A History ofComputers
500 BC: The abacus
Not a whole lot…
• The Roman Empire, Jesus, King Arthur, the Dark Ages, The Renaissance, Christopher Colombus, Galileo, Coppernicus, The American Revolution, The French Revolution, a lot of other Revolutions, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah
1837: The Analytical Engine
Charles Babbage
Ada Lovelace
Not a whole lot…
• The car is invented, World War I, my grandma is born, The Great Depression, The invention of the movie, the Russian Revolution, probably some more Revolutions somewhere, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah
1899"Everything that can be invented
has already been invented." Charles H. Duell, director of the U.S. Patent Office
Computers and the Military
1946: The first electronic computerENIAC
1943-1959: The 1st generationvacuum tubes and punch cards
1943"I think there is a world market for
maybe five computers.“ Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM.
1959-1964: 2nd generationThe Transistor and the circuit board
The computer monitor
1962: The First Computer Game
1964-1972: 3rd generationThe integrated circuit
1968: Douglas Englebart invents the mouse
1969: ARPANET is startedancestor to the Internet
1972 – present: 4th generation(Very) Large Scale Integration
1977"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of
Digital Equipment Corporation.
The next 20 years
• The Personal Computer• The Internet gets popular
– E-Mail– World Wide Web– Instant Messaging (AIM, ICQ, MSN, etc)