INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER STUDIES

Unit Two: Evolution Of Computers

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Unit Two: Evolution Of Computers

Unit Objectives
 To trace the origin and explain evolution of computers:
 Origin of Computing
 Mechanical era
 Electro-mechanical era
 Electronic era (including Computer Generations)
 To identify and compare the different developments in the
evolution computers

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 Unit Introduction
 The word Evolution comes from the Latin word, ‘ēvolvō’ which
literally means; to ‘unroll’, or to ‘unfold’.
 Evolution of computers refers to the historical developments
through which computers and technology have passed, from the
time they started to exist in ancient forms to their current state.
 Knowledge about the history/evolution of computers gives us a
deeper understanding of the origin and the gradual Mechanical to
Electro-mechanical to Electronic technological changes, that have
brought about the kind of computers we see today, and helps us
to predict how they will be in future.

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 a) Origin of Computing (Counting
and Calculating using devices)
 The origin of computing started with the early man who
used fingers, stones, sticks, marks on walls, sand, e.t.c.
 The word ‘compute’ was derived from two Latin words;
‘com’, which means ‘together’ and ‘putare’, which may
means ‘add, calculate, count, or estimate’.
 Over the centuries, people have developed an amazing
variety of data processing tools and techniques.
 Examples of Ancient counting and calculating devices
include The abacus, Napier’s bones, the Slide rule.

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 i). The Abacus (3000 BC)
 The beginning or foundation of computing devices is the abacus,
which was developed in 3000 BC by Chinese (about 5000 years
ago).
 It was built out of wood and beads.
 It has two decks. Each bead in the upper deck is equal to 5 units
while Each bead in the lower deck is equal to 1 unit.
 Only beads in the middle position are counted.
 The abacus helps people keep track of numbers as they do the
computing. It is quick but has no storage capabilities.

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 i). The Abacus (3000 BC)

 The figure here represents the number 1,352,964,708

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 The Abacus (cont)
 The abacus is still in use
today by schools and
shopkeepers in Asia. Blind
children are taught to use the
abacus to perform
calculations.
 The abacus is an excellent
substitute for teaching other
base numbering systems,
since it easily adapts itself to
any base.

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 ii). Napier’s bones (1617)
 John Napier was a Scottish
mathematician and inventor. Napier
is famous for creating the decimal
point. In 1617, the last year of his
life, Napier invented a tool called
“Napier's Bones”.
 Napier's bones were multiplication
tables written on strips of bones,
ivory, silver, or wood. The invention
was used for simplifying
multiplication, division, and taking
square roots and cube roots.
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 Napier’s bones (cont)
 It had a set of rods, allowing
computations up to
100,000,000.
 The left (or “index”)rod is fixed
to the case. It is numbered
from 1 to 9.
 The movable rods are
numbered at the top.
 The numbers down the rods
show the product of the
number at the top times the
corresponding numbers on
the index rod. O level ComputerComputer
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iii). William Oughtred’s Slide rule
 In 1622, William Oughtred created the slide rule which originally
circular and was based on logarithms. It was the primary
calculator for engineers throughout the 19th and early 20th
centuries.
 With a common accuracy of only three digits, the slide rule, was
not suited to situations where accuracy was needed such as in
accounting.
 The slide rule is an analog device and it is still widely used.

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 b) The Mechanical Computers
era (1642 - 1890)
 Before 1642, all computations were done by
humans.
 Manual devices used then could just aid the users
to keep track of numbers as they did the
computing.
 In the Mechanical Era (Period) however, machines
with gears work did the computations.

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 b) The Mechanical Computers
era (1642 - 1890)
 The popular mechanical developments of computers in
this period include:
 Blaise Pascal's Calculator (1642),
 Leibniz’s Stepped Reckoner (1694),
 Jacquard’s Loom (1801), and
 Charles Babbage’s Analytical & Difference Engine
(1834).
 This era also saw the development of the world's first
computer programmer Ada Byron Lovelace (1815-1852)

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 i) Blaise Pascal's Calculator
(1642)
 Pascal, Blaise (1623-62),
was a French philosopher,
mathematician and physicist.
 In 1642, at the age of 18, he
invented the first mechanical
calculator to speed
arithmetic calculations for his
father, a tax official.

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 i) Blaise Pascal's Calculator
(1642)
 Numbers were dialed in on the metal wheels on the front
of the calculator.
 The solutions appear in the little windows along the top.

