1. By: Sajjad A. Malik

2. Overview  The first computer was developed approximately 5,000 years and is known as the abacus.  Blaise Pascal invented a calculator shaped as a wheel in 1642 and named it the Pascaline.  During the year 1812 Charles Babbage created a machine called the Difference Engine which he then abandoned to work the more refined Analytical Engine.  The Analytical Engine was not fully completed by Babbage but what he did created the outline of multipurpose computers using “Input”, Memory”, and an “Output device”.  In 1820 Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar invented a computing device that utilized addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  In 1889, a computing pioneer by the name Herman Hollerith worked for the U.S. Census Bureau and devised a system that stored data on punch cards and completed the census in 6 weeks.

3. First Generation Pokémon  Computers were first called modern in World War II when a marvel of a computer, the Colossus was introduced, a computer meant to decode German Secret Messages.  The U.S. Army of Ordnance Department and the University of Pennsylvania worked cooperatively to develop the ENIAC, which was designed to calculate and pinpoint the trajectories of ballistics.  The ENIAC was very difficult to operate but computed calculations of 60-second trajectories in 30 seconds, which would have taken a skilled mathematician 20 hours to calculate.

4. Second Generation Pokémon  In approximately 1956, the second generation of computers began with the transition from bulky tubes to transistors and allowed creation of smaller and faster computers.  Using electrical currents, the transistors were able to control whether it stayed on or off by becoming either an electricity conductor or insulator, on as a conductor and off as an insulator.  With the rise of the second generation, there were advancements in printers, data storage, memory, and stored programs, allowing computers to become multifunctional tools.  A binary system of 1s and 0s called machine language communicated instructions directly to computer hard-ware. This then later gave way to assembly languages.

5. Third Generation Pokémon  The invention of the Integrated Circuit developed by Jack Kiliby and Robery Noyce in the late 1950s carved a path for the third generation computers.  Integrated Circuits didn’t heat as much as transistors allowing more components to attached onto a single chip.

6. Fourth Generation Pokémon  Integrated circuits slowly made way for smaller computers and their components allowing computers to be used by small businesses and to individuals.  The MITS Altair 8800 was the first affordable PC, other affordable PCs soon followed such as the Apple I, Apple II, the Commodore PET, and then IBM released their first PC.  The original IBM PC, the IBM 5150, made PCs an acceptable business tool and made computers widely used in general.

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8. Input/output Devices  Input Devices are usually external devices that allows individuals to transmit information their computers so it can do the designated work.  There are a variety of input technologies, keyboards and the computer mouse being the most frequently used.  The variety of input devices are used for several different tasks such as joysticks, gamepads, and/or even steering wheels for gaming or scanners for information on being able to be viewed on computers.  With advancing technology, new types of input technologies are being explored and being used such as the ability to use voices commands to make a computer do a designated action or computers being able to interpret physical movement into commands.  Output Devices are devices that transmit data to the user of, one example being a computer monitor showing the data that you entered and maybe the results. Another example being a printer, transferring computer data into physical paper.

9. Processors and Memory  Potentially the most vital of all computer components is called the CPU or the central processing unit, due to its ability to perform basic calculations up to millions or billions of times per second.  CPUs can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  Any and all information flowing through a computer’s CPU are broken down into simple “on” and “off” states due to the millions of transistors on a CPU chip.  CPUs are unable to save any memory of their calculations due to how quickly it needs to transition from operation to operation, thus forgetting the result.  Since the CPU cannot store data, the computers RAM [Random-access memory] is a short- term storage unit responsible for data coming and going from the CPU and can store data in large quantities.  The computer’s RAM unit is a short-term memory storage, data the RAM has stored is lost when a computer has no power, even then the data is constantly being updated. CPUs can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

10. Hard Drives and Removable Storage  A variety of devices are used for long-term storage such as hard-drives and CD-ROMs.  The storage capacity is measured in units of data called BITS [BInary digiTS], one BIT being one transistor on state, eight bits being a byte, 1,024 bytes being a kilobyte, etc.  Any data size higher than kilobyte can be multiplied by 1,024, megabytes being close to the numerical term mega, the same applying with the numerical term giga and tera.  The Hard Drive is the primary storage device and can hold enormous amounts of data, however it is not portable.  Floppy disks were the main source of portable data storage being able to hold 1.4 MB, until the CD-R or CDs arrived, being able to hold around 700 MB. Now there are DVDs able to hold several gigabytes of data.  There are several other forms of removable storage devices such USB drives, digital cameras, and MP3 players and are called flash media. Flash media does not need any power to retain data.

11. Networks  Networking allows connection computers and share just about anything, from files to programs and virtually anything else.  The networks use nodes (individual electronic devices able to connect to networks) and interconnect them, e.g. usually printers have to be plugged in, however with a network several computers can connect to the one printer without plugging into it.  Most network systems is cabling or wires to interconnect, but with technology advancing wireless networks are replacing wired ones.  Every node contains a Network Interface Card (NIC). The NICs allow data to travel in-between the nodes and the network the connects that nodes together entirely.  There can be one computer that connects to all nodes in a network, these computers are called servers and can hold data and programs used by everyone on the network.  There are different ways to configure networks to suit the users of the network, the network layout is called a topology and there are three very common forms of topologies: 1.Bus – Bus topologies have all nodes connected in an order or series using a single cable 2.Star – Star topologies make it so each node connects to a central device called a hub, and hubs control how data travels through networks. 3.Ring – Ring topologies make it so all nodes are connected in the form of a circle making the connecting medium end at begin at the same area.

12. Operating Systems  An operating system/OS (a.k.a. platform) is a “low-level” software only capable of interacting with computers at a basic level.  Operating systems perform two vital tasks constantly, managing the computer’s hardware and software due to limited resources and managing various application requests, whether they are software or hardware so each application has an appropriate amount of time and attention.  Operating systems also provides an interface the user interacts with. An API (application programming interface) is usually provided as well to assist programmers developing applications for that platform.  Platforms often have separate categories they are divided into such as single user, multitasking and multiuser.  Single user platforms allow a single user to tap into the computers resources to perform multiple tasks at the same time.  Multiuser platforms allow multiple users to do what a single user platform can, except with a much more powerful computer, however this OS requires enough resources to meet each users needs.

13. Software Applications  Software that can be bought at a nearby computer store is generally called desktop software and runs on minimal software, but usually must be installed on the computer to run  Modern desktop software usually divides its work from tasks performed on your compute and the data obtained from tasks performed on distant computers.  Desktop applications are also categorized by its function, such as word-processing applications, image editing applications, utility categories with different utilities, and so on.