Computer Age: Past, Present, and Future
Generations of Computer
The
First generation
The
Second Generation
The
Third Generation
The
Fourth Generation
The
Fifth Generation
The Computer Age
Rapid changes Four generations over 50 years Trends across generations ± Decrease size ± Increase speed
The First Generation
1951-1958
Vacuum Tube ± ±
Heat Burnout
Machine language
Magnetic core memory
Storage ± ±
Punched cards Tape (1957) (1957)
Characteristics of 1st Generation Computers Computers big and clumsy Electricity consumption consumption is high Electric failure occurred regularly - computers not very reliable Large air conditioners was necessary because the computers generated heat Batch processing
The First Generation
1951 19 51,, UN UNIV IVA AC
Eckert and Mauchly completed the f irst irst commercial computer in the USA ± the UNIV UNI V A AC C (U (Uni nive vers rsal al Au Auto tom mat atic ic Co Comp mput uter er )
i rst F irst
Short Code - A set of instructions called Short Code is developed for the UNIV AC. Programmers
comp co mpu ute terr buil ilt t f or or bu busi sine ness ss
The First Generation
1951, SAGE - Semi Automatic Ground Environment was developed.
IBM built the SAGE computers and became leaders in real--time applications and used the technology of real Whirlwind.
SAGE computers were used in an early U.S. air defense system. They were fully deployed in 1963 1963,, that consisted of 27 27 centers throughout North America, each with a duplexed AN/FSQ-7 AN/FSQ-7 computer system containing over 250 tons and occupying 50,,000 vacuum tubes, weighing 250 50 an acre of floor space.
SAGE was the first large computer network to provide man--machine interaction in real time. man
The First Generation
1952, EDVACElectronic Discreet Variable Computer ± John
Von Neumann, designed with a central control unit which would calculate and output all matthe ma hem mat atic ical al an and d lo logi gic cal problems and a memory which could be written to and read. (RAM in modern terms) which would store programs and an d da datta.
The First Generation
1953, IBM 701 ±
The 701 was formally announced on May 21, 1952. It was the unit of the overall 701 Data Pr Pro oce ces ssing System in which actual callcu ca cullat atiion ons s we were re pe perf rfor orme med. d. Th That at activity involved 274 assemblies executing all the system's computing and control functions by means of electronic pulses emitted at speeds ranging up to one on e mi mill llio ion n a se seco cond nd..
1953, The Whirlwind ±
Whirlwind
was a large scale, general purpose digital computer begun at the Servomechanisms Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1946.
The Second Generation
1959-1964 Transistor ± ± ± ± ± ±
Smaller No warmwarm-up time Less energy Less heat Faster More reliable
Storage ± ±
Removable disk pack (1954) Magnetic tape
Programming languag languages es Assembly language FOR RTR AN (1954) (1954) ± FO COB OL(1959) ± CO BOL( 1959) ±
Used primarily by business, university,, government university go vernment
The Second Generation Computers became smaller Generate less heat lower r Electricity consumption lowe More re relia reliable ble an and d faste faster r Mo Core memory developed Magnetic tapes and disks used First operating systems developed A new processing method was needed. Time-sharing (processing technique)
The Second Generation
1963, Mini-computer: PDP-8 ±
Digital
introduces the first successful minicomputer ± ± the PDP-8. -8. It was about as large as a fridge and used transistors and magnetic core memory.
1964 Real-time reservation realsystem IBM developed a realtime computerised computerised ticket reservation system for American Airways. ±
It was smaller than SAGE and was called SABR SABRE E (Semi(Semi- Automatic Automatic Business-R usiness-Related elated Environment) Environment).
The Second Generation
1964, IBM¶s System 360 ± It consisted of 6 processors and 40 peripheral units. More than 100 computers per month were ordered. 1964,, BASIC 1964 (programming language) ±
A programming language was necessary that could be used in a timetime-sharing environment and that could serve as a training language.
The Third Generation
1965-1970
Integrated Circuit ± Electronic circuit on small silicon chip ± Reliability ± Compactness ± Low cost Inexpensive ± ± mass mass- ± Inexpensive produced
1. Computers smaller, faster and more reliable 2. Power consumptio consumption n lower 3. High-level languages appeared
The Third Generation
1965, Gordon Moore ±
The semisemi-conductor pioneer, Gordon Moore (founder of Intel) Intel), predicted that the number of transistors that occurred on a microchip would double every year. It became known as Moore¶s Law and is still valid today.