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 (ii) Leibniz’s Stepped Reckoner
(1694)
 The Stepped Reckoner was a digital
mechanical calculator invented by
German mathematician Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz around 1672 and
completed in 1694.
 It was the first calculator that could
perform all four arithmetic
operations: addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division.

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 (ii) Leibniz’s Stepped Reckoner
(1694)
 Its complex gear work, however, was a bit beyond the
manufacturing technology of the time;
 Mechanical problems, in addition to design defects in the carry
mechanism, prevented the machines from working reliably.

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 (iii) Jacquard’s Loom (1801)
 In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard
(1752-1834) of France made the
first successful automatic draw
loom by means of a series of
instructions given to the threads
by a punched card system.
 The loom could produce
complex patterns and pictures in
silk and other materials.

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 (iii) Jacquard’s Loom (1801)
 By 1812, the punched card
device was attached to
18,000 looms in Lyons.
 The Jacquard loom was a
technological break- through.

 J. M. Jacquard even received

a pension from Napoléon for
his invention.

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 (iv) Charles Babbage’s Analytical &
Difference Engine (1834)
 The concept of today's computers
(Input - Process - Output) was first
visualized by Charles Babbage in
1834 in England.
 He is therefore regarded as the
father of computers.
 His idea for the Analytical Engine
consisted of 4 parts: an input device,
a mill (processing unit), a storage
device, and an output device.

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Charles Babbage’s Analytical &
Difference Engine (1834)
 It used punched-card system
derived from the jacquard
loom for input, processing
and output
 Variable punched cards
transported numbers back
and forth from the mill.
 It decided what operation to
use, addition, subtraction,
multiplication, or division.

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The First Computer Programmer
 Ada Byron Lovelace (1815-1852) was the
world's first computer programmer.  
 In 1842, Ada was asked to write a scientific
interpretation of the Analytical Engine and
its operations.
 These extensive writings on the Analytical
Engine later became known as the first
explanation of computer programming.
 A computer language, Ada, was later named
after her by the Ada Joint Program Office in
1964
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 (c)The Electro-mechanical
Computers Era (1890 - 1946)
 Before 1890, Electricity was not used by computers.
 As Electricity availability was becoming widespread, it
was involved in the use of computational devices.
 The popular developments of computers in the Electro-
mechanical era include:
i. Hollerith's tabulating machine (1890)
ii. Howard Aiken’s Harvard Mark I (1944)
iii.Program “debugging”

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(i) Hollerith's tabulating machine
(1890)
 Herman Hollerith (1860 –1929) was
an American statistician who
developed a mechanical tabulator
based on punched cards to rapidly
tabulate statistics from millions of
pieces of data.
 He decided to use punched cards to
represent the data gathered for the
USA population census of 1890, and
to read and collate this data using an
automatic machine.
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 (i) Hollerith's tabulating machine
(1890)
 Hollerith’s machine used a set of spring
loaded wires suspended over the
punched card reader.
 When the wires were pressed onto the
card, punched holes allowed wires to
complete electric circuits.
 The cards were coded for age, state of
residence, gender, and other information
 The census results were "... finished
months ahead of schedule and far under
budget".

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Howard Aiken’s Harvard Mark I
(1944)
 While a professor of Physics at
Harvard University, Howard
Aiken, was supported by IBM to
build an electro-mechanical
computer which began
computations for the U.S. Navy
Bureau of Ships.
 The computer was called the
Automatic Sequence Controlled
Calculator – (ASCC) by IBM but
Aiken renamed it the Mark I

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 Howard Aiken’s Harvard Mark I
(1944)
 It was very reliable, much more
so than early electronic
computers.
 The computer had mechanical
relays (switches) which flip-
flopped back and forth to
represent mathematical data.
 It was huge, weighting some
35 tons with 500 miles of
wiring.

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 The First Computer Debugger
 Dr. Grace Murray Hopper was a
lady in the U.S. Navy Bureau of
Ships, who worked with Howard
Aiken from 1944 and used his
machine for gunnery and
ballistics calculation
 One day, the program she was
running gave incorrect results
and, upon examination, a bug
(moth) was found blocking one of
the relays.
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 The First Computer Bug

 The bug was removed and the program performed to perfection.

Since then, a program error in a computer is known as a bug.
 Debugging is a process of finding and correcting errors, in a
computer program or a piece of electronic hardware.

