| Year | Generaions aka Eras | Epoch Inventions | Control: Programs and architecture | Computers for Control | Computers for Scientific and Engineering | Computers for People | I/0: interfaces to people are "things" …changing bits | Computers for record keeping & transaction processing | Communication & Networks | Other… newspaper, magazine, society | Year |
| manual, mechanical, electro-mech, vacuum tube, transistor (60s foundation era), ICs leading to the micro, WWW, In your pocket: small form factor devices, | Algorithms, languages, recipes, instructions, etc. pre computing, and architecture | Minicomputers, microprocessors, microcomputers, wireless sensor nets, etc. used for controlling other systesm | Early calculators & the stored program computer. Early computers. Supercomputers: the Cray Era until Scalables take all. | at work, at home, at play , to entertain, and in the pocket as applied to computation, record keeping & communication! | displays, pens, mouse, card devices, biometrics, handwriting, speech, graphical user interface… any and all between computers and people or other info processors. Robots, | Record keeping: from cave drawings, paper, printing, books, card control, to magnetic tape & disks for record keeping. Search engines, databases, TPC, General ledgers, order entry, APACHE, Databases for Search, Archive.org | Communication and Networks: Alphabets, signalling (crusades towers, smoke signals, semaphore, telegraphy), message switching, packet switching, ARPA net, internet, WWW, wireless telephony, WiFi | ||||
| TIMELINE CONTENT | algorithms, architectures, languages, and some operating systems | 2 or 3 Lines: micros, minis, process control | 2 Lines: fastest computers - Cray to Scalables; Minis and super minis (perf/price) | 5 Lines: Workstations, Personals, PDAs, Games, Entertainment | 4 Lines: Record keeping, Transaction Process, Databases, Web services | 3 lines: telephony including wireless telephony, data networks (incl. internet & web), TV. | |||||
| B.C.-1600 | Pre-computer | 1250 BC: Ten commandments, first rule based program. Paper. Printing. | Water clock (283). Clock (1300). | Antikythera Calc. | Abacus: arithmetic. | Guttenberg (1440). | Papyrus. 3000 BC: Cuniform records indicate transactions. Codex replace Paypyrus rolls. | B.C.-1600 | |||
| 1600-1800 | Pre-Computer: Manual | Orreries (1750). | Napier's Bones. Pocket multiplication. Gunter ,Oughtred scales (1620) | Simpson, Data-processing practice (1755). Table of products (1781) | Optical Semiphore (1700). | 1600-1800 | |||||
| 1800-1890 | Pre-computer: Mechanical & Electric. | Bell: telephone message. | Boole: The Mathematical Analyis of Logic (1847) | Jacquard Loom (1801-06) | Airthmometer manufactured (1820). Babbage: starts diff engine construct (1822).Circular Rule. Baldwin calculator. | Sholes Typewriter. Remington Model 1. | Comptometer (1886). Burroughs Adding machines. | Henry: Telegraph (1831). Telegraph& Morse code (1837); paper tape telegraph. Daguerre fax (1839). Transatlantic Cable proposal. | Luddites (1811). | 1800-1890 | |
