COMP1153: HISTORY OF

COMPUTER,
CLASSIFICATION AND
USES OF COMPUTER
Research: Introduction to Information
Communication Technology

SABADISTO, CHRISTIAN L.
BUSTAMANTE, ANDREI
GONZALES, LERIE
CANDELARIA, RHEGIE
DORADO, JOEBERT GLENN
MARASIGAN, IVAN
DACUMOS, ANDRE MIGUEL
AGABAO, AL
TIMBANG, DARYLL
BBTE-IT 1-1N

I.

What is computer? The first computers were people! That is, electronic computers
(and the earlier mechanical computers) were given this name because they performed
the work that had previously been assigned to people. "Computer" was originally a
job title: it was used to describe those human beings (predominantly women) whose
job it was to perform the repetitive calculations required to compute such things as
navigational tables, tide charts, and planetary positions for astronomical almanacs.
Imagine you had a job where hour after hour, day after day, you were to do nothing
but compute multiplications. Boredom would quickly set in, leading to carelessness,
leading to mistakes. And even on your best days you wouldn't be producing answers
very fast. Therefore, inventors have been searching for hundreds of years for a way to
mechanize (that is, find a mechanism that can perform) this task.

A. Earliest Computing Device

The first computing device invented was the Abacus, it was developed in China
on 12th Century A.D, it was simple yet effective. The second one was the Napiers Bone,
1914, invented by a Scotish Mathematician John Napier who also invented the
Logarithms in Trigonometry, it is significant in the development of computing device, It
can perform both multiplication and division. Oughtreds Slide Rule followed, 1932, it
was invented by an English Mathematician William Oughtred, It can perform both
multiplication and division. Next is the The Pascaline also known as Pascals
Calculator, named after the inventor Blaise Pascal, a French Mathematician and
experimental Physicist, The device was built in 1642 and designed to help his father, a
tax collector for the French Government. It was all mechanical, using gears, and
powered by hand-operated crank. It only do addition and subtraction, but thirty years
later, German and Mathematician Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716)
built another mechanical machine that could multiply and divide as well. Therefore,
Leibniz had built the equivalent of a four-function pocket calculator three centuries ago
the Leibnizs Calculator or the Leibniz Stepped Drum, it can add, subtract, divide,
multiply and extract square roots. Nothing much happened for 150 years until a
professor of mathematics at University of Cambridge, Charles Babbage (1792-1871),
designed and built his Difference Engine.
The mechanical device which like Pascal could only add and subtract, was
designed to compute tables of numbers useful for naval navigation. Although the
Difference Engine worked reasonably as well, Babbage quickly got bored with the
machine that could run only one algorithm, so he created the Analytical Engine which
uses operation cards that contains functions to be performed by the machine and a
Variable Cards to specify actual data.
The great advance of the Analytical Engine was that it had a general purpose, it
read instructions from punched cards and carried them out. Since the Analytical Engine
was programmable in a smple assembly language, it needed software. He hired a young
woman named Ada Augusta Byron, she was the worlds first computer programmer. (the
modern programming language Ada was named in her honor. The next major
development was the Holleriths Punch Card Machine, it was named in 1880 by
Herman Hollerith, former statistician in US Bureau of the Census. This machine could
Research: Introduction to Information Communication Technology

help calculate their tabulating problems. He utilize electricity to build an electromagnetic

counting machine that sorts data manually and tabulate the data. He then resigned and
built his own company and become a part of IBM Corporation.

PHOTO GALLERY

ABACUS

NAPIERS
BONE

SLIDE RULE

THE
PASCALINE

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LEIBNIZ
STEPPED
DRUM

DIFFERENCE
ENGINE

ANALYTICAL
ENGINE

HOLERITHS
PUNCH CARD
MACHINE

The next major development occurred in late 1930s, when a German Engineering student
named Konrad Zuse built a Series of Calculating Machines using electromagnetic relays. He is
Research: Introduction to Information Communication Technology

