Asia Pacific Collage School of Engineering Computer Engineering Research No.

#1 Title: History of computer Class Schedule Name: Bryle Louis A. Rabajante Student No#: 2012-100090 Submitted to: Ms. Ana Antoniette C. Ilalahi

History of computer computer is an old word that has changed its meaning several times in the last few centuries. Originating from the Latin, by the mid-17th century it meant someone who computes. The American Heritage Dictionary (1980) gives its first computer definition as a person who computes. The computer remained associated with human activity until about the middle of the 20th century when it became applied to a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data as Websters Dictionary (1980) defines it. Today, the word computer refers to computing devices, whether or not they are electronic, programmable, or capable of storing and retrieving data.

The earlier computers were much larger in comparison to the computers available today, sometimes filling entire rooms or sections of buildings. Some persons may be familiar with the term mainframe which is a large computer which can do many different tasks simultaneously. Modern mainframes and older mainframes were not much different in their function which is to provide a centralized point for all data to be processed and sometimes stored but older mainframes did not have the benefit of the newer technologies available today.

As computers evolved and got smaller and smaller, the use of mainframes to handle workloads decreased as standalone computers became more popular. The difference with standalones versus those attached to the mainframe which were called workstations, is the fact that standalones could run applications by themselves while workstations depended on the mainframe being online in order to function. Much older mainframes would run different programs based on a schedule and persons were assigned to feed or load the scheduled application at the appointed time. When the appointed program was scheduled to be run a person would have to load either punch cards or tape spools into the mainframe in order for it to run the specified application and the workstations would then load the application to the mainframe. In more recent times servers have generally replaced mainframes but in some companies there are still those who use modern mainframes as an alternative to having hundreds of servers in different locations.