Burroughs used integrated integrated circuits circ uits in parts of two computers - the B2500 and the B3500 B3500..
Control Data and NCR NC R made two computers using only integrated circuits - the CDC 7600 and the Century series respectively.
The Third Generation
1968 19 68,, In Inte tell was founded (INT INTegrated egrated El Electronics ectronics)). ±
1968, Magnetic core memory was replaced by a microchip. ±
They Th ey de deve velo lope ped d mo more re so soph phis isti tica cate ted d me memo mory ry ch chip ips. s.
The first 256 bit RAM microchips, and later the first 1K 1Kb b RAM (10 102 24 byte byte)) chips, caused the disappearance of Magnetic Core Memory that was used since the mid 1950's. 1950' s.
1969, IBM System/370 replaced their System/360 with the System/370 that only used integrated circuits.
The Fourth Generation
1971-Present 1971-Present Microprocessor ± General General--purpose processor on a chip Explosive growth ± Digital watches ± Pocket calculators ± Personal computers ± Cars ± Copy machines ± Television sets
Integrated circuits, smaller and faster Micro computer series such as IB IBM and APPLE developed Portable computers developed Great development in data communication Different types of secondary memory with high storage capacity and fast access developed
The Fourth Generation
1971, Microprocessor Intel developed the first fir st mi micro cropro proces cessor sor -- a CPU on a microchip. ±
1971, Pascal (programming language) Early programming languages ±
It was called the 4004 and consisted of 2-250 transistors capable of processing 4 bits at a rate of 60 60,,000 transac transac-tions/second.
Niklaus Wir irth th - a Swedi Swedish sh computer comp uter scientis scientistt - devel developed oped the Pascal language in 1971. This language was specifically designed to teach the concepts of structured programming. Pascal remains the most popular language for learning the basic principles of good programming.
1972, 8008 ±
Intell re Inte rele leas ased ed th the e 800 8008 8 - an 8 bit processor powerful enough to be used as the CPU of a minicomputer
The Fourth Generation
1972, CP/M (Operating system) ±
±
The first operating system for microcomputers was developed by Gary Kildall and John Torode. Torode developed hardware to connect a diskette (floppy disk) to the CPU.
1974 ±
8080 Microprocessor, was released - it made the development of the microcompute microco mputerr possibl possible. e.
MARK-8 John hna ath tha an Titus (a chemist with an interest in ele lect ctro roni nics cs)) ordered an 8008 pr proc oces esso sorr fr from om In Inte tel. l. ±
He built a computer with six(6) circuit boards which had 256 bytes RAM.
Motorola¶s 6800 processor developed a processor ±
the 6800 6800.. which could perform all the functions of the 8080 8080..
The Fourth Generation
1975
January
Altair 8800- Popular Mechanics published an article which announced the development of a true personal computer Developed by MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) Systems). It used the 88-bit bit Intel 8080 microprocessor and was made available in a complete kit, including all components and assembly instructions. 256 bytes of R of R AM was available. 16 slots were left open to include more R AM when necessary.
Apple- Steve Wozniak and AppleSteve Jobs founded the Apple Comp Co mpan any y. ± They built a microcomp co mput uter er mo motthe herb rboa oard rd th that at used a 8bit pro proces cessor sor.. 8-bit ± The motherboard was a single circuit board and held 4 Kb R AM. 1976,, MOS 650 1976 6502 2 pr proc oces esso sor r ± MO MOS S tec techno hnolog logies ies announced the development of the 6502 650 2 processor, an 8-bit 8bit processor with very few registers and 16-bit 16bit addr ad dres ess s bu bus. s. ± It was used in the design of the Apple II
The Fourth Generation
1977. Apple II Wozniak and Jobs released the Apple II. It was cheap, had 16 Kb RAM and was ideal for playing video games. ±
It was sold with a keybo boa ard, a power suppl ply y and included 8 slots for peripherals. It could therefore be used with a wider variety of peripherals and programs.
1978 Intel¶s 8086 processor that contained 16-bit registers and used segmented memor me mory y add addres ressin sing. g. ±
All x86 processors had to be compatible with the set of instructions, first use us ed in th this is pr proc oces esso sorr.
