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About Computer

A modern digital computer is largely a collection of electronic switches. These switches are used to represent, as well as to control, the routing of data elements called binary digits (or bits). Because of the on or off nature of the binary information and signal routing used by the computer, an efficient electronic switch was required. The first electronic computers used vacuum tubes as switches, and although the tubes worked, they had many problems.
The tube was inefficient as a switch. It consumed a great deal of electrical power and gave off enormous heat--a significant problem in the earlier systems. Primarily because of the heat they generated, tubes were notoriously unreliable--one failed every couple hours or so in the larger systems.

The invention of the transistor, or semiconductor, was one of the most important developments leading to the personal computer revolution. The transistor was invented in 1948 by Bell Laboratories engineers John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley. The transistor, which essentially functions as a solid-state electronic switch, replaced the much less suitable vacuum tube. Because the transistor was so much smaller and consumed significantly less power, a computer system built with transistors was much smaller, faster, and more efficient than a computer system built with vacuum tubes.