BUS 237 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Central Processing Unit, Computer Hardware, Software

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Business Administration
• Course: BUS 237
• Professor: Zorana Svedic

Document Summary

The first digital computing devices were available in the 1950s. The first personal computers came on the market in the early 1980s, and the internet came into wide use during the 1990s. The first patent on a digital computer was filed in 1947. A single person interacted with the computer, and only one program could run at a time. Over time, these machines were slowly improved and commercialized. The first commercial digital computers were large, room-sized devices called mainframes were used in business and government & cost between ,000- Second generation mainframes were introduced in the 1950s they were smaller, easier to maintain, and more reliable. Third generation were introduced in the 1960s, and these included operating systems and multi-processing. Multi-processing allowed for time-sharing, so many users could interact with the computer at one time. Often had no display screen or monitor and required users to develop their own programs.