This document provides an introduction to the history of computing machines and computer basics. It discusses early calculating devices like the abacus and mechanical calculators. The four generations of computers are outlined, from the first generation using vacuum tubes to the modern fourth generation using microprocessors. Key early computers like ENIAC, the IBM PC, and Apple Macintosh are mentioned. The document also provides an overview of computer hardware components like the processor, RAM, ROM, and factors that impact performance. It concludes with a discussion of parallel processing and the goals of fifth generation computing.

1. Introduction, History and
Computer Basics
Introduction to Computers and Computer Technology

2. Computer Science: A foundation
• Programming
• Game
Development
• Software
Engineering
2
A computer science foundation
Software
Development
Networking
and IT
Digital
Media
General
Education
• Web design and
development
• Animation
• Modeling
• Networking
• Security
• System
Administration
• Information
Technology
• History
• Perspective
• Social issues
• Economic issues
• Ethic issues
• Consumer issues

3. 3
Role of Algorithms
• Algorithm: A set of steps that defines how a task is performed
• Program: A representation of an algorithm
• Programming: The process of developing a program
• Software: Programs and algorithms
• Hardware: Equipment used to input information (data) and output the
results of the programs, algorithms.
Algorithm
Program
Programming
Software
Hardware

4. 4
Origins of Computing Machines:
Early computing devices
– Abacus: positions of beads represent numbers
Abacus
300 BC by Babylonians
around 1200 A.D. in China and Japan

5. Early computing devices
5
Pascal’s mechanical calculator - 1645
Gear-based machines (1600s-1800s)
Positions of gears represent numbers
Inventors: Blaise Pascal, Wilhelm Leibniz,
Charles Babbage

6. 6
Early Data Storage
• Punched cards
– First used in Jacquard Loom (1801) to store patterns for weaving
cloth
– Storage of programs in Babbage’s Analytical Engine
– Popular through the 1970’s

7. 7
Early programming
• Augusta Ada King (Byron), Countess
of Lovelace (1815-1852)
• She is known as the "first
programmer".
• The computer language Ada,
created by the U.S. Defense
Department, was named after Ada
Lovelace.

8. 8
Babbage’s Difference Engine (1822)
• Babbage is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer that
eventually led to more complex designs. (1822)
• The first difference engine was composed of around 25,000 parts, weighed
fifteen tons (13,600 kg), and stood 8 ft (2.4 m) high. Although he received
ample funding for the project, it was never completed. (Wikipedia)
Part of the Difference Engine (below)

9. 9
Early Computers
• Here is a brief overview of some of the early computers and trends in
computing.
Vacuum
tube
Transistor Microchip

10. 10
First Generation – Vacuum Tubes
• 1930’s – Vacuum tubes were used as electronic circuits
or electronic switches.

11. 11
1946 - ENIAC
• First large-scale electronic digital computer was ENIAC (Electronic
Numerical Integrator and Calculator)
• 30 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8 feet high
• 3 additions every second, (incredibly slow by today’s standards).
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAnhFNJgNYY

12. 12
Second Generation – Transistors
• 1947 - Walter Brittain and Willaim Shockley invented the
transistor at Bell Laboratories
• Replaced the vacuum tube as an electronic switch

13. 13
Third Generation – Integrated Circuits
• 1959, Jack Kirby and Robert Noyce (who later became the cofounder
of Intel Corp.) developed the first integrated circuit (silicon chip or
microchip).
• An integrated circuit (IC) is a system of interrelated circuits packaged
together on a single sliver of silicon.
• It is a way of placing multiple (millions) transistor devices into as single,
smaller device, the “microchip.”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWVywhzuHnQ&feature=related

14. 14
Fourth Generation - Microprocessor
• A microprocessor is a Central Processing Unit (CPU) on
a single chip.
• 1971, Intel Corp. introduced the first microprocessor chip.
– Intel 4004
• 108 kHz and contained (equivalent of) 2300 transistors

15. IBM Personal Computer
• On August 12, 1981,
IBM released their new
computer, named the
IBM PC
• 2004 – IBM sells PC
business to Lenovo
15

16. Apple Computers
• 1975 – Steve Jobs and
Steve Wozniak starts
Apple Computer
• 1984 – Apple
Macintosh with
Graphical User
Interface (GUI)
16

