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SubjectFree lesson

History of Computer.

ClassNotes Team 2 MIN READUPDATED 13 JUN 2026

WEEK 2

Topic: History of Computer

Objective: At the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to:

  1. Describe how the Computer came into existence.
  1. Mention the things that were formally used for counting before came into existence.

Content:

Before the existence of computers, people cut sticks into smaller parts for counting.

People also used stones for counting.

First generation: 1937 – 1946 - In 1937 the first electronic digital computer was built by Dr. John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry. It was called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). In 1943 an electronic computer name the Colossus was built for the military. Other developments continued until in 1946 the first general–purpose digital computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was built. It is said that this computer weighed 30 tons, and had 18,000 vacuum tubes which were used for processing. When this computer was turned on for the first time lights dimmed in sections of Philadelphia. Computers of this generation could only perform a single task, and they had no operating system.

 

Second generation: 1947 – 1962 - This generation of computers used transistors instead of vacuum tubes which were more reliable. In 1951 the first computer for commercial use was introduced to the public; the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC 1). In 1953 the International Business Machine (IBM) 650 and 700 series computers made their mark in the computer world. During this generation of computers over 100 computer programming languages were developed, and computers had memory and operating systems. Storage media such as tape and disk were in use also were printers for output.

Third generation: 1963 - present - The invention of the integrated circuit brought us the third generation of computers. With this invention computers became smaller, more powerful more reliable and they are able to run many different programs at the same time. In 1980 Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-Dos) was born and in 1981 IBM introduced the personal computer (PC) for home and office use. Three years later Apple gave us the Macintosh computer with its icon-driven interface and the 90s gave us the Windows operating system.

Exercise

1. Pupils should describe how computers came into existence.

2. Pupils should mention two things that were used for counting before the existence of the Computer.