History of Computer

      Since ancient times,the data processing has been performed by humans. Humans also find mechanical appliances and electronics to help hummans in the calculation and data processing in order to get result faster. Computer that we encounter today is a long evolution of human inventions from time immemorial in the form of mechanical or electronic means.

      Currently the computer and its suppoting tools have been included in every aspect of life and work. Computers are now capable of more than ordinary mathematical calculations. Among them are computer systems capable of gauze code reading supermarket shopping goods,which handles millions of telephone calls and communications,computer and internet networks that connect different parts of the world.

History of Computer in the period is :

> Tools an Calculators Calculate Traditional Mechanical

> First Generation Computers

> Second Generation Computers

> Fourth Generation Computers

> Fifth Generation Computer

TRADITIONAL CALCULATE CALCULATOR TOOL and MECHANICAL

       Abacus,which appeared about 5000 years ago in Asia Minor and is still used in some places up to now can be considered as the beginning of computing mechanes.

      This tool allows users to perform calculations using sliding beads arranged on a shelf. The merchants the period using the abacus to calculate the trade transaction. Along with the emerigence of a pencil and paper,especially in Europe,the abacus lost its popularity.

     After nearly 12 centuries,came another discovery in termsof computing machines. In 1642,Blaise Pascal (1623-1662),who at that time was 18 years old,found what he called a numerical wheel calculator (numerical wheel calculator) to help him do the tax calculations.

      This brass rectangular box,called the Pascaline,used eight toothed wheel to add up the numbers to eight digits. This tool is based counter number ten. The weakness of this tool is limited only to do the sums.

      In 1694,a German mathematician and philosopher,Gottfried Whilhem von Leibniz (1646-1716) fix the Pascaline by creating a mechine that could multiply. Just like its predecessor,this mechanical devide works by using the wheels of the serrations. By studying the notes and drawings made by Pascal,Leibniz can fine-fine the instrument.

      It was only in 1820,mechanical calculators became popular. Charles Xavier Thomes de Colmar find a machine that can perform four basic arithmetic functions. Colmar mechanical calculator,arrithometer,presented a more practical apporoach in the calculation because the device can perform addition,subtraction,multiplication,and devision. With his ability,arithometer widely used until World War 1.Together with Pascal and Leibniz,Colmar helped build a mechanical computing era.

      Begining of the computer that is actually formed by a professor of English mathematician,Charles Babbage (1791-1871). In 1812,Babbage noticed the natural compatibility between machines and mathematics mechanical mechanical machine that is very good at doing the same tasks repeatedly without  m

mistake; being a simple repetition of mathematics requires a certain steps. Problem is then developed to put the machine mechanics. Babbage's first attempt to address this issue appeared in 1822 when he proposed a machine to perform calculation of differential Engines. By using stream,the machine can store programs and can perform calculations and print the results automatically.

      After working for ten years Differential Engines,Babbage was suddenly inspired to nstarts creating a general-porpuse computer first,called the Analytical Engine. Babbge's assistant ,Augusta Ada king (1815-1842) has an important role in the manufacture of this machine. He helped revise the plan,seek funding from the British government,and communicate to the public specification of the Analytical Engines. In addition,a good understanding of Augusta about this machine makes it possible to put the instructions into the machine and also make it the first female programmer. In 1980,the U.S.Defense Departement named a programming language with the name of the ADA as a tribute to him.

      Babbage's steam engine,although it is never finished,looking very primitive compared to today's standars. However,these tools describe the basic elemnent of a modern computer,and also reveals an important concepst. Consists of about 50,000 components,the basic design of the Analytical Engine uses perforated cards (with holes) that containts the operating instructions for the machine.

     In 1889,Herman hollerith (1860-1929) also applied the perforated cards to perform calculation. His first task is to find a faster way to do the calculation for the U.S.Census Bereau. Previous census conducted in 1880 took seven years to complete the calculation. With growing population,the Bereau estimates that it takes ten years to compete the census count.

     Hollerith uses perforated cards to enter census data are then processed by a mechanical device. A card can store up to 80 variables. By using these tools,the census can be completed within six weeks. Besides having the advantage in spped,the card serves as a data storage media. The error rate calculation can also be reduced drastically. Hollent then develop the tools and sell them to the public. He founded the Tabulating machine Company in 1896 which later became International Business Machine (1924) after some time of the merger. Other companis such as Remington Rand and Burroghs also produce perforated card reader for a businesses to the government and permrosesan the data until 1960.

