History of Computers History of Computers By Tasha Lodwig By Tasha Lodwig

The Beginning  Doesn’t it seem like computers have existed long before we can ever imagine?  The first computer that came available to the public was in Therefore there have been about five generations where this new technology has been rapidly developing.  Doesn’t it seem like computers have existed long before we can ever imagine?  The first computer that came available to the public was in Therefore there have been about five generations where this new technology has been rapidly developing.

The First Generation The 1st generation was between the years This is when Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert Jr. built the 1st commercially available computer with the use of vacuum tubes. *Vacuum tubes- electronic tubes which were made of glass and were approximately the size of a light bulb.

The Second Generation This generation is between the year of 1958 and Transistors, small devices that transfer electronic signals across a resistor, became in addition to the computer. This was a significant update, from using the vacuum tubes, where computers became smaller, used less power and overall was more trusted. * Other additions: removable disk pack, 1st business application programming language, and 1st industry standard character set(enables computers to exchange information)

The Third Generation Between years This is when the transistors began to be replaced with integrated circuits, a complete electronic circuit on a small chip made of silicon. This made the computer technology even easier, cheaper, and smaller in size once again. * Other additions: 1st minicomputer, intro of BASIC programming language, intro of ARPANET(beginning of the Internet).

The Fourth Generation ˜ ˜ Microprocessor, specialized chip developed for computer memory and logic. Used to create a smaller, personal computer along with digital watches, pocket calculators,etc. ˜ Apple created Newton Message Pad- personal digital assistant with a pen interface. ˜ Introduction of the Mosaic graphical Web browser, which led to the organization of Netscape

More Fourth Generation ˜ Apple created Newton Message Pad-personal digital assistant with a pen interface. ˜ Introduction of the Mosaic graphical Web browser, which led to the organization of Netscape

Fourth Generation continued… ˜ 1st local area network (LAN), Ethernet. (1975) ˜ MITS, Inc. Altair become 1st commercially successful microcomputer, was being sold for less that $400 ˜ Apple computer put out an easy-to-use “hobbyist” computer ˜ Bill Gates developed an operating system, MS- DOS, therefore the IBM PC was introduced (1981) ˜ Apple introduced the Macintosh Computer ˜ Windows 3.0 was released by Microsoft (1990)

The Fifth Generation Our generation is also known as the “Connected Generation” because of our ability to communicate with others globally ˜ Computer systems with Intel’s Pentium microprocessor introduced ˜ Microsoft released the Windows 95 program

More Fifth Generation ≈ More than 250 million PCs used worldwide (1996) ≈ Office 97 was released by Microsoft ≈ Office 98 was released by Microsoft with Internet Explorer 4.0 ≈Office 2000 released by Microsoft, later followed by Windows 2000 ≈By 2004, expectation of a private internet, Internet2, to be completed with higher speed, limited access, tighter security. Also to include virtual reality interfaces called nanomanipulators.

Fifth Generation continued… ≈By 2004, expectation of a private internet, Internet2, to be completed with higher speed, limited access, tighter security. Also to include virtual reality interfaces called nanomanipulators.

Conclusion It seems that today it would be impossible for use to live our day to day lives without the help of a computer. Most of us are pretty dependant on this advanced technology. I know that I use a computer at least twice a day, especially being a student in the 21st century. The way most schools connect their students to the campus and to their classes is through a computer program. Over the last 50 years computers have gotten smaller and smarter and will continue to advance further through the next generation to extremes that we can’t even imagine today.