Topicality of the topic: The man of the XXI century actively seeks to use all the scientific development of civilization – the computer and the Internet. Nowadays it is difficult to imagine that one can do without computers. Today computers are used by everyone and everywhere. Computer is not just an invention, it is a result of long technical evolution, a product of creative activity of many people.
Purpose of work: to study the history of computer technology development.
Objectives:
1. to study and systematize the available material on the topic.
2. design and present work (develop practical skills of using office software in learning activities, namely the use of word processing software to prepare presentations of completed work. At the same time the task of teaching project activities using office programs is solved).
Hypothesis:
If man did not improve scientific and intellectual abilities did not apply them in practice, time would “stand still”, as electronic technology would not develop.
Research Methods:
– theoretical (literature study, generalization);
– practical (design and presentation of the work using office programs)
Introduction
Human society, as it developed, mastered not only matter and energy, but also information. With the appearance and mass distribution of computers man obtained a powerful means for the efficient use of information resources, for enhancing his intellectual activity. From this moment (mid XX century), the transition from industrial society to information society, in which information becomes the main resource, began.
The possibility of using complete, timely and reliable information by members of society depends to a large extent on the degree of development and mastering of new information technologies, the basis of which are computers. Let us consider the main milestones in the history of their development.
Beginning of the era of computers
The first ENIAC computer was created at the end of 1945 in the USA.
The main ideas according to which computing technology was developing for many years were formulated in 1946 by an American mathematician John von Neumann. They were called the von Neumann architecture.
In 1949, the first computer with von Neumann architecture was built – English machine EDSAC. One year later, the American EDVAC computer appeared
In our country the first computer was created in 1951. It was called MESM – small electronic counting machine. The designer of MESM was Sergey A. Lebedev.
He was born in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1921 he took an external examinations for high school and entered the Moscow Higher Technical School at Electrical Engineering Department. His role in development of mathematical software for all domestic computers was great.
Serial production of the computer began in the 50s of the XX century.
It is customary to divide electronic computer technology into generations, related to the change of element base. In addition, different generations of machines differ in logical architecture and software, speed, RAM, input method
The first generation of computers
The first generation of computer appeared in 1946. They were based on electronic tubes, which made them unreliable – tubes had to be replaced often.
The counting speed of the fastest first generation machines was up to 20 thousand operations per second. To enter programs and data, punched cards and punched tape were used. Because the internal memory of these machines was small (could hold a few thousand numbers and program commands), they were mainly used for engineering and scientific calculations, not related to the processing of large amounts of data. They were quite cumbersome constructions with thousands of lamps that occupied sometimes hundreds of square meters and consumed hundreds of kilowatts of electricity. Programs for such machines were written in computer command languages, so programming at that time was available to very few people.
Second generation of computers.
In 1949, in USA, the first semiconductor device was created to replace electronic tubes. It was called a transistor. In 60s, transistors became the element base for the second generation computers. Transition to semiconductor elements has improved the quality of the computer by all parameters: it became more compact, more reliable, less power-consuming. The performance of most machines reached tens and hundreds of thousands of operations per second. The volume of internal memory increased by hundreds of times compared to the first generation computers. External (magnetic) memory devices: magnetic drums, storages on magnetic tapes were highly developed. This made it possible to create reference and retrieval systems on computers (due to the need to store large amounts of information on magnetic media for a long time). During the second generation the high-level programming languages began to be actively developed. The first of them were FORTRAN, ALGOL, COBOL. Programming as an element of literacy began to spread widely, mainly among people with higher education.
The third generation of computers.
