# Introduction

ince time immemorial and still today man has been feeling the need to compute, count, store and get accurate results all the time and always. It is quite apparent and significant that in our daily life, we need to keep written records what we have done in the past, basically in the form of numerals to increase productivity, growth and efficiency. In the past, man had felt the need to prepare navigational table, logarithmic table and trigonometric table for which the man himself was not efficient. From the history of computational work done in the past, man has observed the following shortcomings/limitations/demerit in the manual computational work. The demerits include: a) man/woman cannot work continuously for a longer period of time. b) Problem of short memory (memory loss) c) repetitive task is boredom d) results are prone to error (problem of inaccuracy) e) not efficient for scientific calculation.

In order to find the solution of the above problems, man has been continuously searching and inventing machine to replace man with machines to get the desired and accurate result. So in this paper, some of the early but significant achievements of man in the field of computing have been enumerated as under.

Author : Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences, Allahabad. E-mail : zobair_hzb@yahoo.co.in II.


# Definition a) Computer in the past

The term 'computer' is derived from the Latin word "computare" meaning to calculate. In the past, computer is restricted only to arithmetic calculations.


# b) Computer in modern form

Computer is defined as an advanced electronic device that takes raw data as input from the user and process these data under the control of set of instructions called program and gives the result called output and saves output for the future use.


# III.

Early computers a) Computers before 300BC Men/Women: ---During this period, the word computer was used to describe human beings (basically women).Their primary job was to perform the repetitive calculations like navigational tables, tide charts and planetary positions for astronomical almanacs. Therefore, we can say that a group of intelligent women were first computers.     Charles Babbage: The English mathematician proposed a stream driven calculating machine called the Difference engine. The machine would be able to compute tables of numbers, such as logarithmic table. But unfortunately the project of Difference Engine failed due to over expense. Soon after Babbage had introduced a new machine called Analytic Engine powered by six steam engines. In this project Babbage had used punched card to store numbers for future use and a mechanism to get result. Charles Babbage had divided Analytic Engine into two parts the "store" and the "Mill". The term "store" indicates the place where numbers are held and the "Mill" indicate the place where numbers are processed to give new results. The development of the Analytic engine with the idea of "store" and "Mill" is considered as the major breakthrough in computer history because in a modern computer the same kind of parts are called the memory unit and the central processing unit (CPU).Due to this reason only, he is called the father of modern computer.


# h) 1890

Hollerith: He had the insight to convert punched card to what is today called a read/write technology. Hollerith built a company, the tabulating machine company which after a few buyouts eventually became International Business machines, known today as IBM.          ? IBM and Apple introduced computers for the home users. ? Desktop computers were introduced in this generation. ? Computers became more powerful. Computers could be linked together to form networks which eventually led to the development of the internet. ? GUI (Graphical User Interface), the mouse and handheld devices have been introduced. ? Extensive use of computer software based on the conversion of high level language into machine readable language called low level language. More RAM the computer has, the better will be its speed and performance. The speed of the RAM connection directly controls how fast the computer can access instructions and data. Therefore, it has a big effect on system performance. Much of the memory available today is dual data rate (DDR) memory. This means that the memory can transmit data twice per cycle instead of once, which makes the memory faster.


# Generations of Electronic Computer

ii. Design of advanced motherboards

? Newer motherboards provide facility to connect to the north bridge via a dual bus instead of a single bus. This reduces the amount of time it takes for the processor to get information from the memory. ? Newer motherboards provide space or slots for multiple memory chips to increase computer speed.


# iii. Design of microprocessor

As we increase the number of transistors, the processor become faster. The drastic increase in number of transistors resulted in tremendously fast processors. For instance, in 1971 the Intel 4004 chip contained 2300 transistors only and was considered as a very slow processor. But in 1993 the Intel had launched a very fast processor namely Pentium chip that contained 3,100,000 transistors. The following technologies have been employed to increase the number of transistors in ac IC or a chip. These are commonly referred to as generations of IC. and pattern recognition. The approach definitely remove the demerits of fourth generation computer and will prove to be a more reliable and versatile machine ever made by mankind. The new techniques used to achieve the above target are Artificial Intelligence (AI), voice recognition, quantum computation and Nanotechnology. Here, we first try to understand the following terms one by one.

ii. Artificial Intelligence (AI) It is a branch of science that believes in making computers or machines that can find solutions to complex problems in a more human like fashion. Research on AI has focussed chiefly on the following components of intelligence: learning, reasoning, problem solving, perception and human language understanding.

iii. Applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

? Advance computer game playing and robotics pets.

