Computers+Today

History of the Computer The "beginning" and "invention" of the computer cannot be defined for a specific time, place, or person.Rather, over the course nearly two and a half millenium, inventors experimented with the idea of creating a machine that could make mathematical calculations. This was the birth of the computer.

Early History

The earliest "computer" was probally the Mesopatamian abacus. This machine used beads on a rack to make mathematical calculations. each row had ten beads,and each bead represented ones, tens, hundreds, etc. The next major advancement came with the invention of the printing press. The printing press can arguably be related or have nothing to do with the computer, but the printing press allowed for information and knowledge to spread at a much faster rate. This made many more people literate and educated, which spawned the renaissance era. In this age, many new advancements and ways of thinking were made, and without it, we would probably still live in medieval times. Leonardo Da Vinci, who was one of these new thinkers, came up with a design that used cogs to make calculations. Although this machine never came to fruition, this was the basis for later mathematical machines. In the 1600's, inventors such as Peter Henlein and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz made basic mechanical calculating machines. Peter Henlein made the first functioning mechanical watch, which uses much of the same mechanics as the computers of his day. Near the end of the 1700's, hand labor was being replaced by steam power. This called for the need of machines to make intricate designs in the textile without human intervention. Textile looms started using punch cards to create intricate designs without human control of the loom. This was one of the earliest forms of computer programming. Later machines that used the punch card system were still in use 150 years later. The 1800's, however, brought in a whole new era of computer advancement.



**Computers 1800-1939** In 1820, the first commercially successful calculating machine was made by Thomas De Calmar. Now, many people knew about this new thing called a "calculator", although only rich people could afford to buy them. Often considered to be years ahead of his time, Charles Babbage was a computer philosopher and inventor in the 19th century. In 1824, he made his first Difference Engine. This machine could make advanced mathematical calculations and was used to calculate astronomical figures. This early computer even had a memory. Babbage is often considered years ahead of his time. Even though Babbage managed to make plans for a second, more powerful computer, The British government scrapped his funding. Other advancements in the 1800's include the QWERTY keyboard, and rarely do we see computers that don't have a QWERTY keyboard; And the telegraph was invented. The telegraph uses a system of beeps and silence to communicate, which is in a sense how modern computers store information. In 1936, one of the greatest leaps in computer design was made. Alan Turing made his Turing Machine, a computer which could print symbols on paper when a person followed a set of logical instructions. What makes this computer so very special is that ALL modern computers follow the same ideas and concepts of the Turing Machine. This invloves a lot of high-level math that I will never understand, but also states that computers should have a CPU and memory. Turing is often considered the father of modern computer science. After Turing's ideas of a computer were widely accepted, many new computers were made that strove to be Turing complete. ========

Computers 1940-present

In the late 30's and early 40's, scientists at big universities and government-sponsored programs began creating the first digital computers. These behemoths took up multiple rooms, were slow, the vacuum tubes blew out, and used lot's of power. Some of these computers were the. The Zuse Z3 (1941) takes the prize as the first programmable Turing-complete machine. The British Colossus computer (1943) was used to crack German wartime codes, And the ENIAC (1946) was a leap in computers. It was the first Turing-complete machine to use electronics instead of electromagnetics. The ENIAC was 1,000 times faster than the best computer of it's day; this feat has yet to be surpassed. But because of the vacuum tubes blowing out every two days, it's reliability was not the best. All of the computers had many problems and were not very efficient, but showed that computers could have uses. My personal favorite fact is that in 1947, while working on the Mark series of computers, Grace Hopper found a moth in the machine that had caused the wiring to blow out. He was amused and called it a "computer bug". Now, a bug is a universal term for an error or a mistake in a computer program. Throughout the 1950's, computers continued to use vacuum tubes. In 1953, a computer at the University of Manchester used transistors instead of vacuum tubes. Transistors are smaller, faster, and more reliable than vacuum tubes. By the 1960's, vacuum tubes were considered obselete. Throughout the 60's and 70's, computers continued to get smaller and faster. In 1969, computers were used to help control the first manned mission to the moon. More businesses began using computers because they were practical for the workplace. Despite all this, computers were still too big and expensive to be used at home. Apple computer, in 1977, came out with the Apple II. This computer had a monitor, was in color, and had a blazing fast 4 kb of Ram and a 1 Mhz processor. The Apple II was still expensive, but allowed many middle-class Americans to buy a computer. It was also the first commercially successful computer. Other companies, such as Microsoft and Dell, began to make home computers. Osborne computer, in 1981, came out with the Osborne 1. This was considered the first portable computer. Despite the fact that it weighed 25 pounds, didn't have a battery, and had a 5 inch screen, it was still sucessful. Computers continue to get lighter, cheaper, faster, and more efficient.

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