FINLANDIA SCHOOLPre-Mechanical Era(3000BC-1450AD)
1. Abacus:(c.2700BC, Sumeria/China): An early counting tool. it stores data by the position of beads
2. Antikythera Mechanism:(c. 100BC, Greece): Astonishing complex analog computer used to predict astronomical position and eclips.
Mechanical Era (1450-1840)
1. Pascaline: (1642, Blaise Pascal). The first mechanical calculator. It could perform addition and subtraction
2. Babbage's Engines:(Charles Babbage)
Difference Engine(1822, unbuilt): A "special purpose" machine designed to calculate polynomial tables
Analytical Engine(1837, concept): The blueprint for modern computers. It had all the key parts: a"Mill"(CPU), a "Store|(Memory", and "Input"(punch cards).
Electro-Mechanical Era (1840-1940)
1. Hollerith's Tabulating Machine:(1890, Herman Hollerith). Used punch cards to process data for the 1890 US Census. This was so successful it led to the founding of a company that would eventually become IBM.
Electronic era: The Generations of Computers
First Generation (1940s-1950s)
Key technology: Vacuum tubes
Characteristics: enormous(filled entire rooms), very hot, unreliable(tubes failed constantly) and very slow.
Examples: ENIAC(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), UNIVAC 1(first commercial computer).
Input: punch cards and paper tape.
Second Generation(1950s-1960s)
Key technology transistors
Characteristics: Replaced vacuum tubes. They were smaller, faster, cheaper, more reliable and more energy efficient.
Examples: IBM 1401, CDC 1604.
Input: Still punch cards but also magnetic tape
Third Generation (1960s-1970s)
Key technology: Integrated circuits(ICs), placing many transistors onto a tiny "silicon chip."
Characteristics: Computers became smaller(minicomputers), faster and cheaper. Keyboards and monitors were introduced.
Examples: IBM systems/360, DEC PDP-11
Development: This is when Operating Systems began to appear.
Fourth Generation(1970s-Present)
Key technology: Microprocessors(placing the entire CPU-all the parts of the "Mill" onto a single chip
characteristics: this led to the Personal Computer (PC) revolution.
examples: Apple II (1977) IBM PC (1981)
Development: Birth of GUIs, the internet and mobile devices.
Fifth Generation (present and future): AI & Quantum Computing
Key technology: AI and Parallel processing.
Characteristics: voice recognition, machine learning and "Big Data" analysis.
Future: quantum computing: promises to solve problems that are impossible for even the fastest modern supercomputers.