Historical background of computers, Basic Computer Science

Assignment Help:

Historical Background

The brief history of the growth of computers is given below:

  1. Abacus:  It was the first mechanical device developed approximately 3,000 years ago, it consists of beads that can slide on wires. Wires represent columns. Right most column is for units, the next is for tens and so on. Various numbers can be represented by pushing appropriate beads. This device could perform simple additions and subtractions.
  2. Pascal Calculating Machine:  In 1642, Pascal devised a calculating machine for calculations. This consisted of a series of wheels having digits of zero to nine around the circumference.
  3. Jacquard Card: This utilized the concept of cards with punched holes. This was used for weaving patterns into fabric using cards with punched holes to guide the warp threads on a loom. This was invented in 1801 by Joseph Marie Jacquard.
  4. Analytical Engine:  In 1833, Charles Babbage developed the concepts for an analytical engine which could perform arithmetic functions on data, reading in from punched cards.
  5. Punched Card: In 1890, Herman Hollerith successfully devised electrical tabulating equipment. A coding scheme which would be punched into cards to represent data was devised by him. Hollerith coding system is used widely even today in the punched card equipment.
  6. Mark-1: Mark-1 was the first general purpose computer developed by Prof. Howard Aiken. It consisted of telephone relays and rotating mechanical wheels. Sequence of instructions were given using a paper tape.
  7. ENIAC: In 1946, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator) was developed. It was a large machine containing 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighed 30 tons, occupied 1,500 sq. ft. space and a small memory of 20 accumulators each capable of storing 10 digits. It did in 1 day what once took 300 days to perform.
  8. UNIVAC: The World’s first commercial data processing machine UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) of 1951, made by Remington Rand Corporation was installed for and used by the US Bureau of Census. It was used 24 hours a day for 12 years, and also is well known for having predicted the victory of President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1952 elections of the US, thus exposing to the general public the uses and capabilities of electronic computer.

 

Over the last years, the computer technology has been significantly developing. There has been tremendous reduction in size while storage capacity, speed and reliability have been increasing. 


Related Discussions:- Historical background of computers

Software licensing, Software Licensing: Until early 1970's, sharing of...

Software Licensing: Until early 1970's, sharing of software was the accepted norm. Hardware came bundled with software products which could be freely redistributed and the acc

Input and output device, Input and Output device: After having underst...

Input and Output device: After having understood the characteristics relating to CPU and storage media, let us try to learn about I/O aspects of a computer system. Input /outp

What are the Software interruptions, Software interruptions can be thoroug...

Software interruptions can be thoroughly activated by the assembler invoking the number of the preferred interruption with the INT instruction. The use of interruptions aids us in

Digitalelectronics, what duality principle and huntington postulates

what duality principle and huntington postulates

Compiler, Compiler A compiler is a special program which transla...

Compiler A compiler is a special program which translates programs written in high level language into machine language. The original program is called the source progra

Functioning of a computer , FUNCTIONING OF A COMPUTER: Computers have...

FUNCTIONING OF A COMPUTER: Computers have undergone through a long history of evolution. The evolutionary history is often divided into mechanical and electronic era, with ele

Array, An array A is said to be special if all its elements are same. Given...

An array A is said to be special if all its elements are same. Given an array, your task is to convert the array to special array by performing some operations. The allowed operati

Artificial intelligence-intelligence performanc of computer , "Just how are...

"Just how are we capable to get a computer to performe intelligent tasks?" One thing to answer the question is to tell that: Logic generate a science out of many forms of re

Define CISC and RISC ?, Two competing architectures were developed for impr...

Two competing architectures were developed for improving the architecture of the central processing unit, and different processors are conventional to each one. Both had their powe

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd