History of Information Technology and System

Four basic periods Characterized by a principal technology used to solve the input, processing, output and communication problems of the time: a. b. c. d. Pre mechanical, Mechanical, Electromechanical, and Electronic

The Pre-mechanical Age:

3000 B.C. - 1450 A.D.

A.WRITING AND ALPHABETS-COMMUNICATION.

1. First humans communicated only through speaking and simple drawings known as petroglyths (signs or simple figures carved in rock). Many of these are pictographs -pictures or sketches that visually resemble that which is depicted.

E.g., cave painting from Lascaux, France, c. 15,000-10,000 BC

E.g., prehistoric petroglythic imagery from Western U.S.:

Geometric signs (dots, squares, etc.) with no apparent depicted object = ideographs ( symbols to represent ideas or concepts.)

2. First development of signs corresponding to spoken sounds, instead of pictures, to express words.
Starting in c. 3100 B.C., the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (southern Iraq) devised cuneiform -- the first true written language and the first real information system.

Early pictographic tablet (3100 B.C.).

Pictographs were turned on their sides (2800 B.C.) and then developed into actual cuneiform symbols (2500 B.C.) - as this clay tablet illustrates.

Pictographs for star (which also meant heaven or god), head, and water (on the left) were turned on their side (in the middle), and eventually became cuneiform symbols (on right).

A cuneiform table (c. 2100 B.C.) listing expenditures of grain and animals.

3. Around 2000 B.C., Phoenicians created symbols that expressed single syllables and consonants (the first true alphabet).
4. The Greeks later adopted the Phoenician alphabet and added vowels; the Romans gave the letters Latin names to create the alphabet we use today.

B. PAPER AND PENS--INPUT TECHNOLOGIES.

1. Sumerians' input technology was a stylus that could scratch marks in wet clay. 2. About 2600 B.C., the Egyptians wrote on the papyrus plant

3. Around 100 A.D., the Chinese made paper from rags, on which modern-day papermaking is based

C. BOOKS AND LIBRARIES--OUTPUT TECHNOLOGIES (PERMANENT STORAGE DEVICES).

1. Religious leaders in Mesopotamia kept the earliest "books" 2. The Egyptians kept scrolls. 3. Around 600 B.C., the Greeks began to fold sheets of papyrus vertically into leaves and bind them together.

D. THE FIRST NUMBERING SYSTEMS.

1. Egyptian system: The numbers 1-9 as vertical lines, the number 10 as a U or circle, the number 100 as a coiled rope, and the number 1,000 as a lotus blossom. 2. The first numbering systems similar to those in use today were invented between 100 and 200 A.D. by Hindus in India who created a nine-digit numbering system.

3. Around 875 A.D., the concept of zero was developed.

E. THE FIRST CALCULATORS: THE ABACUS.

One of the very first information processors.

B. The Mechanical Age:

1450 - 1840

A. THE FIRST INFORMATION EXPLOSION.

1. Johann Gutenberg (Mainz, Germany; c. 13871468) . Invented the movable metal-type printing process in 1450. 2. The development of book indexes and the widespread use of page numbers.

B. THE FIRST GENERAL PURPOSE "COMPUTERS"

Actually people who held the job title "computer are one who works with numbers."
John Napier introduces logarithms. He invents logs in 1614. Logs allow multiplication and division to reduced to addition and subtraction. Wilhelm Shickard a professor at the University of Tubingen, Germany, invents the first mechanical calculator, it can work with six digits, and carries digits across columns. It works but never beyond the prototype stage. William Oughtred, an English clergyman, invented the slide rule. Early example of an analog computer.

Slide rule

Blaise Pascal a French Mathematician invented a mechanical calculation machine called the Pascaline.. The pascaline was made up of clock gears, and levers, and could solve basic mathematical problems like addition and subtraction

The Pascaline (front)

(rear view)

Diagram of interior

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716), German mathematician and philosopher invented the stepped reckoner that could multiply 5 digit and 12 digit numbers yielding up to 16 digit numbers.

The Reckoner (reconstruction)

 Joseph Marie Jacquard developed an automatic loom that was controlled by punch cards.

Joseph Marie Jacquard's loom.

 Charles Babbage invented the first, modern computer design: a steam-powered adding machine called the difference engine. He also invented the analytical engine which is a mechanical adding machine that took information form punched cards to solve and print complex mathematical operations. Babbages inventions earned him the title, the father of computers
The Difference Engine. The Analytical Engine.

 The first program was written by Ada Augusta Lovelace for Babbages Difference Engine. Thus Ada Lovelace is credited with being the first computer programmer. The programming language Ada is named in her honor.

 Continuation on the next slides.