Friday, June 27, 2008

Learnings of the Week ( Maria Nona V. Sison)






I learned much about the History of Computer.

There are Four basic Periods:
1) PRE-MECHANICAL AGE
2) MECHANICAL AGE
3) ELECTROMECHANICAL AGE
4) ELECTRONIC AGE








THE PRE- MECHANICAL AGE began (3000 B.C.- 1450 A.D.)





WRITING AND ALPHABETS COMMUNICATION

PETROGLYTHS- signs of simple figures carved in rocks
• IDEOGRAPHS - symbol to represents ideas and concepts

Sumerians in Mesopotamia also known as (Southern Iraq) devised Cuneiform.
Phoenicians developed the syllables and consonants.
Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician Alphabet.
Romans gave the letters the Latin Names.

The Input technologies used:
Sumerians- Stylus
Egyptians -
Papyrus
Chinese
– Paper from Rags

The Output technologies used:
Books and Libraries




THE FIRST NUMBERING SYSTEM

The Egyptian System
• Number 1-9 (symbolizes the vertical lines)
• Number 10 as (U or circle)
• Number 100 as (coiled rope)
• Number 1,000 as ( lotus blossom)
• Number 10, 000 as (finger)
• Number 100,000 as (frog)
• Number 1,000,000 as (Egyptian Man)

(100 and 200 A.D.)
The Hindus in India created the nine- digit numbering system we used today.

(Around 875 A.D.)
The concept of zero was created.


THE FIRST CALCULATORS : ABACUS


ABACUS (500 B.C.)
• One of the very first information processors.
• The first Calculator. Invented in Babylonia and popularized in China.
• Man’s first recorded adding machine
• Ancient computing device constructed of sliding beads on small wooden rods, strung on a wooden frame.





THE MECHANICAL AGE (1450- 1840)


The Period of COMPUTER Explosion where many inventors were popularized. And the development of BOOK INDEXES and widespread use of PAGE NUMBERS.


JOHANN GUTENBERG (1450)-

Invented the movable metal-type printing process.



Before, people who works with numbers are called as COMPUTER.


JOHN NAPIER (1614)-

Intruduces LOGARITHMS.

WILHELM SHICKARD (1623)
He invents the first mechanical calculator.



WILLIAM OUGHTRED
Invented the slide rule. Invented an Early example of an analog computer.


BLAISE PASCAL (1642)
Invented the a mechanical calculation machine. This machine is called as PASCALINE.


GOTTFRIED WILHELM VON LEIBNIZ(1646-1716)
Invented a machine called the stepped reckoner that could multiply 5 digit and 12 digit numbers yielding up to 16 digit number.



JOSEPH MARIE JACQUARD (1801)
Invented an Automatic loom. Punch card idea picked up by Babbage from him.


CHARLES XAVIER THOMAS DE COLMAR (1785-1870)
Invented the Arithmometer and became the first mass-produced calculator.


CHARLES BABBAGE

known as the "FATHER OF THE MODERN COMPUTER" where he's inventions Analytical and Difference Engine which is called as "thinking machines"


ADA AUGUSTA LOVELACE
Also known as (LADY BYRON) was credited the “first computer programmer”. The programming language Ada is named in her honor.





ELECTROMECHANICAL PERIOD (1840- 1940)



The beginning of telecommunication.


DISCOVERIES OF THIS PERIOD WERE:


Voltaic Battery , Telegraph, Telephone and Radio



VOLTAIC BATTERY (18TH Century) known as the voltaic pile was invented by Alessandro Volta. It is consisted of a stack of alternating discs of zinc and copper or silver separated by felt soaked brine.


TELEGRAPH (1832) - discovered by Finley Breeze Morse.



TELEPHONE (1876) - discovered by Alexander Graham Bell




RADIO (1894)- discovered by Guglielmo Macaroni and concluded that electrical waves can travel through space and can produce an effect far from the point.




ELECTROMECHANICAL COMPUTING

- Tabulating Machine
- Comptometer
- Comptograph
- Punched cards




Tabulating machine (1853)- completed by Pehr and Advard Scheutz



Comptometer (1885)- discovered by Dorr Felt. Adding and Subtracting Calculator
Comptograph (1889) - also invented by Dorr Felt containing built-in printer


Millionaire- was invented by Otto Shweiger



Vacuum tube- was invented by Lee de Forest





ELECTRONIC PERIOD (1941- Present)



From the previous period, Electromechanical, computers were operated manually. Now, Electricity are then developed and so improvements too. Computers became sophisticated and more faster than before.


FIRST GENERATION


Using of vacuum tubes as their main logic elements. Usually in this period, these are being used: Vacuum tubes, resistors, and welded metal joints. They were large, slow, and expensive and produced a lot of heat.



SECOND GENERATION


Transistors are used to replace vacuum tubes. Transistors are Less-giving heat, smaller and it allows computer to communicate over telephones.


THIRD GENERATION


By the next generation, new device was invented and replace Transistors, which is IC (Integrated Circuits



FOURTH GENERATION


And by the last generation, the device was improved, and the new development of Microprocessors was used to replace Integrated Circuits.





THE DIFFERENT FIRST COMPUTER INVENTIONS:


The first PROGRAMMABLE computer - Z3 (Zuse's 3)


The first DIGITAL computer -Atanasoff-Berry Computer


The first STORED PROGRAM computer - EDSAC

The first PERSONAL computer - Altair 8800


The first WORKSTATION -Xerox Alto


The first laptop or PORTABLE computer- Osborne I

The first PC (IBM compatible) computer - IBM PC

The first PC CLONE - Compaq Portable

The first APPLE computer- Apple 1

The first computer COMPANY - Electronic Controls Company

The first MULTIMEDIA computer - Amiga 1000


Other Major firsts COMPANY:


Compaq, Digital, Dell, Hewlett Packard, NEC & Toshiba

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