What is IT? A short history
Information technology (IT) means the tools and methods we use to collect, send, process, store and show information.
Humans have made big jumps in how they handle information. A common way to remember them is five information revolutions: (1) speech, (2) writing, (3) printing, (4) telegraph, telephone, radio and TV, and (5) computers joined by networks.
- Early helpers: the abacus; Pascal's calculator (1642); Babbage's design of a programmable machine (1830s) with Ada Lovelace's ideas for programs.
- 1946, ENIAC: a room-size electronic computer with about 18,000 vacuum tubes.
- 1947 and 1950s–60s: the transistor replaced vacuum tubes; the integrated circuit (IC, 1958) put many transistors on one chip.
- 1971: the first microprocessor (Intel 4004), a whole processor on one chip.
- 1981: the IBM PC made personal computers common.
- 1989–91: the World Wide Web began; the internet reached homes in the 1990s.
- 2007: smartphones put a computer and internet in every pocket; cloud services grew from about 2006.
- 2010s–2020s: machine learning and AI tools became common, even on phones.
Generations of computers
Computers are often grouped in five "generations" by the main part they use: 1st vacuum tubes (1940s–50s), 2nd transistors (1950s–60s), 3rd integrated circuits (1960s–70s), 4th microprocessors (1970s on), 5th AI, parallel processing and cloud (today). Each step made computers smaller, faster, cheaper and more reliable, and used less power per task.
Key technologies of IT
Think of IT as a body with four parts:
- Sensing technology (eyes and ears): sensors, cameras, microphones, barcode and QR scanners, GPS. They collect information.
- Communication technology (the nerves): wires, fibre, Wi-Fi, mobile networks and the internet. They carry information.
- Computing and storage technology (the brain): processors, memory, disks and cloud storage, and software. They process and keep information.
- Control and display technology (the hands and face): screens, speakers, robots, motors and switches that act on the result.
Example: a smart traffic light. Cameras sense cars, a network sends the count, a computer decides, and the lights change.
Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors on a chip roughly doubles every two years or so. It has helped to make devices cheaper and stronger, though today it is slowing.
Trends of IT
- Artificial intelligence (AI): software that learns from data. Used in voice typing, translation, recommendations and chat tools.
- Cloud computing: renting computing power and storage from large data centres over the internet.
- Internet of Things (IoT): everyday objects with sensors and network links, like smart meters and fitness bands.
- Big data: studying very large amounts of data to find patterns, such as traffic or weather.
- 5G and faster networks: high speed and low delay for video, remote work and connected machines.
- Quantum computing: a new kind of computer for special problems; still at an early stage.
India example: UPI lets people pay with a phone in seconds, using sensing (QR scan), networks, computing at banks and displays on screens.
Using the trends wisely
New IT helps with work, health, school and money, but it brings duties:
- Privacy and safety: more data means more risk; use strong passwords and share carefully.
- Energy and e-waste: data centres use electricity and old devices become waste; repair, reuse and recycle.
- Jobs and skills: some work changes; keep learning.
- Fairness: make sure everyone, including people in villages, can use the benefits.
Try it
Pick any app you use, such as a payment app. Write which part of it senses, which communicates, which computes and which displays. Then predict: in the 3D free-play step, in which year did a chip first hold more than 1 million transistors? Check with the slider.
Key formulas and definitions
- IT = sense + communicate + compute (and store) + control (and display) information
- Generations: vacuum tube → transistor → integrated circuit → microprocessor → AI and cloud
- Moore's law: transistors per chip roughly double about every 2 years
- Trends: AI, cloud, IoT, big data, 5G, quantum
Worked examples
1. A chip has 2,300 transistors. If the count doubles three times, how many transistors will it have?
After 1 doubling: 4,600. After 2: 9,200. After 3: 18,400. Or 2,300 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 18,400.
2. Name the four key technologies in a smart traffic light.
Sensing: cameras count cars. Communication: network sends data. Computing: a computer decides the timing. Control: the lights change.
3. Why was the transistor better than the vacuum tube?
Transistors are much smaller, use less power, give off less heat, break less often and are cheaper to make in large numbers.
4. Give one benefit and one care for cloud computing.
Benefit: you can reach your files from any device and need not buy big machines. Care: your data is stored far away, so you need strong passwords and trust in the service.
Common mistakes
- Thinking IT means only computers. It also includes networks, sensors and displays.
- Mixing the order of the generations. Tube, transistor, IC, microprocessor, AI.
- Taking Moore's law as a law of nature. It is an observation about chip making.
- Saying AI and IT are the same. AI is one part (a trend) of IT.