Evolution and Generations of computer

Evolution of Computer

When our ancestors started using stone to count their animals or the possession they never knew that this day will lead to a computer of today. People started following a set of procedure to perform calculation with these stones, which later led to creation of a digital counting device, which was the predecessor the first calculating device invented, known as ABACUS.

THE ABACUS

Abacus is known to be the first mechanical calculating device which was used to be performed addition and subtraction easily and speedily. This device was first developed by the Egyptians in the 10th century B.C, but it was given it final shape in the 12xth century A.D. by the Chinese educationists.

Abacus is made up of wooden frame in which rod where fitted across with rounds beads sliding on the rod. It id dividing into two parts called ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’. Heaven was the upper part and Earth was the lower one.

NAPIER’S BONES

After Abacus, John Napier of Scotland invented a calculating device, in the year 1617 called the Napier Bones. With these rods, one can do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division easily.

PASCAL’S CALCULATOR

In the year 1642, Blaise Pascal a French scientist invented an adding machine called Pascal’s calculator, which represents the position of digit with the help of gears in it.

It was called adding Machine because it was only able to do addition and sustraction.

LEIBNIZ CALCULATOR

In the year 1671, a German mathematician, Gottfried Leibniz modified the Pascal calculator and he developed a machine which could perform various calculation based on multiplication and division as well.

ANALYTICAL ENGINE

In the year 1833, a scientist from England knows as Charles Babbage, invented such a machine which could keep our data safely. This device was called Analytical engine and it deemed the first mechanical computer.

It included such feature which is used in today’s computer language. For this great invention of the computer, Sir Charles Babbage is known as the father of the computer.

Generations of Computer

As the time passed, a more suitable and reliable machine was needed which could perform our work more quickly. During this time, in the year 1946, the first electronic computer called ENIAC was successfully developed and it was the starting point of the current generation of computer.

FIRST GENERATION

ENIAC was the world first successfully developed electronic computer which was developed by the two scientists namely J. P. Eckert and J. W. Mauchy. It was the beginning of first generation computer.

The full form of ENIAC is “Electronic Numeric Integrator And Calculator”. ENIAC was a very huge and big computer and its weight was 30 tonnes. It could store only limited or small amount of information.

Initially in the first generation computer, the concept of vacuum tubes was used. A vacuum tube was an electronic component which had very less work efficiency and so it could not work properly and it required a large cooling system.

SECOND GENERATION

As the development moved further, the second generation computers knocked the door. In this generation, transistors were used as the electronic component instead of vacuum tubes. A transistors is much smaller in the size than that of a vacuum tube.

As the size of electrons components decreased from vacuum tube to transistor, the size of computer also decreased and it became much smaller than that of earlier computer.

THIRD GENERATION

The third generation computers were invented in the year 1964. In this generation of computer, IC (Integrated circuits) was used as the electronic component for computers. The development of IC gave birth to a new field of microelectronics.

The main advantage of IC is not only its small size but its superior performance and reliability than the previous circuits. It was first developed by T.S Kilby. This generation of computer has huge storage capacity and higher calculating speed.

FOURTH GENERATION

This is the generation where we are working today. The computers which we see around us belong to the fourth generation computers. ‘Micro processor’ is the main concept behind this generation of computer.

A microprocessor is a single chip (L.S.I circuit), which is used in a computer for any arithmetical or logical functions to be performed in any program.

The honour of developing microprocessor goes to Marcian Edward "Ted" Hoff, of U.S.A. He developed first micro-processor, the Intel 4004, as he was working for Intel Corporation, U.S.A. With the use of microprocessor in the fourth generation computers, the computers become very fast and efficient.

It is evident that the next generation of computer i.e. fifth generation will be developed soon. In that generation, computer will possess artificial intelligence and it would be able to take self-decisions like a human being.

FIFTH GENERATION (PRESENT AND BEYOND)

Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today.

The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality.

Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-organization.