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INTRODUCTION

This project entails a brief history on computers. It discusses

the different generations of computers, highlighting the
different technological changes that brought about the need
for a different ‘generation’ of computers.
Included also, are the categories of computers in details,
along with attached images representing each category.
At the end of this presentation, there are quite a few images
to display the evolution of the computer as we know it.
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HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

The first computers were people! That is, electronic

computers (and the earlier mechanical computers) were
given this name because they performed the work that had
previously been assigned to people. "Computer" was
originally a job title: it was used to describe those human
beings (predominantly women) whose job it was to perform
the repetitive calculations required to compute such things
as navigational tables, tide charts, and planetary positions
for astronomical almanacs. Imagine you had a job where hour
after hour, day after day, you were to do nothing but
compute multiplications. Boredom would quickly set in,
leading to carelessness, leading to mistakes. And even on
your best days you wouldn't be producing answers very fast.
Therefore, inventors have been searching for hundreds of
years for a way to mechanize (that is, find a mechanism that
can perform) this task.

"The Father of Computers" Charles Babbage who invented

the 1st mechanical Computer.. in 1834 he dreamt of
designing mechanical calculating machines.

"... I was sitting in the rooms of the Analytical Society, at

Cambridge, my head leaning forward on the table in a kind of
dreamy mood, with a table of logarithms lying open before
me. Another member, coming into the room, and seeing me
half asleep, called out, "Well, Babbage, what are you
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dreaming about?" to which I replied "I am thinking that all

these tables" (pointing to the logarithms) "might be
calculated by machinery. "
This machine used the decimal numbers system and was
powered by cranking a handle. The British government first
financed the project but then later cut off support. Babbage
went on to design his much more general analytical engine
but later returned and produced an improved design (his
"Difference Engine No. 2") between 1834 and 1869.
Meanwhile Ada Lovelace is credited as the "first Computer
programmer" since she was writing programs -that is,
manipulating symbols according to rules-for Babbages
machine.
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GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

The history of computer development, is often referred to in

reference to the different generations of computing devices.
Each generation of computer is characterized by a major
technological development that fundamentally changed the
way computers operate, resulting in more powerful and more
efficient and reliable devices.

Top of Form
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Bottom of Form
First Generation (1940 -1956) Vacuum Tubes

The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and

magnetic drums for memory and were often enormous,
taking up entire rooms. They were very expensive to operate
and in addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated
a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.

First computers relied on machine language, the lowest-level

programming language understood by computers to perform
operations, and they could only solve one problem at a time.
Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and
output was displayed on printouts. The UNIVAC and ENIAC
computers are examples of first generation computing
devices. The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer
delivered to a business client, the US Census Bureau in 1951.

Second Generation (1956 – 1963) Transistors

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Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the

second generation of computers. The transistor was invented
in 1947 but did not see widespread use in computers until
the late 1950s. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum
tube, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper,
more energy-efficient and more reliable than their first-
generation predecessors. Though the transistor still
generated a great deal of heat that subjected the computer
to damage, it was a vast improvement over the vacuum tube.
Second-generation computers still relied on punched cards
for input and printouts for output.

Second-generation computers moved from cryptic binary

machine language to symbolic, or assembly, languages,
which allowed programmers to specify instructions in words.
High-level programming languages were also being
developed at this time, such as early versions of COBOL and
FORTRAN . These were also the first computers that stored
their instructions in their memory, which moved from a
magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.

The first computers of this generation were developed for the

atomic energy industry.

Third Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits

The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark

of the third generation of computers. Transistors were
miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called
semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and
efficiency of computers.
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Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with

third generation computers through keyboards and monitors
and 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. Computers for
the first time became accessible to a mass audience because
they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors.

Fourth Generation (1971-Present) Microprocessors

The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of

computers, 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
Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the
components of the computer—from the central processing
unit and memory to input/output controls—on a single chip.

In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home user,
and in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors
also moved out of the realm of desktop computers and into
many areas of life as more and more everyday products
began to use microprocessors.

As these small computers became more powerful, they could

be linked together to form networks, which eventually led to
the development of the Internet. Fourth generation
computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and
handheld devices.

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) Artificial

Intelligence
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Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial

intelligence , are still in development, though there are some
applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used
today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is
helping to make artificial intelligence a reality. Quantum
computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically
change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of
fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that
respond to natural language input and are capable of
learning and self-organization
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CATEGORIES OF COMPUTERS

In the hardware, computer category, there are four major groups of

computers. They are
the Supercomputer, mainframe, mini and micro-computer. Their
definition is largely
historical and an outgrowth of the different requirements that each
computer generation
was created for.