The third generation of computers was created on a new element base – integrated circuits: complex electronic circuits were mounted on a small plate of semiconductor material, with an area of less than 1 cm2. They were called integrated circuits (ICs). The first ICs contained dozens, then hundreds of elements (transistors, resistors, etc.). When the degree of integration (number of elements) approached a thousand, they were called large integrated circuits – LSIs; then there were ultra-large integrated circuits – VLSIs. Third-generation computers began to be produced in the second half of the 1960s, when the American company IBM began producing the IBM-360 system of machines. In the Soviet Union in the 70s, began production of machines series EC EC (Unified Computer System). The transition to the third generation is associated with significant changes in computer architecture. It became possible to execute simultaneously several programs on one machine. Such mode of operation is named multiprogram (multiprogram) mode. The speed of most powerful models has reached several millions of operations per second. The third generation machines have a new type of external memory devices – magnetic disks. New types of input-output devices: displays, graph plotters were widely used. During this period the field of application of computers expanded considerably. Databases, first artificial intelligence systems, computer-aided design (CAD) and control systems (ACS) were created. In 70-s a line of small (mini) computers received a powerful development.
The fourth generation of computers.
Another revolutionary event in electronics occurred in 1971, when the American company Intel announced the creation of the microprocessor. A microprocessor is a super-sized integrated circuit capable of acting as the main unit of a computer – the processor. Initially, microprocessors were built into various technical devices: machine tools, cars, aircraft. Combining a microprocessor with input/output devices, external memory, a new type of computer was created: a microcomputer. Microcomputers belong to the fourth generation of machines. The essential difference of microcomputers from their predecessors is their small size (the size of a household television set) and comparative cheapness. This is the first type of computer that appeared in retail sales.
The most popular type of computer today are personal computers (PCs). The first PC was born in 1976 in the United States. Since 1980, the “trendsetter” on the PC market is the American company IBM. Its designers managed to create such an architecture, which became, in fact, the international standard for professional PCs. Machines of this series were called the IBM PC (Personal Computer). The appearance and spread of the PC in its significance for social development is comparable with the appearance of printing. It was the PC made computer literacy a mass phenomenon. With the development of this type of machine appeared the concept of “information technology”, without which it is already becoming impossible to do in most areas of human activity.
Another line in the development of computers of the fourth generation is the supercomputer. Machines of this class have a performance of hundreds of millions and billions of operations per second. A supercomputer is a multiprocessor computing complex.
The fifth generation of computers (machines with artificial intelligence)
Briefly, the basic concept of the fifth generation of computers can be summarized as follows:
1. Computers on supercomplex microprocessors with parallel-vector structure, simultaneously executing dozens of sequential program instructions.
2. Computers with many hundreds of parallel processors, allowing the construction of data and knowledge processing systems, efficient network computer systems.
Already now computers are able to perceive information from handwritten or printed text, from forms, from a human voice, recognize the user by his voice, translate from one language to another. This allows all users, even those who have no special knowledge in this area, to communicate with computers.
Many of the advances that artificial intelligence has made are used in industry and the business world. Expert systems and neural networks are effectively used for classification tasks (SPAM filtering, text categorization, etc.). Genetic algorithms (used, for example, for portfolio optimization in investment activities), robotics (industry, manufacturing, life – everywhere it has attached its cybernetic hand), as well as multi-agent systems serve human conscientiously. Other areas of artificial intelligence, such as distributed knowledge representation and Internet problem solving, are also not dormant: thanks to them, we can expect a revolution in a number of areas of human activity in the next few years.
Characteristics of different generations of computers
| Characteristic | 1st generation | 2nd generation | 3rd generation | 4th generation |
| Years of application | 1945-1955 | 1955-1965 | 1965-1980 | 1980-… |
| Key element | Electronic lamp | Transistor | Integrated circuit (IC) | Big IS (BIS) |
| Performance | 1000 op/sec | 100000 op/sec | 10000000 op/sec | 1010 op/sec |
| Storage medium | Perfo Cards | Magnetic tapes | Magnetic disks | CD, DVD, flash |
Conclusion.
To summarize, we can say that the development of new technologies has led to great progress. Nowadays, it is not difficult to learn with a personal computer. Everyone has access to the internet, which promotes development. This will allow all users to communicate with the computer, even those who do not have special knowledge in this area. The computer will be an assistant to man in all fields.
But, unfortunately, the discovery of the computer is tied to a number of significant disadvantages. Sitting in front of a computer and getting some information is unfortunately bad for health. Therefore, a person must control the process of working with the computer otherwise it may lead to serious health problems.