17. Laptops
• 1981 - Adam Osborne,
produced the Osborne 1
• 1988 - Compaq laptop with
color screen
• 2008 – Macbook Air –
thinnest laptop
• 2011 – Dell XPS 15Z –
thinnest Windows laptop
17

18. 18
Trends from 1990 to today…
• Microsoft continues to update Windows
with latest version Windows called
“Windows 8”
• LINUX operating system, an open
source version of UNIX, is taking on
MS Windows and gaining in popularity
• IBM has stopped making small
computers; sold their business to
Lenovo
• HP, the largest maker of PC is
planning to sell their PC division
• Apple continues to be a major player in
personal computers, especially for the
“creative market”, iPods, iPads,
iPhones, etc.
• Google has become a major player in
the Internet solutions

19. 19
Trends from 1990 to today…
• Faster
• Smaller
• More reliable
• Less
expensive
• Easier to use

20. Fifth Generation
• Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial
intelligence, are continuing to be in development.
• Parallel Processing is coming and showing the possibility
that the power of many CPU's can be used side by side,
and computers will be more powerful than those under
central processing.
• The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop
devices that respond to natural language input and are
capable of learning and self-organization.
20

21. 21
Computer Basics

22. 2222
What is a computer?
• A computer is a digital device which can be programmed
to change (process) information from one form to another.
– Do exactly as they are told.
– Digital devices: Understand only two different states
(OFF and ON - 0 and 1)

23. 2323
Traditional Types of Computers
• General purpose computers
–Super computer
–Mainframe
–Personal Computer

24. Traditional types of computers:
• Super computers
– fast processing power
– used by NASA and similar organizations
– Example: CRAY supercomputers
24

25. 2525
Traditional Types of Computers:
• First computers, introduced in 1950s
• Used by large businesses
• Typically supported thousands of users
• Very expensive
• Used for very large processing tasks
• IBM’s new Mainframe
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN4J4mClckA
• Mainframe
Computers

26. 2626
Traditional Types of Computers:
Personal Computers
• Small, self-contained computers
with their own CPUs
• Uses a microprocessor, a CPU
(Central Processing Unit) on a
single chip.

27. 2727
Personal Computers
• Desktop computers
• Laptop computers
• Tablets
• Wearables

28. 2828
Hardware versus Software
• Hardware = The
physical components
that make up a
computer system.

29. 2929
Hardware versus Software
• Software = The
programs (instructions)
that tell the computer
what to do.
– System Software
– Application Software
– Stored on a storage
media such as hard
disk, CD-ROM, floppy
disk, tape, etc.

30. 3030
Hardware Components
SYSTEM UNITINPUT OUTPUT
PERMANENT
STORAGE
Know these!
PROCESS

31. 3131
The Processor
Let’s open the box!

32. 3232
The Processor
circuit board = a board with
integrated circuits
(microchips)
• system board or
motherboard
• interface boards or expansion
boards
system board or motherboard
= a single circuit board with
the components which make
up the computer’s processor
for a microcomputer, including
the:
• CPU (Central Processing
Unit)
• Memory
– RAM
– ROM or ROM BIOS
• expansion slots

33. 3333

34. 34Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu 34
The Processor: The CPU
CPU (Central Processing Unit) = A complex collection of electronic
circuits on one or more integrated circuits (chips) which:
1. executes the instructions in a software program
2. communicates with other parts of the computer system, especially
RAM and input devices
The CPU is the computer!

35. 3535
RAM
RAM is TEMPORARY memory
RAM is volatile
• stores ON and OFF bits (software and data) electrically
• when power goes off, everything in RAM is lost

36. 3636
ROM (Read Only Memory)
ROM (Read Only Memory) = integrated circuits (microchips) that are used
to permanently store start-up (boot) instructions and other critical
information
Read Only = information which:
• Cannot be changed
• Cannot be removed
• Fixed by manufacturer

37. 3737
ROM (Read Only Memory)
ROM is sometimes known as ROM BIOS (Basic Input Output System
software)
ROM contains:
• start-up (boot) instructions
• instructions to do “low level” processing of input and output devices,
such as the communications with the keyboard and the monitor

38. 3838
Computer Performance:
• CPU speed (and type)
• Amount of RAM (and
speed)
• Hard disk capacity