not aware of Babbages work and his machine was destroyed by the allied bombing of Berlin in
1944, so his work did not have any influence on subsequent machines. Slighty later in United
States, John Atanasofts machine was amazingly advanced for his time. It used binary arithmetic
and had capacitors for memory, which were periodically refreshed to keep charge from leaking
out, a process called jogging the memory.
Numerous people consider that the modern computer era begun with the first large-scale
automatic digital computer, which was established during 1939 to 1944. So while Zuse and
Atanasoft were designing automatic calculators, a young man named Howard Akien was
grinding out tedious Numerical Calculations by hand as part of his Ph. D. researchat Harvard.
After graduating, Aiken recognized the importance of being able to do calculation by machines.
He went to the library, discovered Babbages work and decided to build out the relays the
general-purpose computer that Babbage had failed out to build of toothed wheels. Aikens first
machine, MARK I, was completed at Harvard in 1944, which was built as a partnership
between Harvard and IBM in 1944. This was the first programmable digital computer made in
the U.S. But it was not a purely electronic computer. Instead the Mark I was constructed out of
switches, relays, rotating shafts, and clutches. It had 72 words of 23 decimal digits each, and had
an instruction time in three-tenths seconds in adding and subtracting, can multiply in four
seconds and divide in ten seconds. Input and output devices used punch paper tape. By the time
Aiken had completed its successor, MARK II, relay computers were obsolete.
ENIAC short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator,

the ENIAC was the first electronic computer used for general purposes, such as solving
numerical problems. It was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the
University of Pennsylvania in an effort to calculate artillery firing tables for the United
States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory.
Its construction began in 1943 and was not completed until 1946. The ENIAC occupied about
1,800 square feet, used 17,468 vacuum tubes, 15,000 relays, weighed almost 50 tons, uses 200
kilowatts of electricity, and cost about $500,000. Although it was not completed until the end of
the World War II, the ENIAC was created to help with the war effort against German forces.

Research: Introduction to Information Communication Technology

EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) was one of the

initial electronic computers. Unlike its predecessor the ENIAC, it was binary rather than decimal,
and was a stored program computer. ENIAC inventors John Mauchly and J. Presper
Eckert proposed the EDVAC's construction in August 1944. A contract to build the new
computer was signed in April 1946 with an initial budget of US$100,000. EDVAC was delivered
to the Ballistics Research Laboratory in August 1949.
Functionally, EDVAC was a binary serial computer with automatic addition, subtraction,
multiplication, programmed division and automatic checking with an ultrasonic serial memory
capacity of 1,000 44-bit words. EDVAC's average addition time was 864microseconds and its
average multiplication time was 2,900 microseconds. By 1960 EDVAC was running over 20
hours a day with error-free run time averaging eight hours. EDVAC ran until 1961 when it was
replaced by BRLESC. During its operational life it proved to be reliable and productive for its
time.
UNIVAC Short for Universal Automatic Computer, the UNIVAC I, a trademark of the
Unisys corporation, was released in 1951 and 1952 when first developed by J. Presper
Eckert and John Mauchly. The UNIVAC is an electrical computer containing thousands of
vacuum tubes that utilizes punch cards and switches for inputting data and punch cards for
outputting and storing data. The UNIVAC was later released the UNIVAC II, and III with various
models, such as the 418, 490, 491, 1100, 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, and 1108.
Many of these models were only owned by a few companies or government agencies.

MARK I

ENIAC

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EDVAC

EDSAC

UNIVAC

B. Milestone In Computer Architecture

The milestone of computer development is normally denoted to in situation to the
different generations of computing devices. Each generation of computer is considered by a
major technological development that essentially changed the way computers operate,
subsequent in progressively smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient and reliable
devices.
The First Generation- Vacuum Tubes (1945-1955)
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Computers of this generation used vacuum tubes to perform calculations vacuum tubes
were expensive because of the amount of material and skill needed to manufacture them.
Vacuum tubes get hot and burn out computers of this generation were very large machines.
Special rooms with air conditioning were needed to house them because of the heat generated
by the vacuum tubes. During the period of 1940 to 1956 first generation of computers were
developed.The first generation computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic
drums for memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms.The vacuum tube was
developed by Lee De Forest. A vacuum tube is a device generally used to amplify a signal by
controlling the movement of electrons in an evacuated space.
The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing
devices. The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer delivered to a business client,
the U.S. Census Bureau in 1951.

The Second Generation- Transistors (1955-1963)

The computers built in the 1950s and 1960s are considered the 2nd generation computers.
These computers make use of the transistors invented by Bell Telephone laboratories and they
had many of the same components as the modern-day computer. For instance, 2nd generation
computers typically had a printer, some sort of tape or disk storage, operating systems, stored
programs, as well as some sort of memory. These computers were also generally more reliable
and were solid in design.
This generation using the transistor were cheaper, consumed less power, more compact in
size, more reliable and faster than the first generation machines made of vacuum tubes. In this
generation, magnetic cores were used as primary memory and magnetic tape and magnetic disks
as secondary storage devices. High-level programming languages were also being developed at
this time, such as early versions of COBOL and FORTRAN. These were also the first computers
that stored their instructions in their memory, which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic
core technology. The first computers of this generation were developed for the atomic energy
industry.

