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The computer was born not for entertainment or email
but out of a need to solve a serious number crunching
crisis. By 1880, the U.S. population had grown so large
that it took more than seven years to tabulate the U.S.
Census results. The government sought a faster way to get
the job done, giving rise to punch-card based computers
that took up entire rooms.
HISTORY OF COMPUTERS
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Today, we carry more computing power on our
smartphones than was available in these early
models. The following brief history of computing is a
timeline of how computers evolved from their
humble beginnings to the machines of today that surf
the INTERNET, play games and stream multimedia in
addition to crunching numbers.
4. FRFirst Generation: Vacuum Tubes
(1940-1956)
The first substantial computer was the
giant ENIAC machine by John W.
Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the
University of Pennsylvania. ENIAC
(Electrical Numerical Integrator and
Calculator) used a word of 10 decimal
digits instead of binary ones like
previous automated
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calculators/computers. ENIAC was also the first machine to use more than
2,000 vacuum tubes, using nearly 18,000 vacuum tubes. Storage of all those
vacuum tubes and the machinery required to keep the cool took up over 167
square meters (1800 square feet) of floor space. Nonetheless, it had punched-
card input and output and arithmetically had 1 multiplier, 1 divider-square
rooter, and 20 adders employing decimal "ring counters," which served as
adders and also as quick-access (0.0002 seconds) read-write register storage
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The executable instructions composing a program were embodied in the separate
units of ENIAC, which were plugged together to form a route through the machine for
the flow of computations. These connections had to be redone for each different
problem, together with presetting function tables and switches. This "wire-your-own"
instruction technique was inconvenient, and only with some license could ENIAC be
considered programmable; it was, however, efficient in handling the particular
programs for which it had been designed.
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ENIAC is generally acknowledged to be the first successful high-speed electronic
digital computer (EDC) and was productively used from 1946 to 1955. A controversy
developed in 1971, however, over the patentability of ENIAC's basic digital concepts,
the claim being made that another U.S. physicist, John V. Atanasoff, had already used
the same ideas in a simpler vacuum-tube device he built in the 1930s while at Iowa
State College. In 1973, the court found in favor of the company using Atanasoff claim
and Atanasoff received the acclaim he rightly deserved.
8. Vacuum Tubes (1940-1956)
The computer systems used vacuum tubes for
circuitry and magnetic drums for memory, and
were often enormous, taking up entire rooms.
These computers were very expensive to operate
and in addition to using a great deal of electricity,
the first computers generated a lot of heat, which
was often the cause of malfunctions.
9. calculators/computers. ENIAC was also the first machine to use more than 2,000
vacuum tubes, using nearly 18,000 vacuum tubes. Storage of all those vacuum tubes
and the machinery required to keep the cool took up over 167 square meters (1800
square feet) of floor space. Nonetheless, it had punched-card input and output and
arithmetically had 1 multiplier, 1 divider-square rooter, and 20 adders employing
decimal "ring counters," which served as adders and also as quick-access (0.0002
seconds) read-write register storage
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Second Generation: Transistors (1956-1963)
The world would see transistors replace vacuum tubes in the
second generation of computers. The transistor was invented
at Bell Labs in 1947 but did not see widespread use in
computers until the late 1950s.
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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.
12. From Binary to Assembly
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.
13. 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.
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Third Generation was from 1965-1971
The period of third generation was from
1965-1971. The computers of third
generation used Integrated Circuits (ICs)
in place of transistors. A single IC has
many transistors, resistors, and
capacitors along with the associated
circuitry. The IC was invented by Jack
Kilby.
15. Fourth Generation of Computer
The period of fourth generation was from
1971-1980. Computers of fourth generation
used Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI)
circuits. VLSI circuits having about 5000
transistors and other circuit elements with
their associated circuits on a single chip made
it possible to have microcomputers of fourth
generation.
Fourth generation computers became more
powerful, compact, reliable, and affordable.
As a result, it gave rise to Personal Computer
(PC) revolution. In this generation, time
sharing, real time networks, distributed
operating system were used. All the high-level
languages like C, C++, DBASE etc., were used
in this generation.
16. Fourth generation computers became more powerful,
compact, reliable, and affordable. As a result, it gave rise to
Personal Computer (PC) revolution. In this generation, time
sharing, real time networks, distributed operating system
were used. All the high-level languages like C, C++, DBASE
etc., were used in this generation.
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Fifth Generation of Computer
The period of fifth generation is
1980-till date. In the fifth generation,
VLSI technology became ULSI (Ultra
Large Scale Integration) technology,
resulting in the production of
microprocessor chips having ten
million electronic components.
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This generation is based on parallel processing hardware
and AI (Artificial Intelligence) software. AI is an emerging
branch in computer science, which interprets the means
and method of making computers think like human beings.
All the high-level languages like C and C++, Java, .Net etc.,
are used in this generation.