CLASS: JSS 1A-D

SUBJECT: COMPUTER SCIENCE

TERM: 1
Scheme of Work
1. Early Counting Devices
2. Mechanical Counting Devices
3. Electro-mechanical Counting Devices
4. Electronic Counting Devices
5. Generations of Computer
6. The Computer System
7. Classification of Computer

Content
Historical Development Of Computer
Objectives:
a. List early counting devices
b. Sate the problems in counting large numbers with those devices
c. Name mechanical counting and calculating devices
d. Name electromechanical counting devices
e. Identify electronic counting devices and modern computer
f. Identify the five generations of computers
g. Describe the features of each generation

Early Counting Devices

The following were the early counting devices:
1. Fingers, Toes, Stones, Sticks, Pebbles, Cowries

Mechanical Counting And Calculating Devices

The following were the early mechanical counting devices:

1. The Abacus
This is a simple device having a wooden frame with strings on which coloured
beads are strung. The date of its invention is uncertain. But it was discovered
that around 1200 AD the Chinese have started using it for their calculations.

2. The Slide Rule

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The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division, and also for "scientific" functions
such as roots, logarithms and trigonometry, but is not normally used for addition or subtraction.
William Oughtred and others developed the slide rule in the 1600s based on the emerging work
on logarithms by John Napier.

Electro-Mechanical Devices
The following are electro-mechanical devices:
1. John Napier’s Bone
Napier's bones is an abacus created by John Napier for calculation of products
and quotients of numbers that was based on Arab mathematics and lattice
multiplication.

2. The Pascaline

The first mechanical counting device invented was the Pascaline. It was invented by a
Frenchman by name Blaise Pascal in 1642. This machine consists of wheels with teeth on them.
The First wheel counts in Unit, the second wheel counts in tens, the third counts in hundred and
so on.

3. The Stepped Reckoner

In 1671 a German by name Gottfried Von Leibnitz invented a
machine that would do multiplication and division in addition to
performing both addition and subtraction. This machine could also
find square root of numbers. The Stepped Reckoner also uses wheels with teeth in them.

Electronic Counting Devices

The following are electronic counting devices:
1. The Jacquard’s Loom
One of the earliest information processing machines was the Jacquard’s Loom.
It was invented in 1802 by a Frenchman called Joseph Jacquard. He was a
cloth manufacturer. He designed the machine so as to carry out the weaving
of complicated patterns.

2. The Difference Engine

In 1822 an Englishman by name Sir, Charles Babbage introduced his Difference
engine. The machine uses wheels with teeth on them to do mathematical
calculations. Information coded on card is supplied to the machine and it goes
ahead to execute them.

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3 The Analytical Engine
Later, Charles Babbage designed another machine called “The Analytical
Engine”. He designed it to be used to solve more complex calculations before
he died. Charles could not finish designing his machine before he died in 1871
but his friend Augusta Ada (Ada Countess of Lovelace) a mathematician showed
how the engine could be used to do some particular calculations.

4. Hermann Hollerith Machine

As developments were going on in the mechanical devices, an American named
Hermann Hollerith used punched card to process the American’s 1890 census. A
job that would have taken very many people seven years to do by hand took,
Hermann three years to complete.

5. Dr. Philip Emeagwali Computer

Dr. Philip Emeagwali, who has been called the "Bill Gates of Africa," was born in Nigeria in
1957.

Exercises
1. Briefly describe the evolution of computer
2. Draw the Abacus showing the number 6789
3. The first mechanical device invented is_____________________
4. Briefly describe any TWO (2) information processing device you have studied
5. In a few paragraph, describe the contribution of Dr Philip Emeagwali to the development
of computer.

Classification of Computer
Objectives
Classify computers by: Generation, types, size, and degree of versatility

Classification Of Computers By Generation

The following criteria were used to classify computers by generations:
1. Year produced
2. Processing Components
3. Number of users
4. Language used
5. Nature of inputs
6. Cooling arrangement
7. Space requirement.

First Generation Computers (up to 1955)

Features of the First Generation Computers
1. Produce before 1955

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2. It uses vacuum tube in its circuitry
3. It is huge in size
4. It uses machine language
5. It is very expensive to purchase
6. It is slow and usually unreliable
7. It has limited internal storage capacity.

