LIVING IN THE IT ERA Unit 1 – Part 1

HISTORY OF COMPUTER: BASIC COMPUTING Applications of ICT (Computers) in Our Daily Lives
PERIODS
1. Business. Almost every business uses
Objectives: computers nowadays. They can be employed
to store and maintain accounts, personnel
At the end of the chapter, students must be records, manage projects, track inventory,
able to: create presentations and reports. They
enable communication with people both
• Gain familiarity of the different within and outside the business, using various
discoveries during the different periods. technologies, including e-mail. They can be
• Learn different inventions and used to promote the business and enable
discoveries during electro-mechanical age that direct interaction with customers.
lead to the inventions of today’s technology.
2. Education. Computers can be used to give
• Identify different technologies and
learners audio-visual packages, interactive
their improvements during the different
exercises, and remote learning, including
generations.
tutoring over the internet. They can be used
to access educational information from
Definition of Computer
intranet and internet sources, or via e-books.
They can be used to maintain and monitor
• Computer is a programmable student performance, including through the
machine. use of online examinations, as well as to
• Computer is an electronic device that create projects and assignments.
manipulates information, or data. It has the
ability to store, retrieve, and process data. 3. Healthcare. Healthcare continues to be
• Computer is a machine that revolutionized by computers. As well as
manipulates data according to a list of digitized medical information making it easier
instructions (program). to store and access patient data, complex
• Computer is any device which aids information can also be analyzed by software
humans in performing various kinds of to aid discovery of diagnoses, as well as
computations or calculations. search for risks of diseases. Computers
control lab equipment, heart rate monitors,
Three principal characteristics of computer: and blood pressure monitors. They enable
doctors to have greater access to information
• It responds to a specific set of on the latest drugs, as well as the ability to
instructions in a well-defined manner. share information on diseases with other
• It can execute a pre-recorded list of medical specialists.
instructions.
• It can quickly store and retrieve large 4. Retail and Trade. Computers can be used to
amounts of data. buy and sell products online - this enables
sellers to reach a wider market with low
overheads, and buyers to compare prices,
read reviews, and choose delivery
preferences. They can be used for direct
trading and advertising too, using sites such

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 LIVING IN THE IT ERA Unit 1 – Part 1

