Basics of COA
Evolution & History
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The Mechanical Era (Before Electricity)
1. Abacus (Ancient Times): The first manual calculating device. Used beads on rods.
2. Napier’s Bones (1617): Invented by John Napier. A set of ivory rods used for multiplication.
3. Pascaline (1642): Invented by Blaise Pascal. The first mechanical calculator using gears and wheels (like a clock).
4. Analytical Engine (1837): Proposed by Charles Babbage. It was the first design to have Input → Process → Output. That is why Babbage is called the
"Father of the Computer".
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Boolean algebra
• Boolean Algebra: Introduced by George Boole in the 19th century, specifically in his books
"The Mathematical Analysis of Logic" (1847) and "An Investigation of the Laws of Thought"
(1854).
• Binary System: In digital systems, signals usually have two discrete values, representing binary
(0 and 1).
• Core Operations: Boolean algebra operates with variables representing truth values (true/false
or 1/0), unlike traditional algebra which deals with numerical values.
• Conjunction (AND): Represented as ∧
• Disjunction (OR): Represented as ∨
• Negation (NOT): Represented as ¬
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Turing Machine
• Church-Turing Thesis (1936): States that any algorithmic procedure that can be performed by a human or a
computer can also be performed by a Turing machine.
• Universal Acceptance: The Turing machine is widely recognized by computer scientists as the ideal
theoretical model of computation.
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Digital System
• Claude Shannon (1930s): Applied Boolean algebra to switching circuits, introducing switching
algebra for circuit design using logic gates.
• Shannon's 1938 Work: Shannon, father of information theory, built upon Boole’s work to
create a systematic framework for digital hardware design.
• Key Points:
• Shannon used Boolean algebra for switching algebra and circuit design.
• Boolean constants: 0 and 1. Variables represent signals like input/output.
• Variables (a, b, c...) follow Boolean laws essential to combinational logic.
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Von Neumann Architecture (John von Neumann, 1945)
● Proposed the "Stored-Program Concept".
● Significance: Before this, computers were "hard-wired" for one task. Von Neumann suggested storing Data and Instructions
(Programs) in the same memory unit.
● Result: This is the blueprint for almost every modern computer today.
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The Electronic Era Begins
● The Shift: We moved from moving parts (gears) to electronic signals.
● The First Electronic Computer:
○ Name: ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer).
○ Year: 1946 (Approx).
○ Technology: It used 18,000 Vacuum Tubes.
○ Size: It was massive! It weighed 30 tons and occupied an entire room (1800 sq ft).
● Limitation: It generated so much heat that it often broke down.
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Gen Time Period Main Component (The Brain) Example
1st 1940–56 Vacuum Tubes ENIAC, UNIVAC
2nd 1956–63 Transistors IBM 1401
3rd 1964–71 Integrated Circuits (IC) IBM 360
4th 1971–Present Microprocessors (VLSI) PC, Apple Mac
5th Future AI & ULSI (Ultra Large Scale) Robots
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Gen Time Period Main Component (The Brain) Example
1st 1940–56 Vacuum Tubes ENIAC, UNIVAC
2nd 1956–63 Transistors IBM 1401
3rd 1964–71 Integrated Circuits (IC) IBM 360
4th 1971–Present Microprocessors (VLSI) PC, Apple Mac
5th Present-Future AI & ULSI (Ultra Large Scale) Robots
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Gen Time Period Technology Examples (Memorize These)
1st 1940 – 1956 Vacuum Tubes ENIAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC-I, IBM-701, IBM-650, EDSAC, Mark-I, ABC (Atanasoff-
Berry Computer)
2nd 1956 – 1963 Transistors IBM-1401, IBM-1620, IBM-7094, CDC-1604, CDC-3600, UNIVAC 1108, PDP-1
3rd 1964 – 1971 ICs (Integrated IBM-360, IBM-370, Honeywell-6000, PDP-8, PDP-11, CDC-6600 (First
Circuits) Supercomputer), ICL 2900
4th 1971 – Microprocessors IBM PC, Apple Macintosh, Altair 8800, CRAY-1, CRAY-X-MP, DEC 10, STAR
Present (VLSI) 1000
5th Present & ULSI & AI Desktops, Laptops, PARAM 8000/10000, Robots, IBM Watson, Siddhartha
Future
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Moore’s Law
● Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every 18–24 months, leading to exponential growth
in computing power.
What does this graph show?
● X-axis: Years (1971 → 2021)
● Y-axis: Number of transistors per chip (logarithmic scale)
● The straight upward trend on a log scale indicates exponential growth
● CPUs have grown from thousands of transistors to billions of transistors
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● Early microprocessors had only a few thousand transistors
● By the 2000s, chips crossed 100 million transistors
● Modern processors exceed 10 billion transistors
● The trend closely follows Moore’s original prediction
Why Moore’s Law is important
● Explains rapid growth in computer speed and power
● Enabled:
○ Smaller devices
○ Faster processing
○ Lower cost per computation
● Drives advancements in AI, mobile phones, cloud computing
Limitations
● Physical limits of chip size and heat dissipation
● In recent years, growth has slowed but innovation continues through:
○ Multi-core processors
○ Advanced architectures
○ New materials
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