HISOTRY OF
COMPUTERS
Humans have always needed to perform arithmetic like counting and adding. During the pre-historic period, they counted either on their fingers or by scratching marks on the bones and then with the help of stone, pebble and beads. The
early civilization had witnessed men develop number ststems to keep track of the astronomical cycles, businesses, etc. The word '
computing' means 'an act of calculating'. After the invention of the manual calculating tools, the concept of using 'electronic gadgets' for computations were introduced which gave birth to the computers. The evolution of computers has passed through a number of stages before reaching the present state of development. During the early development period, certin machines had been developed and a brief note of them is given below.
First
Generation 1940-1956 : The first generation of computers used
vacuum tubes for circuitry and
magnetic drums of memory. They were large in size, occupied a lot of space and produced enormous heat.
They were very expensive to operate and consumed large amout of electricity. Sometimes the heat generated caused the computer to malfunction. First generation computers operated only on machine language. Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed on printouts. First generation computers could solve only one pronblem at a time.
The Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC) and the Electronic Numerical Intergrator and Calculator (ENIAC) are classic examples of first-generation computing devices.
Second Generation 1956-1963 : The second generation of computers witnessed the vacuum tubes being replaced by
transistors. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum tube, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, energy-efficient and more reliable than their first-generation counter parts. The transistors also generated considerable heat that sometimes caused the computer to malfunction. But it was a vast improvement over the vacuum tube. Second-generation computers used punched cards for input and printouts for output.
Second-generation computers moved from the use of machine language to assembly languages, which allowed programmers to specify instructions in words. High-level programming languages were also being developed at this time, such as early version of COBOL and FORTRAN. The computers stored their instructions in their memory, which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.
Third Generation 1964-1971 : The development of the integrated circuit left its marks in the third generation of computers. Transistors were made smaller in size and placed on silicon chips, which dramatically increased the speed and efficienty of computers.
In this generation, keyboards and monitors were used instead of punched cards and printouts. The computers were interfaced with an opeating system which allowed to solve many problems at a time.
Fourth Generation : The microprocessor brought forth the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip.
As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet.
Fifth Generation : Fifth generation computing devices, based on artifical intelligence, are still in their developmental stage. Fifth generation computers will come close to bridging the gap between computing and thinking.
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