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 Electronic era (1946 - Today) including
The Computer Generations
 Application of mechanical gears in Computers stopped in
the Electro-mechanical era.
 Computer evolution since 1946 has been categorized into
five generations.
 Each generation had a major characteristic development
(commonly referred to as Hallmark) and distinct
characteristics in terms of Physical setup, Technology,
Software, and Set-backs of the computers.

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 The first generation (1946 –
1958): Vacuum Tubes
Hallmark:
 The computers used vacuum tubes.
 The vacuum tube was an extremely
important step in the advancement of
computers.
 It's purpose was to act like an amplifier
and a switch.
 Without any moving parts, vacuum
tubes could take very weak signals and
make the signal stronger (amplify it)

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 The first generation (1946 – 1958):
Physical setup: Vacuum Tubes
 Physically, First generation computers were very large. Machines with
hundreds of thousands of vacuum tubes were built, taking up space
of several floors in big buildings. They weighed about 30 tons

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 The first generation (1946 –
1958):
Technology: Vacuum Tubes
 They used punched cards and paper tape for input.
 They used magnetic drums for memory.
 The had memory size of approximately 2kilobytes of RAM .
 They used binary number system.
 Speed was about 10,000 instructions per second.
Software:
 First generation computers used machine language, the
lowest-level programming language understood by
computers.

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 The first generation (1946 – 1958):
Setbacks:
Vacuum Tubes
 They broke down frequently  They produced a lot of noise.
(Required standby technicians)  They had limited primary
 Needed very many people to memory, and so they were very
operate due to their huge size. slow.
 High level of training was  They were very expensive to
required before use buy, setup and maintain.
 They produced a lot of heat and They were not portable
burned out.  Manual assembly of individual
 They consumed a lot of power components into one functioning
unit required.
 Air conditioning required
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 The first generation (1946 –
1958): Vacuum Tubes
Examples of first generation computers:
1. ENIAC - Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
(1946) was the first electronic digital computer. It had over
18,000 vacuum tubes.
2. EDVAC - Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic computer
(1947) was built for the U.S. Army's Ballistics Research
Laboratory
3. The UNIVAC (1951) (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) was
the first general-purpose electronic digital computer
designed for commercial use.
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The second generation (1958 –
1964): Transistors
Hallmark:
 A transistor is a semiconductor
device used to amplify and switch
electronic signals. It is made of a
solid piece of semiconductor
material.
 The invention of the transistor
replaced the vacuum tube and
paved the way for smaller and
cheaper computers.
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 The second generation (1958 –
1964): Transistors
Physical setup:
 The computers reduced in
size as compared to first
generation computers, and
could now fit in one room.
 A typical second-generation
computer contained 10,000
transistors hand soldered
and connected by wires.

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 The second generation (1958 – 1964):
Technology:
Transistors
 They still used punched cards for  Memory moved from a
input and printouts for output magnetic drum to magnetic
 Memory size expanded to core technology, in which
approximately 32kilobytes Hard disk storage was now
 The computers increased in available. (see figure)
processing speed and reliability -
Speed was about 30,000
instructions per second
 Transistors consumed less power as
compared to vacuum tubes

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 The second generation (1958 –
1964): Transistors
Software:
 Second generation computers used assembly and high
level programming languages such as FORTRAN
(FORmula TRANslator) which allowed programmers to
specify instructions in words.

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 The second generation (1958 – 1964):
Transistors
Setbacks:  The computers could still run
 They produced less noise but only one application program
their cost was still very at a time (Multi-tasking was
expensive. not possible)
 High level of training was  Air-conditioning was required.
required before use.  Manual assembly of individual
 Transistors gave much heat that
components into a functioning
could damage other components.
 Commercial production was unit was required.
difficult and costly.

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 The second generation (1958 –
1964): Transistors
Examples of second generation computers:
1. IBM 305 RAMAC.(1956), was the first commercial computer that
used a moving head hard disk drive (magnetic disk storage) for
secondary storage. RAMAC stood for "Random Access Method of
Accounting and Control".
2. The IBM 1401, - was a variable word length decimal computer that
was announced by IBM on October 5, 1959
3. The CDC 6600 was a mainframe computer from Control Data
Corporation, first delivered in 1964. It remained the world's fastest
computer from 1964–1965.

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 The third generation (1965 –
1970): Integrated Circuits
Hallmark
 Integrated Circuits. An integrated circuit (IC) was just a
combination of thousands of transistors and tiny wires onto a
small "chip" made of semi-conductor material such as silicon.