1979, Motorola¶s 68000 processor which was used in the Apple Lisa and Macinto Maci ntosh sh comp compute uters. rs.
The Fourth Generation
Firs Fi rstt spre rea adsh she eet : ±
VisiCalcDan Bri VisiCalcDan Brick cklin lin and Bob Bo b Fr Fran anks ksto ton n of the Soft So ftwa ware re Ar Artts Co Comp mpa any developed the first spreadsheet program for use on microcomputers, namely VisiCalc. It was distributed by Personal Software for use on all Apple computers.Word processor
WordStar ±
Th e word processing program WordStar was developed by Seymour Rubenstein's firm MicroPro and became the best seller in the CP/M operati oper ating ng env enviro ironme nment. nt.
1981, IBM PCIBM announced it's first Personal Computer the IBM PC - an Intel 8088 80 88 pr proc oces esso sor r
1982, Intel¶s processor. announced the microprocessor. ±
286 Intel 80286
This was used in the IBM PC AT (Advanced Technology).
4th Generation
1983, Apple¶s Lisa ±
Apple announced the Lisa, a computer that used a mouse to move a cursor on the screen in order to select commands. comm ands. The Lisa was the first commercial comm ercial computer to to use a Graphical User Interface (GUI) (GUI)
1983, IBM announced the PC XT (eXtended
1990, Windows 3.0 (operating system)
Technology). Memory was expanded Technology) expanded to to 640 Kb and it featured: ± 4,77 MHz processor speed ± Double floppy disks ± MS DOS version 3.3 ± Later versions also had 10 or 20 20 Mb hard disk drives available. ±
Microsoft released Windows 3.0.
The Fifth Generation
Mid 1990¶s
Intelligent computers ±
Artificial intelligence
±
Expert systems
±
Natural language
Applications for 5 th Gen computers
Intelligent robots that could µsee¶ their environment (visual input - e.g. a video camera)) and could be programmed to camera carry out certain tasks and should be able to decide for itself how the task should be accomplished, based on the observations it made of its environment.
Intelligent systems that could control the route of a missile and defencedefence-systems that could fend off attacks.
Word processors that could be controlled by means of speech recognition.
Programs that could translate documents from one language l anguage to another.
5th Generation
Some technological developments that could make the development of fifthfifth-generation computers possible, include:
Parallel-processing - many processors are grouped to Parallelfunction as one large group processor. Superconductors - a superconductor is a conductor through which electricity can travel without any resistance resulting in faster transfer of information between the components of a computer. Expert Systems helps doctors to reach a diagnosis by following the logical steps of problem solving just as if the doctor would have done it himself. Speech recognition systems, capable of recognising dictation and entering the text into a word processor, are already available.
The Fifth Generation AI ± Artificial Intelligence
How computers can be used for tasks that required human characteristics
Problem Solving by Search
An important aspect of intelligence is goal-based goal-based problem problem solving. The solution of many problems (e.g. noughts and crosses, timetabling, chess) can be described by finding a sequence of actions that lead to a desirable goal. Each action changes the state and the aim is to find the sequence of actions and states that lead from the initial (start) state to a final (goal) state.
A well-defined problem can be described by: 1. Initial state 2. Operator or successor function - for any state x returns s(x)), the set of states reachable from x with one action s(x 3. State space - all states reachable from initial by any sequence of actions 4. Path - sequence through state space 5. Path cost - function that assigns a cost to a path. Cost of a path is the sum of costs of individual actions along the path 6. Goal test - test to determine if at goal state
The Fifth Generation pert Systems Ex
Software used with an extensive set of organiz organi zed data that presents the computer as an expert on a particular topic
The Fifth Generation N atural atural Language
Humans communicate with computers in the language they use on a daily basis
The Fifth Generation Robotics
Computer -controlled device that can physically manipulate its surroundings
Robot development firm Speecys Corp. of Tokyo developed a small humanoid robot, powered entirely by easy-to-replace, environmentally friendly fuel-cell batteries. THOR on display and demonstration demo nstration circa 1981
The Fifth Generation V R ± V irtual irtual Reality
Engage a user in a computer -created environment ±
User physically interacts with computer -created environment
The E N ND
