The History of the Computer

As man evolved into a more intelligent being, the storage of information became more important to him in order for this life to be more rewarding.

Modern information technology would be just a coined phase if it were not for the invention of the computer. The computer as we know it is an electronic machine that processes data via a set of instructions, to perform a specific task and store and recall information at the touch of a button. It can be fun, especially with all the exciting features and games on it. It also helps, in many ways, to solve complex problems on its own. It is used in almost everything we do, for commercial, medical, science, the arts and personal uses.

The abacus was the most popular manual calculating device in the world. It is a mechanised pebble counter, the squire like structure has on beads strung on wires, and the beads are slid along the wires when counting or adding. The Abacus dates back over two thousand years. And it is still being used by some parts of the world today. The storage of information in that time era was evolving into a more efficient system as the business world was growing rapidly.

In 1944 the first computer hardware was born, which was known as the Mark 1. It was power off vacuum tubes and consume a lot of energy, especial been very large in size.

The second generation of computers was ushered in by the invention of the transistor. This was from 1959 to 1964. The development of the integrated circuits in 1963 "ruled the roost" until 1975 where they made further advancement by placing the entire circuit on silicon chip along with other computer components.

Advancement in computer technology

Micro Chip

Robert Noyce, a scientist who found Intel Corporation, developed the microchip. He created the chip by putting thousands of integrated circuits on a minute silicon chip. The chip is actually a microelectronic "system" capable of performing various tasks. It is not only the computer that uses the microchip but also pocket calculators, radio, television and cell-phones.

The improvement in the integrated circuits has made it possible for scientist to pack a large number of computer components on a single chip. The complexity that this combination produces on the digital circuit is due to the number of transistor or logic gate that is installed on the tiny chip. This makes it possible for large-scale integration. This allows multiple processing of jobs at the same time. For example, you can be playing music CD, while running excel or word.

These very small computer parts, which are not larger than the size of a baby's fingernail, are extremely powerful. It carries the main processing power in the computer hardware and is referred to as the microprocessor or the central processing unit. The CPU is made up of the control unit, the arithmetic/logic unit and the register. These elements are held on the integrated circuit or the silicon chip. Because of the microchip, more complex mathematical and very large amount of data can be processed. Since the advent of the silicon chip, science and technology has grown by leaps and bounds. No other advancement has made such a significant contribution to the industry.

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