History of computers

1. History of Computers
By Tasha Lodwig

2. The Beginning
 Doesn’t it seem like computers have existed long
before we can ever imagine?
 The first computer that came available to the
public was in 1951. Therefore there have been
about five generations where this new technology
has been rapidly developing.

3. The First Generation
The 1st generation was between the years
1951-1957. This is when Dr. John W. Mauchly
and J. Presper Eckert Jr. built the 1st
commercially available computer with the use
of vacuum tubes.
*Vacuum tubes- electronic tubes which were
made of glass and were approximately the size
of a light bulb.

4. The Second Generation
This generation is between the year of 1958 and
1963. Transistors, small devices that transfer
electronic signals across a resistor, became in
addition to the computer. This was a significant
update, from using the vacuum tubes, where
computers became smaller, used less power and
overall was more trusted.
* Other additions: removable disk pack, 1st
business application programming language, and
1st industry standard character set(enables
computers to exchange information)

5. The Third Generation
•Between years 1964-1969
This is when the transistors began to be replaced with
integrated circuits, a complete electronic circuit on a
small chip made of silicon. This made the computer
technology even easier, cheaper, and smaller in size
once again.
* Other additions: 1st minicomputer, intro of BASIC
programming language, intro of ARPANET(beginning of
the Internet).

6. The Fourth Generation
˜1970-1990
˜Microprocessor, specialized chip
developed for computer memory and logic.
Used to create a smaller, personal
computer along with digital watches, pocket
calculators,etc.
˜Apple created Newton Message Pad-
personal digital assistant with a pen
interface.
˜Introduction of the Mosaic graphical Web
browser, which led to the organization of
Netscape

7. More Fourth Generation
˜Apple created Newton Message Pad-personal digital
assistant with a pen interface.
˜Introduction of the Mosaic graphical Web browser,
which led to the organization of Netscape

8. Fourth Generation continued…
˜1st local area network (LAN), Ethernet. (1975)
˜ MITS, Inc. Altair become 1st commercially
successful microcomputer, was being sold for less
that $400
˜ Apple computer put out an easy-to-use “hobbyist”
computer
˜ Bill Gates developed an operating system, MS-
DOS, therefore the IBM PC was introduced (1981)
˜Apple introduced the Macintosh Computer
˜Windows 3.0 was released by Microsoft (1990)

9. The Fifth
Generation
Our generation is also
known as the “Connected
Generation” because of our
ability to communicate with
others globally
˜Computer systems with
Intel’s Pentium
microprocessor
introduced
˜Microsoft released the
Windows 95 program

10. More Fifth Generation
≈ More than 250 million PCs used worldwide
(1996)
≈ Office 97 was released by Microsoft
≈ Office 98 was released by Microsoft with
Internet Explorer 4.0
≈Office 2000 released by Microsoft, later followed
by Windows 2000
≈By 2004, expectation of a private internet,
Internet2, to be completed with higher speed,
limited access, tighter security. Also to include
virtual reality interfaces called nanomanipulators.

11. Fifth Generation
continued…
≈By 2004,
expectation of a
private internet,
Internet2, to be
completed with
higher speed,
limited access,
tighter security. Also
to include virtual
reality interfaces
called
nanomanipulators.

12. Conclusion
It seems that today it would be impossible for
use to live our day to day lives without the help of a
computer. Most of us are pretty dependant on this
advanced technology. I know that I use a computer at
least twice a day, especially being a student in the
21st century. The way most schools connect their
students to the campus and to their classes is
through a computer program. Over the last 50 years
computers have gotten smaller and smarter and will
continue to advance further through the next
generation to extremes that we can’t even imagine
today.