ICT IV (Lecture II) 2012

Characteristics of a computer

1. It is a machine
2. It is electronic
3. It is automatic
4. It can manipulate data
5. It has memory
6. It has logic function.

Capabilities of a Computer

1. It is extremely fast, accurate, and reliable.
2. It can store large amounts of data.
3. It can remember or recall instantly all its stored data.
4. It can  handle large volumes of repetitive tasks accurately.
5. It can communicate with its operators and with other machines.
6. It is capable of remote processing wherein data are fed from afar.

Limitations of a computer:

1. It can do only what it is designed to do.
2. It cannot generate information nor make decisions on its own.
3. It cannot correct input data.
4. It cannot completely avoid making errors.

History of Computers

Ancient times - no computers or calculators yet.

Year 500 B.C. - the chinese invented the ABACUS considered to be the first computer device, which can perform simple addition and subtraction operations.

1617 - John Napier, a Scottish mathematician, invented the Napier’s Bone - A table of logarithm made of ivory. This reduced the complicated multiplication and division to simple addition and subtraction.

1630 - WilliamOughtred, An English mathematician, invented the SLIDE RULE, a device made of wood with movable scales arranged to slide opposite each other.

1642 - Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, invented the PASCALINE - the first mechanical calculating machine. This performed simple addition and subtraction and was capable of adding and subtracting numbers up to 9 digits.

1694 - Gottfried Wilhelm von Liebniz, a German mathematician. His machine, the LIEBNIZ MACHINE, consisted of stepped cylinder that could perform the four fundamental operations and square root.

1801 - Joseph Marie Jaquard, a French weaver and designer, devised the JAQUARD LOOM which used hole-punched cards. This machine wove variety of patterns.

1822 - Charles Babbage, an English mathematician and is known to be the Father of Modern Computer, invented the DIFFERENCE MACHINE. This was capable of computing mathematical tables and solve polynomial equation.

1833 - Charles Babbage also invented the ANALYTICAL MACHINE designed to perform complex mathematical calculations. This was considered to be the first general purpose computer.

1887 - Herman Hollerith, an American statician and founder of Tabulating Machine Company (now called International Business Machine or IBM) invented the CENSUS MACHINE. This adopted the concept of Jaquard’s punched card and operated by electricity and designed as a card reader - sorter. Its series of clock like registers could accept 10,000 values of items counted.

1892 - William Seward Burrough, an American inventor, designed a key-driven machine that produced a hardcopy. This was called ADDING/CALCULATING MACHINE.

1944 - Burrough invented the MARK I or ASCC (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator) machine that contains more than 15,000 vacuum tubes some of which are 3 feet tall.

1945 - John Presper Eckert, Jr. And William Mauchly from the University of Pennsylvania invented the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) that had the capacity to perform 5,000 computations per second.

1948 - The IBM developed a more different design than the ENIAC - the SSEC (Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator).

1950 - Eckert, Jr. And Mauchly again developed a machine - the UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) which could perform 10,000 computation per second.

            The IBM again developed a machine that could perform 100,000 computation per second and can store data internally. The machine was the IBM 704