Electronic Delayed Storage Automatic Computer example essay topic

History of Computers Introduction: The electronic computer has now been used commercially for less than 25 years. It grew out of a search lasting centuries for a more accurate, faster way to perform calculations. Primitive and ancient man used his fingers, shells, beads, sticks, and other objects to keep track of numbers and sums. The development of paper and writing instruments made it easier to record data, but gave little aid in manipulating it. Manual Devices: A computer is sometimes defined as a system that mechanizes the processing of information. Even a manual device may fall under this definition if they are constructed in such a way that moving them by hand can produce the desired answer.

Example: Abacus: The abacus is the oldest-known mechanical computing aid. Its origin is uncertain. Many countries claim to have invented it. It was used in China as early as the sixth century B.C. and in the mediterranean area in ancient Greek and Roman times. It is still used in many parts of the world. The abacus consists of beads strung on rows of wires suspended within a rectangular frame.

A common form has a piece of wood dividing the beads, with five beads on one side, and two on the other side of the wood on each wire. Calculating Machines and their Inventors: Through the centuries, several mathematical geniuses invented machines to aid them in their calculations. The machines were never widely used and generally had no direct path to the later development of electronic computers. Example: Pascal: Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) a French mathematician, invented the first mechanical adding machine at age 19 in 1642. He became tired of adding long columns of figures while helping his father, who had been appointed administrator of Rouen by Cardinal Richelieu. His device had teen toothed wheels and many gears.

Rotating wheels developed sums. A carry lever advanced the next wheel to the left one position when a sum exceeded 10. Punched Card Development: Many of us are surprised to learn that the punched card industry is almost 200 years old. Furthermore, the first use of punched cards wasn't for data processing, but rather for process control. Example: Jacquard: Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834), a French Weaver, in 1804 developed the first completely automatic loom, controlled by punched cards. Fearing that the machine would produce unemployment, workers attacked and destroyed his machine at Lyon.

Aided by Napoleon, Jacquard rebuilt his machine, which os credited with promoting a thriving textile industry in France through the 1800's. Electromechanical Computers: The 1920's and 1930's saw great pioneering work in the research for more effective computers. Several attempts were made to combine existing punched card machines with more extensive computing devices. Example: Bush: Dr. Vannevar Bush (1890-) built a large-scale computer called a differential analyzer at the Massachusets Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1930. Unlike the Babbage machine, the Bush analyzer was analog. It mechanical torque-amplifier's to generate the power necessary to move long trains of mechanical gears.

The principle is similar to that used on cargo hoists. Two copies of Dr. Bush's analyzer were later produced under the WPA. One was used for ballistic calculations at the army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and the other went to the Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Electronic Computers: All computers described so far used gears, wheels, switches, and relays that required mechanical motion. The great breakthrough in developing computers came in 1940's when electronic components were first successfully employed. Example: Atanasoff and Berry: In 1937, John V. Atanasoff, professor of mathematics at Iowa State College, conceived an electronic digital computer.

Receiving a small grant from the college, he started building the computer with Clifford Burry, a graduate student. In 1940 and 1941, he discussed his plans and showed his work to Dr. John Mauchly, later one of the developers of the ENIAC. The Atanasoff-Berry Computer was completed in 1942. Through a misunderstanding, it was never patten ted by Iowa State College. Dr. Atanasoff tried to interest both IBM and Remington Rand in his machine, but they felty it had no commercial value. In 1942, He joined the Naval Ordnance Laboratories in Washington, D.C. He started his Ordnance Engineering Corporation in 1942 and sold his company to AerojetGeneral in 1952.

The work of Atanasoff and Berry remained unknown to the general public until it was disclosed in 1973 in a court case. Sperry Rand, holder of the Eniac patent originally issued to Dr. John Mauchly and Dr. J. Pres pert Eckert, filed suit against HoneyWell for Patent infringement. The presiding Judge ruled the patent invalid because it was based to some degree on the work of Atanasoff and Berry. EDSAC and EDVAC: In 1949, the Electronic Delayed Storage Automatic Computer (EDSAC), the first true stored program computer, was developed by Dr. Maurice V. Wilkes at Cambridge University in England. A similar machine, the Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC) was started by Mauchly and Eckert and completed in 1952 after they had left the University of Pennsylvania. It was smaller and simpler, but more powerful than the ENIAC.

It later became the prototype for serial computers. The Generations of Computers: First Generation: The UNIVAC division of Sperry Rand actually began the electronic computer industry. In 1951, it delivered UNIVAC 1 computers to the U.S. Bureau of the census and the air force, and in 1952 to the army map service. The UNIVAC gained nationwide attention when it was used to predict the results of the 1952 presidential election and was used on television quiz shows. Second Generation: Extending from 1960 through 1964, the second generation was marked with reduced size and cost with increased speed and reliability. The transistor, developed by three scientists at Bell Laboratories in 1952, replaced the vacuum tube.

Magnetic core was adopted for main storage, with an access time of about one microsecond. Magnetic tape became the principal external storage medium, and disk made its appearance. Third Generation: The appearance of IBM's system/360 in 1964 heralded the third generation. Components continued to become smaller, faster and more reliable.

Monolithic integrated circuits replaced the transistors. Solid-State memory appeared, along with magnetic core. Magnetic cards, disks and strips be cane favored over magnetic tape because they allowed direct ability to access records from specific addresses. The third generation is characterized by the growth of data communications.

Remote batch processing and interactive use of terminals have become common. Fourth Generation: It seems generally agreed that the fourth generation, if it comes, will be marked by the gradual transition rather than dramatic changes. The IBM System/370 series, announced in 1971, is compatible with the System/360. It has improved communications, more compact disk storage access time, and somewhat faster reading and printing. But this are improvements rather than basic changes. Virtual storage received wide publicity when announced on the 370 family.

However, Burroughs and other systems used virtual storage much earlier without fanfare. The trends most likely to continue on forth-generation computers will be more miniaturization, expanded communications, software that is more complex to design but simpler to use, and improved data entry recognition and recording.