History of computer: Mark 1

English mathematician Charles Babbage (1792-1871) is recognized as the first to conceptualize the computer. He worked to develop a mechanical computing machine called the ‘analytical engine’, which could perform all sorts of calculations and is considered the prototype of the digital computer.

In the US, a team of Harvard and IBM scientists led by Howard Hathaway Aiken were also working on a programmable computer. This computer, called Mark I, was completed in February 1944. It is the fully automatic calculator, very big and fancy.

Over five tons and fifty-one feet, the Mark I was huge in size and weight. The Mark I had a memory capacity of 72 numbers and it could be programmed to perform a 23-digit multiplication in the lightning-like time of 4 seconds. 

The first functional computer program was written by Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) an admiral of the US Navy. Hopper, a professor of mathematics at Vassar College had been ordered by the Navy to assist Howard Aiken with programming of Mark I.

The importance of Mark I is primary its role in making known to the world at large that a machine could successfully perform a programmed sequenced of operations and do so automatically without error.
History of computer: Mark 1

History of computer chips

Central processing unit contains the electronic heart of the computer: the microprocessor chip. The chip is a piece of silicon on which has been printed a complex circuit that processes the instruction to the computer.

The idea of a single chip computer was around even as early as the 1950s but at that time electronics and integrated circuit technology were still in their infancy.

The creation of the transistor in 1947 and the development of the integrated circuit in 1958-59, is the technology that formed the basis for the microprocessor.

Around that time, there were many companies in the field trying to develop a single chip computer and one of them was Intel. Intel released its 4-bit all-purpose chip, the Intel 4004, in November 1971.

The world’s first commercial microprocessor chip was released by Intel on November 15, 1971. It was developed for a Japanese calculator company, Busicom, as an alternative to hardwired circuitry.

The personal computer was first made possible by the development of the microprocessor during that year. Single chip computers could dramatically cut costs and expand the effectiveness of systems.

In April 1974, Intel introduced the 8080 microprocessor ,which was 10 times faster than the earlier 8008 and addressed 64kb of memory.

By the late 1990s, technology had developed printable, affordable personal computers, known as laptops, which could be carried anywhere.  
History of computer chips

History of Integrated Circuits

History of Integrated Circuits
The first functional integrated circuit was demonstrated and patented by J. Kilby in 1959. It consisted of a sliced crystal germanium containing a bipolar transistor, a capacitor and three resistors. It demonstrated how several components could be integrated on the same semiconductor, but did not show any satisfactory method of connecting the components, this being achieved by hand using thin gold wires.

The planar process initially developed by J. Hoerni and R. Noyce in 1959 as an improved method of manufacturing discrete silicon transistor, combined the existing diffusion and masking techniques with a method of connection.

A final layer of patterned oxide was used as a mask for connections between regions of the transistor and the outside world. Connections could then be formed by the deposition of aluminum in a batch production method. The technique of the planar process when applied to the manufacturer of integrated circuits caused a revolution in the electronic industry.

One of the first commercially available planar integrated circuits was a flip-flop containing four transistor and five resistors. It was one of a family of resistor transistor logic chips offer by Fairchild in 1961. In 1964 the first linear integrated circuit was developed by R. Wildar, an operational amplifier which contained twelve transistor and five resistors. It was remarkable not only for being the first operational amplifier on a single chip, but also for the ingenuity of the design.

Where possible, he used DC biased transistors instead of resistors, and relied on matching component characteristics, only assuming approximately absolute values.

By the time the techniques of integrated circuit manufacture were maturing, and the pace of integration measured in terms of increased transistor count, greater manufacturing yield and reduced cost was marked.
History of Integrated Circuits

Modern History of Artificial Intelligence

Modern History of Artificial Intelligence
Intelligence is the computational part of the ability to achieve goals in the world. Artificial intelligence can be defined as the study and design of intelligent agents, where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and take actions which maximize its chances of success.

Scientists began their research in artificial intelligence based on discoveries in neurology, mathematical theory, cybernetics and new invention in computer which based on mathematical reasoning.

In the 17th century, Descartes gave advent to more advanced thinking when he proposed the idea that animals are, in theory, nothing more than complex machine. Thomas Hobbes wrote in his famous Leviathan, which basically translates to “reason is nothing more than reckoning.” The idea that reasoning in human beings can be simplified into algebraic calculations was further discussed by Gottfried Leibniz, who coined the term characteristica universalis or universal language of reasoning.

The true driving factor of Artificial Intelligence came in the 1940’s with the creation of the electronic computer. Advancements in computer theory and computer science led to advancements in Artificial Intelligence as well. Since machines could now begin to manipulate numbers and symbols, this manipulation was thought to somehow be the basics of human thought. Princeton’s Walter Pitts and Warren McCulloch began work on the neural network, which attempted to give a mathematical description of the human brain.

In 1956 John MacCarthy from MIT coined the term ‘artificial intelligence’ as the topic of at Dartmouth Conference. He then invented the Lisp language in 1958. Dartmouth Conference was held at Dartmouth College in summer of 1956. Those who attended would become the leaders of artificial intelligence for many decades.

Within seven years after the conference, artificial intelligent began to pick up momentum. The ideas formed before were re-examined and further research was placed. In 1961, James Slagle in his PhD dissertation at MIT wrote the first symbolic integration program, SAINT which can solved calculus problems. In 1964, Danny Bobrow from MIT shows that computers can understand natural language enough to solve algebra world programs

In 1980 First National Conference of the American Association of Artificial Intelligence held at Stanford.

In early 1990s, The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign develop and release the first widely used web browser, called Mosaic. The military put Artificial Intelligence based hardware to the test of war during Desert Storm. Artificial Intelligence-based technologies were used in missile systems, heads-up-displays, and other advancements. Artificial Intelligence has also made the transition to the home. With the popularity of the Artificial Intelligence computer growing, the interest of the public has also grown. Applications for the Apple Macintosh and IBM compatible computer, such as voice and character recognition have become available.

Late 1990’s, web crawls and other artificial intelligence information extraction programs become essential in widespread use of the World Wide Web.
Modern History of Artificial Intelligence

Computer programming –the history

Computer programming –the history
The earliest programmable machine (that is a machine whose behavior can be controlled by changes to a "program") was Al-Jazari's programmable humanoid robot in 1206. Al-Jazari's robot was originally a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties.

In the 17 Century, the first calculating machines were invented by Wilhelm Schickard and Blaise Pascal (who created the "Pascaline" in 1642). These mechanical devices were remarkable creations but they could only perform specific calculations.

The Jacquard Loom, developed in 1801 invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard, is often quoted as a source of prior art. Herman Hollerith refined the machine and invented the Hollerith punched card, the card reader, and the key punch machine.

In 1946, Konrad Zues, a German engineer, develops the world’s first programming language Plankalkul, while hiding in the Bavarian Alps waiting for the war end. The language has even tables and data structures. The language is however buried in some German archive.

In the US, a team of Harvard and IBM scientists led by Howard Aiken were also working on a programmable computer. This computer, called Mark I, was completed in 1944. The person who is credited with fully harnessing the power of this programmable computer is Captain Grace Murray Hopper.


In 1954 IBM begins the development of FORTRAN based on A-O. The root of this language is still used with mathematic expressions. The invention of the Von Neumann architecture allowed computer programs to be stored in computer memory.

In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen write a version of BASIC which they sell to MITS. MITS produces 8080-based Altair-microcomputers.
Computer programming –the history