Microcomputers

The microcomputer is also known as the "Personal Computer". The

monica or naming
the “Personal Computer” is largely related to IBM who introduced and
marketed
the first widely available, commercialised
microcomputer named
the “IBM PC” where PC stood for Personal Computer. As
the most dominant microcomputer in the introduction of
microcomputers the IBM PC became the standard
against which all microcomputers were compared and
the branding that IBM created, the “PC” helped provide
a
name for the industry it grew.
The category is termed “micro” because the fundamental component
that allowed the categories development was the CPU created on a
single chip (so this technology was affordable in comparison to the
mini/mainframe) created with the introduction of ‘microprocessors.’
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The lower costs in the development and production of the CPU and
various components of the microcomputer allowed microcomputers to
become a broad market general purpose computer.
The general appeal, or focus of microcomputers on the individual’s
enjoyment and productivity has been a key factor in the
microcomputer developments and enhancements over the years.
Where other computers were used by a broad group of people within
an organisation, the microcomputer was often used by a single person
for single activities. Where larger systems were focussed on the
productivity of the whole department or organisation, the
microcomputer was often only effective for a single individual’s work.
One example of how Microcomputers differ is the use of Games. Many
of the microcomputers contain games because that is what people like
to do after working hard.
Microcomputers can be grouped into five smaller groups; the
workstations, desktops, servers, laptops and notebooks. Each referring
to the physical usage of the machines and not necessarily the power.
Workstations generally refer to machines used for intensive
calculations on de- signs such as architecture and buildings. Desktops
generally refer to machines used by business people for word
processing, spreadsheeting etc, and are physically placed onto a desk.
The laptop and the notebook are portable machines. Laptops generally
are bigger and clumsier due to the power supply being encased in the
box holding the CPU. The notebook is generally smaller. Notebooks and
laptops can work on batteries allowing the user to work with it in
aeroplanes, in the car and places computers are not generally
available.
Initially designed as stand-alone machines the PC and the operating
systems popular on the PCs do not integrate as well into networked
environments as the other computer systems.
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Personal Digital Assistants. PDAs are a very recent enhancement of

electronic productivity tools based on microprocessor technology.
Personal Digital Assistants such as Apple’s Messagepad 2000 provide
business people, and technocrats, with common daily organisation
tools (such as a diary, telephone book, notepad) in a small packaging
usually no larger than a stenographer/short-hand notepad.

Minicomputers

Faster than the microcomputer with access to more storage space and
more input and output devices,
the minicomputer is used when large groups need
access to data simultaneously. The minicomputer
can do this because the hardware is designed for
plugging in more devices, and the C.P.U. and
support chips are designed more for this kind of work than the
microcomputer's.
The technology advancement from vacuum tubes to transistors lead to
the ability of manufacturers and designers being able to create
computers smaller than mainframes
and consequently more affordable
for a broader range of buyers. The
advancement of technology to
microchips and microprocessors
have allowed mincomputers,
although more expensive, to
maintain a greater processing
power and peripheral devices than
the more commonly used
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microcomputer.For example, large supermarkets around the world

need to have their cash register send sales information to the same
computer (so that the data is collected in one place). This work
requires more input devices (cash registers) and output devices
(screens) than the microcomputer was designed to have access to.
Some organisations, like TCF and Morris Hedstrom, operate the local
supermarket using local area networks and microcomputers, but tie
the various (100’s) supermarkets together to the central office to a
minicomputer. The minicomputer is also required to work when all the
sales people key in sales information at the same time, this requires a
powerful machine that can work with all the input devices atthe same
time. Minicomputers are used by medium sized business and small
sites of large organisations. They are also used in factories to control
automated assembly lines.
Manufacturing, large process control where numerous equipment have
to be coordinated and operating in time-critical sequence, such as a
car manufacturing plant, or chemical plant, minicomputers are for
external, secondary storage found to coordinate the many peripheral
devices, collate and assess input from many other peripheral devices.
The microcomputer is inadequate in processing power and peripheral
connections to complete the work and mainframe computers are too
expensive for the job to be cost-effective.
An important measure for minicomputers and mainframes is the
reliability of the machine as it generally has to operate 24 hours where
every minute of operation is important to the company. A minute of
downtime, where the computer is not functioning correctly, is
calculated in lost money for organisations. Microcomputers have not
been manufactured nor warranted for critical operations and many
microcomputer manufacturers explicitly state in their promotional
material that the microcomputers are not designed nor intended for
critical operations.
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Popular makers of minicomputers include DEC - Digital Equipment

Corporation who built the popular VAX minicomputer used in
universities, banks and engineering firms.
IBM also creates a very popular mini computer range with a branding
of the AS400.
Hewlett Packard has a popular minicomputer range branded the
HP9000.

