The History of the Computer

As man evolved into a more intelligent being, the storage of information became more important to him in order for this life to be more rewarding.

Modern information technology would be just a coined phase if it were not for the invention of the computer. The computer as we know it is an electronic machine that processes data via a set of instructions, to perform a specific task and store and recall information at the touch of a button. It can be fun, especially with all the exciting features and games on it. It also helps, in many ways, to solve complex problems on its own. It is used in almost everything we do, for commercial, medical, science, the arts and personal uses.

The abacus was the most popular manual calculating device in the world. It is a mechanised pebble counter, the squire like structure has on beads strung on wires, and the beads are slid along the wires when counting or adding. The Abacus dates back over two thousand years. And it is still being used by some parts of the world today. The storage of information in that time era was evolving into a more efficient system as the business world was growing rapidly.

In 1944 the first computer hardware was born, which was known as the Mark 1. It was power off vacuum tubes and consume a lot of energy, especial been very large in size.

The second generation of computers was ushered in by the invention of the transistor. This was from 1959 to 1964. The development of the integrated circuits in 1963 "ruled the roost" until 1975 where they made further advancement by placing the entire circuit on silicon chip along with other computer components.

Advancement in computer technology

Micro Chip

Robert Noyce, a scientist who found Intel Corporation, developed the microchip. He created the chip by putting thousands of integrated circuits on a minute silicon chip. The chip is actually a microelectronic "system" capable of performing various tasks. It is not only the computer that uses the microchip but also pocket calculators, radio, television and cell-phones.

The improvement in the integrated circuits has made it possible for scientist to pack a large number of computer components on a single chip. The complexity that this combination produces on the digital circuit is due to the number of transistor or logic gate that is installed on the tiny chip. This makes it possible for large-scale integration. This allows multiple processing of jobs at the same time. For example, you can be playing music CD, while running excel or word.

These very small computer parts, which are not larger than the size of a baby's fingernail, are extremely powerful. It carries the main processing power in the computer hardware and is referred to as the microprocessor or the central processing unit. The CPU is made up of the control unit, the arithmetic/logic unit and the register. These elements are held on the integrated circuit or the silicon chip. Because of the microchip, more complex mathematical and very large amount of data can be processed. Since the advent of the silicon chip, science and technology has grown by leaps and bounds. No other advancement has made such a significant contribution to the industry.

Personal Computer

The personal computers have become very popular all over the world. These computers can be seen in offices, in the home and entertainment centres. The first personal computer was available to the public in 1974 by Miroc Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS) of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The personal computer was called the Altair 8800 and was retailed for $400. It had no keyboard and no permanent storage space, in fact it was a built it yourself kit.

The personal computer kit had a tremendous demand and so small manufacturing computer companies started to pop up to satisfy this demand. One such company that improved on the personal computer by adding computer parts such as a keyboard and display terminal was Tandy Corporation (Radio Shack), Tandy's model computer in 1977 could be programmed and stored information by using cassette tapes.

Today personal computers are more complex in its computer software architecture, in which you have multiprocessing of jobs. That means you can listen to a CD while working in Excel or word, as I had mention earlier. Thanks to a computer components known as the microchip.

Intel, who is the developer of the microchip, has dominated the PC market, in term of computer hardware, and has launched their new low-price Poulson chips. It has a speed of 10 GHz. computer companies such as Dell and Compaq have already begun to offer the new chip on their processors. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) who is a computer supplier of integrated circuits and communications software with their home page provides links to product and information, is saying that AMD Athlon 3Dnow! Chip is needed on the Pentium to run some application properly. But they also believe that Intel, who is the trailblazer, will continue to "rule the roost ", because, before the year-ends, they will be coming out with the chip with processing speed up to 1THz. This new advancement is expected to roll out Intel Pentium. This move will send the price of personal computers further down. Intel is hoping that Microsoft new Windows Operating System; Windows 7 will spur demand for their new Pentium.

Throughout the world more people and businesses are buying computers and computer parts to do their day to day routines. The development of the silicon chip reduced the size of the personal computer so it can hold on a desk and also in a shirt pocket. It has become more powerful and more affordable for the average person.

Computers are categorized in three categories, main frame, micro and minicomputers. Mainframe computers were with us since the first computer but the inception of the microchip made it possible for a computer to hold in a shirt pocket and 100,000 times faster than the first generation of computers!

Information systems development

Computers are helping to teach handicaps, disadvantage and gifted children. It also uses voice synthesizers to talk to them. Space travel, weather prediction and designing productions for the market, also construction of skyscrapers, would be impossible without supercomputer. You can be a thousand miles away and communicate information to a computer system, via a small device attached to your computer known as modem. Networking of computers makes it possible for management to make on the spot decisions. All these things are possible through systems known as the expert system and artificial intelligence. Software information system development in areas like transaction processing systems, Management information systems and decision support system are used in the commercial arena.

The Internet can make information that is found in a library, be available to you at the push of a button, when your computer is connected to it. In addition, it has revolutionized the communication industry. Advancement in computer technology allows for larger storage system by using honeycomb structure, which can store up to 40 petabyte of data and can be available in less than a second. Laser technology has further expanded the storage capacity making the computer possible to store up to a 1 million terabytes of data in a space the size of a post stamp. Furthermore, scientists have predicted that the beam of the laser has the potential of carrying all the conversation going on at once on the earth!

In addition to storage capacity, the flash drive can store up to 256 gigabytes or an equivalent of 1,000,000 textbooks. All this information on a stick 1/4 the size of a pencil, that is Incredible!

The future

The only intelligent computers that we have experienced are what we see in science fiction movies. Yet what you are seeing is what scientists have in mind. That is why the Americans and the Japanese are in a "rat race" to see who can first come up with the first thinking computers. If this breakthrough occurs, it will require major changes in construction and programming of the computer.

Scientists have just scratched the surface with virtual reality. What they hope to achieve is for the computer to reason, to learn from experiences, to reflect, and to make its own choices. Although computers have been programmed to learn from experience, such as playing games, it cannot think on its own. Scientist first has to understand and fully define the thinking process before they can make a breakthrough in common sense reasoning.

Conclusion

Computers have become a vital tool in the business world, because it allows faster processing of information, therefore greater productivity at the work place.

Whether we like it or not, computers are here to stay, it's what we call the computer age. The speed at which information is processed frightens many workers, fearing it will put them out of jobs. Rest assures that computers are not here to take over. They are here to assist man to get ahead faster.

Computers have helped us tremendously in every facet of life, for example doctors use computers in term of AI, to help disabled patients to walk and hear better and perform operation when he is 4000 miles away from the patient! It also helps in the education of emotionally impaired and both gifted and disadvantaged students. It is a vital tool to scientific research and advancement. The results are all around us. You just have to stop and think where all those wonders of technology came from.

The industry that has benefited tremendously from computer technology is the business industry. It has revolutionized how business activities are conducted all over the world. The computers have become a part of the business structure and operation procedure; in fact, it has become second best to the human resources.

Garth Simpson is passionate about computers and he is the CEO of his own business. Please visit:
http://www.Onlinecomputerhardwareandsoftware.com
http://www.shopelectronicappliances.com

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