Turning Learners into Developers
The first computer
The first computer is widely recognized as the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), developed in 1945 by John Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania. It was the first electronic general-purpose computer, capable of performing complex calculations much faster than mechanical machines. ENIAC used vacuum tubes, weighed about 30 tons, and occupied a large room, marking the beginning of the modern computing era.
| Era / Period |
Memory Technology |
Description & Key Innovations |
Examples / Devices |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1800s – 1930s |
Mechanical Storage |
Early concepts of memory used mechanical parts and punched cards to store data physically. |
Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, Punched Cards (Hollerith) |
|
1930s – 1940s |
Electromechanical Memory |
Used relays, cathode-ray tubes, and sound waves to store data temporarily. |
Zuse Z3 (relay-based), Williams Tube (1947), Mercury Delay Line (1949) |
|
1950s – 1970s |
Magnetic Storage |
Magnetic materials used to store binary data permanently; revolutionized early computing. |
Magnetic Drum Memory, Core Memory (1951), Magnetic Tape |
|
1960s – 1980s |
Semiconductor Memory (Early) |
Introduction of transistor-based RAM and ROM, faster and smaller than magnetic memory. |
SRAM (1963), DRAM (1968), ROM, EPROM, EEPROM |
|
1970s – 1990s |
Portable & Disk-Based Storage |
Data storage moved to portable devices and hard drives, increasing capacity and usability. |
Floppy Disk (1971), HDDs, Early Flash Memory |
|
1990s – 2000s |
Flash & Optical Memory |
Flash memory allowed rewriting data; optical media like CDs/DVDs became popular for storage. |
USB Drives, SD Cards, CDs, DVDs, DDR SDRAM |
|
2010s – Today |
Solid-State & Advanced Memory |
Transition from mechanical drives to solid-state; faster, smaller, and energy-efficient. |
SSDs, NVMe, DDR4/DDR5, LPDDR, 3D NAND |
|
Emerging & Future |
Next-Gen and Quantum Memory |
Research focuses on non-volatile, quantum, and biological storage for huge capacity and speed. |
MRAM, ReRAM, DNA Storage, Quantum Memory |
