History of Computing (II)

Hooray! We are continuing with the exciting history of computing! In the previous chapter of History of Computing we were one step away from entering the first-generation computers, but before is worth devoting a paragraph to which is known by many as the father of computing, so by its relevance we’re discussing in depth about him and his famous paper.

Turing machine

Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) published in 1936 a paper titled On Computable Numbers, With an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, he developed the concept of the Turing machine: a theoretical device that is defined as an automaton, that we can introduce data from a tape input, and may reject or accept the input string according to the accepted language. This machine would be able to solve any math problem that can be solved by an algorithm. This machine would evolve in the concept of universal Turing machine, and is would later coin the term of Turing complete, referring to a computer system, which would mean that it has a computational power equivalent to the theoretical universal Turing machine; although in reality it’s not possible to say that a system is Turing complete because it would require to have infinite storage and zero chance of error, we grant this award to comply with everything else ignoring those two details that even today are impossible to get. The first to be called full Turing machine is the Z3 will see below.

First generation computers

The first of this generation, built with relays, arose in 1941 thanks to Konrad Zuse (1910-1995), who invented the Z3 computer: the first fully automatic programmable machine. He was followed in 1944 by Howard H. Aiken (1900-1973) and Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992), with the powerful Mark I, built at Harvard University in collaboration with IBM. It weighed five tons and was made up of more than 750000 parts.

Then, in 1945, came the electronic computers in the hands of John Presper Eckert (1919-1995) and John William Mauchly (1907-1980) with the ENIAC computer, that was used to calculate trajectories of projectiles during the war and to calculate the first 2000 decimal places of π number after it. It was a lot faster and cheaper than its predecessor, but weighed 30 tons. In 1946 underwent it a test in which it should solve a problem of nuclear physics, solving it in just two hours; a human would’ve solved this problem manually in decades.

At the same time that they were developing the ENIAC, John von Neumann (1903-1957) proposed for the EDVAC that the programs are stored as data in memory instead of being stored in a special memory, as everyone had been doing since the Babbage’s invstigations.

Second generation computers

The transition from the first to the second generation arrives in 1945 with the replacement of vacuum tubes by transistors; the first computers of this kind were the IBM 7070 in 1960 and the UNIVAC 1107 in 1962. Tape drives, magnetic discs and high speed printers were introduced during this time. It was also a period of prosperity in terms of the emergence of programming languages, but this we’ll analyse it in detail in another article focused on the history of programming languages.

Third generation computers

In 1960 reached the third generation of computers, which main characteristic is the use of the integrated circuit. Highlighted computers during this generation were the IBM S/360 of 1964, although mainly the IBM S/370 of 1970.

Although if this generation is known for something is, without any doubt, by the called software crisis, thanks to which programming languages that were invented in the previous generation would settle, but also created new ones.

We also owe this generation manufacturing of minicomputers, which served as a transition between the third and fourth generation, which went mainly to medium-sized and large companies.

Fourth genration computrs

The fourth generation arrives in 1971 thanks to Intel, with the manufacture of the Intel 4004; although the first computer of this generation was the Altair 8800 developed by MITS company, for which Microsoft built a BASIC interpreter that was made famous, although not so much as it would be later when it created the operating system MS-DOS and provided it to IBM for incorporation into their personal computers.

During this generation personal computers were booming and began to appear dozens of models of computers since companies were seeing as not only large and medium-sized companies needed one, but sooner rather than later the small companies and in general all persons also would want one in their homes. As representatives of this period we could highlight: PET 2001, by Commodore company, produced in 1977; Apple I, by Apple Computer, presented in 1976; Apple II, also by Apple Computer, presented in 1977, and it stands out as one of the first which were produced on a massive scale for sale; in 1981 was presented the IBM PC, that came on a massive scale computing to end users; in 1982 was presented the Commodore 64 by Commodore company, more affordable for those who couldn’t buy an IBM PC by economic issues, now they had the opportunity that were waiting for thanks to this computer, with good performance but for half the price.

What comes next is a more recent history, relatively speaking, and can be summarized in a succession of brands presenting a multitude of models each year trying to make computers more powerful, smaller and more economical that they can… and the most important: be the first to get it.

Never stop programming!