? Speech recognition by a computer ? Understanding natural language by a computer ? Identifying 3 dimensional objects by a computer ? Developing expert system in medical science by a computer iv. Voice recognition Voice recognition refers to the ability of a machine to receive and interpret dictation, words or phrases spoken by humans. It is the technology by which sounds, words, phrases and sentences spoken by humans are converted into electrical signals, and these signals are transformed into coding patterns to which meaning has been assigned. Efforts have been made to speak a word or phrase into a microphone, then the electrical signal from the microphone is digitized by an "analog to digital (A/D) converter" and is stored in memory. Here the spoken words are considered as an input to a computer program. This technology will definitely eliminate peripherals like keyboard and mouse from computer system. v. Quantum computing It is the area of study focussed on developing computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory, which explains the nature and behaviour of energy and matter on the quantum (atomic and subatomic) level. Development of a quantum computer would mark a leap forward in computing capability far greater than that from the Abacus to a modern day super computer, with performance gains in the billion fold realm and beyond. The quantum computer, following the laws of quantum physics, would gain enormous processing power through the ability to be in multiple states, and to perform tasks using all possible permutations simultaneously. The concept and an approach to quantum computing is still under research and development. 


# vii. Applications of Nanotechnology

? Scientists are trying to build machines on the scale of molecules. For instance, a few nanometre wide motors, robot arms and a complete computer far smaller than a cell. ? A computer using nanotechnology can make copies of data files -essentially as many copies as we want at little or no cost.


# viii. Natural language

Natural language is defined as any human language. Example: English, French, Chinese, Hindi etc. Scientists are trying to replace programming languages like FORTRAN, BASIC, C, C++, Java with natural language.

VII.


# Conclusion

This paper describes the need and emergence of a machine like computer. Efforts have been made to describe the different stages of development of computer right from since time immemorial to 2012 and beyond. With the passage of time man has witnessed different forms of computer with much more improved capability. Development of computer has witnessed major technological changes and more sophisticated techniques have been employed to present a much better computer than the past. This paper also laid emphasis on the role played by the major contributors in the development of a more advanced, sophisticated and portable machine.

