Essay/Term paper: The history and future of computers

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Information Technology

The History and Future of Computers


Tim Gash
CRS-07
Mr. Drohan
January 31, 1997


With the advances in computer technology it is now possible for more and
more Canadians to have personal computers in their homes. With breakthroughs in
computer processing speeds and with computer storage capacity, the combination
of this with the reduced size of the computer have allowed for even the smallest
apartment to hold a computer. In the past the only places to have computers
were military institutes and some universities; this was because of their
immense size and price. Today with falling computer prices and the opportunity
to access larger networks, the amount of computers has grown from just 10% in
1986 to 25% in 1994. Also, of the 25%, 34% of them were equipped with modems,
which allow for connection to on line services via telephone lines.
The primitive start of the computer came about around 4000 BC; with the
invention of the abacus, by the Chinese. It was a rack with beads strung on
wires that could be moved to make calculations. The first digital computer is
usually accredited to Blaise Pascal. In 1642 he made the device to aid his
father, who was a tax collector. In 1694 Gottfried Leibniz improved the machine
so that with the rearrangement of a few parts it could be used to multiply. The
next logical advance came from Thomas of Colmar in 1890, who produced a machine
that could perform all of the four basic operations, addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division. With the added versatility this device was in
operation up until the First World War.
Thomas of Colmar made the common calculator, but the real start of
computers as they are known today comes from Charles Babbage. Babbage designed
a machine that he called a Difference Engine. It was designed to make many long
calculations automatically and print out the results. A working model was built
in 1822 and fabrication began in 1823. Babbage works on his invention for 10
years when he lost interest in it. His loss of interest was caused by a new idea
he thought up. The Difference Engine was limited in adaptability as well as
applicability. The new idea would be a general purpose, automatic mechanical
digital computer that would be fully program controlled. He called this the
Analytical Engine. It would have Conditional Control Transfer Capability so
that commands could be inputted in any order, not just the way that it had been
programmed. The machine was supposed to use punch cards which were to be read
into the machine from several reading stations. The machine was supposed to
operate automatically by steam power and only require one person there to
operate it. Babbages machines were never completed for reasons such as, non-
precise machining techniques, the interest of few people and the steam power
required for the devices was not readily available.
The next advance in computing came from Herman Hollerith and James Powers.
They made devices that were able to read cards that information had been punched
into, automatically. This advance was a huge step, because it provided memory
storage capability. Companies such as IBM and Remington made improved versions
of the machine that lasted for over fifty years.
ENIAC which was thought up in 1942, was in use from 1946 to 1955. Thought
up by J. Presper Eckert and his associates. The computer was the first high-
speed digital computer and was one thousand times faster than its predecessor,
the relay computers. ENIAC was very bulky, taking up 1,800 square feet on the
floor and having 18,000 vacuum tubes. It was also very limited in
programmability, but it was very efficient in the programs that it had been
designed for.
In 1945 John von Neumann along with the University of Pennsylvania came up
with what is known as the stored-program technique. Also due to the increasing
speed of the computer subroutines needed to be repeated so that the computer
could be kept busy. It
would also be better if instructions to the computer could be changed
during a compution so that there would be a different outcome in the compution.
Neumann fulfilled these needs by creating a command that is called a conditional
control transfer. The conditional control transfer allows for program sequences
to be started and stopped at any time. Instruction programs were also stored
together so that they can be arithmetically changed just like data. This
generation of computers included ones using RAM, as well as the first
commercially available computers, EDVAC and UNIVAC. These computers used
punched-card or punched tape reading devices. Also some of the later ones were
only about the size of a grand piano and contained 2,500 electron tubes, which
was much smaller than ENIAC.
During the fifties and sixties the two most important advances were
magnetic core memory and the transistor. These discoveries increased RAM sizes
from 8,000 to 64,000 words in commercially available computers. The first
supercomputers were made with this new technology. During this period
successful commercial computers were made by Burroughs, IBM, Sperry-Rand,
Honeywell and Control Data. These computers could now have printers, disk
storage, tape storage, stored programs and memory operating systems. These
computers were usually owned by industry, government and private laboratories.
The next advance came in the form of a chip. Transistors and vacuum tubes
created vast amounts of heat and this damaged the delicate internal parts of the
computer. The heat problem was eliminated through quartz. The integrated
circuit made in 1958 consisted of three components placed on a silicon disc that
was made of quartz. As technology advanced more and more components were fit
onto indiviual chips and this resulted in smaller and smaller computers. There
was also an operating system created during this stage that allowed for many
programs to be run at once, with one central program that had the ability to
monitor and coordinate computer memory.