as eBay, Craigslist, or local listings on social writers to create and edit. They can be used to
media or independent websites. make, record, edit, play, and listen to music. They
can be used to capture, edit and watch videos.
5. Government. Various government They can be used for playing games.
departments use computers to improve the
quality and efficiency of their services. Examples 10. Communication. Computers have made real-
include city planning, law enforcement, traffic, time communication over the internet easy,
and tourism. Computers can be used to store thanks to software and videoconferencing
information, promote services, communicate services such as Skype. Families can connect with
internally and externally, as well as for routine audio and video, businesses can hold meetings
administrative purposes between remote participants, and news
organizations can interview people without the
6. Marketing. Computers enable marketing need for a film crew. Modern computers usually
campaigns to be more precise through the have microphones and webcams built-in
analysis and manipulation of data. They facilitate nowadays to facilitate software like Skype. Older
the creation of websites and promotional communications technologies such as email are
materials. They can be used to generate social also still used widely.
media campaigns. They enable direct
communication with customers through email 11. Banking and Finance. Most banking in
and online chat. advanced countries now takes place online. You
can use computers to check your account
7. Science. Scientists were one of the first groups balance, transfer money, or pay off credit cards.
to adopt computers as a work tool. In science, You can also use computer technology to access
computers can be used for research, sharing information on stock markets, trade stocks, and
information with other specialists both locally manage investments. Banks store customer
and internationally, as well as collecting, account data, as well as detailed information on
categorizing, analyzing, and storing data. customer behavior which is used to streamline
Computers also play a vital role in launching, marketing.
controlling, and maintaining space craft, as well
as operating other advanced technology. 12 Transport. Road vehicles, trains, planes, and
boats are increasingly automated with
8. Publishing. Computers can be used to design computers being used to maintain safety and
pretty much any type of publication. These might navigation systems, and increasingly to drive, fly,
include newsletters, marketing materials, or steer. They can also highlight problems that
fashion magazines, novels, or newspapers. require attention, such as low fuel levels, oil
Computers are used in the publishing of both changes, or a failing mechanical part. Computers
hard-copy and e-books. They are also used to can be used to customize settings for individuals,
market publications and track sales. for example, seat setup, air-conditioning
temperatures.
9. Arts and Entertainment. Computers are now
used in virtually every branch of the arts, as well 13. Navigation. Navigation has become
as in the wider entertainment industry. Computers increasingly computerized, especially since
can be used to create drawings, graphic designs, computer technology has been combined with
and paintings. They can be used to edit, copy, GPS technology. Computers combined with
send, and print photographs. They can be used by satellites mean that it's now easy to pinpoint
your exact location, know which way that you
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are moving on a map, and have a good idea of 18. Security and Surveillance. Computers are
amenities and places of interest around you. increasingly being combined with other
technologies to monitor people and goods.
14. Working From Home. Computers have made Computers combined with biometric passports
working from home and other forms of remote make it harder for people to fraudulently enter a
working increasingly common. Workers can access country or gain access to a passenger airplane.
necessary data, communicate, and share Face-recognition technology makes it easier to
information without commuting to a traditional identify terrorists or criminals in public places.
office. Managers can monitor workers' Driver plates can be auto scanned by speed
productivity remotely. cameras or police cars. Private security systems
have also become much more sophisticated with
15. Military. Computers are used extensively by the introduction of computer technology and
the military. They are use for training purposes. internet technology.
They are used for analyzing intelligence data. They
are used to control smart technology, such as 19. Weather Forecasting. The world's weather is
guided missiles and drones, as well as for tracking complex and depends upon a multitude of
incoming missiles and destroying them. They work factors that are constantly changing. It's
with other technologies such as satellites to impossible for human beings to monitor and
provide geospatial information and analysis. They process all the information coming in from
aid communications. They help tanks and planes satellite and other technologies, never mind
to target enemy forces. perform the complex calculations that are
needed to predict what is likely to happen in the
16. Social and Romance. Computers have future. Computers can process the large
opened up many ways of socializing that didn't amounts of meteorological information.
previously exist. Social media enables people to
chat in text or audio in real time across large 20. Robotics. Robotics is an expanding area of
distances, as well as exchange photographs, technology which combines computers with
videos, and memes. Dating sites and apps help science and engineering to produce machines
people to find romance. Online groups help that can either replace humans, or do specific
people to connect with others who have similar jobs that humans are unable to do. One of the
interests. Blogs enable people to post a variety of first use of robotics was in manufacturing to
views, updates, and experiences. Online forums build cars. Since then, robots have been
enable discussions between people on specialist developed to explore areas where conditions are
or general topics. too harsh for humans, to help law enforcement,
to help the military, and to assist healthcare
17. Booking Vacations. Computers can be used professionals.
by travelers to study timetables, examine route
options, and buy plane, train, or bus tickets. They
can be used to explore and book History of Computer: Basic Computing Periods
accommodation, whether traditional hotels, or
through newer services, such as Air BnB. Guided Earliest Computers originally calculations were
tours, excursions, events, and trips can also be computed by humans, whose job title was
explored and booked online using computers. computers.

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1. Tally sticks. A tally stick was an ancient • It is an automatic loom controlled by

memory aid device to record and document punched cards.
numbers, quantities, or even messages. 8. Arithmometer
2. Abacus. An abacus is a mechanical device • A mechanical calculator invented by
used to aid an individual in performing Thomas de Colmar in 1820,
mathematical calculations. • The first reliable, useful and
• The abacus was invented in Babylonia commercially successful calculating
in 2400 B.C. machine.
• The abacus in the form we are most • The machine could perform the four
familiar with was first used in China in basic mathematic functions.
around 500 B.C. • The first mass-produced calculating
• It used to perform basic arithmetic machine.
operations. 9. Difference Engine and Analytical Engine
3. Napier’s Bones • It an automatic, mechanical
• Invented by John Napier in 1614. calculator designed to tabulate
• Allowed the operator to multiply, polynomial functions.
divide and calculate square and cube • Invented by Charles Babbage in 1822
roots by moving the rods around and and 1834
placing them in specially constructed • It is the first mechanical computer.
boards. 10. First Computer Programmer
4. Slide Rule • In 1840, Augusta Ada Byron suggests
• Invented by William Oughtred in 1622. to Babbage that he use the binary
• Is based on Napier's ideas about system.
logarithms. • She writes programs for the Analytical
• Used primarily for – multiplication – Engine.
division – roots – logarithms – 11. Scheutzian Calculation Engine
Trigonometry • Invented by Per Georg Scheutz in 1843.
• Not normally used for addition or • Based on Charles Babbage's difference
subtraction. engine.
5. Pascaline • The first printing calculator.
•
Invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642. 12. Tabulating Machine
•
It was its limitation to addition and • Invented by Herman Hollerith in 1890.
subtraction. • To assist in summarizing information and
• It is too expensive. accounting.
6. Stepped Reckoner 13. Harvard Mark 1
• Invented by Gottfried Wilhelm • Also known as IBM Automatic Sequence
Leibniz in 1672. Controlled Calculator (ASCC).
• The machine that can add, subtract, • Invented by Howard H. Aiken in 1943
multiply and divide automatically. • The first electro-mechanical computer.
7. Jacquard Loom 14. Z1
• The Jacquard loom is a mechanical • The first programmable computer.
loom, invented by JosephMarie • Created by Konrad Zuse in Germany from
Jacquard in 1881. 1936 to 1938.

