CS 101 History of Computing Survey

A terrific web site for computer history is the IEEE Computer Society History page. Most of the links on this page are to their history web pages.

Visit the on-line Virtual Computer History Museum -- it's really neat!

Another great History of Computers web site that is part of a web-based university course in California

• 5000 BC abacus, IEEE History -- abacus
• 1621 slide ruler IEEE History -- Slide Rule
• 1642 Blaise Pascal's Computer
• 1673 Leibniz' multiplier
• 1801 The Jacquard Loom
• 1822 Charles Babbage's Difference Engine
• 1833 Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine
• 1842 Ada Lovelace, computer programmer
• 1887 Hollerith's Census Machine
• 1937 Atanasoff's ABC, archive about Atanasoff and his contribution to computing
• 1930s-40s Zuse, Colossus Mark I
• 1946 ENIAC, U-Penn Development of the ENIAC website
• 1948 Transistor Invented
• 1949 EDSAC
• 1950 UNIVAC
• 1954 IBM 650
• 1958 monolithic integrated circuits (ICs)
• 1959 IBM 1401
• 1964 IBM System/360
• 1965 DEC PDP-8
• 1968 Microprocessor invented
• 1975 Altair
• 1976 Apple II
• 1981 IBM PC
• 1984 Macintosh
• 1987 IBM PS/2, Mac II
• 1990s -- laptops, palmtops, personal assistants, etc.

• First generation computers: late1930s-mid50s; vacuum tubes; punched cards or magnetic tape; machine language; magnetic core memory; e.g. UNIVAC, IBM 650
• Second generation computers: mid1950s-mid60s; transistors; punched cards or magnetic tape; assembly language and some high level languages; magnetic core memory; e.g. IBM 1401
• Third generation computers: mid1960s-early70s; integrated circuits; silicon chips; punched cards, magnetic tape, magnetic disks; magnetic core, some semiconductor memory; e.g. IBM System/360
• Fourth generation computers: early1970s-present: VLSI (very large scale integration); microprocessor chip; magnetic disks, floppy disks; high level languages; user-friendly software; semiconductor memory; e.g. Apple Macintosh