Historical Development of Computer for Jss1

Historical Development of Computer

Introduction

We are living in the computer age. Most of our day to day jobs are being influenced by the use of computers. It is used increasingly in each and every field of our life. In the areas of science and technology improvements cannot be achieved without theories use of computers. Hence it has become necessary to have basic knowledge about computers.

Strictly speaking, computer is a calculating device having certain important characteristics like speed, storage capacity, accuracy etc. But, nowadays it is used for many more applications other than computing.

History of Computer

The historical development of computer is divided in to several stages. These are:

1. Early Counting Devices

2. Mechanical Counting Devices

3. Electro-mechanical Counting Devices

4. Electronic Counting Devices

A. Early Counting Devices

Long ago, people used different and easily available and affordable counting methods such as fingers, toes, stones, sticks, pebbles, cowries, writing on the wall, etc to solve different counting needs. Some of these early counting devices are examined below.

1. Fingers and toes: The fingers and toes were used for counting, giving account of days and trading. The early man also used their feet to measure.

2. Pebbles and grains: pebbles are small round stones that were used for counting. Grains from the farm such as corn, beans and rice were also used for counting.

3. Cowries: These are the highly polished, usually brightly colored shell of small snail found in warm seas. They are used as money and for other counting needs.

4. Sticks: These include the canes, clubs and shaped woods that were used for measuring land area and for other counting and measuring needs.

5. Writing on the wall: In early ages, man learnt to use objects like charcoal, mud and limestone to write stroke on the wall for counting

Major Problems Associated with the use of Early Counting Devices

The major problems with these devices are:

a. They cannot be used for counting large numbers efficiently.

b. They also occupy large space.

c. They waste time.

d. They are not always accurate.

e. They are not always available

B. Mechanical Counting Devices

Mechanical Counting devices are devices that involve the use of physical force to operate them. After it had been discovered that the earliest methods of counting were no longer convenient for counting large numbers, many mechanical devices were designed that aided people in their calculation. 

These include:

1. Abacus: Abacus is one of the first counting mechanical devices used for calculation. Abacus is a small device, it consist of beads strung on wire or wooden rod in a rectangular frame, which slides easily. The Chinese were the first to use abacus. It is used for addition and subtraction of numbers.

2. Slide Rule: In 1632, an English Mathematician, William Oughtred designed the first linear slide rule, although the familiar inner sliding rule was invented by an English instrument-maker, Robert Bissaker in 1654. However, the modern slide rule was made by Amedee Mannhein in 1859. Slide rule consist of a graduated scale, which can be moved relatively to aid simple calculation mechanically. In simple slide rules, multiplication, division and finding of square root can be done.

C. Electro-Mechanical Counting Devices

Electro-mechanical counting devices are devices that use both the electronic and mechanical principles to perform the task of calculation. These include:

1. John Napier’s Bone

2. Blaise Pascal Machine

3. Gottfried Leibniz, Machine

4. Joseph Jacquard’s Loom

5. Charles Babbage’s Analytical Machine

6. Philip Emeagwali

1. John Napier’s Bone

In the early 1600s, a Scottish mathematician called John Napier invented a tool called Napier’s Bone. It consist of eleven rods, with four sides each which was used as a multiplication tool.

2. Blaise Pascal Machine

Blaise Pascal a nineteen years old French mathematician invented a calculating machine in 1642 and named it Pascaline. He did that to aid his father who was a tax collector. It is used for addition and subtraction of up to 8 digits number.

3. Gottfried Leibniz’s Machine

A German mathematician named Gottfried leibnitz in 1671 built a better machine that would save time. He called it Leibnitz’s stepped Reckoner. The machine can add, subtract, multiply divide and calculate square root of numbers.

4. Joseph Jacquard’s Loom

The Jacquard Loom was invented by invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801, which used punched cards to control weaving of patterns in fabric. Though the loom was not used in computation, it is considered an important step in the history of computing.

5. Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine

An English Mathematician Charles Babbage decided to build a machine that could perform difficult calculations accurately and more quickly than previous machines. In 1837, Charles Babbage designed the first programmable computer which he referred to as the analytical engine. According to Babbage’s design, the analytical engine would be able to save instructions, perform calculation and produce the printed output. He is widely recognized as the father of modern computer.

6. Philip Emeagwali (Inventor of the World's Fastest Computer)

Philip Emeagwali, who has been called the "Bill Gates of Africa," was born in Nigeria in 1954. Like many African schoolchildren, he dropped out of school at age 14 because his father could not continue paying Emeagwali's school fees. However, his father continued teaching him at home, and everyday Emeagwali performed mental exercises such as solving 100 math problems in one hour. His father taught him until Philip "knew more than he did. In 1989 Emeagwali used 65,000 processors to invent the world's fastest computer, which performs computations at 3.1 billion calculations per second. His computers are currently being used to forecast the weather and to predict the likelihood and effects of future global warming.

D. Electronic Counting Device and Modern computer

Electronic devices are devices that function using electronic principles. After electro-mechanical devices, the electronic devices took the centre stage. These devices include:

1. Herman Hollerith’s machine

2. John Von Neumann Machine

3. Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC)

4. Mini Computers

5. Micro Computers

6. Personal Computer

1. Herman Hollerith’s machine

Herman Hollerith’s machine was developed in the late 19th century by an American called Herman Hollerith. This machine was used to process census information in the U.S.A in 1890. Hollerith formed a company to sell his machine but later merged with other companies to form the popular IBM (International Business Machine) Computer which is the largest computer manufacturing company today

2. John Von Neumann Machine

In 1945, a mathematician, John von Neumann developed the stored program concept in which program could be read into computer memory for processing.

3. ENIAC

This means Electronic numerical integrator and calculator. ENIAC was built at the University of Pennsylvania between 1943 and 1945 by two professors John Mauchly and prosper Eckert. ENIAC filled a 20 by 40 foot room, weighed 30 tons, and used more than 18,000 vacuum tubes generated waste heat like a light bulb and all this heat (174,000 watts of heat) meant that the computer could only be operated in a specially designed room with its own heavy duty air conditioning system.

Note:

Other computing devices invented by John Mauchly and prosper Eckert are

i. UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer)

ii. EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)