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• To program the Z1 required that the user can be defined as the time between 3000B.C.
insert punch tape into a punch tape reader and 1450A.D. We are talking about a long
and all output was also generated through time ago. When humans first started
punch tape. communicating, they would try to use
15. Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) language or simple picture drawings known as
• It was the first electronic digital computing petroglyths which were usually carved in rock.
device. Invented by Professor John Atanasoff Early alphabets were developed such as the
and graduate student Clifford Berry at Iowa Phoenician alphabet.
State University between 1939 and 1942. As alphabets became more popular and more
people were writing information down, pens
16. ENIAC and paper began to be developed. It started
• ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical off as just marks in wet clay, but later paper
Integrator and Computer. was created out of papyrus plant. The most
popular kind of paper made was probably by
• It was the first electronic general-purpose
the Chinese who made paper from rags.
computer.
Now that people were writing a lot of
• Developed by John Presper Eckert and John
information down, they needed ways to keep
Mauchly.
it all in permanent storage. This is where the
17. UNIVAC 1
first books and libraries are developed. You’ve
• The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic
probably heard of Egyptian scrolls which were
Computer 1) was the first commercial
popular ways of writing down information to
computer.
save. Some groups of people were actually
• Designed by John Presper Eckert and John
binding paper together into a book-like form.
Mauchly.
Also, during this period were the first
18. EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable
numbering systems. Around 100A.D. was
Automatic Computer)
when the first 1-9 system was created by
• The First Stored Program Computer people from India. However, it wasn’t until
• Designed by Von Neumann in 1952. 875A.D. (775 years later) that the number 0
• It has a memory to hold both a stored was invented. And yes, now that numbers
program as well as data. were created, people wanted stuff to do with
19. The First Portable Computer them, so they created calculators. A
• Osborne 1 – the first portable calculator was the very first sign of an
computer. information processor. The popular model of
• Released in 1981 by the Osborne that time was the abacus.
Computer Corporation. 2. Mechanical. The mechanical age is when
20. The First Computer Company we first start to see connections between our
• The first computer company was the current technology and its ancestors. The
Electronic Controls Company. mechanical age can be defined as the time
• Founded in 1949 by John Presper between 1450 and 1840. A lot of new
Eckert and John Mauchly. technologies are developed in this era as
there is a large explosion in interest with this
Basic Computing Periods - Ages area. Technologies like the slide rule (an
analog computer used for multiplying and
1. Pre-mechanical. The pre-mechanical age is dividing) were invented. Blaise Pascal
the earliest age of information technology. It invented the Pascaline which was a very
popular mechanical computer. Charles
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Babbage developed the difference engine the first high-speed, digital computer capable
which tabulated polynomial equations using of being reprogrammed to solve a full range
the method of finite differences. of computing problems. This computer was
There were lots of different machines created designed to be used by the U.S. Army for
during this era and while we have not yet artillery firing tables. This machine was even
gotten to a machine that can do more than bigger than the Mark 1 taking up 680 square
one type of calculation in one, like our feet and weighing 30 tons - HUGE. It mainly
modern-day calculators, we are still learning used vacuum tubes to do its calculations.
about how all of our all-in-one machines There are 4 main sections of digital
started. Also, if you look at the size of the computing. The first was the era of vacuum
machines invented in this time compared to tubes and punch cards like the ENIAC and
the power behind them it seems (to us) Mark 1. Rotating magnetic drums were used
absolutely ridiculous to understand why for internal storage. The second generation
anybody would want to use them, but to the replaced vacuum tubes with transistors,
people living in that time ALL of these punch cards were replaced with magnetic
inventions were HUGE. tape, and rotating magnetic drums were
3. Electromechanical. Now we are finally replaced by magnetic cores for internal
getting close to some technologies that storage. Also during this time high-level
resemble our modern-day technology. The programming languages were created such as
electromechanical age can be defined as the FORTRAN and COBOL. The third generation
time between 1840 and 1940. These are the replaced transistors with integrated circuits,
beginnings of telecommunication. The magnetic tape was used throughout all
telegraph was created in the early 1800s. computers, and magnetic core turned into
Morse code was created by Samuel Morse in metal oxide semiconductors. An actual
1835. The telephone (one of the most operating system showed up around this time
popular forms of communication ever) was along with the advanced programming
created by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. language BASIC. The fourth and latest
The first radio developed by Guglielmo generation brought in CPUs (central
Marconi in 1894. All of these were extremely processing units) which contained memory,
crucial emerging technologies that led to big logic, and control circuits all on a single chip.
advances in the information technology field. The personal computer was developed (Apple
The first large-scale automatic digital II). The graphical user interface (GUI) was
computer in the United States was the developed.
Mark 1 created by Harvard University around
1940. This computer was 8ft high, 50ft long, History of Computer: Generations of Computer
2ft wide, and weighed 5 tons - HUGE. It was
programmed using punch cards. How does There are five generations of computer:
your PC match up to this hunk of metal? It was • First generation – 1946 to 1958
from huge machines like this that people • Second generation – 1959 to 1964
began to look at downsizing all the parts to • Third generation – 1965 to 1970
first make them usable by businesses and • Fourth generation – 1971 to Today
eventually in your own home. • Fifth generation – Today to future
4. Electronic. The electronic age is what we
currently live in. It can be defined as the time 1. The First Generation. The first computers
between 1940 and right now. The ENIAC was used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic

