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The historical development of computers
The historical development of computers
History of the development of computers
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Ada & Grace: Practical Visionaries
Imagine a computer programmer who still programs in bits and bytes and has never heard of the terms "bug" or "de-bugging." Then, stretch your mind much further, and try to imagine a world without computers. Most of us, no matter what age, don't have such powerful imaginations. But without the contributions of women like Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, who developed the first compiler, and Lady Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace, who made the idea of an Analytical Engine accessible to a world without computers, our most advanced computing device for general use would very likely still be a simple calculator.
Lovelace and Hopper are by no means the only women who have made invaluable contributions to the field of computer science. Without Betty Holberton, who "devised the first sort-merge generator, for UNIVAC I" (AWC, "Frances..."), Grace Hopper would never have been able to design the first compiler. A more contemporary scientist, Dr. Anita Borg, has profoundly influenced the field by "designing and building a fault tolerant UNIX-based operating system" ("Short Biography of Anita Borg"), as well as developing a performance analysis method for high-speed memory systems. However, I've chosen to focus on Lovelace and Hopper because they are probably the most frequently mentioned women in computer science, and they represent two critical historical moments in the field: Lovelace helps to bring the first computer into being, while Hopper forges the start of the modern computer age.
A researcher looking into women and computer science will find Ada's and Grace's names scattered all over the place. Lovelace has a programming language named after her (Ada), the Association for Women in Computing offer the ...
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The history of computers is an amazing story filled with interesting statistics. “The first computer was invented by a man named Konrad Zuse. He was a German construction engineer, and he used the machine mainly for mathematic calculations and repetition” (Bellis, Inventors of Modern Computer). The invention shocked the world; it inspired people to start the development of computers. Soon after,
Whitted, Qiana. "Alice Walker (b. 1944)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 26 November 2013. Web. 02 May .
Grace Hopper, referred to by some as the “Queen of Code,” was one of the first to program the first computers in the 40s and 50s. During World War II, Hopper left a teaching job at Vassar College to join the Navy Reserve. That's when she went to Harvard to work on the first programmable computer in the United States: the Mark I. The Mark I was the first digital computer to be programmed sequentially. Thus, Hopper experienced firsthand the complexities and frustration that have always been the hallmark of the programming field. The exacting code of machine language could be easily misread or incorrectly written. To reduce the number of programming errors, Hopper and her colleagues collected programs that were free of error and generated a catalogue of subroutines that could be used to develop new programs. By this time, the Mark II had been built. Aiken's team used the two computers side by side, effectively achieving an early instance of multiprocessing. Hopper's association with UNIVAC resulted in several important advances in the field of programming. Still aware of the constant problems caused by programming errors, Hopper developed an innovative program that would translate the programmer's language into machine language. This first compiler, called "A-O, " allowed the programmer to write in a higher-level symbolic language, without having to worry about the tedious binary language of endless numbers that were needed to communicate with the machine itself. Hopper died
Computers are a magnificent feat of technology. They have grown from simple calculators to machines with many functions and abilities. Computers have become so common that almost every home has at least one computer, and schools find them a good source for information and education for their students (Hafner, Katie, unknown). Computers have created new careers and eliminated others and have left a huge impact on our society. The invention of the computer has greatly affected the arts, the business world, and society and history in many different areas, but to understand how great these changes are, it is necessary to take a look at the origins of the computer.
If the nineteenth century was an era of the Industrial revolution in Europe, I would say that computers and Information Technology have dominated since the twentieth century. The world today is a void without computers, be it healthcare, commerce or any other field, the industry won’t thrive without Information Technology and Computer Science. This ever-growing field of technology has aroused interest in me since my childhood. After my twelfth grade, the inherent ardor I held for Computer Science motivated me to do a bachelors degree in Information Technology. Programming and Math, a paragon of logic and reasoning, have always been my favorite subjects since childhood.
Although her work was recognized during her time it was in 1953 when it gained wider recognition after being published in B.V. Bowden’s book named, Faster Than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. As computer science flourished in the 1950’s Ada began gaining fans. Ada has often times been called the first computer programmer. Ada was the first to write a machine algorithm for a computing machine which existed only on paper. This was a remarkable task because not only was she a women but she was a women in the 1840’s a time when women were extremely oppressed. Ada was a visionary she showed the understanding of numbers and realized they could be used to represent more than just quantities as put by her “might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations… Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of [mathematical] expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.”(Klein, 2015). She also realized that a machine that manipulated numbers might also be used to manipulate data represented by numbers. Not only was Ada the founder of
...ere are gears used to select which numbers you want. Though Charles Babbage will always be credited with making the first “true” computer, and Bill Gates with popularizing it, Blaise Pascal will always have a place among the first true innovator of the computer. There is even a programming language called Pascal or Object Pascal which is an early computer program.
Since the beginning of time, humans have thought and made many inventions. Repeatedly the newer one is better than the older. Our minds have created many remarkable things, however the best invention we ever created is the computer. computers are constantly growing and becoming better every day. Every day computers are capable of doing new things. Even though computers have helped us a lot in our daily lives, many jobs have been lost because of it, now the computer can do all of the things a man can do in seconds! Everything in the world relies on computers and if a universal threat happens in which all computers just malfunction then we are doomed. Computers need to be programmed to be able to work or else it would just be a useless chunk of metal. And we humans need tools to be able to live; we program the computer and it could do a lot of necessary functions that have to be done. It is like a mutual effect between us and he computer (s01821169 1).
Thousands of years ago calculations were done using people’s fingers and pebbles that were found just lying around. Technology has transformed so much that today the most complicated computations are done within seconds. Human dependency on computers is increasing everyday. Just think how hard it would be to live a week without a computer. We owe the advancements of computers and other such electronic devices to the intelligence of men of the past.
The fist computer, known as the abacus, was made of wood and parallel wires on which beads were strung. Arithmetic operations were performed when the beads were moved along the wire according to “programming” rules that had to be memorized by the user (Soma, 14). The second earliest computer, invented by Blaise Pascal in 1694, was a “digital calculating machine.” Pascal designed this first known digital computer to help his father, who was a tax collector. Pascal’s computer could only add numbers, and they had to be entered by turning dials (Soma, 32). It required a manual process like its ancestor, the abacus. Automation was introduced in the early 1800’s by a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage. He created an automatic calculation machine that was steam powered and stored up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Unlike its two earliest ancestors, Babbage’s invention was able to perform various operations. It relied on cards with holes punched in them, which are called “punch cards.” These cards carried out the programming and storing operations for the machine. Unluckily, Babbage’s creation flopped due to the lack of mechanical precision and the lack of demand for the product (Soma, 46). The machine could not operate efficiently because technology was t adequate to make the machine operate efficiently Computer interest dwindled for many years, and it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that people became interested in them once again.