1.SUBJECT - Evolution Of Information Technology(IT)

2. Q) When did the evolution of IT begin? Ans : The evolution of IT began in the 1970s. Topics for the Evolution of Information Technology (IT) are listed below: I. Evolution Of Computers - talks about changes in hardware technologies. Evolution of Computing Devices The Generation of Computers II. Evolution Of Storage And Display Technologies - talks about changes in enabling technologies. III. Evolution Of Software - talks about the changes in software over time. Evolution of Operating Systems Evolution of Programming Language Evolution of Software Applications 3. EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS Evolution of Computing Devices 4. Abacus Developed around 3000 years BC by the Mesopotamians and later improved by Chinese. An abacus consists of beads divided into two parts which are movable on the rods of the two parts. Addition and multiplication etc. of numbers is done by using the place value of the digits of the numbers and position of beads in the abacus. Napiers Logs and Bones Also called Napiers rods, are numbered rods (10 in total) which can be used to perform multiplication of any number by a number 2-9. For example, to multiply 6 by 58, the index bone is placed beside the 5 and 8 bones. 3000 BC 1550 to 1617 5. Blaise Pascals Adding Machine (1642) A machine made up of gears which were used for adding numbers quickly. It consisted of numbered toothed wheels having unique position values. The rotation of wheels controlled the addition and subtraction operations. This machine was capable of carry-transfer automatically. Leibnitz Calculator (1671) Gottfried Leibnitz, a German mathematician, improved the adding machine and constructed a new machine that was able to perform multiplication and division as well. 6. Jacquards Loom (1801) Joseph Jacquard manufactured punched cards and used them to control looms in. Thus the entire control weaving process was automatic. The entire operation was under a programs control. With the historic invention of punched cards, the era of storing and retrieving information started that greatly influenced the later inventions and advancements. (1822) Babbages Difference Engine Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics, developed Difference Engine machine to calculate logarithmic tables to a high degree of precision. The difference engine was made to calculate various mathematical functions such as polynomial evaluation by finite difference. 7. Analytical Engine Charles Babbage designed an Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine, a real ancestor of the modern day computer. The Analytical Engine was mainly in Conceptual phase and was never completed in form of a real machine. Analytical Engine was capable of performing different functions based on programming; came up with important concepts like central processor, storage area, memory, input-output devices and two major innovations like comparisons and modification of stored information. 1833 First Program (1834) Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace(Daughter of poet Lord Byran) impressed with the concept of the Analytical Engine created plans for how the machine could calculate Bernoulli numbers. This is regarded as the first computer program, and she is the first programmer. The US Department of Defense named a language Ada in her honour in 1979. 8. Holleriths Machine (1887) Herman Hollerith(1869-1926) fabricated what was dreamt of by Charles Babbage. He fabricated the first electromechanical punched-card tabulator that used punched cards for input, output and instructions. This machine was used by American Department of Census to compile their 1880 census data and was able to complete compilation in 3 years which earlier used to take around 10 years. Later Hollerith founded a company that became International Business Machines(IBM) to market the technology. (1939) First Electronic Computer The prototype of first electronic computer was assembled by John Atansoff and Cliford Barry, which was completed in 1942 using 300 vacuum tubes. John Atansoff came up with the concept of using binary numbers, which is still in use. 9. Mark-I (1943) Prof. Howard Aiken constructed Mark-I, an automatic, general purpose electro-mechanical computer, which could multiply two 10-digit numbers in 5 seconds a record at that time. (1946) ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) Developed by Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, ENIAC was made up of 18,000 vacuum tubes and occupied a 30 * 50 feet room. Programming was done by plugging wires into a patch panel and was 5000 times faster than the Howard MARK-I. (1946) John van Neumann Architecture- Stored- Programming Concept Dr. John van Neumann suggested the pioneer stored program concept that proposed: (i) Data and instructions are stored in a single read-write memory. (ii) The memory contents are addressable by locations (iii) Execution takes place in a sequential fashion i.e., from one instruction to the next unless modified explicitly. 10. EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS The Generation of Computers 11. Key Features Big and clumsy computers that used vacuum tubes Not very reliable as Electric failure occurred regularly. Large air conditioners were necessary because the computers generated lot of heat. Used stored program concept Programming in machine language Remarks Very large space requirement High electricity consumption. Generated lot of heat. Slow operating speed Restricted computing capacity Limited programming capabilities Input and output devices: Either No Input Devices (Hardware programs ) or Control Panel with Switches (used in UNIVAC) Memory Type : Magnetic Drums Storage: Punched cards and paper Tapes FIRST GENERATION (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes The first generation computers were huge ,slow, expensive and often unreliable. It used vacuum tubes for circuitry. Major computers : ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator), EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), EDSAC( Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer), UNIVAC-I (built by Univac division of Remington Rand) 12. SECOND GENERATION (1956-1963)- Transistors The creation of transistor sparked the production of a wave of second generation computer. Transistor was a small device used to transfer the electronic signals across a resistor . Transistors had many advantages compared to vacuum tubes. Key Features Transistor replaced vacuum tubes. Smaller in size compared to 1st generation computers. Generated lesser heat than earlier computer. Lower electricity consumption. More reliable and faster . Programming in machine language as well as assembly language. Remarks Not General purpose computers - mostly suitable to scientific and bulk data processing tasks only; not for business purposes. The machines were costly. Frequent maintenance required. Input and Output Devices : Teletypewriters and punched cards Memory Type : Magnetic Core Storages: Magnetic Tape, Hard-disk Major computers :- IBM 1400 and 7000 Series, Control Data 3600 etc. 13. THIRD GENERATION (1964-1971) - Integrated Circuits The development of integrated circuits (IC) in 1961, signaled the beginning of the third generation computers the integrated circuit technology, which had reduced the size and cost of computers enormously. It is also known as semiconductor. Key Features Integrated circuits Computers smaller, faster and more reliable Lower power consumption Remarks Proved to be highly reliable, relatively inexpensive , and faster. High-level languages developed Size of main memories reached about 4 MBs and storage drive capacities reached up to 100 MBs Less human labour was required at assembly stage. Input and Output Devices : Keyboards, Printer Memory Type : Core Memory & DRAM chips Storage : Hard disk, Floppy Disc Major computers : IBM-360, ICL-1900,2900 & 2903, Honeywell 316 or 6000 14. Key Features Large and Very Large Integrated circuits, (LSI & VLSI) Microcomputer series such as IBM and APPLE developed. Portable computers developed. Great development in data communication. Programming in High Level Languages. Remarks Computer costs came down so rapidly that these found places at most offices and homes. Smaller and faster. More speed, Reliability, Storage capability Personal software Industry boomed. Input and Output Devises : Keyboard, mouse, joysticks, speakers etc. Memory : Memory chips Storage: Hard disk, Floppy disks, CD,DVD, Blu-ray discs. Major computers: Pentium(p5,dual core, quad core etc.), Power PC, AMD, Apple Dell etc. FOURTH GENERATION (1971-PRESENT)- Microprocessors In 1971 Intel created the first microprocessor and the era of fourth generation computers started . During the fourth generation, hardware technology such as silicone chips, microprocessor, and storage devices were invented. Microprocessor is developed for computer memory and logic. 15. Key Features Parallel-processing- many processors are grouped to function as one large group processor. Superconductors- it is a conductor through which electricity can travel without any resistance resulting in faster transfer of information between the components of a computer. Remarks Found applications in: Intelligent systems that could control the route of a missile and defense- systems that could fend off attacks Word processors that could be controlled by means of speech recognition. Programs that could translate documents from one language to another. Input and Output Devices : Keyboard, mouse, joysticks, voice input Memory : Memory chips Storage : Hard disk, CD, DVD, Flash memories, blu-ray discs, cloud FIFTH GENERATION (PRESENTS & BEYOND)-Artificial Intelligence The fifth generation computers are technologically advance and are still being developed to become more efficient, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, advanced robotics that are being used today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality. Major Computers : Many Robots and Robotic Devices 16. EVOLUTION OF STORAGE AND DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY 17. Evolution of Storage and Display Technologies The electronic revolution started from 18`th -19th century and changed the human life forever. The associated data storage technologies also evolved with computer evolution. Let us learn how these storage technologies evolved over time. Machine - Readable Punched Card (1890) Herman Hollerith invented a punch-card that could be read by a machine. Magnetic Drum (1932) Invented in Austria, the magnetic drum was an early form of computer memory. Electromagnetic pulse was stored by changing the magnetic orientation of ferromagnetic particles on the drum. Magnetic Tape (1951) Magnetic tape used magnetic pulses to store data over magnetized tapes. They had the capacity of storing as many as 10,000 punch cards. They became very popular as backup media. 18. Hard Disk Drive (1958) It is a set of magnetized circular platters that store data as magnetic dots. Introduced as data storage for IBM computers, these devices were not very popular in 1960s and 1970s due their immense size and price. In 1990s they were the most popular data storage devices. Floppy Disk (1969) Floppy Disk is a thin flexible magnetic disk, covered by a protective plastic jacket. The earliest floppy disks stored data upto 80 KB of data. Inexpensive and mobile floppy disks were considered a revolution in data storage. Optical Storage Media CD (1980s), DVD s(1990s) CD (Compact Disks) were created in 1980s by Philips and Sony as replacement of aging floppy disks. DVD (Digital Video Disks), created in 1990s, were the next evolution of CD. A DVD could store more data of upto 8-10 CDs. 19. Flash Drive (1998) A flash drive a solid state memory. It is a inexpensive, small, compact and mobile storage media that has successfully replaced the floppy disks from storage scene. Blue ray Disks (2000) The next-generation optical disk can store enormous amount of data in its storage space of 400 nanometers. The Cloud (21st Century) Similar to how data is stored on the internet, cloud storage allows data to be stored on multiple servers, which are generally hosted by a third party. Just like storage technologies, the display technologies also evolved over time. Following lines briefly enlist the evolution of Display Technologies. 20. CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) (1897) First developed in 1897, CRTs were used in television sets and in early computers as the display screen. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) (1963) Suggested in 1963 for display screens LCDs first found application in watches and calculators. For computer displays, LCDs were permanently used in 1990s only. Plasma Monitor (1964) From the first prototype release in 1964, they found space as display screens because of their long life and wide range of contrasts and colors. Touch Screen Monitors (1965) Touchscreen technology, although invented in 1965 Found its place as display technology only after Apple released first iPhone in 2007. OLED (Organic Light Emitting Display) (1987) Invented in 1987 The OLED displays were first introduced as display screens to consumers in 2009. The OLED technology these days is being used in display screens of computers, smart phones, television sets etc. 21. EVOLUTION OF SOFTWARE Computer is a machinery that works with the help of software. A software is a stored set of coded instructions. With the advent of computer technology, software also has evolved. We shall be discussing evolution of software through following categories. 22. EVOLUTION OF SOFTWARE Evolution of Operating Systems 23. Operating System (OS) is the most essential software for a computer for it is the master control program that runs the computer. In 1960s, when computers were developed mainly for research and scientific activities, the early operating system was developed at Bell Labs in 1969, namely UNIX. With the manufacturing of personal computers, in 1980 Bill Gates and Paul Allen designed first operating system for personal computers, namely QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) which was later released as MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) in 1981. In 1991, Linus Torvalds released an operating system Kernel namely Linux, written on the lines of UNIX and released it to public. Bill Gates Paul Allen 24. Command User Interface All the above mentioned three operating systems UNIX, MS-DOS and Linux used commands as the way of interaction. Graphic User Interface With the invention of mouse, a new way of human- computer interface was devised the Graphical User Interface(GUI). The GUI used graphic icons and pointing device like mouse to give instructions to computer. Initial computers to successfully use GUI were XeroAlto and XeroxStar in 1973. Apple commercially released GUI based Macintosh computers in 1984. Based on the success of Apples Macintosh computers Microsoft designed its GUI based operating system known as Windows. Starting with Windows 95, many successors of GUI based Windows Operating Systems are released by Microsoft. Latest in the series is Windows 8 released in 2012. 25. EVOLUTION OF SOFTWARE Evolution of Programming Language 26. Evolution of Programming Language Software are developed through various programming languages. Programming started with machine language and evolved to new- age programming systems. 1st Generation Programming language(1GL) Early programming was done in machine language. So machine language is the first generation programming language. 2ndGeneration Programming language(2GL) Next programming generation was the Assembly Language programming. Together 1GL and 2GL, i.e., machine language and assembly language are called low level languages- easier for computer to understand but difficult for programmers. 3rd Generation Programming language(3GL) The third generation programming languages were more normal English language like and hence easier for programmers to understand. The 3GLs are thus also called High Level Languages(HLLs). Many 3GLs are ALGOL, COBOL, Fortran, BASIC, C, PASCAL etc. 27. 4th Generation Programming language(4GL) These programming languages are closer to natural language than 3GLs. Most popular 4GL is SQL(Structure Query Language). 5th Generation Programming language(5GL) The fifth generation programming languages are used mainly in Artificial Intelligence research. Some 5GLs are Prolog, OPS5, Mercury etc. 28. EVOLUTION OF SOFTWARE Evolution of Software Applications 29. Evolution of Software Application The advancement of hardware was not sufficient to change the human life-style, had it not been supported by software and software application. Let us see how software applications evolved over time. Command Line Programs(1980s)- The first generation software application included compilers, device- drivers etc, which were mainly command line programs. Desktop Application(1990s)- With the popularity of graphical interface, GUI based desktop applications of multiple types and forms were released: Office Application, Audio and Video players, Utility programs, Browsers etc. Web Application(21st century)- With Webs availability, the next generation applications were developed keeping world wide web in mind. Web applications were developed keeping in mind that they can be accessed from any location over Internet. Most popular web applications include Email clients like Gmail, Ymail etc; Social networking platform like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Quora etc. ; VoIP Programs like Skype etc. and many more. Mobile Application(21st century)- Advent of computer technology has resulted into smartphones being affordably available, thus mobile application were the obvious outcome. The popular Mobile Applications development platforms are Ios, Android, Windows, which are also the most popular mobile operating systems.