1957 FORTRAN becomes commercially available FORTRAN (for FORmula TRANslation), a high-level programming language developed by an IBM team led by John Backus, becomes commercially available. FORTRAN is a way to express scientific and mathematical computations with a programming language similar to mathematical formulas. Backus and his team claim that the FORTRAN compiler produces machine code as efficient as any produced directly by a human programmer. Other programming languages quickly follow, including ALGOL, intended as a universal computer language, in 1958 and COBOL in 1959. ALGOL has a profound impact on future languages such as Simula (the first object-oriented programming language), Pascal, and C/C++. FORTRAN becomes the standard language for scientific computer applications, and COBOL is developed by the U.S. government to standardize its commercial application programs. Both dominate the computer-language world for the next 2 decades. 1958 Integrated circuit invented Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor independently invent the integrated circuit. (see Electronics.)
1960 Digital Equipment Corporation introduces the "compact" PDP-1 Digital Equipment Corporation introduces the "compact" PDP-1 for the science and engineering market. Not including software or peripherals, the system costs $125,000, fits in a corner of a room, and doesn’t require air conditioning. Operated by one person, it features a cathode-ray tube display and a light pen. In 1962 at MIT a PDP-1 becomes the first computer to run a video game when Steve Russell programs it to play "Spacewar." The PDP-8, released 5 years later, is the first computer to fully use integrated circuits. 1960 Digital Equipment Corporation introduces the "compact" PDP-1 Digital Equipment Corporation introduces the "compact" PDP-1 for the science and engineering market. Not including software or peripherals, the system costs $125,000, fits in a corner of a room, and doesn’t require air conditioning. Operated by one person, it features a cathode-ray tube display and a light pen. In 1962 at MIT a PDP-1 becomes the first computer to run a video game when Steve Russell programs it to play "Spacewar." The PDP-8, released 5 years later, is the first computer to fully use integrated circuits. 1964 BASIC Dartmouth professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop the BASIC (Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) programming language specifically for the school's new timesharing computer system. Designed for non-computer-science students, it is easier to use than FORTRAN. Other schools and universities adopt it, and computer manufacturers begin to provide BASIC translators with their systems. 1968 Computer mouse makes its public debut The computer mouse makes its public debut during a demonstration at a computer conference in San Francisco. Its inventor, Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute, also demonstrates other user-friendly technologies such as hypermedia with object linking and addressing. Engelbart receives a patent for the mouse 2 years later. 1970 Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) Xerox Corporation assembles a team of researchers in information and physical sciences in Palo Alto, California, with the goal of creating "the architecture of information." Over the next 30 years innovations emerging from the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) include the concept of windows (1972), the first real personal computer (Alto in 1973), laser printers (1973), the concept of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) word processors (1974), and EtherNet (1974). In 2002 Xerox PARC incorporates as an independent company—Palo Alto Research Center, Inc.
1975 First home computer is marketed to hobbyists The Altair 8800, widely considered the first home computer, is marketed to hobbyists by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems. The build-it-yourself kit doesn’t have a keyboard, monitor, or its own programming language; data are input with a series of switches and lights. But it includes an Intel microprocessor and costs less than $400. Seizing an opportunity, fledgling entrepreneurs Bill Gates and Paul Allen propose writing a version of BASIC for the new computer. They start the project by forming a partnership called Microsoft. 1975 First home computer is marketed to hobbyists The Altair 8800, widely considered the first home computer, is marketed to hobbyists by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems. The build-it-yourself kit doesn’t have a keyboard, monitor, or its own programming language; data are input with a series of switches and lights. But it includes an Intel microprocessor and costs less than $400. Seizing an opportunity, fledgling entrepreneurs Bill Gates and Paul Allen propose writing a version of BASIC for the new computer. They start the project by forming a partnership called Microsoft. 1977 Apple II is released Apple Computer, founded by electronics hobbyists Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, releases the Apple II, a desktop personal computer for the mass market that features a keyboard, video monitor, mouse, and random-access memory (RAM) that can be expanded by the user. Independent software manufacturers begin to create applications for it. 1979 First laptop computer is designed What is thought to be the first laptop computer is designed by William Moggridge of GRiD Systems Corporation in England. The GRiD Compass 1109 has 340 kilobytes of bubble memory and a folding electroluminescent display screen in a magnesium case. Used by NASA in the early 1980s for its shuttle program, the "portable computer" is patented by GriD in 1982. 1979 First commercially successful business application Harvard MBA student Daniel Bricklin and programmer Bob Frankston launch the VisiCalc spreadsheet for the Apple II, a program that helps drive sales of the personal computer and becomes its first commercially successful business application. VisiCalc owns the spreadsheet market for nearly a decade before being eclipsed by Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program designed by a former VisiCalc employee.
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