Computers: Past, Present And Future

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I have been using computers for as long as I can remember, whether it is for entertainment use or work use, computers are part of our everyday lives. They have an effect on almost everything you do. When you buy groceries at a supermarket, a computer is uesed with laser and barcode technology to scan the price of each item and present a total. Barcoding items (clothes, food and books ) requires a computer to generate the barcode labels and maintain the inventory. Most televison advertisiments and many films use graphics produced by a computer. In hospitals, bedide terminals connected to the hospital's main computer allow doctors to typw in orders for blood tests and to schedule operations. Banks use computers to lool after their customers' money. In libraries and bookshops, computers can help to find the book you want as quikly as possible. This has not always been the case though; computers did not always exist, and are continuously changing to this day. I think one group said it best,” Companies promote it for their employees. Parents demand it for their children. Those who have it believe they have a competitive edge. Those who don't have it seek it out. "It" is a computer. We are rapidly becoming a "computer society" Until recently computers were found only in environmentally controlled rooms behind locked doors. Only computer professionals dared enter these secured premises. In contrast today computers are found in millions of homes and just about every office. In fact there is a computer for one in every eight people in the world. Eventually all of us will have at least one computer and will use it every day for work and leisure.” -EYAL POLAD, YARON TWENA, DORON FREIBERG, and GILAT ELIZOV. Role of Computers in the Past “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” –Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 First Generation Almost everything invented or created, has one specific person who has been credited with their invention or creation, but this is not so with the computer. Many people throughout history have added their part to the computer. This could include programs to help the computer run better or faster, some created different kinds of computers, but either way they contributed to the computer we know today. The first “computer” was developed in 1936 by Konrad Zuse and was named Z1.

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