Examples of First Generation Computers

1. EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer)
2. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator)
3. EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)
4. UNIVAC 1 (Universal Automatic Computer)
5. ABC (Atanasoff Berry Computer)
6. ACE (Automatic Computer Engine)

Second Generation Computers (1955 To 1964)

In 1948, at Bell Telephone Laboratories, American physicists Walter Houser Brattain, John
Bardeen, and William Bradford Shockley developed the transistor. This is a device that can act
as an electric switch. This transistor made the computers to be smaller, faster, and reliable and
consume less power.

Features of Second Generation Computers

1. Produced between 1955 to 1964
2. They are more reliable than the first generation computers
3. They could perform more calculations
4. They use symbolic languages like FORTRAN for coding
5. They have more efficient storage system
6. They possess faster output with inputs
7. They produce less heat.

Examples of Second Generation Computers (Non Commercial)

1. Metrovick 950 built by Metropolitan-Vickers in 1956
2. Bell Laboratories TRADIC built in January 1954
3. Harwell CADET Used in February 1955
4. IBM 604 built by IBM
5. SM-65 Atlas ICBM built in 1957 by Burroughs Corporation
6. ETL Mark III built in Japan in July 1956
7. LARC (Liverpool Atomic Research Computer)
8. IBM 7030

Examples of First Commercial Second Generation Computers

1. IBM 608 built in April 1955
2. Olivetti Elea 9003 sold in Italy from 1959
3. IBM 704

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4. IBM 709
5. IBM 7094

Third Generation Computers (1964 To 1972)

Features of Third Generation Computers

Produced between 1964 to 1972
Use of Integrated Circuits
Increase in processing Speed
Able to scan pages and input pictures into the system
Able to display pictures and play music
Able to understand English-like (High Level) Languages
Possesses faster input and output capabilities.

Examples of Third Generation Computers

1. PDP-8
2. PDP-11
3. ICL 2900
4. IBM 360
5. IBM 370

Fourth Generation Computers (1972 – 1989)

Features of Fourth Generation Computers
1. Produced between 1972 to 1989
2. They use Large Scale Integrated Circuit and Ultra Large Scale Integrated Circuit (ULSI);
3. They possess greater input and output capabilities;
4. They have greater Storage Capacities
5. They posses grater processing speed
6. The emergence of CD-ROM was in the fourth generation
7. Notable improvement in Software industry emerged here
Many high level languages such as COBOL, FORTRAN, BASIC, PASCAL, C were developed.
Networking between computers was developed.

Examples of Fourth Generation Computers

1. IBM 4341
2. DEC 10
3. STAR 1000
4. PUP 11
5. APPLE II

Fifth Generation Computers (1990 – Date)

Features of Fifth Generation Computers
1. Produced between 1990 to date
2. They are knowledge based

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3. They have the ability to reason encoded in them
4. They have the ability to learn encoded in them
5. They can make inferences i.e. using previous experiences to make decision
6. They have extremely fast processing speed
7. They have massive storage capacity
8. They have smaller hardware components
9. They can recognize voices

Classification Of Computers By Types

Types of Computers
There are three types of computers. These are:
1. Digital computer
2. Analogue computer
3. Hybrid computer

Digital Computer
The Digital computer operates with a given series of steps of instructions. They base their
operations on digits 0 and 1. They are those computers we say that they use machine language.
This goes to tell us that most computers we see around today are digital computers. When we
talk of classes of computers, we are simply referring to classes of digital computers.

Examples of Digital Computers

Some examples of digital computers include:
1. IBM 360/370
2. PDP 11/34
3. All IBM compatibles
4. Apple microcomputers

Analogue Computer
The Analogue computer operates by accepting data as a quantity varying over a
length of time. It is mostly used in industrial operations and hospitals. It is often
regarded as special purpose computer. We can find this kind of computer been
used in flow controls.

Hybrid Computer
The Hybrid computer combines the features of both digital and analogue. It is not common. The
only known type of such computer for now is the robot.

Classification of Computers by Size

There are factors used in classifying computers under any of the classes. These factors include:
1. Size of its internal memory
2. Processing capabilities
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 3. Price range
4. Speed of operations

Classes of Computers by Size

The factors highlighted above have been used to classify the digital computers into four (4)
different classes which include:
1. Supercomputer
2. Mainframe computer
3. Mini computer
4. Micro computer

Super computer
The Super computer is the largest, fastest and the most expensive of all the
classes listed. Its price ranges in millions of dollars. It has a processing
speed of 600 to 900 million instructions per second (MIPS). It is most used
for weather forecasting, oil exploration and complex calculations.
Examples are CRAY-MP and CRAY-2 which go for $5 million (5 million
dollars) each.

