1. HISTORY AND GENARATIONS OF COMPUTER
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास र पुस्िा )
OVERVIEW OF HISTORY OF COMPUTER:
Abacus is the first counting device, developed by Chinese and Egyptians, 2500 years ago. It was a long journey to get
to here from abacus. This note contains a brief description on how computers have evolved.
1. Early Development of Computer: Mechanical
Calculating Devices
ABACUS
It is the first counting device, developed by Chinese and
Egyptians, 2500 years ago. It performs mathematical concepts
and arithmetical operations. It is a rectangular box, divided into
two parts by mid bar , upper part is called heaven, consists of two
beads and each bead equal to value 5 and lower part is called
earth, consists of five bead and each bead equals to value 1.
While calculating, beads are brought near to the mid bar.
2. HISTORY OF COMPUTER
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास)
NAPIER’S
BONE
Another interesting invention is Napier's bones, a clever
multiplication tool invented in 1614 by mathematician John Napier
of Scotland. The bones are a set of vertical rectangular rods, each
one divided into 10 squares. John Napier is also the inventor of
logarithms, a concept used to change multiplication into addition.
Napier's bones were very successful and were widely used in
Europe until mid-1960's. It is mainly used for multiplication table.
SLIDE
RULE
The Slide Rule is an analog device for performing mathematical
computations. The first slide rule was created by a British
mathematician, William Oughtred in 1620. simple slide rule consists
of two graduated scales, one of which slips upon another. The
scales are devised in such a way that suitable alignment of one
scale against the other makes it possible to obtain products,
3. HISTORY OF COMPUTER
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास)
PASCALINE
STEPPED
RECKONER
Blaise Pascal had a father who was an overworked and harassed
tax commissioner. The young Pascal developed a mechanical
calculator to help him with his work. Pascal started to build it in
1632 when he was 19 and three years later he had developed a
machine called Pascaline. It could not be used for division and
multiplication.
Stepped Reckner is a calculating device developed by Gottrified
Wilhem Von Leibnitz in 1671. It was modified to produce higher
efficiency and was based on pascal's principle. The stepped
Reckoner could multiply, add, subtract and even find square roots.
4. CHARLES BABBAGE
Charles Babbage was born on December
26, 1791 A.D in Britain. He was a professor
at Cambridge University. He developed two
engine. They are difference engine and
analytical engine. He is known as father of
a computer.
5. Difference Engine & Analytical Engine
1. Difference Engine
Charles Babbage in 1823 developed difference engine.
Difference engine was first programmable machine ever
made. This device was used for solving differential
equations. This device has different sections for input,
output and storage media. The machine can give results
and process it.
2. Analytical engine
Charles Babbage developed this device in 1833.
This machine used the binary digit concept. This
machine was designed to solve up to 20 decimal
places but due to mechanical difficulties it was never
completed. This device was also an automatic
calculator.
6. LADY AUGUSTA ADA LOVELACE
Lady Ada suggested using binary
numbers instead of decimal number in
Analytical Engine. Lady Ada also wrote
a program to be used in Analytical
Engine. She is also known as the "First
Programmer" in the history of computer
science because this was the first
program ever written.
7. HISTORY OF COMPUTER
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास)
TABULATING MACHINE
The first person to use punched card practically is
Dr. Herman Hollerith. Using the punched card, he
developed the tabulating machine or census
machine which proved to be very efficient. In 1896,
he also established Tabulating Machine Company
(TMC). He later founded the International Business
Machine Company by merging it with other
companies in 1933.
9. HISTORY OF COMPUTER
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास)
2. Electro Mechanical Computer:
Overview
Mark I is the first electro-mechanical computer developed by Howard Aiken in 1937. There after
many computers were invented. This note provide us an information about the series of Electro-
Mechanical Computers invented after Mark I.
MARK - I
It is the first electro-mechanical computer developed
by Howard Aiken in 1937. The machine was 5ft long,
3ft wide and 8ft high and used in 18000 vacuum
tubes. The machine took 1 second to perform 3
mathematical calculations.
10. HISTORY OF COMPUTER
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास)
ATANASOFF-
BERRY
COMPUTER
In 1942, J.V. Atanasoff and
Clifford Berry developed
Atanasoff-Berry computer. It
was developed to solve the
simultaneous equation.
11. HISTORY OF COMPUTER
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास)
3. Electronic Computers :
A. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator)
In 1946, this machine was developed by John Mauchly
and J. Presper Eckert. It used decimal number system
for calculation. This machine can calculate 300 times
faster than any other machine of that time. This
machine was used in the military operation for firing
ballistic missiles.
