From Sand to Processor: The Secret History of the Electronic Computer
The Birth of the Electronic Computer From vacuum tube to transistor, from sand to processor, from machine code to the C language TIMELINE 1801 Jacquard loom ” the idea of programming with punched cards 1837 Babbage — Analytical Engine ” Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithm 1890 Hollerith punched card system ” the origin of IBM 1936 Alan Turing — Turing Machine ” the theoretical foundation 1943 Colossus ” first programmable electronic computer (vacuum tube) 1945 ENIAC ” first general-purpose electronic computer, 30 tons 1945 Von Neumann architecture ” storing programs in memory 1947 Transistor invented ” Bell Labs, Bardeen, Brattain, Shockley 1954 TRADIC ” first transistorized computer 1958 Integrated circuit (IC) ” Jack Kilby (TI) and Robert Noyce (Fairchild) 1963 ASCII standard ” numbers assigned to letters 1968 DRAM invented ” Robert Dennard, IBM 1971 Intel 4004 ” first microprocessor 1972 C programming language ” Dennis Ritchie, Bell Labs CON...