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drums for memory, and were often called semiconductors, which drastically
enormous, taking up entire rooms. They were increased the speed and efficiency of
very expensive to operate and in addition to computers. It could carry out instructions in
using a great deal of electricity, generated a billionths of a second. Much smaller and
lot of heat, which was often the cause of cheaper compared to the second generation
malfunctions. First generation computers computers.
relied on machine language, the lowest-level 4. The Fourth Generation. The
programming language understood by microprocessor brought the fourth
computers, to perform operations, and they generation of computers, as thousands of
could only solve one problem at a time. Input integrated circuits were built onto a single
was based on punched cards and paper tape, silicon chip. As these small computers
and output was displayed on printouts. became more powerful, they could be linked
together to form networks, which eventually
Examples: – ENIAC – EDSAC – UNIVAC led to the development of the Internet.
I, UNIVAC II, UNIVAC 1101 Fourth generation computers also saw the
development of GUIs, the mouse and
2. The Second Generation. Transistors handheld devices.
replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the 5. The Fifth Generation. Based on Artificial
second generation of computers. One Intelligence (AI). Still in development. The
transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 use of parallel processing and
vacuum tubes. Allowing computers to superconductors is helping to make artificial
become smaller, faster, cheaper, more intelligence a reality. The goal is to develop
energy-efficient and more reliable. Still devices that respond to natural language
generated a great deal of heat that can input and are capable of learning and self-
damage the computer. Second-generation organization. There are some applications,
computers moved from cryptic binary such as voice recognition, that are being used
machine language to symbolic, or assembly, today.
languages, which allowed programmers to
specify instructions in words. Second References:
generation computers still relied on punched
cards for input and printouts for output. https://ftms.edu.my/v2/wpcontent/uploads/2019/02/
These were also the first computers that csca0201_ch01.pdf
stored their instructions in their memory,
https://www.sutori.com/story/history-of-ict-
which moved from a magnetic drum to information-and-communications-technology-
magnetic core technology. N7J51bQqSU7vLWcVfdn5M9qa

Examples: UNIVAC III, RCA 501, Philco Transact S- https://www.livescience.com/20718-computer-

history.html
2000, NCR 300 series,
IBM 7030 Stretch, IBM 7070, 7080, 7090 https://www.explainthatstuff.com/historyofcomputers
series .html

3. The Third Generation. The development of

the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the
third generation of computers. Transistors
were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips,

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