Chapter 1 

Objectives

- Describe several ways computers play a critical role in modern life.

- Discuss the circumstances and ideas that led to the development of the modern computer.

- Describe several trends in the evolution of modern computers.

- Explain the relationship between hardware and software.

Our Digital Planet

Creating Communities on the Living Web 

MySpace creates an online community experience for young people.

Flickr creates a community for people to share their pictures.

Living in a Non-Digital World 

Computers are no longer a luxury but rather a commodity.  

Computers and their applications are involved in all aspects of our daily life

The computer is an incredibly versatile tool.

It can compute your taxes or deploy a missile.

All computers take in information called input and give out information called output

 

The computer’s versatility is built upon its: 

Hardware: The physical part

Software: The instructions that tells hardware how to   transform the input data 


(information in a form it can read) into the necessary output

 

The First Real Computers:

1939: Konrad Zuse completed the first programmable, general-purpose digital computer.

At about the same time, the British government was assembling a top-secret team of 
mathematicians and engineers to crack Nazi military codes.

1943: The team led by mathematician Alan Turing and others completed Colossus, considered by many to be the first electronic digital computer.

1939: Iowa State University professor John Atanasoff developed what could have been the 
first electronic digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC).

1944: Thanks to a one million dollar grant from IBM, Harvard professor Howard Aiken developed the Mark I John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert helped the U.S. effort in World War II by constructing a machine to calculate trajectory tables for new guns. 

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

After the war, Mauchly and Eckert started a private company called Sperry and created UNIVAC I, the first general-purpose commercial computer. 

Vacuum tubes were used in early computers.

Transistors replaced vacuum tubes starting in 1956.

By the mid-1960s transistors were replaced by integrated circuits.

1971: The first microprocessor was invented by Intel engineers.

The personal computer revolution began in 1970:

1. Apple

2. Commodore

3. Tandy

Desktop computers haven’t completely replaced big computers, which have also evolved.

Embedded Computers

Special-purpose computer: Dedicated

computers that perform specific tasks.

Controlling the temperature and humidity

1.    Monitoring your heart rate

2.    Monitoring your house security system

The program is etched on silicon so it

cannot be altered. This is called firmware.

The Internet Explosion- Over a

billion people with Internet access

by the end of 2005 

1.       Electronic mail

2.       E-mail software  

3.       World Wide Web 

 

Led the Internet’s transformation from a text-only environment into a multimedia landscape incorporating 

pictures, animation, sounds, and video

Computers have evolved at an incredible pace since Charles Babbage’s  plan for an Analytical Engine.

Computers today come in all shapes and sizes, with specific types being well-suited for particular jobs.

Connecting to a network enhances the value and power of a computer:

1.       Internet

2.       WWW

3.       Email

Computers and information technology have changed the world rapidly and irreversibly. 

Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, offer promise for future applications. 

Computers also threaten our privacy, our security, and perhaps our way of life. 

~ooo~