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 The third generation (1965 –
1970): Integrated Circuits
Physical setup
 The computers extremely reduced in size due to
fabrication of various circuit elements in a single
chip.
 As a result, the computer could now fit onto a desk and the
monitor became the largest visible part of the computer.
 For the first time, Electronic computers became accessible
to a mass audience because they became cheaper.

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 The third generation (1965 –
1970): Integrated Circuits
Technology:
 The keyboards and monitors replaced punched cards for input
and output.
 Magnetic hard disks were developed for storage purposes
 Memory size expanded to approximately 2 megabytes of RAM
 The computers became more reliable because of elimination of
soldered joints and need for fewer inter-connections.
 Speed increased to 5 million instructions per second
 Integrated Circuits consumed a lower electric power.
 The noise produced by the computers reduced drastically.

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 The third generation (1965 –
1970): Integrated Circuits
Software:
 Simple programming languages like BASIC were
introduced.

 Multi-tasking was now possible. (Users interfaced with an

operating system which could run different applications at
the same time.)

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 The third generation (1965 –
1970): Integrated Circuits
Setbacks:
 Highly sophisticated technology required for the manufacture of IC
chips.
 They required Air-conditioning in many cases due to the heat
produced.
 If any component in an IC fails, the whole IC has to be replaced by
a new one.
 Operations were at a low voltage because ICs function at fairly
low voltage.
 Quite delicate in handling as these cannot withstand rough
handling or excessive heat
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 The third generation (1965 –
1970): Integrated Circuits
Examples of third generation computers:
Popular developments in the third generation include:
 The PDP-8 was the first commercially successful
minicomputer. It sold more than 50,000 systems for $18,000.
 The HP-2115 which was made by Hewlett-Packard (HP)
 Fast minicomputers such as IBM 360 series and ICL 19000
series

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 The third generation (1965 –
1970): Integrated Circuits
 Another very good development that came up in this
generation (1969) was The Advanced Research Projects
Agency Network (ARPANET),the world's first operational
packet switching network
 The ARPANET is the core network of a set that came to
become the global Internet.
 The network was created by a small research team at the
United States Department of Defense.

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The fourth generation (1971 – to
date): Microprocessors.
Hallmark:
 Microprocessors are VLSI devices.
 Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) is the
process of creating integrated circuits by
combining thousands of transistors into a
single chip.
 The microprocessor brought the fourth
THE INTEL 4004 OF
generation of computers, as thousands of (1971)
integrated circuits were rebuilt onto a single
silicon chip.
 Invention of the microprocessor was made
by a team at Intel Corporation.
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The fourth generation (1971 – to
date): Microprocessors.
Physical setup:
 The physical size of computers kept on reducing
generation to generation.
 With the development of micro-chips, what in the
first generation filled an entire floor could now fit in
the palm of the hand.

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 The fourth generation (1971 – to date):
Microprocessors.
Technology:
 The fourth generation computers saw the development of the mouse and
handheld input devices.
 The Fourth generation computers were more powerful, they could be
linked together to form networks.
 A vast variety of Storage memory media used such as Floppy disks
(1971),Optical Compact Discs(1982), USB flash drive disks(2000), etc.
 Memory size progressively expanded up to more than 8 Gigabytes of RAM
 The computers became very reliable.
i.e. Computers can work for a long time
without breaking down.

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The fourth generation (1971 – to
date): Microprocessors.
 There has been development of extremely fast computers referred
to as super computers with speeds over 100 million instructions
per second.
 Further developments in this fourth generation include the
merging of Telecommunication and Computing Technology.
 They don’t require air conditioning because they have inbuilt
cooling mechanisms.
 This generation also saw the development of Laptop and Palmtop
computers which were portable and suitable for mobile business.

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 The fourth generation (1971 – to date):
Microprocessors.
Software:
 Operating systems based on
the Graphical User Interface
(GUI) were developed.
 A GUI is a user Interface in
which visual images such as
icons and buttons are used to
issue commands.

 Microsoft Windows 1.0 was released by Bill Gates’

Microsoft Corporation on November 20, 1985.

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The fourth generation (1971 – to
date): Microprocessors.
Setbacks:
 Highly sophisticated technology required for the manufacture of
VLSI chips.
 In a microprocessor chip, the various components are part of a
small semi-conductor chip and the individual component or
components cannot be removed or replaced, therefore, if any
component in a microprocessor fails, the whole microprocessor has
to be replaced by a new one.
 Operations at low voltage as microprocessors function at fairly low
voltage.
 Quite delicate in handling as these cannot withstand rough handling
or excessive heat
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The fourth generation (1971 – to
date): Microprocessors.
Examples
 The Xerox Alto (1973) was the first computer to use a
GUI.

