An Article about the History and Block diagram of Computer

An Article about the History and Block diagram of Computer

credit: third party image reference

Introduction to a Computer

1. Computer is an Electronic Device.
2. A computer can perform the Arithmetic & Logical operations like Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, division and comparisons etc., at very high speed.
3. The computer is also called as DATA PROCESSOR.
4. Because it can store,process and retrieve the data whenever required.

credit: third party image reference

History of the Computer

1. The development of computer is based on the idea of calculator.The first calculating device is abacus,which was invented by chinese 2000 years ago.
2. In 1642 Blaise Pascal developed a calculating machine called Algebraic expressions calculator on the basis of abacus.
3. Later Charles Babbage upgraded that calculator to develop an Analytical Engine on 1833 in Bell Laboratories.Later Analytical Engine lead to the invention of Computer

credit: third party image reference

4.So,Babbage is called as the father of computer for his works he contributed to the invention of computer.

Babbage’s brain is still preserved in the London museum.

5.Dr.Hermann Hollerith made an improved type of mechanical computer in 1890 which works with punched cards.

6.The 1st electronic computer was invented by J.V.Atanasoff & C.Berry,which is known as Atanasoff Berry computer or ABC.It used vacuum tubes for data storage & computation.  

credit: third party image reference

7.Subsequently the 1st pure electronic computer called ENIAC(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was designed by Dr.John Mauchly and J.P.Eckert in 1945.

8.It is accepted as the general purpose computer.

9.In 1948 John Von Neumann developed a computer called EDVAC(Electronic discrete Variable Automatic Computer) in which the storing of program concept used.

10.The next important development was the UNIVAC(Universal Automatic Computer)developed in 1951 and this is considered as the 1st generation computer.

Block Diagram of a Computer

credit: third party image reference

a)Arithmetic and logical unit:

i)The data taken from computer will go to the 1st part of the CPU i.e.,to the ALU.  

ii)This unit performs the arithmetic and logical operations like addition,subtraction,multiplication,division & comparisons.

iii)ALU performs the calculations and sends the final results to the main memory.

2)Control Unit:

i)It sends instructions to the other parts.

ii)It sends commands to logical unit.

iii)It facilitates the data flow to be systematic between memory and logical unit.

iv)It paves the way for sending the processed information to output or storage devices 

3)Main Memory:

i)The function of this unit is to store the data.

ii)Memory unit is the storage area of computer where all the inputs are stored before processing and the outputs are stored after processing.

iii)The computer will send the data from ALU to memory.

iv)The Memory of the computer is again classified into 2 types: 

They are:1)Primary memory & 2)Secondary memory.

4)Secondary Storage Devices:

i)The data in primary storage is temporary in nature & they are erased automatically when ever the power is switched off.

ii)But,the Secondary storage devices are used to store the data permanently.

iii)The user can access the data from Secondary storage devices whenever required.

Some commonly used Secondary storage devices are Floppy disk,Compact disk,Hard disk,Magnetic disk etc.,