Table
of Contents
Introduction:
Modern computer is the
result of constant development in computer structure. If we probe out the
history of modern computer, it would become evident that modern computer went
through different generations and a lot of hard work has been done by experts
in order to provide a balanced product that can be used for general purpose, by
general users. Basically, this evolution went through four different
generations. In this paper, evolution of modern computer through all four
generations has been discussed in detail.
First Generation:
When the WW2 began,
governments started to develop computers for strategic purpose and computers
like Z3 and Colossus were produced for decoding secret messages and
computational purpose. However, Mark 1 is the worth mentioning product of that
era. Developed by Howard H. Aiken with the cooperation of IBM, this was the
first modern computer developed for US Navy and consisted on 500 miles length,
used for calculation purpose. The drawback of this computer was its slow speed
of calculation which had been overcome by ENIAC.
ENIAC:
The second worth
mentioning computer is ENIAC, developed by University of Pennsylvania. It
consisted of approximately 18 thousand vacuum tubes, 5 million joints and 70
thousand resistors. It was faster as compared to the Mark 1 but such massive
product was hard to make energy efficient. Till 1955, it was used for weather
anticipation, generating numbers and designing tunnels.
EDVAC:
EDVAC was the first
computer, produced by John Von Neumann, which utilized memory and conditional
programming. It had capacity to resume the instruction, execute data and
perform arithmetic operation. It was also developed in 1945 and the major
aspect of its success was the use of Central processing unit. However, UNIVAC1
was the first commercially used computer. Developed in 1951, and produced by
Mauchly and Eckert, this computer was used for election of president in 1952.
Second Generation:
second generation
computers consist of the era from 1956 to 1963 when great evolutions occurred
like transistor replacement, programmable computers, energy efficient, faster,
reliable and small sized systems etc. Supercomputers were the first invention
of this period, produced by LARC and IBM. These systems were powerful but
costly and used in atomic energy sector. However, till the beginning of 1960s,
computer systems were being used in commercial sectors including universities,
large corporations and governmental organizations. The benefit of using
transmitter was that it allowed the users to connect secondary storage medium
like disk, tape memory and similar other sources along with printers. Another
remarkable development of this era is storing program using high level language
and performing different functions such as printing customer invoice, perform
paycheck calculations etc. languages used in this era were COBOL and
FORTRAN.
Third Generation:
From 1964, the era of
third generation starts and spread to 1971 and integrated circuits is the
conferment of this era. Jack Kilby is the founder of IC and introduced them
keeping the issue of heat and damage caused by transistors under
consideration. Integrating circuits to
small disc, referred to as semiconductor, computer became smaller as more
equipments shrank to a single chip. This
semiconductor laid the foundation of microprocessor in year 1971. Another
noteworthy product of this era is IBM system/360 which was a clear transition
to electronic computers from punched-cards. The second invention of this era
was development of operating system. Dennis Ritchie and Kenneth Thompson had
been the founder of UNIX operating system which was developed in 1969 and
tested on DEC minicomputer. UNIX was first modern OS used by universities and
organizations for different purposes.
Fourth Generation:
Fourth generation
computers were the evolution of IC to LSI, VLSI and ULSI which allowed
manufacturers to compress large thousands and then millions equipments on a
single chip, with the decrease in price, till 1980s. These microprocessors were
used in not only computer systems but also in microwave ovens, automobiles and
TVs as well. Till the mid of 1970s, Apple computers, Radio Shack and Commodore
brought computer to general users, with user friendly software and simple
applications. Till 1980s, video games like Pac Man and Atari 2600 augmented the
interest of general consumer. Ultimately in 1981, IBM developed first personal
computer which gained ample popularity that till 1982, approximately 5.5
million users became regular computer users. Within a decade, this ratio became
65 million and the size got smaller and smaller. Apple introduced Macintosh as
the competitor to IBM PC, in 1984 which was ample user friendly due to its GUI
and hence, smaller in size. With the
passage of time, the concept of networking was introduced which allowed a
number of small computers to share information, memory, space and software
sources. Such shared computing used electronic gateways like telephone line for
global web surfing and wired network such as LAN, WAN and MAN.
Conclusion:
Today, we can see the
results of this evolution in the form of laptops, table PCs, mobile phones
(conferment of microprocessor) and LTE. However, it cannot be said that we have
reached at the apex of this evolution because still many developments are underway.
References
Campus.udayton.edu,. (2014). History of Modern Computers. Retrieved 18 November 2014, from http://campus.udayton.edu/~hume/Computers/comp3.htm
Appendix:
|
Year
|
Inventors
Inventions |
Description
of Computer History Milestone or Invention
|
|
1936
|
First freely programmable
computer.
|
|
|
1942
|
Who was first in the computing
biz is not always as easy as ABC.
|
|
|
1944
|
The Harvard Mark 1 computer.
|
|
|
1946
|
20,000 vacuum tubes
later....
|
|
|
1948
|
Baby and the Williams Tube turn
on the memory.
|
|
|
1947/48
|
No, a transistor is not a
computer, but this invention greatly affected the history of computers.
|
|
|
1951
|
First commercial computer &
able to pick presidential winners.
|
|
|
1953
|
IBM enters into
'The History Of Computers'. |
|
|
1954
|
The first successful high level
programming language.
|
|
|
1958
|
Otherwise known as 'The Chip'
|
|
|
1962
|
The first computer game
invented.
|
|
|
1964
|
Nicknamed the mouse because the
tail came out the end.
|
|
|
1969
|
The original
Internet. |
|
|
1970
|
The world's first available
dynamic RAM chip.
|
|
|
1971
|
The first microprocessor.
|
|
|
1971
|
Nicknamed the
"Floppy" for its' flexibility.
|
|
|
1973
|
Networking.
|
|
|
1974/75
|
The first consumer computers.
|
|
|
1976/77
|
More first consumer computers.
|
|
|
1978
|
Any product that pays for
itself in two weeks is a surefire winner.
|
|
|
1979
|
Word Processors.
|
|
|
1981
|
From an "Acorn"
grows a personal computer revolution |
|
|
1981
|
From "Quick And
Dirty" comes the operating system of the century.
|
|
|
1983
|
The first home computer with a
GUI, graphical user interface.
|
|
|
1984
|
The more affordable home
computer with a GUI.
|
|
|
1985
|
Microsoft begins the friendly
war with Apple.
|
|
|
SERIES
|
TO BE
|
CONTINUED
|
