A A Brief History of Computing
A Brief History of Computing
- Mechanical Computing Devices
© Copyright 1996-2005, Credit to: Stephen White
Source: http://trillian.randomstuff.org.uk/~stephen//history/timeline-MECH.html#17
For reading purposes only by: Lornilo S. Alimpuangon
Pictures: credit to Google
Hardware History Overview
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Modern computing can probably be traced back to the 'Harvard Mk I' and Colossus (both of 1943). Colossus was an electronic computer built in Britain at the end 1943 and designed to crack the German coding system - Lorenz cipher. The 'Harvard Mk I' was a more general purpose electro-mechanical programmable computer built at Harvard University with backing from IBM. These computers were among the first of the 'first generation' computers.First generation computers were normally based around wired circuits containing vacuum valves and used punched cards as the main (non-volatile) storage medium. Another general purpose computer of this era was 'ENIAC' (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) which was completed in 1946. It was typical of first generation computers, it weighed 30 tonnes contained 18,000 electronic valves and consumed around 25KW of electrical power. It was, however, capable of an amazing
100,000 calculations a second.
The next major step in the history of computing was the invention of the transistor in 1947. This replaced the inefficient valves with a much smaller and more reliable component. Transistorised computers are normally referred to as 'Second Generation' and dominated the late 1950s and early 1960s. Despite using transistors and printed circuits these computers were still bulky and strictly the domain of Universities and governments.
The explosion in the use of computers began with 'Third Generation' computers. These relied Jack St. Claire Kilby's invention - the integrated circuit or microchip; the first integrated circuit was produced in September 1958 but computers using them didn't begin to
- Mechanical Computing Devices
© Copyright 1996-2005, Credit to: Stephen White
Source: http://trillian.randomstuff.org.uk/~stephen//history/timeline-MECH.html#17
For reading purposes only by: Lornilo S. Alimpuangon
Pictures: credit to Google
Hardware History Overview
•
•
•
•
•
Modern computing can probably be traced back to the 'Harvard Mk I' and Colossus (both of 1943). Colossus was an electronic computer built in Britain at the end 1943 and designed to crack the German coding system - Lorenz cipher. The 'Harvard Mk I' was a more general purpose electro-mechanical programmable computer built at Harvard University with backing from IBM. These computers were among the first of the 'first generation' computers.First generation computers were normally based around wired circuits containing vacuum valves and used punched cards as the main (non-volatile) storage medium. Another general purpose computer of this era was 'ENIAC' (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) which was completed in 1946. It was typical of first generation computers, it weighed 30 tonnes contained 18,000 electronic valves and consumed around 25KW of electrical power. It was, however, capable of an amazing
100,000 calculations a second.
The next major step in the history of computing was the invention of the transistor in 1947. This replaced the inefficient valves with a much smaller and more reliable component. Transistorised computers are normally referred to as 'Second Generation' and dominated the late 1950s and early 1960s. Despite using transistors and printed circuits these computers were still bulky and strictly the domain of Universities and governments.
The explosion in the use of computers began with 'Third Generation' computers. These relied Jack St. Claire Kilby's invention - the integrated circuit or microchip; the first integrated circuit was produced in September 1958 but computers using them didn't begin to