Computer Ideas: A History Of Computers

A History of Computers

by: Paul Little

The idea of a machine that would make man’s calculations easier, faster, and more accurate is

no new notion. The Abacus, Napier’s rods, the Calculating Clock, and the Stepped Reckoner are

a few examples of early computer ideas In the more recent history of the computer, we can see

how computers have morphed changed from clunky, million-dollar machines into the compact

and convenient devices which can held on the tip of ones finger.

John von Neumann’s name is most well-known among the potential “founders” of the first

computer (and also known for work in quantum mechanics) but who the credit belongs to can be

debated. Von Neumann wrote a memorandum explaining the Electronic Numerical Integrator

and Calculator (ENIAC) but the ENIAC was developed by J. Preper Eckert and John Mauchly of

the Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania in the mid-1940s. The credit for this

invention is shady because Mauchly reportedly visited John Atanasoff before building the ENIAC.

Atanasoff built the Atanasoff/Berry Computer in the early 1940s at Iowa State University. But, von

Neumann’s name is the most well-known and thus settles the issue!

The model von Neumann came up with for the basic computer structure is still today, with

modifications for speed and size, his computer is still the foundation for many computers. Part of

the the reason his work was seen in high standards was hs reports on his work. The Academic Press

Dictionary states that “von Neumann’s report was so we...

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...Whether you agree or not, the NSA’s new 1.7 billion facility being built to store

internet users data and phone call and is the largest facility ever built to do so, can be viewed as a

new treat to people personal data and piracy. Believed “once finished” ith the ability to hold not

only the most but some of if not the biggest super computers in the world. It is said the facility

once up and running will be able to store data at the rate of 20 terabytes per minute, many times

over. The ability to do so is in its self amazing and the other technology that will be used there I am

sure will be just as mind boggling. But most are more concerned with the negative potential (and

rightfully so) over the technical scale of the project, but ever the less this will probably be the start

of the next (out of many past and future) computer generation.