The Third Generation- Integrated Circuits (1964-1971)

The 3rd Generation computers replaced transistors with integrated circuits or I.C. was
inverted by Jack Kilby as Texas instruments in 1958.The 3rd generation computers using
integrated circuits proved to be highly reliable, relatively inexpensive, and faster. Less human
labour is required at assembly stage. This allowed the device to run many different applications
at one time with a central program that monitored the memory. Computers for the first time
became accessible to a mass audience because they were smaller and cheaper than their
predecessors.
Example of some main frame computers developed during this generation areICL(International computer limited.) and CDA(Control Data Corporation.)
Research: Introduction to Information Communication Technology

The Fourth Generation-Microprocessors (1971-Present)

The microchip transported the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated
circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled an entire room
could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the
components of the computerfrom the central processing unit and memory to input/output
controlson a single chip.
In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home user, and in 1984 Apple
introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors also moved out of the realm of desktop computers
and into many areas of life as more and more everyday products began to use microprocessors.
As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form
networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet. Fourth generation computers
also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and handheld devices.

The Fifth Generation- Artificial Intelligence (Present and Beyond)

Fifth generation calculating devices, founded on artificial intelligence, are still in
progress, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used
today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial
intelligence a reality. Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically
change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to
develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and selforganization.
Less power consumption .High performance, lower cost and very compact. Computers
based on artificial intelligence are available. Portable note book computers introduced .Memory
chips up to 1 GB, hard disk drives up to 180 GB and optical disks up to 27 GB are available (still
the capacity is increasing) .
II.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS

Research: Introduction to Information Communication Technology

Computer are available in different shapes and weights, due to these different shapes and sizes
they perform different sorts of jobs form one another.
A. Computers are classified according to Purpose
General Purpose Computers are designed to perform different tasks.They have ability to
store numerous programs , but lack in speed and efficiency, Specific Purpose Computers
are designed to handle a specific problem or to perform a specific task.A set of instructions is
built into the machine.
B. Computers are classified according to Data Handling
Analog computers, An analog computers works with current rather them by the process
of counting .Analog computer works on supply of continuous signal and display continuous
speed Thus we conclude that an analog computer is special purpose computer but cannot give
accuracy more than .Digital computers,As its name suggest it works with digits is 0s and 1s.in
other words digits computers is a counting device .All the expressions are coded with binary
digits is called a bit information is represented in digital computer in groups of bits .
Hybrid computer, It is a combination of Analog computers used in continuous system also nonlinear discrete features of a digital computer such as storing values logical operations and
switching.These computers are mostly used with process control equipment in continuous
production plants like all refineries etc. and used at places where signals as well as data are to be
entered into computer. Areas of applicationnuclear power plants mine etc

C. Computers are classified according to Size and Storage Capacity

Micro computers is a digital computer whose processing unit consists of one or more
microprocessors, one or more input / output units and sufficient memory to execute instructions.
They are used in schools, homes, office etc. Desktop computer: a personal or micro-mini
computer sufficient to fit on a desk.Laptop computer: a portable computer complete with an
integrated screen and keyboard. It is generally smaller in size than a desktop computer and larger
than a notebook computer. Palmtop computer: a hand-sized computer. Palmtops have no
keyboard but the screen serves both as an input and output device.Some popular microcomputer
is IBM system 123, Apple 2 and 3 etc. Mini Computers are medium scale computer in the sense
that they are faster than microcomputers. These computers have large storage capacity and can
support up to 120 terminals. Mini computers have operating systems with multitasking and
network capabilities enabling them to serve more than one user. Mainframe computers are
generals purpose computers which are designed to handle all type of scientific and business
application with large volume of data instruction and information .These can have large online
secondary storage capacity and can support, variety of peripheral devices like magnetic taps
driver, hard desk drivers, visual display unit and telecommunication terminals. Super computers,
These computers are characterized by their large size and are very high processing speed and are
generally used for complex and scientific applications these are most powerful computer and are
very expensive .These can execute instructions in the large of 5 billion instructions per second .

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III.

