Introduction to

Computers and
Programming
Looking Back

Computers Today
Living

in todays society with computers.

Computers Then
Computers

were fairly mysterious devices

that only a few people knew about.

Around

mid 1970s, a computer with a

computational power of one of todays
PCs would have filled a 9 by 12 foot room
and costs $100, 000.

Computers Then

=
$100, 000

$2, 000

Brief History of Computing

Date

Event

2000 BC

The abacus is first used for computations.

1642 AD

Blaise Pascal created a mechanical adding

machine for tax computations. It is unreliable.

1670

Gottfried von Leibniz created a more reliable

adding machine that can add, subtract,
multiplies and divides numbers and calculate
square roots.

Brief History of Computing

Date

Event

1842

Charles Babbage designed an analytical

engine to perform general calculations
automatically. Ada Augusta (aka Lady
Lovelace) is a programmer for this machine.

1946

J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly design

and built the ENIAC computer. It uses 18, 000
vacuum tubes and costs $500, 000 to build.

1971

Nicklaus
Wirth
designed
the
Pascal
programming language as a language for
teaching structured programming concepts.

Brief History of Computing

Date

Event

1972

Dennis Ritchie of AT&T Bell Laboratories

designed the C programming language as
the implementation language for the UNIX
operating systems.

1984

Apple introduced the Macintosh, the first

widely available computer with a userfriendly graphical interface using icons,
windows and a mouse device.

1989

Microsoft Corporation introduced Windows, a

Macintosh-like user interface for IBM
computers.

Components of a Computer

Control Unit
Main Memory
Central Processing
Unit (CPU)

Components of a Computer
Central

Processing Unit (CPU) performs

the actual processing or manipulation of
information stored in the memory.

Computer

Memory stores information of

all types: instructions, numbers, names, lists
and pictures.

Components of a Computer
Secondary

Storage provides additional

data
storage
capacity
on
most
computers
Input and Output Devices enables
computer users to communicate with the
computer

Categories of Computers
The

following
computers

are

the

categories

Microcomputer (personal computer)

Server
Minicomputer
Mainframe
Supercomputer

of

Categories of Computers
Personal

computers:

Desktop
computers for use at home and by
individuals.

Servers: Make programs and make data

available for people who are linked to a
computer network. They are not used
directly.

Categories of Computers
Minicomputers: Are multi-user systems.
They
are
usually
used
in
small
organizations by using remote terminals or
personal computers.

Mainframes: Large, multi-user systems

used in large organizations. They can

handle large data processing jobs.

Categories of Computers
Supercomputers: Ultra fast computers
that are designed to process
amounts of scientific data.

huge

End
Lecture

material/s from the resources

used by Prof. Ritchie Mae T. Gamot for
previous AMAT 150 batch.
Introduction to C programming materials
(books, etc.)

Abacus

back

Pascaline or Arithmetique

back

Step Reckoner

back

Analytical Engine

back

ENIAC
Electronic
Numerical
Integrator
And
Computer
back

Pascal Code

back

C Code

back

Macintosh

back

Windows

next

Windows

back