This machine was developed by Maurice Wilkes and
his team in 1949. It had 3000 vacuum tubes and
consumed 30KW of electric power.
B. EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer)
12. HISTORY OF COMPUTER
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास)
3. Electronic Computers :
This machine was developed by John Mauchly, John
Presper Eckert with the assistance of John Von Neumann in
1952. This machine was the first machine that could store
programs in it with the help of binary digits.
C. EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)
D. UNIVAC ( Universal Automatic Computer)
This machine was first developed by John Mauchly and
J. Presper Eckert in 1951. This was the first computer
developed for commercial use.
13. HISTORY OF COMPUTER IN NEPAL
( कम्पुटरको इतिहास)
The computer was introduced in Nepal in 2028 B.S.
It was introduced by His Majesty's Government for
the population census of 2028 B.S. This was the
second generation computer called IBM 1401. In
2039, B.S. microcomputer such as Apple, vector
sins etc. was imported by private companies and
individuals. Nowadays, computers with faster
processing and larger storage are found cheaply in
Nepalese market. At present, Computer
Association of Nepal (CAN) is the governing body
of Nepal's computer field.
15. FIRST GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
(1946-1958)
First Generation (1946-1958)
Vacuum tubes were used for first generation computers for circuitry and magnetic drums for
memory. They were huge and expensive to operate. Due to the consumption of great deal of electricity,
it generated a lot of heat that often caused malfunctioning in the system. Example: ENIAC, UNIVAC,
MARK-1.
Features:
They used vacuum tubes/valves as their main electronic components.
Storage capacity was limited to 1 KB to 4 KB.
They used machine level language for programming.
Processing speed was in a millisecond.
They used the magnetic drum for primary memory.
Drawbacks:
Difficult in maintenance.
No facility of linking program.
Difficult for logical programming.
16. SECOND GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
(1959-1964)
Second Generation (1959-1964)
The transistors invented in 1947, replaced vacuum tubes. The transistor was far superior to
the vacuum tube that made computers become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and
more reliable than the first generation computers. Example: IBM 1401, UNIVAC-II, IBM 1620.
Features:
They used transistors in place of vacuum tubes. 1 transistor was equivalent to 1000 vacuum
tubes.
The speed of processing was increased to the microsecond.
They used the magnetic core as primary memory and magnetic tapes as auxiliary memory.
They were much smaller and more reliable.
They used assembly language for programming.
17. THIRD GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
(1965-1974)
Third generation (1965-1974)
The development of the Integrated Circuit (IC) was the major turning point of the third
generation computers. Transistors were made smaller and placed on silicon clips called
semiconductors that drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers. It was called
integrated Circuit. Example: IBM 360, PDP-8, etc.
Features:
•Integrated Circuit (IC) replaced transistors. 1 IC was equivalent to 100 transistors.
•Processing speed was increased to the nanosecond.
•Semiconductor memory was used instead of magnetic core memory.
•They used high-level language for programming.
•They were smaller, more efficient and more reliable.
18. FOURTH GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
(1975-1990)
Fourth Generation (1975-1990)
The development of microprocessor gave rise to the fourth generation of computers. A
microprocessor has thousands of integrated circuits builds onto a single silicon clip. The Intel 4004
chips, developed in 1971 is the first microprocessor.
Features:
The microprocessor is used in place of transistors. Very Large Scale integration (VLSI) containing
hundreds of thousands of transistors on a chip and LSIs(Large Scale Integration) containing
thousand of transistors in a chip made the microprocessor.
The speed of processing is increased to Picosecond.
They are very user-friendly computers which use many
high-level languages for programming
19. FIFTH GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
(1991-PRESENT-FUTURE)
Fifth Generation Computer (1991-Onward)
The fifth generation computers are based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and are still in
development. After 90s computers that support Voice Recognition System (VRS) have been
developed.
Features:
These computers will use parallel processor made from superconductors Gallium Arsenide
(GaAs)/biochip.
They will possess Artificial Intelligence (AI).
They will be able to feed input in the natural language.
Artificial Intelligence (AI):
It is the biotechnology, which will be used in the fifth generation computer. A computer having AI
will be able to understand natural language, think and make decisions.
20. Questions (Homework) – 2
1. What is meant by computer generations?
2. Write down different computer generation with their duration and
the main component.
3. Write short note on artificial intelligence.
4. Write short note on fifth generation computers.
5. Write short note on the vacuum tube.
6. Write short note on transistors.
7. List the disadvantage of first generation computers?
8. Write the features of the second generation computer.