 The IBM 5100, portable computer that appeared in

September 1975.

 The Apple Macintosh (1984 ), was a mouse-driven

computer at a much cheaper price.

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 The fifth generation
(Today to future):
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
Hallmark:
 Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of
machines to have human capabilities,
such as the five senses (to see, hear,
feel, taste, smell), plus, understanding,
communication, reasoning, learning,
learning from past experiences,
planning, and problem solving.
 In future, computers are to be applicable
in almost every imaginable place at
home, office, factory, church, etc.

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The fifth generation (Today to future): Artificial
Intelligence and Robotics.
 Physical setup: The physical size of computers in this
generation can be customized to any shape of interest – be it as
small as a pen or in the shape of a human being.

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 Artificial
Intelligence
and
Robotics.

 The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that

respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and
self-organization.
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 The fifth generation (Today to future):
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
Technology:
 There is use of coordinated parallel processing; where computers have
many microprocessors being used side by side.
 We shall see the development of many gadgets like remote control and
optical input devices.
 Secondary Storage Hard disk drives which can store Terabytes of Data.
 RAM will continue to increase to 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB,128GB e.t.c.
 The computers to become 99% reliable.
 More development of Notebook and Mobile computers which can store
power for a long time, hence becoming too mobile.
 More networking containing millions of interconnected 4th Generation
computers.

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 The fifth generation (Today to future):
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
 Technology (cont)
 Molecular computers expected, Composed of millions of DNA
(Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid ) strands in plastic tubes.
 Information-processing tools-such as enzymes and
proofreading mechanisms are going to be taken in large
numbers of DNA molecules and used as biological computer
processors.
 Diligent Robots will be highly used in many areas such as
factories where repetitive tasks are done.
 Computers to have Quantum computation and molecular and
nanotechnology.
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 The fifth generation (Today to future):
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
Software:
 Fifth-generation programming languages (5GLs) will be used.
 5GLs are based around solving problems using controls given
to the program, rather than using an procedure written by a
programmer,
 They contain visual tools to help develop the programs.
 Visual Basic is an example of a 5GL
 There will be a wide variety of computer Operating Systems and
Application programs designed to solve specific tasks in a user-
friendly manner.

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 The fifth generation (Today to future):
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
Setbacks and Demerits of Fifth Generation Computers
 Computer Obsession and addiction is seriously spoiling
the writing and thinking abilities of human beings.
 Computer Crime such as hacking and online theft is on
the rise due to misuse of 5th Generation computer
technology.
 Robotics in the fifth generation will cause unemployment
as machines take on the jobs people could do.

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 Examples of fifth generation computers:
 TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot
Apple’s Founder,
(2007) is a humanoid robot Steve Jobs
designed to play table tennis announces
The iPad on
against a human being. Jan 27, 2010.
 Hospital Robots are becoming
more useful to hospital staff; from
supporting surgeons to paying
bedside visits to patients.

 The iPad (2010) is a tablet computer designed and marketed by Apple

Inc., with a flat touch screen. It is primarily operated by touching the
screen rather than using a physical keyboard.
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 Comparison and summary of the different
developments in the evolution of computers
Comparison using timeline
What is a Timeline?
 If you look at a list of dates and events you may not easily
understand which event was first and which was last.

 A Timeline is a graphic representation of the relationship of events

in comparison to each other, over a specified time period.

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Question.
What does this time line tell us?
A. Computers were developed mostly by men
B. Computers were mostly developed within
the last 250 years
C. The first computer was developed in 2000
BC in China
D. Computers were mostly developed within
the last 50 years
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 TIMELINE ACTIVITY
(use graph paper)
 TIMELINE ACTIVITY
(use graph paper) To a scale of 4cm to represent 100 years on the
y- axis, Construct a timeline showing the major developments in
the period 1600 to 2000

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 Comparison and summary of the
different developments in the evolution
of computers
 Comparison using table:
Activity:
Draw a table to compare the different developments in the evolution
of computers
COMPUTER (YEAR) INVENTOR CHARACTERISTICS
AND COMMENTS
Abacus Chinese, Sumerians Position of the beads correspond
to numbers. For quick addition
(5000 BCE) only. Used even today!

