History of computing hardware: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:51, 23 May 2025

Revision as of 13:31, 30 June 2025

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{{Main|Analytical Engine}}

[[File:Difference engine plate 1853.jpg|thumb|A portion of [[Charles Babbage|Babbage]]'s [[Difference Engine]] ]][[File:AnalyticalMachine Babbage London.jpg|thumb|left|Trial model of a part of the Analytical Engine, built by Babbage, as displayed at the Science Museum, London]]

The [[Industrial Revolution]] (late 18th to early 19th century) had a significant impact on the evolution of computing hardware, as the era's rapid advancements in machinery and manufacturing laid the groundwork for mechanized and automated computing. Industrial needs for precise, large-scale calculations—especially in fields such as navigation, engineering, and finance—prompted innovations in both design and function, setting the stage for devices like [[Charles Babbage|Charles Babbage's]] [[difference engine]] (1822).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Babbage |first=Charles |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139103671 |title=Passages from the Life of a Philosopher |date=2011-10-12 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139103671 |isbn=978-1-108-03788-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Babbage |first=Charles |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511696374 |title=On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures |date=2010-03-04 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511696374 |isbn=978-1-108-00910-2}}</ref> This mechanical device was intended to automate the calculation of polynomial functions and represented one of the earliest applications of computational logic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hutton |first=D.M. |date=2002-08-01 |title=The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/k.2002.06731fae.009 |journal=Kybernetes |volume=31 |issue=6 |doi=10.1108/k.2002.06731fae.009 |issn=0368-492X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Babbage, often regarded as the "father of the computer," envisioned a fully mechanical system of gears and wheels, powered by steam, capable of handling complex calculations that previously required intensive manual labor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tropp |first=Henry S. |date=December 1975 |title=''The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers''. Brian Randell |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/351520 |journal=Isis |volume=66 |issue=4 |pages=572–573 |doi=10.1086/351520 |issn=0021-1753|url-access=subscription }}</ref> His difference engine, designed to aid navigational calculations, ultimately led him to conceive the [[analytical engine]] in 1833.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=W. |first1=J. W. |last2=Hyman |first2=Anthony |date=April 1986 |title=Charles Babbage, Pioneer of the Computer. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2008013 |journal=Mathematics of Computation |volume=46 |issue=174 |pages=759 |doi=10.2307/2008013 |jstor=2008013 |issn=0025-5718|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This concept, far more advanced than his difference engine, included an [[arithmetic logic unit]], control flow through conditional branching and loops, and integrated memory.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Campbell-Kelly |first1=Martin |last2=Aspray |first2=William |last3=Ensmenger |first3=Nathan |last4=Yost |first4=Jeffrey R. |date=2018-04-20 |title=Computer |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780429495373 |doi=10.4324/9780429495373|isbn=978-0-429-49537-3 }}</ref> Babbage's plans made his analytical engine the first general-purpose design that could be described as [[Turing completeness|Turing-complete]] in modern terms.<ref>{{Citation |last=Turing |first=Alan |title=Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950) |date=2004-09-09 |work=The Essential Turing |pages=433–464 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198250791.003.0017 |access-date=2024-10-30 |publisher=Oxford University PressOxford |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198250791.003.0017 |isbn=978-0-19-825079-1|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Martin |date=2018-02-28 |title=the Universal Computer |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/9781315144726 |doi=10.1201/9781315144726|isbn=978-1-315-14472-6 }}</ref>

