Computers, it seems as if they have been around forever. Yet it wasn’t until the 1981 that the first personal computer was introduced by IBM – only twenty six years ago.
So who invented the first computer and how did it evolve to what it is today?
The definition of a computer is any programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data. But the idea of ‘computing’ dates all the way back to the 1200s when a Moslem cleric proposed a way to solve problems with a series of written procedures. In 1801 Joseph-Marie Jacquard built a loom that weaves by reading punched holes stored on small sheets of hardwood; the plates read or retrieved the pattern and creates or processed the weave.
But it wasn’t until prior to World War II when John V. Atansoff and Clifford John Berry started building the ‘electronic’ computer. Because of the war, the two were unable to complete their project. But in 1939, Astansoff finished a small prototype computer to test his ideas. The computer was called the ABC, standing for Atansoff-Berry Computer.
The machine used 300 vacuum tubes to perform calculations, capacitors to store binary data and punch cards to communicate input/output. Unlike old mechanical machines, which used direct counting, the ABC used logical operations to perform addition and subtraction.
During World War II, the military wanted the computer for more advanced uses. They were seeking an easier way to compute firing and ballistic tables. This is when J. Presper Eckert and William Mauchley developed the ENIAC or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator. This computer filled a thirty by fifty foot room and weighted thirty tons. The computer used 18,000 vacuum tubes and could perform calculations at the rate of 5,000 additions per second. Operators used plug boards and wires to program the desired operations. The computer used magnetic tape to store input and output rather than punch tape, another invention by Eckert and Mauchley. Such computers were to later be called ‘First Generation’ computers.
It was in 1947 when Bell Laboratories invented the transistor that a wave of ‘Second Generation’ computers were born. Texas Instruments improved the transistor in 1954 and the vacuum tubes were replaced. With the transistors, computers became less expensive and smaller in size.
It wasn’t until the development of programming language came along that the ‘Third Generation’ computer was born. Originally, programmers communicated with computers through plug boards and wires. In 1956, FORTRAN, the first programming language was developed. Then, in 1959 came COBOL. These programming languages enabled programmers to write code and translate it into machine language. The operating system was created to provide a buffer between the user and the machine and to enable the user to ask the computer to perform a high level task.
After this came the necessity for storage. In 1970, IBM put a floppy disk drive into their 3740 system. The floppy disk provided three times more storage space and thus the ‘Fourth Generation’ computers were born.
Personal computers have changed tremendously since this time with everything from hardware to storage to great varieties of software. With technology multiplying itself with each decade, who knows what the future generation computers could look like.
Stephen J. Richards has 25 years experience in Data Management and Information Technology. This information is provided as a public service by Neon Enterprise Software, a leading provider of IMS outsourcing. For more information, please visit www.neonesoft.com.
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