History of Computer

Nowadays, computers are very important. We use it in our daily living especially in our modern society. People from all around the world, use it. From families to business, they are really important.

In 2400 BC, abacus was invented in Babylonia. It is the first calculator that lead to the age of computers. You can perform addition and subtraction through the use of abacus.

During the 16th century, several people were able to develop computers. One of them is Blaise Pascal. Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline. Just a few years after Pascal, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz invented a calculator called the stepped reckoner. It can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In the 18th century, Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a loom that could base its weave upon a pattern automatically read from punched wooden cards, held together in a long row by rope.


By 1822, Charles Babbage, who is known as the Father of Modern computer, developed a steam driven calculating machine which he called the Difference Engine. This machine can compute table of numbers, such as logarithm tables. He asked the government for financial support because numeric tables are important in ocean navigation. Another device that he invented is the Analytical Engine. This machine is as large as a house and has six steam engines. It has two parts: the "Store" and the "Mill". These terms are used in the weaving industry. The Store was where numbers were held and the Mill was where they were "woven" into new results. In a modern computer these same parts are called the memory unit and the Central Processing Unit.

GENERATION OF COMPUTER

• First Generation

In 1946, the first successful electronic computer called ENIAC was invented that lead to the starting point of the current generation of computer. It was developed by J. P. Eckert and J. W. Mauchy. ENIAC stands for Electronic Numeric Integrated And Calculator.

• Second Genration

In this generation, transistors were made instead of vaccum tubes.
Transistors are smaller than vaccum tubes.

• Third Generation

In this generation, Integrated Circuits was the electronic component for computers. It gave birth to microelectronics. It was developed by T. S  Kilby and it has a large storage capacity and faster calculating speed.

• Fourth Generation

This generation of computer is our present generation. What we have in our society belongs to the fourth generation. Microprocessor is the main idea of this generation. It is used for logical and arithmethical functions.