History of Computers

CompiledIITG Team

Outline

• History • The von Neumann architecture

Computer History

• 1937 – John V. Atanasoff creates what is considered the official first electronic

computer. It is known as the Alanasoff Berry Computer or simply ABC. • 1943

– During World War II Alan Turing develops the Colossus which is a top secret British code-breaking computer. It was built to decode German secret messages.

• 1946 – An electronic computing machine called ENIAC is built by John Mauchly

and Presper Eckert. • 1947

– The semiconductor revolution is blasted off when William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain invent and test what is called a point contact transistor.

Computer History• 1949

– At Cambridge University Maurice Wilkes assembles the first practical stored program computer called the EDSAC.

Computer History

• 1952 – The UNIVAC used by the U.S. Census Bureau becomes the first

commercial computer to attract substantial public attention.• 1953

– IBM ships its first electronic computer system called the 701. 3• 1955

– The first fully transistorized computer TRADIC is announced by Bell Laboratories.

• 1956 – The TX-0 is built by MIT researchers. It is the first general purpose,

programmable computer that is built using transistors

Computer History• 1958

– The first integrated circuit is created by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments. This proved that both resistors and capacitors could exist on the same semiconductor material.

• 1960– The first commercial modem called Dataphone is desiged by Bell Labs.

It was designed specifically for converting digital computer data to analog signals for transmission across a long distance network.

• 1961 – According to Datamation magazine IBM has approximately an 81.2

percent share of the computer market. IBM also introduced the 1400 Series computer system in this year.

Computer History• 1964

– IBM announces a family of six mutually compatible computers and 40 peripherals that work together called the System/360.

– In 1964 IBM’s SABRE reservation system is also setup up for American Airlines.

• 1965 – Digital Equipment Corporation introduces the first commercially

successful minicomputer called the PDP-8.• 1968

– Intel was founded on July 18, 1968, by Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andrew Grove.

• 1970– The computer-to-computer communication revolution expands when

the Department of Defense establishes four devices on the ARPAnet.

Computer History• 1973

– At the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Robert Metcalfe devices the Ethernet method of networking.

• 1974 – Researchers at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center design the Alto

which is the first workstation with a built-in mouse for input. • 1975

– Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975.• 1976

– Apple is established on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne to sell a single board computer called the Apple I.

• 1977 – Apple Computer introduces the Apple II computer system.

Computer History• 1981

– IBM introduces its Personal Computer (PC), kicking off the fast growth of the personal computer market and revolution.

– Xerox also introduces the Star which is the first personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI).

– The first portable computer is also completed by Adam Osborne. Like many inventions of the day it gets its name from the inventor and it’s called the Osborne I, go figure. But check this, the Osborne I portable computer weighed in at 24 pounds and sold for $1795 dollars at the time.

Computer History• 1983

– Apple introduces its Lisa computer incorporating a GUI very similar to that first introduced on the Xerox Star.

– Compaq Computer Corporation introduces its first PC clone that uses the same software as the IBM PC.

• 1984 – Apple Computer launches the Macintosh which is the first successful

mouse driven computer with a GUI. It was launched in fact with a single $1.5 million commercial during the 1984 Super Bowl.

• 1985– Microsoft ships Windows 1

• 1990 – The World Wide Web (WWW) is born after researcher Tim Berners-Lee

develops HTML, the Hypertext Markup Language.

Computer History

• 1995– Microsoft releases the first mainstream 32-bit operating system

Windows 95 in huge numbers. • 1998

– Google is co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they are students at Stanford University. The company is first incorporated as a privately held company in September of 1998.

• 2000– Y2K problem

• 2000 +– Cell Phones– Smart Phones– Tablets

• The modern microcomputer has roots going back to the USA in the 1940’s.

• Of the many researchers, the Hungarian-born mathematician and early computer scientist, John von Neumann (1903-57), is worthy of special mention. – He developed a very basic model (named after the

him) for computers which we are still using today.

• The von Neumann architecture is a design model for a stored-program digital computer that uses a central processing unit (CPU) and a single separate storage structure (linear memory) to hold both instructions and data. – The instructions and data of a program can be

stored in a linear memory array.– Separate hardware from programs.

The evolution of computers is a history of separation and reuse!

• The most important separation is the separation of hardware from software.

• Hardware should be constructed for general purpose. – Operations supported by the CPU should be

designed at Data manipulation level.• Not at the application level.

– Leave the mapping from application functions to general purpose functions to program developers.

External Storage, extending main memory

More detailed

• The terms "von Neumann architecture" and "stored-program computer" are generally used interchangeably.

• A stored-program digital computer is one that keeps its programmed instructions, as well as its data, in read-write, random-access memory (RAM).

• Von Neumann separated a computer’s hardware into five primary crucial components: – CPU (with limited memory called register set)– Main memory (RAM, working storage) – External memory Permanent storage – Input – Output – Communication devices (expanded in modern computer,

no such a concept back to Von’s time).• The above components are connected together by

data busses (where binary numbers are transported back and forth) layout on the motherboard.

John von Neumann with the ENIAC

• The ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania and began construction in 1943 and was not completed until 1946.

• It occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons.

• ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, was the first general-purpose electronic computer. It was a Turing-complete, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems. – ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing

tables for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory, but its first use was in calculations for the hydrogen bomb.

