The History of Computers

By: Heather McLachlan

TASKS COMPUTERS PERFORM


The basic tasks computers perform are:
Communication
Research
Information Storage
Performs Calculations and Functions
Ways Computers are used in schools:
Mobile Phones
Learning Tools
Tools for Communication
Changes Temperature in Classrooms
THE FIRST COMPUTERS
Ancestors of Computers:
Abacus
Sky Disk of Nebra
Antikythera



Reason why early computers break
down so often:
Early Computers generated too much
heat causing them to break down.

Early Computers
3 Early Computers from the 40s and 50s:
1. Mark One
2. Univac
3. CSIRAC




Some of the earlier computer languages were:
Cobol- Stands for Common Business Oriented Language. It developed in the late
1950s and early 1960s.
Fortran- Stands for Formula Translator. Its the oldest high level programming
language and it was designed in the late 1950s.
Basic- Stands for Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Developed in
the mid 1960s and its one of the earliest high level programming language.




2
nd
vs. 3
rd
Generation Computers
Advantages of 2
nd
Generation
Computers:
Smaller than 1
st
generation
Generated less heat 1
st
than
generation
Cheaper than 1
st
generation
More Reliable than 1
st
generation

2
nd
Generation 3
rd
Generation
Advantages of 3
rd
Generation
Computers:
Smaller size than previous
generations
Computations were performed
in nano seconds
Less heat generated
Computers were cheaper and
easily portable
Hardware failure was rare

INFORMATION ABOUT PCS
What PC stands for and who made PCs?
PC stands for Personal Computer
Philip Don Estridge invented PCs in 1972
The First Large Scale production personal computer was:
Apple 2- It became one of the most popular computers ever and it was one of the
first computers with colour display. It has BASIC programming language built-in, so
it is ready-to-run right out of the box. Apple 2 was probably the first user-friendly
system.


PCs gained access to the World Wide Web:
in the mid 90s
WHAT IS MULTIMEDIA?
Multimedia: the combined use of several
media, as sound and full-motion video in
computer applications,

CONCEPT OF CONVERGENCE
Convergence:
The coming together of two or more disparate
disciplines or technologies.
Voice, data interact all on one platform.

WHAT COMPUTERS ARE LIKE
TODAY
Currently we are using 5
th
generation computers. 5
th
generation
computing devices are based on artificial intelligence are still in
development but there are still some functions that are being used today
such as voice recognition. The goal of 5
th
-generation computing is to
develop devices that respond to the natural language input and are
capable of learning and self-organization.

To learn more information about the history of computers click the link below:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDagL3mZi90

This concludes my Power Point about the History of Computers.