The analytical engine was programmed using [[Punched card input/output|punched cards]], a method adapted from the [[Jacquard machine|Jacquard loom]] invented by [[Joseph Marie Jacquard]] in 1804, which controlled textile patterns with a sequence of punched cards.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=d'Ucel |first1=Jeanne |last2=Dib |first2=Mohammed |date=1958 |title=Le métier à tisser |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/40098349 |journal=Books Abroad |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=278 |doi=10.2307/40098349 |jstor=40098349 |issn=0006-7431|url-access=subscription }}</ref> These cards became foundational in later computing systems as well.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heide |first=Lars |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/book.3454 |title=Punched-Card Systems and the Early Information Explosion, 1880–1945 |date=2009 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |doi=10.1353/book.3454 |isbn=978-0-8018-9143-4}}</ref> Babbage's machine would have featured multiple output devices, including a printer, a curve plotter, and even a bell, demonstrating his ambition for versatile computational applications beyond simple arithmetic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bromley |first=A.G. |date=1998 |title=Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, 1838 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/85.728228 |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=29–45 |doi=10.1109/85.728228 |issn=1058-6180|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[Ada Lovelace]] expanded on Babbage's vision by conceptualizing algorithms that could be executed by his machine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Toole |first=Betty Alexandra |date=March 1991 |title=Ada, an analyst and a metaphysician |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/122028.122031 |journal=ACM SIGAda Ada Letters |volume=XI |issue=2 |pages=60–71 |doi=10.1145/122028.122031 |issn=1094-3641|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Her notes on the analytical engine, written in the 1840s, are now recognized as the earliest examples of computer programming.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Howard |first1=Emily |last2=De Roure |first2=David |chapter=Turning numbers into notes |date=2015 |title=Ada Lovelace Symposium 2015- Celebrating 200 Years of a Computer Visionary on - Ada Lovelace Symposium '15 |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2867731.2867746 |___location=New York, New York, USA |publisher=ACM Press |pages=13 |doi=10.1145/2867731.2867746|isbn=978-1-4503-4150-9 }}</ref> Lovelace saw potential in computers to go beyond numerical calculations, predicting that they might one day generate complex musical compositions or perform tasks like language processing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Haugtvedt |first1=Erica |last2=Abata |first2=Duane |title=Ada Lovelace: First Computer Programmer and Hacker? |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.18260/1-2--36646 |journal=2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings |date=2021 |publisher=ASEE Conferences |doi=10.18260/1-2--36646}}</ref>

Though Babbage's designs were never fully realized due to technical and financial challenges, they influenced a range of subsequent developments in computing hardware. Notably, in the 1890s, [[Herman Hollerith]] adapted the idea of punched cards for automated data processing, which was utilized in the U.S. Census and sped up data tabulation significantly, bridging industrial machinery with data processing.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Blodgett |first=John H. |title=Herman Hollerith, data processing pioneer |date=1968 |publisher=Drexel University Libraries |doi=10.17918/00004750 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.17918/00004750|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Industrial Revolution's advancements in mechanical systems demonstrated the potential for machines to conduct complex calculations, influencing engineers like [[Leonardo Torres Quevedo]] and [[Vannevar Bush]] in the early 20th century. Torres Quevedo designed an electromechanical machine with floating-point arithmetic,<ref>{{Citation |last=Torres y Quevedo |first=Leonardo |title=Essays on Automatics |date=1982 |work=The Origins of Digital Computers |pages=89–107 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61812-3_6 |access-date=2024-10-30 |place=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-61812-3_6 |isbn=978-3-642-61814-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref> while Bush's later work explored electronic digital computing.<ref>{{Citation |title=6 Vannevar Bush, from "As We May Think" (1945) |date=2021 |work=Information |publisher=Columbia University Press |doi=10.7312/hayo18620-032 |isbn=978-0-231-54654-6|doi-access=free }}</ref> By the mid-20th century, these innovations paved the way for the first fully electronic computers.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Haigh |first1=Thomas |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11436.001.0001 |title=A New History of Modern Computing |last2=Ceruzzi |first2=Paul E. |date=2021-09-14 |publisher=The MIT Press |doi=10.7551/mitpress/11436.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-262-36648-9}}</ref>

==Analog computers==

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In June 1951, the [[UNIVAC I]] (Universal Automatic Computer) was delivered to the [[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]]. Remington Rand eventually sold 46 machines at more than {{US$|1 million}} each (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|1000000|1951|r=-4}}|0}} as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}).{{Inflation-fn|US}} UNIVAC was the first "mass-produced" computer. It used 5,200 vacuum tubes and consumed {{val|125|ul=kW}} of power. Its primary storage was [[Sequential access|serial-access]] mercury delay lines capable of storing 1,000 words of 11 decimal digits plus sign (72-bit words).

In 1952, [[Groupe Bull|Compagnie des Machines Bull]] released the [[Bull Gamma 3|Gamma 3]] computer, which became a large success in Europe, eventually selling more than 1,200 units, and the first computer produced in more than 1,000 units.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Leclerc |first=Bruno |date=January 1990 |title=From Gamma 2 to Gamma E.T.: The Birth of Electronic Computing at Bull |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4637512 |journal=Annals of the History of Computing |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=5–22 |doi=10.1109/MAHC.1990.10010 |s2cid=15227017 |issn=0164-1239|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Gamma 3 had innovative features for its time including a dual-mode, software switchable, BCD and binary ALU, as well as a hardwired floating-point library for scientific computing.<ref name=":1" /> In its E.T configuration, the Gamma 3 drum memory could fit about 50,000 instructions for a capacity of 16,384 words (around 100&nbsp;kB), a large amount for the time.<ref name=":1" />

[[File:IBM-650-panel.jpg|thumb|right|Front panel of the [[IBM 650]] ]]