Mainframe Computer
The Mainframe computer is the second largest computers. Its cost ranges
from $200,000 to several millions of dollars. It has many peripheral devices
like printers, plotters, terminals etc. Its internal memory is over 256 millions
of bytes. Examples include:
1. IBM 360/370
2. NCR V-8800
3.

Mini Computer
This is often referred to as special purpose computer. This is because it is
used for specific purpose. Its cost is between $15,000 and $200,000 with
internal memory between 128MB to 256MB. Some examples include:
1. PDP 11
2. VAX 750/6000
3. NCR 9300
4. DEC
5. Hewlett Packard 3000
6. IBM system 38
7. MV400

Classification Of Computers By Degree Of Versatility

Computers can be classified under Special and General Purpose computers
1. Special Purpose Computers:
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 Special Purpose Computers are computers designed to perform a specific (single)
purpose. Example of such computers include the radar system. Radar system is used in
airports to track aircraft and direct them on route they should take per time. They are also
used in locating missing aircraft and searching location of aircraft mishaps.

2. General Purpose Computers

General Purpose Computers are computer designed to perform more than one type of job
per time. Common example is the desktop computers, laptop computers, blackberry,
notebook computers and palmtop computers.

Exercises
1. List FOUR characteristics of computers
2. Enumerate 7 criteria used in classifying computers according to generations
3. List the generations of computer we have. Give Two examples each
4. With the aid of a table, distinguish the generations of computers
5. List the different types of computer we have
6. Computer can be classified according to size. List them
7. With ONE example each, differentiate General purpose computers and Special purpose
computers.

The Computer System

Objectives:
a. Define a computer
b. Describe a computer as Input Process Output (IPO)
c. Describe parts of a computer system
d. List the : input devices, output devices, components of a system unit
e. Describe the functions of each of the input and output devices
f. List the components of the CPU
g. Describe the functions of the ALU, Control Unit and Main memory

Definition of a Computer
Computer is an electronic device controlled by set of coded instructions called program which
can take data in the form of input, process it and produce information in the form of output. The
computer system is made up of different parts namely- System unit, Input section and the Output
section.

Parts of a Computer System

As a summary, computer system comprises of:
1. Hardware (Input, Output, System Unit)
2. Software (System and Application Software)
3. Peopleware (Computer Professionals and Users)

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 System Unit Screen Monitor

Speaker
Speaker

Keyboard Microphone
Mouse

Hardware
The hardware part of the computer system is the physical part of the computer system. We can
see it, feel it and touch it. It is the electro-mechanical part of the computer system. Examples of
the hardware are:
1. Input Devices
2. Output Devices
3. Processing Device (System Unit)
4. Storage Device

Input Devices
The input devices are devices which allow us to send data, programs, commands and user
responses into the computer. Examples are: Keyboard, Mouse, Scanners, Digital camera,
Microphone, MICR( Magnetic Ink Character Reader), OCR(Optical Character Reader), Joy
Stick, Light Pen, Track Ball, Bar Code Reader, Biometrics.

Keyboard Mouse

Output Devices
The output device is the part of the computer system that enables us to read, hear or see what the
computer has produced. Examples are: Monitor, Printer, Projectors, Speakers, Plotter, Microfilm

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 Monitor Printer Projector Speaker

System Unit
The System Unit is the Box-like part of the computer system which can either be placed on the
Desk (called Desk-top System Unit) or on the ground (called Tower or Mini Tower System
Unit). It houses most of the component parts of the computer system among which are
Motherboard, Processor, Hard Disk, CD-ROM Drive, Floppy Disk Drive etc.

System Unit

Storage Devices
Computer has a place where it stores both data and information. Basically we have two types of
computer storage namely the Primary and secondary storage devices. The Primary storage device
enables the computer system to store data yet to be processed and information already produced
for as long as the computer system remains on. This type of storage device is made up of
capacitors. By nature capacitors are capable of losing their content once power goes off. To
avoid losing data, it is required that the data be transferred immediately to an alternative storage
medium.

Exercises
1. What is a computer?
2. Mention the parts of a computer
3. Draw a diagram showing the component parts of the computer
4. List any FIVE (5) input and output device you know
5. What is a primary and secondary storage device?

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