| 1890-1945 | Pre-computer: Electro-mechanical | Cards computing. Vacuum tube (1906). Fiip-flop (1919) | Zuse start | Baudot code, Teletype | Hollerith: Census (1890), Tabulating Machine Co. (1896). BTM, Powes Samos, Rem Rand formed. Card perforator & sorter (1895). | 1890-1945 | |||||
| 1937 | Pre-computer Electronic: Vacuum tube | Electronic vs Electro-Mechanical. | Shannon Thesis: Boolean Algebra for Switching Circuits. | Atanasoff idea conception winter | 1937 | ||||||
| 1938 | 1938 | ||||||||||
| 1939 | IBM -Harvard Mark I start; | 1939 | |||||||||
| 1940 | BTL Complex Number Calclator remote Teletype use. | BTL Remote access; | 1940 | ||||||||
| 1941 | Zuse Z3 tape programed. | ABC (marginal) op; Zuse Z3: relays, tape program, fl.pt.; | 1941 | ||||||||
| 1942 | 1942 | ||||||||||
| 1943 | Mark I tape program | Norden Bombsight (?). | Collosus use; Harvard Mark I op. ENIAC start. | 1943 | |||||||
| 1944 | 1944 | ||||||||||
| 1945 | EDVAC Draft Report: the stored program computer recipe! | EDVAC Draft report 6/30. | ACE start; | Bush: As We May Think - Memex. | 1945 | ||||||
| 1946 | ENIAC proof. | ENIAC vacuum tubes, patchcord program. IAS Burks…von Neumann report. | ENIAC op; | 1946 | |||||||
| 1947 | Bell Labs: Transistor | IAS paper. | Curta Model 1 Handheld | 1947 | |||||||
| 1948 | First program. | Big Bang. Manchester "Baby" 16 words Williams Tube 6/21 op. | Shannon: The Mathmatical Theory of Communication. | 1948 | |||||||
| 1949 | EDSAC 512 words delay line memory 5/6 op. | 1949 | |||||||||
| 1950 | Shannon: Chess paper & Mouse. | NPL Pilot ACE. | 1950 | ||||||||
| 1951 | 1st Gen: Vac. Tube | Leo & UNIVAC I, delay lines; UNIVAC Mag. Tape replaces cards. | EDSAC team wrote 1st programming book | LEO ( EDSAC based) card, paper tape, intoduced. UNIVAC I, decimal, delay line, mag tape for bulk store, accepted. | 1951 | ||||||
| 1952 | Core Memory on MTC | IAS operated. | EDSAC: OXO game. | 1952 | |||||||
| 1953 | Backus FORTRAN start | MIT Whirlwind: core memory; Mem. Test Computer (MTC) 1st use. | IBM 701 (Defense Calculator) | 1953 | |||||||
| 1954 | IBM 650. | 1954 | |||||||||
| 1955 | Sign up & use. Bendix G-15 (ACE derived). | 1955 | |||||||||
| 1956 | 5 MB/disk | IBM 305 Disk (RAMAC) | Project Stretch start. | LGP-30; TX-0 | MIT Lincoln Lab: Display and light pen | IBM 305 Ramac, 5 MB disk. | Datamation Magazine | 1956 | |||
| 1957 | FORTRAN used. | FORTRAN II for 704 | 1957 | ||||||||
| 1958 | Kilby: IC patent w/wires. | Burroughs 205,220. | Kilby patent (wired chip interconnect) | 1958 | |||||||
| 1959 | 2nd Gen: Transistors | Noyce: IC patent planar process. Fairchild planar transistor. | Samuel Chess program | IBM 7090. | IBM 1620 | ERMA introduced. IBM 1401 replaces card tabulation equipment. | Xerox Copier | 1959 | |||
| 1960 | U Manchester: One level store. COBOL, LISP. | Algol 60 Spec. COBOL. LISP. SNOBOL. | CDC 1604. CDC 160 for offline.Ferranti Atlas intro. UNIVAC LARC June. | DEC PDP-1. | Quicksort. COBOL60 | ATT: Dataphone (1st commercial modem) | 1960 | ||||
| 1961 | Mainframe Era. Snowhite & 7 dwarfs: Burroughs, CDC, GE, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, UNIVAC > BUNCH. | Fairchild IC. MIT CTSS. | MIT CTSS tmesharing demo. | IBM Stetch LASL May accept. | MIT CTSS Each of us share an IBM 7090. | UNIMATE Industrial Robot: delived. Teletype ASR 33: 10 char/sec. | Burroughs B5000, 5500 (64). | Baran: Presentation on Survivable Nets. Kleinrock: Thesis Proposal Info Flow in Large Comm. Nets. | 1961 | ||
| 1962 | Sketchpad | Atlas: One level store. | Computer typesetting. | Manchester-Ferranti Atlas fastest op. | LINC with personal file system. PDP-1: Spacewar. | 1311 removable disk. | ARPA IPTO: Licklider. | 1962 | |||
| 1963 | DEC: PDP-5 (mini forerruner). | Sketchpad. GM DAC-1. Cassette tape | Licklider: Intergalactic Network. ASCII. | Nelson: Hypertext mention. | 1963 | ||||||
| 1964 | IBM 360 Annonce 4/7. CDC 6600 (begin Cray era) | APL. OS 360 announce. | SDS: 910, 920, 930. | IBM 360 for Science & Commercial announce 4/7. Univac 1108 from ERA div. CDC 6600 delivery. | Friden desk calculator (transistor). IBM: APL. Berkeley: Timesharing SDS 930. Dartmouth TSS BASIC . Rand: JOSS on Johniac. DEC: PDP-6 Timesharing. | IBM 360 for Science & Commercial announce 4/7. Bachman: IDS Networked database. | Baran: RAND "On Dstributed Comm". Kleinrock: Comm. Nets: Message Flow & Delay. | Eckert & Mauchly: patent. | 1964 | ||
| 1965 | Moore's Law Posited. Cooley Tukey algorithm. | Simula introduces objects. DENDRAL expert system: Feigenbaum-Lederberg | DEC: PDP-8. Computer Controls: DDP 116, 16-bit mini. | Olivetti: Programma 101. | Teletype: 30 Char/sec. | SABRE Reservations system on line (dual 7090). IBM OS/360 ship. | Davies @NPL: Names "Packet Switching". Marill-Roberts: TX-2 to Q-32 Connection. | 1965 | |||
| 1966 | 3rd Gen: SSI, MSI. 100tr/chip | Apollo Guidance Computer: IC. Honeywell DDP 516: IC mini. | NYSE computer trade. | NYSE: basic trading funcions. | 1966 | ||||||
| 1967 | 100 minicomputer companies form | Monolithic Mem chip. | Medtronic pacemaker. | LOGO. | ATM Enfield install | ATM Enfield install. IBM 1360 Terabit Photo Store. | ARPAnet Plan (Roberts) | 1967 | |||
| 1968 | Dijkstra: "Goto harmful". | DEC: PDP-8/I IC computer. DG Nova. | IBM: 360/85 cache. | HP 9100 Desktop. | Engelbart: FJCC "Mother of All Demos" | AT&T:56 Kbps. BBN: ARPAnet contract win. | 2001: A Space Odyssey. | 1968 | |||
| 1969 | UNIX @ BTL. IBM: E F Codd Relational Database TR. | CDC 7600 | IBM TR: E F Codd relational database. | ARPAnet: UCLa-SRI. Establish Network Working Group | 1969 | ||||||
| 1970 | DEC PDP-11 | UNIX first edition programmer's manual | DEC: VT05 ASCI CRT, Engelbart: Mouse Patent | 1970 | |||||||
| 1971 | 4th Gen: uP, LSI. 4Ktr/chip | Intel 4004 chip uP. IBM: 8" Floppy. | Intel 4004 chip uP. Application control of calculator | Bowmar Brain hand held calculator | 1971 | ||||||
| 1972 | Email. | C Language | ILLIAC IV (Simd). HP 35. | HP 35. Atari Pong. Magnavox Odyssey Game (analog). Dungeons, Zork, Crime. WYSIWYG. | IBM 3270 Xerox PARC: Shoup-Superpaint. | IBM 370 | Tomlinson: Email. | 1972 | |||
| 1973 | Echert Mauchly patent invalidated. | Universal Product Code: ?? | TCP paper. Internet gateway arch (Cerf, Kahn). Metcalfe: Ethernet, Xerox PARC. | Eckert & Mauchly: patent invalid. | 1973 | ||||||
| 1974 | Xerox PARC: Alto & Ethernet. | MIT LISP Machines. | Intel: 8080. Zilog: Z-80. | HP 65 Programmable Calc. CDC: STAR Delivery (String-Array). | HP 65 Programmable Calc. Xerox PARC: Alto & Ethernet. | 1974 | |||||
| 1975 | MITS Altair Kit. MOS Tech: 6502, 1st PCs. | MITS Altair. Microsoft BASIC delivered ?? IBM: 5100. | Tandem Fault-Tolerant. Amdahl: 470 delivered to establish the IBM plug compatible industry. | Telenet: service intro. | Byte Magazine. | 1975 | |||||
| 1976 | Cray 1 Vector architecture for 2 decades | Cray 1: establish vector architecture | DR: CPM.Xerox: STAR. Apple: model 1. | Kurzweil Reading Machine. | Tandem: 16 Fault-Tolerant for trans proc. Honeywell: Relational dbase? | 1976 | |||||
| 1977 | First personally affordable computers. | ARM Chip. DEC: VT 78 PDP-8 word process. | DEC: VAX 780 mini (perf/$) & VMS. | Apple II, Commodore Pet, TRS-80 use 6502. | Xerox Laser Printer. | Multinetwork demo | Microsoft started. | 1977 | |||
| 1978 | C Language Manual 1st Edition. | Intel: 8086. | TI Speak & Spell. Shughart: 5-1/4" disk. | TI: Speak & Spell | DEC VT100 ASCI CRT. | USENET | 1978 | ||||
| 1979 | 68Ktr/chip | Visicalc. | IBM Research 801 first RISC. | Motorola 68,000, 68Ktransistors enable workstations.Intel 8088 29 Ktrans. IM 801 RISC. | Sinclair ZX80. CD | Prestel (UK) | Mead Conway" Introduction to VLSI Systems" | 1979 | |||
| 1980 | 100 PC & workstation companies form | Symbolics & LISP Machines Inc: build LISP Machines through 1989 | Cyber 205 | Symbolics & LISP Machines Inc: build LISP Machines through 1989 | 1980 | ||||||
| 1981 | Apollo DN-100 & token ring. IBM PC. Xerox Star. MS-DOS. Sony: 3-1/2" Floppy. Osborne 1. Commodore 64 22M munits. | MIDI Standard. | 1981 | ||||||||
| 1982 | Ethernet std. IBM: PC defines Wintel Standard. | Intel 286 | Cray: XMP 420 Mflops. | Kaypro, SUN 1. CD. Pacman. Lotus 1-2-3. | 802.3 Ethernet std. TCP/IP established. Minitel (France). | Time: Computer is Man of the Year. Camcorder. | 1982 | ||||
| 1983 | Microsoft: Word. Cal Tech: 1st Scalable. | Cal Tech Cosmic Cube: 64 node hypercube. Scalable era begins | MIDI music interface. Apple Lisa. Compaq: ship. Silicon Graphics: Iris. | Microft: Word. | DEC: VMS Clusters. Stratus: redundant, non-stop. | ARPANET: TCP/IP switchover. DNS introduced | 1983 | ||||
| 1984 | Apple MacIntosh | Cray: XMP. Convex: C-1 supermini. | Apple Mac. IBM PC/AT. Sony 3.5" floppy. | Adobe: Postscript. | DNS introduced | Gibson: Neuromance> Cyberspace. | 1984 | ||||
| 1985 | MIPS: RISC processor. Encrore Multimax "multi". | Alliant: FX-1 supermini. NSF Centers: NCSA, SDSC | Amiga. Pixar. CD/ROM | Adobe. Aldus: PageMaker. | Sequent: Balance "multi". | NSFNET connects 5 supercomputer centers. WELL. | 1985 | ||||