     In the next period,several other engineers to make new discoveries. Vannevar Bush (18901974) created a calculator to solve deifferential equations in 1931. The machine was able to solve complex different equations that is considered complicated by academics. The machine is very large and heavy as hundreds of teeth and the shaft needed to perform calculations. In 1930,John V.Atanasoff and Clifford Berry tried to apply an electric computer Boolean algebra in electrical circuit. This approach is based on the work of Georgle Boole (1815-1864) in the form of a binary system of algreba,which states that any mathematical equation can be expressed as true or false. By applying the conditions in the form of conneted-disconneted,Atanasoff aand Berry made the first electric

computer in 1940. But those projects stalled due to loss of funding source.

FIRST GENERATION COMPUTER

       With the onset of the Second World War,the countries involed in the war sought to develop computers to exploit their potensial strategic importance computer. This increased funding for computer develpoment project hastened technical progess. In 1941,Konrad Zuse,a German engineser to build a computer Z3,to design airplanes and missiles.

        Alies also made other progress in the develpment of computer power. In 1943,the British completed a secret code-breaking computer called  Collossus did not significantly affect the development of the computer industy because of two reasons. First, (Colossue was not a versatile computer general-purpose computer),it is only designed to decode secret messages,Secondly,the existence of the machine was kept secret until decades after the war ended.

         The work done by the Americans at that time produced a broader achivement. Harvard engineer working with IBM,suceeded in producing electronic calculators for the U.S.Navy. The calculator is a legth of half a football field and has a wire range of 500 miles.The Harvd-IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, or Mark I,an electronic ealay computer. He uses electromagnetic signals to move the mechanical components. The calcutor can perform basic arithmetic and a more complex equation.

         Another computer development during this period the Electronic Numerical Intergrator and omputer (ENIAC),which is made by the cooperation between the governments of the United States and the University of Pennsylvania. Consisting of 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resitors and 5 million soldered joints,the computer is a machine that consumes huge power of 160kW

. This computer was designed by John Presper Eckert (1919-1995) and John W.Mauchly (1907-1980),ENIAC is a versatile computer (general purpose computer) that work 1000 times faster than Mark I.

         In the mid-1940s,John von Neumann (1903-1957) joined the tearn of University of Pennsylvania to build a computer that couple the concept of the next 40 years is still used in computer engineering.

         Von Neumann designed the Electonic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC) in 1945 with a good memory to accommodate the program or data. This technique allows the computer to stop at some point and then resume his job back. The main key to then von Neumann architecture is a central processing unit (CPU),which allowed all computer functions to be coordinated through a single source. 1951,the UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) made by Remington Rand,became the first commercial computer that utilizes the model of von Neumann architecture. Both the United States Census Bureau and General Electric have UNIVAC. One of the impressive results achieved by the UNIVAC a success in prediting victory Dwilight D.Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election.

       First generation computers were charareiezed by the fact that operating intructions were created specifically for a particular task. Each computer has a program of different binary-coded-called "machine language" (machine language). This made the computer difficult to program and the speed limit. Another feature is the use of first generation computer vacuum tube (which makes the computer at that time are very large) and magnetic cylinder for the storage of data.

SECOND GENERATION COMPUTER

        In 1948,the invention of the transistor greatly influenced the development of computers. Transistors replaced vacuum tubes in televions,radios,and computer. As a result,the size of the electric machines is reduced drastically. The transistor used in computers began in 1956. Other findings in the form of magnetic core memory,a second generation computers smaller,faster,more reliable,and more energy efficient than its predecessor. The first machine that utilizes this new technology is a supercomputer.IBM makes supercomputer named Stretch,and Sprery-Rand called LARC.these computers,which were develop for atomic energy laboratories,could handle large amounts of data a capability much in demand by atomic scientist the machine was very expensive and tend to be too complex for business computing needs,therebly limiting. There are only two LARC ever installed and used: one at the Lawrence Radiations Labs in Livermore,California,and the other at the U.S.Navy Research and Develpoment Center in Washington DC Second-generation computers replaced machine language is a language that used abbreviations to replace the binary code.

        In the early 1960's,began to appear successful second generation computers in business,in universities and in government. The second generation of computers is a computer which used transistors. They also have components that can be associated with the computer at this time: a printer,storage,disk,memory,operating system,and program. One important example is the computer on te IBM 1401 that is widely accepted in the industry. In 1965,almost all large businnesses use computers to process the second generation of finacial information.

       Program stored in the computer and programming language that is in it gives flexibility to the computer. Flexibility is increased performance at a reasonable prince for bisuness use. With this concept,the computer can print invoices and then run the consumer purchases the product design or calculate payroll. Some programming languages began to appear at that time Programming language Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) and FORTRAN (Formula Traslator) came into common use. These language repaced cyptic binary machine code with words,sentences,and math formulas more easily understood by humans. This allows a person to program and set the computer. Various New types of careers (programmer,analyst,and expert computer system). Software industry also began to appear and grow during this second-generation computers.

