History of Internet
HISTORY OF COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET
OUTLINE
1B
MODULE
Steps Toward Modern Computing 31 First Steps: Calculators 31 The Technological Edge: Electronics 31 Putting It All Together: The ENIAC 36 The Stored-Program Concept 36 The Computer’s Family Tree 37 The First Generation (1950s) 37 The Second Generation (Early 1960s) 38 The Third Generation (Mid-1960s to Mid-1970s) 39 The Fourth Generation (1975 to the Present) 41 A Fifth Generation? 44 The Internet Revolution 45 Lessons Learned 48
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN . . .
After reading this module, you will be able to: 1. Define the term “electronics” and describe some early electronic devices that helped launch the computer industry. 2. Discuss the role that the stored-program concept played in launching the commercial computer industry. 3. List the four generations of computer technology. 4. Identify the key innovations that characterize each generation. 5. Explain how networking technology and the Internet has changed our world. 6. Discuss the lessons that can be learned from studying the computer’s history.
Module 1B
History of Computers and the Internet
31
What would the world be like if the British had lost to Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo, or if the Japanese had won World War II? In The Difference Engine, authors William Gibson and Bruce Sterling ask a similar question: What would have happened if nineteenth-century inventor Charles Babbage had succeeded in creating the world’s first automatic computer? (Babbage had the right idea, but the technology of his time wasn’t up to the task.) Here is Gibson and Sterling’s answer: with the aid of powerful computers, Britain becomes the world’s first technological superpower. Its first foreign adventure is to intervene in the American Civil War on the side of the U.S. South, which splits the United States into four feuding republics. By the mid-1800s, the world is trying to cope with the multiple afflictions of the twentieth century: credit cards,
OUTLINE
1B
MODULE
Steps Toward Modern Computing 31 First Steps: Calculators 31 The Technological Edge: Electronics 31 Putting It All Together: The ENIAC 36 The Stored-Program Concept 36 The Computer’s Family Tree 37 The First Generation (1950s) 37 The Second Generation (Early 1960s) 38 The Third Generation (Mid-1960s to Mid-1970s) 39 The Fourth Generation (1975 to the Present) 41 A Fifth Generation? 44 The Internet Revolution 45 Lessons Learned 48
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN . . .
After reading this module, you will be able to: 1. Define the term “electronics” and describe some early electronic devices that helped launch the computer industry. 2. Discuss the role that the stored-program concept played in launching the commercial computer industry. 3. List the four generations of computer technology. 4. Identify the key innovations that characterize each generation. 5. Explain how networking technology and the Internet has changed our world. 6. Discuss the lessons that can be learned from studying the computer’s history.
Module 1B
History of Computers and the Internet
31
What would the world be like if the British had lost to Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo, or if the Japanese had won World War II? In The Difference Engine, authors William Gibson and Bruce Sterling ask a similar question: What would have happened if nineteenth-century inventor Charles Babbage had succeeded in creating the world’s first automatic computer? (Babbage had the right idea, but the technology of his time wasn’t up to the task.) Here is Gibson and Sterling’s answer: with the aid of powerful computers, Britain becomes the world’s first technological superpower. Its first foreign adventure is to intervene in the American Civil War on the side of the U.S. South, which splits the United States into four feuding republics. By the mid-1800s, the world is trying to cope with the multiple afflictions of the twentieth century: credit cards,