History of Computers

By:Emily Pawoll

Where It All Began

Are you a big fan of technology? Do you find yourself wondering when, how, and by whom computers came about? If so, click on!

Components of History of Computers

Early Computational DevicesEarly ComputersGenerations and Main ComponentsInventors/DevelopersInternet

Works Cited

Wrapping Up

Early Computational Devices

Punched cards: Method of data storage in early computers.

Abacus: Considered by some to be the first computing aid.

Early Computers

ENIAC: First general-purpose electronic computer.

EDSAC: Performed its first calculation in May of 1949. First computer to run a graphical computer game.

More Early Computers

Mark 1: Invented by Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper, this was the first commercially-available general purpose computer.

First microcomputer: First computer with a microprocessor.

EDVAC and UNIVAC

In 1947, Eckert and Mauchly created EDVAC, a computer that, when created, had more internal memory than any computer to date.

John Mauchly also created UNIVAC, which was the first commercially-available computer.

Generations and Main Component

First generation (1940-1956): These devices were huge, unreliable, and expensive. The vacuum tube was an important step.Second generation (1956-1963): Transitors replaced vacuum tubes, making computers faster and cheaper.

Generations and Main Component Cont.

Third generation (1964-1971): Integrated circuit and keyboards came with this generation. Computers were down to the size of a filing cabinet.Fourth generation (1971-Present): The main component was the microprocessor. These devices can now fit in the palm of your hand.

More Generations and Main Component

Fifth generation (Present and beyond): These computers are still being developed today, but some of the applications are used today, such as voice recognition. The goal is to have artificial intelligence.

Inventors

Charles Babbage: Known as father of computing, he made calculating engines. Babbage created the first automatic calculator.

Herman Hollerith: He invented the punch card to help us analyze U.S. census data.

More Inventors

Blaise Pascal: He built an adding and subtracting machine to make taxes easier, and later had a computer language named after him.John von Neumann: He contributed to a new understanding of practical, fast computing.

Internet

ARPANET: Wide-area network created by U.S. Department of Defense.

Department of Defense: Funders for the Internet.

Continuation of Internet

First browser: The first browser, Mosaic, was created by Marc Andreessen.Birth of the Net: Grew out of 1960’s experiment by the Department of Defense.

Formation of Apple

In 1976, two young men named Steven Jobs and Steven Wozniak founded Apple Computers, Inc.

Formation of Microsoft

In 1975, Microsoft was founded by two young pals, Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

Works Cited“Five Generations of Computers.” Webopedia. ITBusinessEdge. 8 September 2011. 14 March 2012. <http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2002/FiveGeneration>“The Computer Generations.” Crews. Alton C. Crews Middle School. 2011 (Spring). 14 March 2012. <http://www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/articles/generations.htm “EDVAC.” History of Computing. Computers, From Past to Present. 6 June 2009. 30 March 2011. <http://www.eingang.org/Lecture/edvac.html>

Wrapping Up

Computers are very complex machines. They have been worked on and improved for many, many years. I hoped you learned a lot about all the different types and how they came about. Go tell a friend and get them interested!

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