Mainframes

Mainframes have even more access to storage space and to

input/output devices. To work with these extra devices mainframes
also have more powerful 'processors'. This power is useful and required
by large corporations who have large amounts of data to process.
For example, large overseas banks who have millions of customer
accounts to update regular will need very powerful machines to
process this data. These large banks would have a mainframe maintain
their customer account records (like their bank book account balance,
how much they withdrew, deposited) so that the customer can turn-up
at any of the branches (local bank building) to withdraw/deposit
money. So Sione who has a bank account in Nuku'alofa can take a trip
to Ha'apai, turn up to the bank in Pangai, Ha'apai to withdraw some
money.
Another power of mainframes is that they are designed to connect
input/output devices that span vast distances. Like the above example,
to connect devices that can be as far away from each other as
Nuku'alofa and Pangai, Ha'apai.
The powerful hardware and CPU chips that can support the above work
can also be used for making complex calculations, and designs.
Mainframes are often used by corporations who design jets or studying
aerodynamics effects etc.
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One major inducement for the development of

these computers originally was the increasing
volumes of data collected by the US Bureau of
Statistics during the US Census. The volume of data
was growing rapidly such that the data required
over 9 years to collate, compile, and publish.
As a consequence the US Census (which is carried
out every 10 years) would re-occur before the data
from the previous census was available for the
public and the published information was already
significantly inaccurate on the date of release.
Due to the limits of existing technologies of the
time, the components of the
“Mainframe” were much larger than they are today and required vast
spaces to store them. Hence one of the terms synonymous with
mainframe computers is “Big Iron” for the
literally BIG space the machines took up
and the BIG amount of metal it required
to put a machine together.
The most popular maker of mainframes is
I.B.M. International Business Machines, a
large Multi-national Corporation
headquartered in the U.S.A.

Supercomputers

Supercomputers have been developed from the processing

requirements of advanced research projects by engineers, scientists
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and more recently by other research fields. The supercomputer is a

title generally given to computers with processing power well
exceeding those of the fastest mainframes and its focus is processing
data and manipulation of the data. A significant difference between
mainframes and supercomputers is the primary focus of super
computers on processing capabilities independent of the many varied
input/output devices expected on mainframes.
The major cause for the development of super-class computers has
been the continuing
need in the scientific community for faster and faster calculations.
Scientists working on atomic physics, computer intensive calculations
such as natural speech recognition continue to require more and more
computational speed to test their theorems.
An example of the use of supercomputers is the USA National Weather
Bureau for worldwide weather analysis. The Bureau collects weather
information from around the world and makes instant analysis of this
data. This information is critical for airlines who cannot afford to be late
with their knowledge of what the weather conditions are over their
flight paths. The incredibly large amount of data that needs to be
collected, and the requirement for the answers to become available
immediately is why a supercomputer is used.
Large oil companies use supercomputers to analyse their geological
findings and weapons developers use supercomputers to test out new
theories and strategies.
Again, the incredible amounts of data that geologists collect, and the
complexity of matching data with what can be potentially oil or
minerals requires very powerful computing facilities.
Car manufacturers simulate in three dimensions a car design and the
number of probable accidents that can occur to manage the design
safety requirements of vehicles without having to solder any metal or
build an engine. Supercomputers have been required for this
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simulation process due to the complex calculations evaluating a

simulated accident and the display in three dimensions. Most people
do not currently need the ability to chart their own world weather map
so the supercomputer is not for everyone. Supercomputers usually
require specially built facilities and a large staff of computer
technicians and computer engineers to maintain the hardware and
software. The most commonly known Supercomputer brand is the
“Cray”, from Cray Research the first company to develop a “Super”
computer. The distinctive, good looks of the
Cray Super Computer housed elaborate electronics in a look good box
that was poured
through with liquid coolant to keep the system cool while it works.

COMPUTERS OVER THE YEARS

1939
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Hewlett-Packard is Founded. David Packard and Bill Hewlett found

Hewlett-Packard in a Palo Alto, California garage. Their first product was
the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, which rapidly becomes a popular piece of
test equipment for engineers. Walt Disney Pictures ordered eight of the
200B model to use as sound effects generators for the 1940 movie
“Fantasia.”

David Packard and Bill Hewlett in

their Palo Alto, California Garage

1940
The Complex Number Calculator (CNC) is completed. In 1939, Bell
Telephone Laboratories completed this calculator, designed by
researcher George Stibitz. In 1940, Stibitz demonstrated the CNC at an
American Mathematical Society conference held at Dartmouth College.
Stibitz stunned the group by performing calculations remotely on the
CNC (located in New York City) using a Teletype connected via special
telephone lines. This is considered to be the first demonstration of
remote access computing.

The Complex Number Calculator

(CNC)

1941
Konrad Zuse finishes the Z3 computer. The Z3 was an early computer
built by German engineer Konrad Zuse working in complete isolation
from developments elsewhere. Using 2,300 relays, the Z3 used floating
point binary arithmetic and had a 22-bit word length. The original Z3 was
destroyed in a bombing raid of Berlin in late 1943. However, Zuse later
supervised a reconstruction of the Z3 in the 1960s which is currently on
display at the Deutsches Museum in Berlin.

The Zuse Z3 Computer


The Bombe at Work
1942
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer
1943
Whirlwind installation at MIT
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The first Bombe is completed. Based partly on the design of the Polish
“Bomba,” a mechanical means of decrypting Nazi military
communications during WWII, the British Bombe design was greatly
influenced by the work of computer pioneer Alan Turing and others.
Many bombes were built. Together they dramatically improved the
intelligence gathering and processing capabilities of Allied forces.
[Computers]
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) is completed. Built at Iowa State
College (now University), the ABC was designed and built by Professor
John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry between 1939
and 1942. The ABC was at the center of a patent dispute relating to the
invention of the computer, which was resolved in 1973 when it was
shown that ENIAC co-designer John Mauchly had come to examine the
ABC shortly after it became functional.
The legal result was a landmark: Atanasoff was declared the originator of
several basic computer ideas, but the computer as a concept was
declared un-patentable and thus was freely open to all. This result has
been referred to as the "dis-invention of the computer." A full-scale
reconstruction of the ABC was completed in 1997 and proved that the
ABC machine functioned as Atanasoff had claimed.
Project Whirlwind begins. During World
War II, the U.S. Navy approached the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) about building a flight simulator to
train bomber crews. The team first built a
large analog computer, but found it
inaccurate and inflexible. After designers
saw a demonstration of the ENIAC
computer, they decided on building a
digital computer. By the time the
Whirlwind was completed in 1951, the
Navy had lost interest in the project,
though the U.S. Air Force would eventually
support the project which would influence
the design of the SAGE program.
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1944
Harvard Mark-1 is completed. Conceived by Harvard professor Howard
Aiken, and designed and built by IBM, the Harvard Mark-1 was a room-
sized, relay-based calculator. The machine had a fifty-foot long camshaft
that synchronized the machine’s thousands of component parts. The
Mark-1 was used to produce mathematical tables but was soon
superseded by stored program computers.

Harvard Mark-I in use, 1944

The first Colossus is operational at Bletchley Park. Designed by British

engineer Tommy Flowers, the Colossus was designed to break the
complex Lorenz ciphers used by the Nazis during WWII. A total of ten
Colossi were delivered to Bletchley, each using 1,500 vacuum tubes and
a series of pulleys transported continuous rolls of punched paper tape
containing possible solutions to a particular code. Colossus reduced the
time to break Lorenz messages from weeks to hours. The machine’s
existence was not made public until the 1970s

The Colossus at Work At

Bletchley Park
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In February, the public got its first glimpse of the ENIAC, a machine built

by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert that improved by 1,000 times on

the speed of its contemporaries.

Start of 1943
project:
Completed: 1946
Programmed plug board and switches
:
Speed: 5,000 operations per second
Input/output: cards, lights, switches, plugs
ENIAC
Floor space: 1,000 square feet
Project John Mauchly and J. Presper
leaders: Eckert.

An inspiring summer school on computing at the University of

Pennsylvania´s Moore School of Electrical Engineering stimulated
construction of stored-program computers at universities and research
institutions. This free, public set of lectures inspired the EDSAC, BINAC,
and, later, IAS machine clones like the AVIDAC. Here, Warren Kelleher
completes the wiring of the arithmetic unit components of the AVIDAC at
Argonne National Laboratory. Robert Dennis installs the inter-unit wiring
as James Woody Jr. adjusts the deflection control circuits of the memory
unit.

