History and Generation of Computers Flashcards
Evolution of Computers: Origin of Abacus
Asia Minor
What is an Abacus?
a counting device used for calculations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack
Napier Bones was on and made by
John Napier (1617)
What are Napier Bones?
a manual calculating device
using strips of ivory or other types of material that are divided into sections.
origins in lattice
multiplication.
used for multiplication and division.
What is a Slide Rule
device consisting of graduated scales capable of relative movement, by means of which simple calculations may be carried out mechanically.
contain scales for multiplying, dividing, and extracting square roots, and some also contain scales for calculating trigonometric functions and
logarithms.
Who Invented the First Devised Logarithmic Slide Rule
Edmund Gunter (lived 1581-1626) English Mathematician
First Adjustable Logarithmic Rule (Photograph) Was Made When and by Who
William Oughtred (1632)
Also designed the first linear slide rule
Who Made the Inner Sliding Rule
Robert Bissaker (1654)
- an English instrument-maker
Pascaline Made by Who and When
Blaise Pascal (1642)
French mathematician
made the first adding machine to be produced
made to help is father as a tax collector
What is a Pascaline?
The first functional automatic computer
Addition and Subtraction
Manipulates its dials
Stepped Reckoner
a calculating machine
multiplication by repeated addition and shifting
Who Made the Stepped Reckoner and When
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
Designed on 1671
Built on 1673
expanded on Pascal’s ideas
used binary digits “bits” in Stepped Reckoner
Difference Engine
verged on being the first computer
a digital device that operated on discrete digits (decimal 0 - 9)
represented by positions on toothed wheels
Who Made the Difference Engine
Charles Babbage (built partially 1820’s to 30’s)
English mathematician
Jacquard Loom
Jacquard Attachment/Mechanism
device incorporated
in special looms to control individual warp yarns.
Who developed the Jacquard System?
Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1804-1805) - French
improved on the punched-card technology of Jacques de Vaucanson’s loom (1745)
Who is Herman Hollerith
1889 - worked for us census
bureau, also applied the Jacquard loom concept to
computing
Atanasoff-Berry Computer
first electronic digital computer
Who built the first electronic digital computer (ABC - Atinsoff-Berry Computer)
John V. Atanasoff - American mathematician and physicist
Clifford E. Berry - graduate student
constructed 1939 - 1942
Who made the the first operational program-controlled calculating
machine?
Konrad Zuse (1941) - German engineer
Harvard Mark 1
an early protocomputer, built
during World War II in the United States.
electronic calculating machine used relays and electromagnetic components to replace mechanical components.
Who built the Harvard Mark 1?
built as a partnership
between Harvard Aiken and IBM in 1944
Starting 1937, Aiken laid out plans for a series of calculating machines: Mark I to Mark IV.
ENIAC
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
The first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer, built during World War II by the United States.
Designed specifically for computing values for artillery
range tables
used plugboards for
communicating instructions to the machine
Who Made ENIAC?
John Eckert and John Mauchy (1946)
EDVAC
Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer
Made by Eckert and Mauchy
first electronic computer to use the stored program concept introduced by John von Neumann (1940s)
Implemented the storing of instruction codes and data
Designed 1944, built in the 1940s
EDSAC
Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator
built according to the von
Neumann machine principles enunciated by the Hungarian American scientist John von
Neumann and, like the Manchester Mark I, became operational in 1949
used mercury delay lines for
memory and vacuum tubes for logic.
Who built EDSAC?
at the University of
Cambridge, by Maurice Wilkes
UNIVAC
Universal Automatic Computer
The Eckert – mauchy corporation manufactured UNIVAC (universal automatic
computer) in 1951
one of the earliest commercial computers
intended to replace
the punched-card accounting machines
could read 7,200 decimal digits per second