THRID GENERATION COMPUTER

       Although the transistor is in many ways the vacuum tube,but the transistor generates substantial heat,which could potentially damage the internal parts of the computer. Quartz stone (quartz rock) eliminates this problem. ack Kilby,an engineer at Texas Instrument,developead the integrated circuit (IC: integrated circuit) in 1958. IC combined three electronic components in a small silicon dics made of quartz sand. The result,computers became ever smaller as more components were squeezed onto the chip. Other thrid-generation development is the use of the operating system (operating system) that enables the mechane to run many different programs at once with a central program that monitored and coordinated the computer's memory.

FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTER

       After IC,the only place to clear the circuit and descrease the size of electrocal components. Large Scale Integration (LSI) could fit hundreds of component onto one chip. In the 1980's,the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) contains thousnad of component on a single chip.

      Ultra-Large Scale Integration (ULSI) increased that number into the millions. The ability to put so many component in a half-sized pieces of coins falling prices encourge and size of the computer. It also increased power,efficiency and reability of computers. Intel 4004 chip that was made in 1971 to bring progress to the IC by putting all the component of a computer (central processing unit,memory,and control input/output) in a chip that very small. Previosly, the IC made to do a certain task specific. Now,a microprocessor could be manufacturated and then programmed to meet all the requirement. Not long after, everyday household items like microwave ovens,televisions,and automobilles with electronic fuel injection incorporated microprocessor.

      Such developments allow ordinary people to use a reguler computer. The computer is no longer a dominance of large companies or government agencies. In the mid-1970s.computer assemblers offer their computer products to the general public. These computers,called minicomputers,sold with the software package tha is easy to use by the layman. The most popular software at that time was word processing and spreadsheet programs. In the early 1980's,such as the Atari 2600 video are game consumer interest in home computers are more sophisticated and can be programmed.

       In 1981,IBM introduced the use of the Personal Computer (PC) for use in homes,offices,and schools. Number of PCs in use jumped from 2 milion units in 1981 to 5.5 milion units in 1982. Ten years later,65 milion PCs in use. Computer continued evolution toward smaller size,from computers that are on the table (desktop computer) into a computer that can be put into bags (laptop),or even a computer that can be grasped (palmtop).

       IBM PC to compete with the Apple Macintosh in the fight over the computer market. Apple Macintosh became famous for popularizing the graphical sytem on his computer,while his rival was still using text-based computer. Macintosh also popularized the use of mouse devices.

       At the present time,we know the way to the use of IBM compatible CPU: IBM PC/486,Pentium,Pentium II,Pentium III,Pentium IV (series of CPU made by intel). Also we know AMD K6,Athlon,etc. This is all included in the class of fourth-generation computers. Along with the proriferation of computer usage in the workplace,new ways to explore the icreased strength of a small computer,the computers can be conneted together in a network to be able to communicate with each other. Computer network allow computers to form a single electronic collaboration to accomplish a task process. By using direct cabling (also called local area netwrok,LAN),or telephone cab

le,the network can became very large.

FIFTH GENERATION COMPUTER

      Defining the fifth generation computer becomes quite difficult bacause the stage is still very young. Imaginative example of fifth generation computer is the fictional HAL9000 computer from the novel by Arthur C.Clarke entitled 2001: Space Odyssey HAL displays all the desired funtionality of a fifth-generation computer. With artificial intelligence (artificial intelligence),HAL may have enough reason to have a conversation with a man,using visual feedback,and learn from is own experience.

       Although it may be the realization of the HAL9000 is still reality,many of the functions that had been established. Some computers can receive verbal instructions and are able to mimic human reasoning. The ability to translate a foreign language also becomes possible. The facility is deceptively simple. However,such facilities become much more complicated than expected when programmers realized that human understanding relies heavily on context and meaning rather than just translate words directly.

       Many advances in the field of computer design and technology increasingly allows the creation of a fifth-generation computers. Two engineering advances which are mainly parallel processing capabilities,which will replace the model of von Neumann. Von Neumann model will be replaced with a system that is able to coordinate a lot of CPU to work in unison. Another advance is superconductor technology increasingly allows that allows the flow of electrically without any obstalecles,which in turn can accelerate the speed of information.

     Japan is a country well konwn in the jargon of socialization and the fifth generation computer project. Institute ICOT (Institute for New Computer Technology) is also forned to make it happen. Many news stating that the success of this failed,but some other information that  the success of this fifth generation computer project will bring new changes in the world of computing paradigm. We wait for information which is more valid and frutiful.