John Napier Napier’s bones Napier's bones were multiplication

(1617) tables written on strips of bones,
ivory, silver, or wood.
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 Comparison and summary of the different
developments in the evolution of computers
COMPUTER INVENTOR CHARACTERISTICS
(YEAR) AND COMMENTS
The slide rule, an analog
Slide rule (1622) William device based on logarithms,
Oughtred provided sufficient precision
With a common accuracy of
only three digits.
Pascal's Calculator Blaise Pascal Hoping to help his tax-
(Pascaline) commissioner father, young
Pascal developed this little
(1642)
device that could add
reliably. It had rotating dials
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 Comparison and summary of the different
developments in the evolution of computers
COMPUTER INVENTOR CHARACTERISTICS AND
(YEAR) COMMENTS
Leibniz's Stepped G.W. Von •The stepped drum could accommodate
repeated additions and subtractions,
Reckoner Leibniz effectively enabling multiplication and
(1694) division.
•It had gears and stepped drums.
•It was the first to have all the four
operations
Jacquard’s Loom •First successful automatic draw loom by
Joseph
means of a series of instructions given to
(1801) Marie the threads by a punched card system.
Jacquard •It could produce complex patterns and
pictures in silk and other materials.
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 Comparison and summary of the different
developments in the evolution of computers
COMPUTER INVENTOR CHARACTERISTICS AND
(YEAR) COMMENTS
Analytical Engine Charles Babbage, •First to have Input processing and output.
inventor; •We know a lot about it due to Lady Ada's
(1834) Lady Ada Lovelace, detailed writings and her programs
programmer; •It had gears on cylinder, and used punched
cards.
•It could perform all arithmetic operations.

Tabulating •Electro- mechanical machine based

machine(1890) on punched cards to rapidly tabulate
Herman statistics from millions of pieces of
Hollerith data
•Used during American census of
24-Feb-11 O level Computer Studies Topic One: Introduction to Computer Studies 72
1890. 2017
Computer Studies Department,
 Comparison and summary of the different
developments in the evolution of computers
COMPUTER INVENTOR CHARACTERISTICS AND
(YEAR) COMMENTS
Harvard Mark I (1944) Howard Aiken •Also called ASCC(Automatic Sequence
and IBM. Controlled Calculator) an electro-
Debugged by mechanical computer which began
computations for the U.S. Navy Bureau
Dr. Grace
of Ships.
Murray Hopper

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 SUMMARY TABLE FOR THE ELECTRONIC ERA WITH COMPUTER GENERATIONS
GENERATIO 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH 5TH
N (1946-1958) (1958-1964) (1964-1971) (1971 TO DATE) (TODAY TO FUTURE)
(Period)
Hall mark Vacuum Tubes Transistors Integrated Circuits Microprocessors Artificial Intelligence and
(LSI devices) (VLSI devices) Robotics
Physical Size Could fill entire Could fit in a single Could now fit onto a Mobile Computers Could fit Can be customized to any
floor of Large room desk in the palm of the hand. shape of interest
Buildings
Input Punched Cards Punched Cards Keyboard Keyboard, Mouse Voice Recognition, Touch,
Sensors, e.tc.
Primary 2Kilobytes 32Kilobytes 2Mega Bytes Continued increasing. Up Will continue to increase to 16,
Memory (RAM) to 8GB 32, 64,128 e.t.c.
Secondary Magnetic Drum Magnetic Core Magnetic Hard Disks A variety of Storage media •Hard disks with a lot
Storage eg, Floppy Optical (Terabytes) of Memory,
Compact Discs and USB •Internet hard drives,
flash drives •Micro memory cards
Processing 10,000 30,000 instructions 5 MIPS 100MIPS Multiprocessors, with Billions of
Speed instructions per per second instructions per second.
second.
Software Machine Assembly and high Simple programming Operating systems with a Fifth-generation programming
Language level programing languages like Graphical User Interface languages (5GLs)
languages BASIC (GUI) were Developed.

Multitasking Not possible Not possible Possible Possible Possible

Noise, Heat, Too much Noise & Power Air conditioning still Computers now have No noise, little power
Power consumption required to heat. internal cooling consumption, no heat!
consumption reduced. mechanisms.
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Examples ENIAC, EDVAC IBM 305 RAMAC Computer
PDP-8Studies Department,
Xerox 2017
Alto, IBM 5100 iPad , Hospital Robots