• ENIAC could be programmed to do different tasks, but this required a partial rewiring of the machine. – Hardware level modifications.

• One of the scientists working on ENIAC, J. Presper Eckert, came up with the idea of a stored program, which would make it possible to load a computer program into computer memory from disk. The computer could then run the program without being manually reprogrammed.

• The idea was not used in the design of ENIAC,but a follow-up project, called EDVAC, which Von Neumann was closely associated with, did incorporate the stored program.

• A paper Von Neumann wrote in 1944, entitled "First Draft of a Report on EDVAC," explained the revolutionary ideas that were to govern the development of computers for the next two decades.

• Von Neumann proposed a separation of storage, arithmetic and control functions; random-access memory (RAM); stored programs; arithmetic modification of instructions; conditional branching; a choice between binary number and decimal number representation; and a choice between serial and parallel operation. Basically, he introduced new procedures in their logical organization, the "codes" by which a fixed system of wiring could solve a great variety of problems.

• Particularly the idea of a stored program and the solutions for realizing the equipment that could deal with stored programs were revolutionary, promising great gains in speed and productivity.

• In summary, Von Neumann rethought the basic design of the computer into the separate components of arithmetic function, central control (now known as the central processing unit [CPU]), memory (the hard drive) and the input and output devices. Under Von Neumann's supervision, a computer with these capabilities was developed at the Institute of Advanced Studies from 1946 to 1951. Although the machine quickly became a dinosaur, it was the first true forerunner of the contemporary high-speed digital computer.

• Although the Ballistic Research Laboratory was the sponsor of ENIAC, John von Neumann, working in Los Alamos, became aware of this computer subsequently became so involved with ENIAC that the first test problem run was computations for the hydrogen bomb, not artillery tables. – The input/output for this test was one million

cards.

Earlier than ENIAC • Short for Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the ABC started being developed by

Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry in 1937 and continued to be developed until 1942 at the Iowa State College (now Iowa State University). – On October 19, 1973, US Federal Judge Earl R. Larson signed his decision that

the ENIAC patent by Eckert and Mauchly was invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer.

– Although the Judge ruled that the ABC computer was the first digital computer many still consider the ENIAC to be the first digital computer.

• The Z1 originally created by Germany's Konrad Zuse in his parents living room in 1936 to 1938 is considered to be the first electrical binary programmable computer. – The Z1 had 64-word memory (each word contained 22 bits) and a clock speed

of 1 Hz. – To program the the Z1 required that the user insert punch tape into a punch

tape reader and all output was also generated through punch tape.

• Ok, that was just some history.

• The amazing thing is, his model is still completely applicable today.

In modern computers, the above crucial components are hosted by a motherboard (which is a printed circuit board (PCB).

What is a Computer?

• Necessity is the mother of inventions• Lazy and smart people (some of them also

smart) need to live good lives without working.

• Inventions save "lazy" human beings• Computers were invented to spoil human

beings.

A tool - A “machine” too simple to be called a

• A device, such as a saw or a pair of scissors, used to perform or facilitate manual or mechanical work.

• A tool has limited functions! • But the way to combine the functions is

unlimited!• Program is about how to combine the

functions provided by the tool in certain sequences.

A machine• A more complicated tool, usually called machine, should facilitate memorization of intermediate

steps of actions or calculations.

– You think of examples?• The abacus

– Still no program. • Program is in the brains of the user of the abacus.

– But the machine can keep track of intermediate steps already.

• A more powerful machine should automate itself.– Hard-wired program controlled computers– Examples?

• The first air plane, first car.• The function is fixed after the machine is wired and

constructed.• Dedicated machines.

• Notice that both data and instructions are saved in the same memory which is a linear byte array. So, a byte can be written as a data on one occasion and later may be treated as an instruction on a later occasion.

• This is exactly what compilers do.

Program is part of the hardware too!

• The earliest computing machines had fixed programs. • Some very simple computers still use this design, either for

simplicity or training purposes. For example, a desk calculator (in principle) is a fixed program computer. It can do basic mathematics, but it cannot be used as a word processor or a gaming console.

Programmable and reprogrammable Computer

• A machine should be programmable and reprogrammable.

• Separate programs from hardware• Stored-program• Using same hardware, the machine should behave

differently simply by changing software.• General purpose Computers we use today.

Ultimate goal of the computer evolution?

• The ultimate goal is to have a intelligent machine close to human beings – You do not have to program. – All programs can be automatically generated by

itself, the future computer should know how to translate end user’s requirements described in natural language to programs by itself or even just directly read your mind.

– We are not at there yet.

Yes, Computer Replace Human Beings

• Can we achieve it?– Hard to say.– My personal view is that in the absolute sense

impossible, but in a practical sense it is very likely in the future.

• Good or bad?– Hard to say!

• Do we really want to be there?– Many issues!

• Such computers implement a universal Turing machine and have a sequential architecture.

• The design of the imperative languages is based directly on the von Neumann architecture

– Efficiency is the primary concern, rather than the suitability of the language for software development

Reference• Textbook• Wikipedia• The Internet • http://www.karbosguide.com/books/pcarchitecture/

chapter02.htm• http://www.madehow.com/inventorbios/66/John-

von-Neumann.html#ixzz0UaVGPlHc• http://www.madehow.com/inventorbios/66/John-

von-Neumann.html•