<h1><strong>ELECTRONIC COUNTING DEVICES AND MODERN COMPUTER</strong></h1> CONTENT <ol> <li>John Von Neumann Machine</li> <li>Modern Machines</li> </ol>   <h2><strong>JOHN VON NEUMANN’S MACHINE</strong></h2> In 1945, mathematician John von Neumann undertook a study of computation that demonstrated that a computer could have a simple, fixed structure, yet be able to execute any kind of computation given properly programmed control without the need for hardware modification. Von Neumann contributed a new understanding of how practical fast computers should be organized and built; these ideas, often referred to as <strong>the stored-program technique, became fundamental for future generations of high-speed digital computers and were universally adopted.</strong> The primary advance was the provision of a special type of machine instruction called conditional control transfer which permitted the program sequence to be interrupted and reinitiated at any point, similar to the system suggested by Babbage for his analytical engine and by storing all instruction programs together with data in the same memory unit, so that, when desired, instructions could be arithmetically modified in the same way as data. Thus, data was the same as program.

<h1><strong>FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFTH GENERATIONS OF COMPUTERS</strong></h1> CONTENT <ol> <li>Generations of Computers</li> <li>First Generation – Vacuum Tubes (1940 – 1956)</li> <li>Second Generation – Transistors (1956 – 1963)</li> <li>Third Generation - Integrated Circuits (IC) (1964 – 1971)</li> <li>Fourth Generation - Very Large Integrated Circuits (1972 - 1984)</li> <li>Fifth Generation - Artificial Intelligence (AI) (1980s to Date)</li> </ol>   <h2><strong>Generations of Computers</strong></h2> Generation of computers is the developmental stages that the computer has gone through. There are 5 generations of computers and their accompanying innovations. <br> <h2><strong>First Generation – Vacuum Tubes (</strong><strong>1940 – 1956)</strong></h2> First generation computers were those manufactured between 1940s and 1950s. The computers used the stored program concept. First generation computers were associated with the vacuum tubes or valves technology as circuitry and magnetic drums for memory. <h3><strong>Characteristics of the First Generation of Computers</strong></h3> <ol> <li>They were very bulky and heavy.</li> <li>They measured between 50 – 100ft long and about 80ft high.</li> <li>The computers weighed up to 200 tons and occupied 3000 cubic ft.</li> <li>They used vacuum tubes to store and process data.</li> <li>Examples of first generation computers are ENIAC, EDSAC, and UNIVAC.</li> <li>It generates a lot of heat</li> <li>It relies on machine language</li> <li>These computers were limited to solving one problem at a time</li> </ol> <h3><strong>Problems of First Generation of Computers</strong></h3>

<h1><strong>DATA PROCESSING</strong></h1> CONTENT <ol> <li>Definition of Data Processing</li> <li>Data Processing Cycle</li> </ol>   <h2><strong>Definition of Data Processing</strong></h2> Data processing is the process of producing meaningful information by collecting all items of data together and performing operations on them to extract information. Data processing can also be described as a series of actions or operations that convert or manipulate data into useful information. Data processing involves the systematic recording, calculation, selection and combination of data to obtain facts and disseminate facts in relation to events in our everyday life. The processing of data can either be done manually or with the use of electronic machines. Data processing can involve calculating, sorting, editing etc.   <h2><strong>Data Processing Cycle</strong></h2> Data processing cycle includes the following: