The Amazing World of

Computers 6
Unit 1
Lesson 2: The Evolution of
Computers

Abacus or Suan pan

Chinese Merchants, 5000 years ago
A device made up of rods of sliding beads

mounted on a frame,
The Abacus may be considered the first
computer

Calculating Clock
Wilhelm Schickard, 1623
Considered first mechanical calculator
Was composed of rotating rods and gears

on an upright frame.
It could perform basic addition, subtraction,
division, and multiplication.

Pascaline
Blaise Pascal, 1642
Had movable dials that could perform

addition and subtraction on large

sequences of numbers

Stepped Reckoner
Gottfried Willhelm Leibnitz, 1694
Using a system of wheels and drums, the

machine could perform all four basic math

operations: addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division

Arithmometer
Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar, 1820
A machine capable of performing the four

basic math operations in a simple and

reliable way.

Difference Engine and Analytic

Engine
Charles Babbage
Difference Engine, 1821
A mechanical device that could perform calculations

and print results.

Analytic Engine, 1834
A computer designed to carry out more complicated

calculations

Father of Computing

First generation Computers

(1939 1956)
Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry, 1939
In 1937, the machine was conceived
First electronic digital computer

Z3
Konrad Zuse, 1941
Used to design airplanes and missiles

Colossus
Alan Turing, 1943
Used to decode German messages.

First generation Computers

(1939 1956)
Harvard-IBM Automatic Sequence

Controlled Calculator or Mark I

Howard Aiken, 1944
Used by the U.S. Navy

First generation Computers

(1939 1956)
Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic

Computer (EDVAC)
John von Neumann,1945
Had a memory that could hold both data and

a stored program
Electronic Numericcal Integrator and

Computer (ENIAC)
John Presper Eckert Jr. and John Mauchly,

1945
Designed in 1945, built in 1946
Used by U.S. Army

First generation Computers

(1939 1956)
Universal Automatic Computer I (UNIVAC I)
Remington Rand, 1951
First commercial computer to feature a

magnetic tape storage system

Semi-Automatic Ground Environment

(SAGE)
1954
This automated aircraft-warning system was

the largest vacuum tube computer system

ever built.

Second generation Computers

(1956 1963)
Transistor
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William

Shockley, 1947
A device designed to act as both transmitter,
which converts sound waves into electronic waves,
and a resistor, which controls electric current.
computers became smaller, faster,
more
reliable, and more energy-efficient.
FORTRAN (Formula Translator),

ALGOL
(Algorithm Language),
COBOL (Common
Business-Oriented Language)
IBM 704, IBM 709, IBM 7094

Third generation Computers

(1964 1971)
Integrated Circuit
Jack Kilby, 1961
Combined many transistors

and other
electrical components onto a small silicon
chip

PDP-8
1965
The first commercially successful

minicomputer

Third generation Computers

(1964 1971)
Unix
Kenneth Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, 1969
An operating system capable of performing

multiple tasks
Graphic User Interface or GUI
Xerox Corporation, 1970s
Allowed users to point and click at icons,

making computers much easier to use

Fourth generation Computers

(1971 Present)
Microprocessor
Tiny integrated circuits that contain millions

of transistors and other components

Intel 4004
Dr. Ted Hoff, 1971
Was a four-bit microprocessor that performed

many input and output operations

Fourth generation Computers

(1971 Present)
Altair 8800
Micro Instrumentation Telemetry System

(MITS)
First personal computer
BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code)
Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft

Apple II
Apple Computers, 1976
Was appealing to consumers because of its

software and well-written manuals

Fourth generation Computers

(1971 Present)
Windows Operating System
Microsoft, 1985

Deep Blue
IBM, 1996
The supercomputer that beat world chess

champion in 1997

Fifth generation Computers

Ballistic Deflection Transistors (BDTs)
Have the potential to increase the speed of

todays microprocessor
Virtual Reality (VR)
Allows users to use all of their senses when

interacting with a computer

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Making machines exhibit human behavior

and intelligence

Reference
http://

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Boulier1.JPG/2
20px-Boulier1.JPG
https://
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSlgoboBV83VU7q
lF6LKIVt1QjNxXgNPXchJXHifskJo7QimIEOzw
http://
t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSn6kgL21sriCcqhsbzBEjV
xSCUlSM2a5UN5w2cQe3XOMWqVuVaWA
http://
t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRVFpQmm6ibny52FWWweLvJ
xUuy47MbSld3xIFwy0mlgb4QAc4YgQ
https://
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRxCh2TppBa8
xuuhN5IGXQOBZcc7pMdZdMZvkOiIS1ohtKUcu_k
http://

www.computerhistory.org/babbage/common/img/welcome-babbagee
ngine.jpg
http://

Reference
http://

history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Relays/images/Zuse_Z3.jpg
https://
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJhVPfOYKBsK9KaRV
32vU3qSXvl6f7Uky3aJB9y0WzrBVphJ-pXQ
http://www.wired.com/images/article/full/2008/08/ibm_mark1_500px.jpg
https://
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7SoOZFNU038uWi
s_Oj7vAkyLnDHLXY1YdHNpKJRzSd8_Qz64sAw
http://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Eniac.jpg/250px-E
niac.jpg
http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/UNIVAC-1-FullView-B.jpg
https://
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT8KRA5HM5UG7U_
r3gXEsWZ1NAZhkY_lDAgmfUxWgugXPSC3Y5i
http://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Replica-of-first-transi
stor.jpg/220px-Replica-of-first-transistor.jpg
http://
www.circuitstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/integrated-circuit.jp

Reference
http://pdp8.co.uk/files/2009/04/pdp-8-m.jpg
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/att-unix-pc-boot.jpg
http://

cis140nlarson.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/winodws1-0.jpg
http://
www.cpu-zone.com/4004/Intel%20C4004%20Grey%20
Stripe_1.JPG
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/Altair_8800.jpg
http://oldcomputers.net/pics/appleii-system.jpg
http://
www.gamexeon.com/forum/imagehosting/201101/1
22984d44fad5c7263.png
http://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b