Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1. Development of the PC
Computer History: Before Personal Computers
Many discoveries and inventions have directly and indirectly contributed to the develop-
ment of the PC and other personal computers as we know them today. Examining a few
important developmental landmarks can help bring the entire picture into focus.
Timeline
The following is a timeline of significant events in computer history. It is not meant to be
complete, just a representation of some of the major landmarks in computer development:
1617 John Napier creates “Napier's Bones,” wooden or ivory rods used for calculating.
1642 Blaise Pascal introduces the Pascaline digital adding machine.
1822 Charles Babbage introduces the Difference Engine and later the Analytical Engine,
a true general-purpose computing machine.
1906 Lee De Forest patents the vacuum tube triode, used as an electronic switch in the
first electronic computers.
1936 Alan Turing publishes “On Computable Numbers,” a paper in which he conceives
an imaginary computer called the Turing Machine, considered one of the founda-
tions of modern computing. Turing later worked on breaking the German Enigma
code.
1936 KonradZusebeginsworkonaseriesofcomputersthatwillculminate in1941when
he finishes work on the Z3. These are considered the first working electric binary
computers, using electromechanical switches and relays.
1937 John V. Atanasoff begins work on the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC), which
would later be officially credited as the first electronic computer. Note that an
electronic
computer uses tubes, transistors, or other solid-state switching devices,
whereas an
electric
computer uses electric motors, solenoids, or relays (elec-
tromechanical switches).
1943 Thomas (Tommy) Flowers develops the Colossus, a secret British code-breaking
computer designed to decode teleprinter messages encrypted by the German army.
1945 JohnvonNeumannwrites“FirstDraftofaReportontheEDVAC,”inwhichheout-
lines the architecture of the modern stored-program computer.
