GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

FIRST GENERATION -1940-1956: VACUUM TUBES

     The first generation of computers used vacuum tubes for circuirty and magnetic drums for memory. They were large in size, occupied a lot of spaceand produced enormous heat.

     They were very expensive to operate and consumed large amount of electricity. Sometimes the heat generated caused the computer to malfunction. First generation computers operated only on machine language. Input was based on punched cards and paper tabe, and output was displayed on printouts. First generation computers could solve only one problems at a time. 

1890AD- THE HOLLERITH TABULATING MACHINE

HOLLERITH TABULATING MACHINE

     A tabulating machine using punched cards was designed by herman hollerith and was called as the hollerith tabulating machine. This electronic machine is able to read the information on the punched cards and process it electronically.

1822AD-THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE

THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE

     The Difference Engine was built by charles babbage, British mathematician and engineer which mechanically calculated mathematical tables. Babbage is called the father of today's computer.

1642AD-THE ROTATING WHEEL CALCULATOR

THE ROTATING WHEEL CALCULATOR

     The Rotating Wheel Calculator was developed by a french philosopher, blasie pascal, using simple components such as gears and levers. This is a predecessor to today's electronic calculator. He was inspired by the computation work of this father's job and devised the model. He was only 19 years old, when he devised this model.

1633AD-THE SLIDE RULE

THE SLIDE RULE

     The slide rule invented by william oughtred. It is based on the principle that actual distance from the starting point of the rule is directly proportional to the logarithm of the numbers printed on the rule. The slide rule is embodied by the two sets of scales that are joined together, with a marginal space between them. The suitable alliance of two scales enabled the slide rule to perform multiplication and division by a method of addition and subtraction.

1614AD- THE NAPIER'S BONES

Napier's Bones

     The napier's bones was invented by john napier, a scottish mathematician as an aids to multiplication. A set of bones consisted of nine rods, one for each digit 1 through 9 and a constant rod for the digit '0'. A rod is similar to one column of a multiplication table.

EARLY HISTORY

2500BC- THE ABACUS

     Abacus is the first known calculating machine used for counting. It is made of beads strung on cords and is used for simple arithmetic calculations. The cords correspond to positions of decimal digits. The beads represents digits. Numbers are represented by beads close to the crossbar. Abacus was mainly used for addition and subtraction and later for division and multiplication.