VIII.
![of human computer ? Repetitive job is boring ? Carelessness leads to error ? Not good and efficient for longer period of time ? Accuracy problem ? Team work ? A lot of space needed to set up laboratory/office ? Time consuming These problems forced man to search for a new method, device, technique or a mechanism to solve real world problems quickly, accurately and efficiently. b) Computers at 300BC To get rid of human errors, man had developed a calculating machine called ABACUS. It was first developed, invented and used by the Babylonians.i. Salient features of Abacus? Abacus aids the memory of the human performing the calculation. ? Addition and subtraction can be done efficiently but multiplication and division are slower.Global Journal of Computer Science and TechnologyVolume XII Issue XI Version I Accurate results can be obtained The Abacus is still in use today, principally in the far East.](image-2.png "?")
1![Fig. 1 : A typical operation back when computers were people](image-3.png "Fig. 1 :")
4![Fig. 4 : An original set of Napier's Bones [Photo courtesy IBM]](image-4.png "Fig. 4 :")
67![Fig. 6 : Schickard's calculating clock](image-5.png "Fig. 6 :Fig. 7 :")
8![Fig. 8 : Leibniz's stepped Reckoner](image-6.png "Fig. 8 :")
11![Fig. 11 : Babbage's Difference Engine [photo 2002 IEEE]](image-7.png "Fig. 11 :")
12![Fig. 12 : Hollerith Desk](image-8.png "Fig. 12 :")
![ii. Parts of Early computer ? Human Brain---(Human Intelligence) ----Before 300BC ? Abacus--------Rings, Rods, Pebbles ? Napier Bones -----Ivory sticks carved with numbers ? Calculating Clock -----iron gear driven calculating machine ? Pascaline ----gears and cylinders ? Leibniz stepped reckoner -------ten flutes drum ? Jacquard power loom (punched card)-----punched wooden cards ? Difference engine/Analytic engine ----steam engines and punched cards ? Hollerith desk ----holes cards, a gear driven mechanism ? Mark 1----switches, relays, rotating shaft and clutches and electric motor ? Vacuum tubes-----three legged arrangement to amplify current ? Transistors-----Germanium, paper clips and razor blades ? IC (Integrated Circuit) ----transistors ? DRAM ----capacitor (To store data in the form of electric charge) ? ENIAC ------vacuum tubes, card readers, patch cords ? UNIVAC -------magnetic tapes ? Drum memory------metal cylinder coated with recordable ferromagnetic material ? Magnetic core memory -----ferrite core memory, magnetic ceramic rings IV. Development and invention of electronic device/computer a) 1943 ENIAC---(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator).It was the first electronic digital computer, built at the university of Pennsylvania between 1943 and 1945 by two professors John Mauchly and J.Presper Eckert. ENIAC requires 20 by 40 foot room, weighed 30 tons, and used more than 18000 vacuum tubes.](image-9.png "")
13![Fig. 13 : ENIAC [U.S Army photo]](image-10.png "Fig. 13 :")
18![Fig. 18 : An integrated circuit (silicon chip) [photo courtesy of IBM] i. Importance of IC in modern computer development The impact of this tiny chip has been far reaching. The chip virtually created the modern computer industry, transforming past room size machines into today's array of mainframes, minicomputers and personal computers.V.](image-11.png "Fig. 18 :")
19![Fig. 19 : 1103 chip](image-12.png "Fig. 19")
20![Fig. 20 : Intel 4004 microprocessor This development marked the new era of Integrated circuit.i. Some Advanced Intel Pentium processors are](image-13.png "Fig. 20 :")
2425![Fig. 24 : Advanced Hard disk drives d) PCB (Printed circuit board) It is a device that provides electrical interconnections and a surface for mounting electronic components. In 1903 the first PCB was made by Dr Paul Eisler, an Austrian scientist working in England.](image-14.png "Fig. 24 :Fig. 25 :")
2627![Fig. 26 : Modern Intel motherboard](image-15.png "Fig. 26 :Fig. 27 :")
![electronic computer are referred to as generations of computer. The technological changes in the development of computer resulted in smaller, cheaper, more powerful, more energy efficient, low maintenance, good performance and fast computer. The development of electronic computer has witnessed the following five generations. a) First Generation of computer (1940 -1956) ? The first electronic computer used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory. ? Dependent on machine language. ? The first generation computers are UNIVAC and ENIAC. b) Second Generation of Computer (1956-1963)? Transistors replaced vacuum tubes. This allowed computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy efficient and reliable than first generation of computers. ? Second generations of computer used punched cards for input and printouts for output. ? Assembly language was used instead of machine language. ? Magnetic core technology was used for memory instead of magnetic drums.c) Third Generation of Computer (1964-1971) Integrated circuit (IC) replaced transistors. Transistors were miniaturised and placed on silicon chips called semiconductors which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers. ? Keyboards, monitors and operating system were introduced in this generation. ? Computers become accessible to a mass audience. d) Fourth Generation of Computer (1971-2005) ? Microprocessors replaced IC. Example Intel 4004 chip.](image-16.png "?")
28![Fig. 28 : Fourth generation desktop computer](image-17.png "Fig. 28 :")
![Small scale Integration (SSI) (1960): It is an IC that contains 3 to 30 transistors on a single chip. ? Medium scale Integration (MSI) (1960): It is an IC that contains 30 to 300 transistors on a single chip. ? Large scale Integration (LSI) (1970): It is an IC that contains 300 to 3000 transistors on a single chip. ? Very large scale Integration (VLSI) (1980): It is an IC that contains more than 3000 transistors on a single chip. ? Ultra large scale Integration (ULSI) (1980): It is an IC that contains more than 1 million transistors on a single chip. iv. Some application of modern/ fourth generation computer ? Can be used at home and office for data storage and fast data retrieval. ? Can be used for entertainment purpose like playing games, listening music and watching videos. ? Can be used to exchange information among different computers. ? Teleconferencing and remote access is made possible. ? By making application software electronic digital computer can be used anywhere. Therefore, it can be considered as a versatile machine. e) Fifth Generation of Computers (2005 onwards) (still under development) ? Fifth generation computing devices are based on Artificial Intelligence. ? Voice recognition concept has been introduced. ? Parallel processing and superconductor techniques have been introduced. ? Quantum computation technique, molecular technique and also Nanotechnology has been introduced. ? Scientists are trying to develop devices that are capable of learning, respond to natural language and self organisation. ? Fifth generation computing is still under research and development. i. Advancement in fifth generation computingThe fifth generation computing is totally a new concept of developing computers. It does not match with the past or early developments of computer. In this generation of computer man is trying to incorporate the human characteristics or features like outstanding problem solving ability, high level deliberative reasoning,](image-18.png "?")
30![Fig. 30 : New route to large scale Quantum computing](image-19.png "Fig. 30 :")
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			© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)
			© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)
		
		

			

## Acknowledgement

I express my deep gratitude to people around me who most often provide me the spark and energy to continue the research work. I would like to thank my mother who provides me generous and invaluable support to undertake and complete this noble task. At last I would like to thank the great almighty who has given wisdom, strength and knowledge to visualise and explore things from root level and put on paper for the benefit of mankind.

			

			

				


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