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Technology in Action
Technology in Focus:
The History of the PC
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Altair 8800
• The first personal
computer
• Sold as a kit
• Switches for input
• Lights for output
• Bill Gates and Paul Allen
created a compiler for
BASIC
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Apple I and Apple II
• Apple I built by Steve
Jobs and Steve
Wozniak in 1976,
followed by Apple II in
1977
• Used Motorola
processor
• First fully contained
microcomputer
• Highly successful
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Early Competitors
• Commodore
PET 2001
• Radio Shack’s
TRS-80
• The Osborne
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IBM PC
• IBM entered the small-computer market
in 1981
• Released the IBM PC
– 64 KB of memory, expandable to 256 KB
– Started at $1,565
– Sold at retail outlets such as Sears and
Computerland
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Beginners AllAll-Purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code (BASIC)
• Revolutionized software
industry
• Easily learned by beginners
• Key PC language
• Used by Gates and Allen to
write the program for Altair
• Led to the creation of
Microsoft
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Advent of Operating Systems
• Steve Wozniak invented the floppy
drive
• Disk Operating System (DOS):
Operating system that controlled the
first Apples
• Control Program for Microcomputers
(CP/M): First operating system for
Intel-based PCs
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Advent of Operating Systems
(cont.)
• MS-DOS
– Operating system for IBM PCs
– Based on an operating system called
Quick and Dirty Operating System
(QDOS)
– Created by Bill Gates and Paul Allen
– All PCs using the Intel chip used
MS-DOS
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Software Application Explosion
• Electronic
spreadsheets
– VisiCalc
– Lotus 1-2-3
– Microsoft Excel
• Word processing
– WordStar
– Word for MS-DOS
– WordPerfect
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VisiCalc
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Graphical User Interface (GUI)
• Xerox
Xerox Alto
– Alto: 1972
– Introduced the What
You See Is What
You Get principle
(WYSIWYG)
• Apple
Macintosh
– Lisa: 1983
– Macintosh: 1984
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The Internet Boom
•
•
•
•
Mosaic: 1993
Netscape: 1994
Internet Explorer: 1995
Netscape moves to open source: 1998
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Early Computer History
• Pascalene, 1642
– The first accurate mechanical
calculator
– Created by Blaise Pascal
– Used to add, subtract, multiply,
and divide
• Jacquard loom, 1820
– Created by Joseph Jacquard
– Automated the weaving of
complex patterns
– Used holes punched in cards
to automate the process
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Early Computer History (cont.)
• Analytical Engine, 1834
– Created by Charles Babbage,
considered the father of
computing
– The first automatic calculator
– Included components similar to
those found in today's computers
• Hollerith Tabulating Machine, 1890
– Created by Herman Hollerith
– Used punch cards to tabulate census data
– Hollerith started the Tabulating Machine
Company, which later became IBM
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Early Computer History (cont.)
• Atanasoff-Berry
Computer, 1939
• Z1, 1936
– Created by John Atanasoff
and Clifford Berry
– The first electrically
powered digital computer
– Used vacuum tubes to
store data
– First computer to use the
binary system
– Created by Konrad Zuse
– A mechanical calculator
– Included a control unit and
separate memory functions
Atanasoff-Berry Computer
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Early Computer History (cont.)
• Harvard Mark I, 1944
– Created by Howard Aiken and
Grace Hopper
– Used by the U.S. Navy for
ballistics calculations
– Hopper’s greatest contributions
to computing were
• Invention of the compiler
• Coining the term computer
bug
1st use of “computer bug”
• Turing Machine, 1936
– Created by Alan Turing
– Hypothetical model; defined a mechanical procedure
– Concept of an infinite tape that could be read, written
to, and erased was precursor to today’s RAM
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Early Computer History (cont.)
• ENIAC, 1944
– Created by John W. Mauchly
and J. Presper Eckert
– First successful high-speed
electronic digital computer
• UNIVAC, 1951
– First commercially successful
electronic digital computer
– Used magnetic tape
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ENIAC
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Early Computer History (cont.)
• Transistors, 1945
– Invented at Bell Laboratories
– Replaced vacuum tubes
• Integrated circuits, 1958
– Invented by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments
– Small chip containing thousands of transistors
– Enabled computers to become smaller and lighter
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Early Computer History (cont.)
• Microprocessor chip, 1971
– Created by Intel Corporation
– Small chip containing millions of transistors
– Functions as the central processing unit (CPU)
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Transistors and Beyond
• First-generation computers (1946–1958)
– ENIAC and UNIVAC
– Used vacuum tubes to store data
• Second-generation computers (1959–1964)
– Used transistors to store data
• Third-generation computers (1965–1970)
– Used integrated circuits
• Fourth-generation computers (1971–today)
– Use a microprocessor chip
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mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
Publishing as Prentice Hall
•Technology
Chapter 1 in Focus
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