| 1986 | 275 Kt/chip | Bjarne Stroustrup: C++ | Intel: 386 | Cray2. Thinking Machines: CM1 (SIMD) | Adobe: Illustrator | TCP/IP established. NSFNet: 56Kb. | 1986 | ||||
| 1987 | Apple Hypercard | Sun SPARC Chip. Motorola: 68030. | Sandia:1st Bell Prize, 1K node nCUBE. XMP: 1/2 GF. ETA: ETA-10 GF succeeds CDC-line. | Apple: Hypercard. | NSF T1 Backbone. UUNET. | 1987 | |||||
| 1988 | Cray YMP: 2.7 GF, 8 proc. Convex: C2 mini-super. Ardent: Graphic Super. | Microsoft: Windows 3, Excel, Word. | AT&T Transatlantic Fiber. NSFNET: T1 backone. | Pixar: "Tin Toy" Oscar. | 1988 | ||||||
| 1989 | 1.6 Mt/chip | Intel 486 1.6 Mtrans. | Cray Computer: Cray3 (last) | Maxis: SimCity | Adobe: Photoshop | MCI, Compuserve: email. | 1989 | ||||
| 1990 | CERN establishes HTML | Thinking Machines CM2 SIMD: 14 GF, 64K? PE | Nintendo GameBoy;Windows 3.1 | Archie, Gopher, WAIS services. | 1990 | ||||||
| 1991 | WWW | Linux Introduced. | Motorola: 68040 1.2 Mtrans. IBM PowerPC. | Go: PenPoint. 3-1/2" Diskette. | NSF backbone: T3. one TB/month, 100 countries, 600Khosts, 5K networks. NSF accepts firms. PGP for email. | 1991 | |||||
| 1992 | SQL Standard. | WWW. One Million hosts. Internet Society. | 1992 | ||||||||
| 1993 | Mosaic Browser | Mosaic Browser release UofI NCSA. Apple: Newton w/50K sales. Casio Zoomer. Doom. | Wired Magazine Vol 1. | 1993 | |||||||
| 1994 | Intel: Pentium | Beowulf: COTS scalability standard | Windows NT | Yahoo founded. Netscape. | Pixar: Toy Story, first animated feature film | 1994 | |||||
| 1995 | In your pocket | Fujitsu National Wind Tunnel: 100 Gflops | Palm: Pilot PDA i. Microsoft: Windows 95. | 100 Mbps Ethernet. Apache Web Server 1. | DVD intro | 1995 | |||||
| 1996 | 1000s of web services form | Archive.org founded | Java 1.1 | Intel ASCI Red, Sandia: 1.45 TF pk, 7.2 Kproc | Palm Pilot s. | Archive.org fouded. | 1996 | ||||
| 1997 | Pister: WSN Proposal. | 1997 | |||||||||
| 1998 | Rio Digital Audio Player (DAP) | 1 Gbps Ethernet. Dust aka Wireless Sensor Nets proposal & RF breadboard. | 1998 | ||||||||
| 1999 | Creative Labs Nomad DA). BlackBerry: pocket email service. | 802.11: 11 Mbps | 1999 | ||||||||
| 2000 | iRiver Player DAP. | Apache Web Server 2. IBM zSeries 900 (64 bit 360). | 2000 | ||||||||
| 2001 | Berkeley Mote: wireless sensor networks class | Intel Itanium | Microsoft: XP. Apple: iPod plaform intro. | Berkeley Mote. Ember founded WSN. | 2001 | ||||||
| 2002 | NEC Earth Simulator: 41 TF | Treo: phones & PDAs | Dust Networks: WSN | 2002 | |||||||
| 2003 | AMD: Opteron 64-bit X86 | 10 Gbps Ethernet 803802.11: 54 Mpbs. | 2003 | ||||||||
| 2004 | Intel: Extended Memory Architecture | 2004 | |||||||||
| 2005 | AMD Opteron Multicore. | IBM Bluegene: 102 TF, 131 Kproc. | 2005 | ||||||||
| 2006 | 1 TB/disk | Microsoft: Vista | DARPA Autonomous Vechicle Prize won by Stanford | 2006 | |||||||
| 2007 | 100 millionth iPod. iPhone intro. | 2007 | |||||||||
| 2008 | 2008 | ||||||||||
| 2009 | 2009 | ||||||||||
| 2010 | 2010 | ||||||||||
| 285 | 38 | 28 | 29 | 41 | 47 | 21 | 26 | 37 | 18 |