USES OF COMPUTER

Computers are utilize in numerous aspects of our daily life. From Engineers to Doctors,
Students, Teachers, and Government Organization they all use computers to perform specific
tasks, for entertainment or just to finish office work. There are four main uses: word processing,
internet/communications, digital video/audio composition, and desktop publishing. Because of
these things, we can easily do our works like in business, education, entertainment, science and
technology and telecommunications.
If we are going to talk about business, we usually encounter things done in computer like
advertising your business, saving your files, communication with costumers are easy, and also
you can now able to learn things in the internet what people or your costumer wants especially if
it is trending.
We also know that education is also affected by this technology thing. Students in this
generation mostly relies on the internet even if books are more reliable. Teachers now also use
computer as a creative way of teaching.
We cannot avoid entertainments from computer now that it is already a main source of
entertainment. We love to listen to music, we also love to play games and watching movies.
These things are already in computer through the help of internet.
Science and technology definitely needs computer, they can easily do their works and
store some files and studies in experiments.
Nowadays, we can talk to someone through the internet not like before we mail each
other in form of hand written. Now computer is a way of talking to our family, friends or people
we want to talk especially if that person is an OFW.

A. BUSINESS
Computers are used for all aspects of running a business. Computer use in a business
enhances productivity and provides results that might not otherwise be possible. Businesses use
computers to keep records, develop budgets and forecasts, prepare marketing documents,
research and stay in contact with other employees and customers. Businesses should look at their
operation and ensure that they are using their computers to the fullest extent. Keep records
Computer programs such as QuickBooks and other accounting programs allow businesses to
keep detailed records. These programs track accounts payable, accounts receivable and sales.
They also provide an easy and quick way for a business to send out invoices to customers and
handle payroll functions. Back office productivity and accuracy can increase greatly when using
an accounting program. Today, in global markets, it is impossible to run the business without
the use of computer technology. Many business activities are performed very quickly and
efficiently by using computers. The administrative paperwork is also reduced by using
computers. Many business use websites to sell their products and contact their customers.
B. EDUCATION
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Computers are a brilliant aid in teaching. Computers have given impetus to distance
education. Computer software helps better presentation of information. Computers enable access
to the Internet which has information on literally everything. Computer hard drives and storage
devices are an excellent way to store data. Computers play a vital role in every field. They aid
industrial processes, they find application in medicine; they are the reason why software
industries developed and flourished and they play an important role in education. This is also
why the education system has made computer education a part of school curriculum. Considering
the use of computer technology is almost very sphere of life, it is important for everyone to have
at least the basic knowledge of using computers. Computers as used in education allow the
learners to learn modern tools and knowledge that will make him or her ready for the possible
technological changes in the future. Computers are commonly used in education for applications
such as communication, distributing education materials, remote learning, performing class work
and admissions.
C. ENTERTAINMENT
Computers are also playing very important role for the entertainment of human beings.
Nowadays, computer can be used to watch television programs on the Internet. People can also
watch movies, listen music, and play games on the computer. Many computer games and other
entertainment materials of different kinds are available on the Internet. Almost unlimited access
to any song by any artist, movies and TV shows. Many website services allow users to purchase
the media directly to their computer. Computer games are a quickly growing market just like all
other forms of video games. However, computer games offer a very wide array of varieties and
possibilities.
D. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Used in automated machines, data collection, data manipulation and sharing of results. Used
in experiments, vast data calculation, complex data analysis etc. Use of computer removes the
possibility of errors in experiments and researches as long as data entered is correct. In the field
of Health and Medicine, Used in maintaining a database of patients along with their medical
history. To analyze patient information such as blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration and blood
glucose levels. As a researching tool for the health care professional. Information can now be
digitized. Software is now able to computer the risk of a disease. Computer technology is
radically changing the tools of medicine. Mental health researchers are using computers to screen
patient paralyzed by a stroke has received an implant that allows communication between his
brain and a computer; as a result, he can move a cursor across a screen by brainpower and
convey simple messages. Computer technology is radically changing the tools of medicine. All
medical information can now be digitized. Software is now able to computer the risk of a
disease. Mental health researchers are using computers to screen troubled teenagers in need of
psychotherapy. A patient paralyzed by a stroke has received an implant that allows
communication between his brain and a computer; as a result, he can move a cursor across a
screen by brainpower and convey simple messages.
E. TELECOMMUNICATION

Research: Introduction to Information Communication Technology

Many corporations and companies are moving to telecommunication-style work due

to increased costs in travel. Telecommunication essentially means communication
through computers. There are a variety of ways to use computers in telecommunications,
and it is not limited to work only. Individuals use telecommunications to stay in touch
with friends and family around the world.

IV.

CONCLUSION:

As a result of the various improvements to the development of the computer we have

seen the Computer being used in all areas of life. It is a very useful tool that will continue to
experience new development as time passes.
Computers are used in various areas of our life. Education, entertainment, sports,
advertising, medicine, science and engineering, government, office and home are some of
the application areas of the computers.

Research: Introduction to Information Communication Technology