISTICS
1) IC WAS USED INSTEAD OF TRANSISTORS IN THE THIRD GENERATION COMPUTERS.
2) THIRD GENERATION COMPUTERS WERE SMALLER IN SIZE AND CHEAPER
AS COMPARE TO THE SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS.
3) THEY WERE FAST AND MORE RELIABLE.
4) HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGE WAS DEVELOPED.
5) MAGNETIC CORE AND SOLID STATES AS MAIN STORAGE.
6)THEY WERE ABLE TO REDUCE COMPUTATIONAL TIME AND HAD LOW MAINTENANCE COST.
7) INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES BECAME MORE SOPHISTICATED.
• HARDWARE TECHNOLOGY THE THIRD GENERATION COMPUTERS USED
THE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (IC) CHIPS. SHOWS IC CHIPS. IN AN IC CHIP,
MULTIPLE TRANSISTORS ARE PLACED ON A SILICON CHIP. SILICON IS A
TYPE OF SEMICONDUCTOR. THE USE OF IC CHIP INCREASED THE SPEED
AND THE EFFICIENCY OF COMPUTER, MANIFOLD. THE KEYBOARD AND
MONITOR WERE USED TO INTERACT WITH THE THIRD GENERATION
COMPUTER, INSTEAD OF THE PUNCHED CARD AND PRINTOUTS.
• SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY THE KEYBOARD AND THE MONITOR WERE
INTERFACED THROUGH THE OPERATING SYSTEM. OPERATING SYSTEM
ALLOWED DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS TO RUN AT THE SAME TIME. HIGH-
LEVEL LANGUAGES WERE USED EXTENSIVELY FOR PROGRAMMING,
INSTEAD OF MACHINE LANGUAGE AND ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE.
• COMPUTING CHARACTERISTICS THE COMPUTATION
TIME WAS IN NANOSECONDS.
• PHYSICAL APPEARANCE THE SIZE OF THESE
COMPUTERS WAS QUITE SMALL COMPARED TO THE
SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS.
• APPLICATION COMPUTERS BECAME ACCESSIBLE TO
MASS AUDIENCE. COMPUTERS WERE PRODUCED
COMMERCIALLY, AND WERE SMALLER AND CHEAPER
THAN THEIR PREDECESSORS.
• PDP-8, PDP-11, ICL 2900, IBM 360 AND IBM 370 ARE THE EXAMPLES OF THIRD
GENERATION COMPUTERS

IBM 360 Computer)

 Fourth Generation Computers (1971-1990)

• AFTER 1971 THE FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS

WERE BUILT. THE FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS
WERE THE EXTENSION OF THIRD GENERATION
TECHNOLOGY. THE FOURTH GENERATION
COMPUTERS EMERGED WITH DEVELOPMENT OF THE
VLSI (VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION).WITH THE
HELP OF VLSI TECHNOLOGY MICROPROCESSOR
CAME INTO EXISTENCE. 
• THE COMPUTERS WERE DESIGNED BY USING
MICROPROCESSOR, AS THOUSANDS OF
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS WERE BUILT ONTO A
SINGLE SILICON CHIP. WHAT IN THE FIRST
GENERATION FILLED AN ENTIRE ROOM COULD
NOW FIT IN THE PALM OF THE HAND. THE
FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS BECAME
MORE POWERFUL, COMPACT, RELIABLE AND
AFFORDABLE. AS A RESULT, THEY GIVE RISE TO
• FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1981 IBM INTRODUCED ITS COMPUTER FOR THE HOME
USER AND IN 1984 APPLE INTRODUCED THE MACINTOSH MICROPROCESSOR.

CHARACTERISTICS
1) THE FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS HAVE MICROPROCESSOR-BASED
SYSTEMS.
2) THEY ARE THE CHEAPEST AMONG ALL THE COMPUTER GENERATION.
3) THE SPEED, ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF THE COMPUTERS WERE
IMPROVED IN FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS.
4) MANY HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGES WERE DEVELOPED IN THE FOURTH
GENERATION SUCH AS COBOL, FORTRAN, BASIC, PASCAL AND C LANGUAGE.
5) A FURTHER REFINEMENT OF INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES WAS DEVELOPED.
6) NETWORKING BETWEEN THE SYSTEMS WAS DEVELOPED.
• HARDWARE TECHNOLOGY THEY USE THE LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION (LSI) AND
THE VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION (VLSI) TECHNOLOGY. THOUSANDS OF
TRANSISTORS ARE INTEGRATED ON A SMALL SILICON CHIP USING LSI
TECHNOLOGY. VLSI ALLOWS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF COMPONENTS TO
BE INTEGRATED IN A SMALL CHIP. THIS ERA IS MARKED BY THE DEVELOPMENT
OF MICROPROCESSOR. MICROPROCESSOR IS A CHIP CONTAINING MILLIONS OF
TRANSISTORS AND COMPONENTS, AND, DESIGNED USING LSI AND VLSI
TECHNOLOGY. A MICROPROCESSOR CHIP IS SHOWN IN THIS GENERATION OF
COMPUTERS GAVE RISE TO PERSONAL COMPUTER (PC). SEMICONDUCTOR
MEMORY REPLACED THE EARLIER MAGNETIC CORE MEMORY, RESULTING IN
FAST RANDOM ACCESS TO MEMORY. SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICE LIKE
MAGNETIC DISKS BECAME SMALLER IN PHYSICAL SIZE AND LARGER IN
CAPACITY. THE LINKING OF COMPUTERS IS ANOTHER KEY DEVELOPMENT OF
THIS ERA. THE COMPUTERS WERE LINKED TO FORM NETWORKS THAT LED TO
THE EMERGENCE OF THE INTERNET. THIS GENERATION ALSO SAW THE
DEVELOPMENT OF POINTING DEVICES LIKE MOUSE, AND HANDHELD DEVICES.
• SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY SEVERAL NEW OPERATING SYSTEMS LIKE THE MS-
DOS AND MS-WINDOWS DEVELOPED DURING THIS TIME. THIS GENERATION OF
COMPUTERS SUPPORTED GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI). GUI IS A USER-
FRIENDLY INTERFACE THAT ALLOWS USER TO INTERACT WITH THE COMPUTER
VIA MENUS AND ICONS. HIGH-LEVEL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES ARE USED
FOR THE WRITING OF PROGRAMS.
• COMPUTING CHARACTERISTICS THE COMPUTATION TIME IS IN PICOSECONDS.
• PHYSICAL APPEARANCE THEY ARE SMALLER THAN THE COMPUTERS OF THE
PREVIOUS GENERATION. SOME CAN EVEN FIT INTO THE PALM OF THE HAND.
• APPLICATION THEY BECAME WIDELY AVAILABLE FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES.
PERSONAL COMPUTERS BECAME AVAILABLE TO THE HOME USER.