AVIDAC

1948
IBM´s Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator computed scientific data

in public display near the company´s Manhattan headquarters. Before its

decommissioning in 1952, the SSEC produced the moon-position tables

used for plotting the course of the 1969 Apollo flight to the moon.
Speed: 50 multiplications per second
Input/outpu cards, punched tape
t:
Memory punched tape, vacuum
type: tubes, relays
20,000 relays, 12,500
Technology:
vacuum tubes
Floor space: 25 feet by 40 feet
Project
Wallace Eckert
leader:
IBM´s SSEC

1949
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Maurice Wilkes assembled the EDSAC, the first practical stored-program

computer, at Cambridge University. His ideas grew out of the Moore

School lectures he had attended three years earlier.

For programming the EDSAC, Wilkes established a library of short

programs called subroutines stored on punched paper tapes.

Technolo vacuum tubes
gy:
Memory: 1K words, 17 bits, mercury
delay line
Speed: 714 operations per second

Wilkes with the EDSAC

The Manchester Mark I computer functioned as a complete system using

the Williams tube for memory. This University machine became the

prototype for Ferranti Corp.´s first computer.

Start of 1947
project:
Completed: 1949
Add time: 1.8 microseconds
Manchester Mark I Input/output: paper tape, teleprinter,
switches
Memory 128 + 1024 40-digit words
size:
Memory cathode ray tube, magnetic
type: drum
Technology: 1,300 vacuum tubes
Floor space: medium room
Project Frederick Williams and Tom
leaders: Kilburn
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Alan Turing´s philosophy directed design of Britain´s Pilot ACE at the

National Physical Laboratory. "We are trying to build a machine to do all

kinds of different things simply by programming rather than by the

addition of extra apparatus," Turing said at a symposium on large-scale

digital calculating machinery in 1947 in Cambridge, Mass.

Start of 1948
project:
Completed: 1950
Pilot ACE Add time: 1.8
microseconds
Input/output: cards
Memory 352 32-digit
size: words
Memory delay lines
type:
Technology: 800 vacuum
tubes
Floor space: 12 square feet
Project J. H. Wilkinson
leader:

1951
MIT´s Whirlwind debuted on Edward R. Murrow´s "See It Now" television

series. Project director Jay Forrester described the computer as a "reliable

operating system," running 35 hours a week at 90-percent utility using an

electrostatic tube memory.

Start of 1945
project:
Completed: 1951
Add time: .05 microseconds
Input/output cathode ray tube, paper tape,
: magnetic tape
MIT Whirlwind Memory 2048 16-digit words
size:
Memory cathode ray tube, magnetic drum,
type: tape (1953 - core memory)
Technology: 4,500 vacuum tubes, 14,800 diodes
Floor space: 3,100 square feet
Project Jay Forrester and Robert Everett
leaders:

1952
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John von Neumann´s IAS computer became operational at the Institute

for Advanced Studies in Princeton, N.J. Contract obliged the builders to
share their designs with other research institutes. This resulted in a
number of clones: the MANIAC at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, the
ILLIAC at the University of Illinois, the Johnniac at Rand Corp., the SILLIAC
in Australia, and others.

Los Alamos MANIAC

1962
The LINC (Laboratory Instrumentation Computer) offered the first real
time laboratory data processing. Designed by Wesley Clark at Lincoln
Laboratories, Digital Equipment Corp. later commercialized it as the LINC-
8.

Research faculty came to a workshop at MIT to build their own machines,

most of which they used in biomedical studies. DEC supplied
components.

Wes Clark with LINC

1972
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Hewlett-Packard announced the HP-35 as "a fast, extremely accurate

electronic slide rule" with a solid-state memory similar to that of a
computer. The HP-35 distinguished itself from its competitors by its
ability to perform a broad variety of logarithmic and trigonometric
functions, to store more intermediate solutions for later use, and to
accept and display entries in a form similar to standard scientific
notation.

HP-35

Apollo Computer unveiled the first work station, its DN100, offering more
power than some minicomputers at a fraction of the price. Apollo
Computer and Sun Microsystems, another early entrant in the work
station market, optimized their machines to run the computer-intensive
graphics programs common in engineering.

Apollo DN100

1987
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IBM introduced its PS/2 machines, which made the 3 1/2-inch floppy disk
drive and video graphics array standard for IBM computers. The first IBMs
to include Intel´s 80386 chip, the company had shipped more than 1
million units by the end of the year. IBM released a new operating
system, OS/2, at the same time, allowing the use of a mouse with IBMs
for the first time.

IBM PS/2

2010 MODEL

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Electronic Reference
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URL – http://new. Wikipedia.org/wiki/computers