The Future of Computer Technology

Charles Babbage was so ahead of his time, that the machines that were used back then were not even precise enough to make the parts for his computer. Gulliver, states: The first major use for a computer in the US was during the 1890 census. Two men, Herman Hollerith and James Powers, developed a new punched-card system that could automatically read information on cards without human intervention (Gulliver 82). In the 1930's punched-card machine techniques had become so well established that Howard Hathaway Aiken, together with engineers at IBM, came up with the automatic computer called Mark I. The Mark I ran by using prepunched paper tape.

This machine could work with prewritten instructions now called program. The machine was given a slip of paper that had holes punched into it, this was the equation. Even this computer cost too much for Babbage to build. These machines are considered the first computers, because they had a processor, a memory and a program”, (http://evolutionofcomputers.edublogs.org/). Babbage may have never mass produced the machines but he started the evolution of computers.

In fact, the Analytical Engine required so much power and would have been so much more complex than the manufacturing methods of the time, it could never be built. No more than twenty years after Babbage¹s death, Herman Hollerith designed an electromechanical machine that used punched cards to tabulate the 1890 U.S. Census. His tabulation machine was so successful, he formed IBM to supply them. (Constable 11) The computers of those times worked with gears and mechanical computation. Unlike today¹s chip computers, the first computers were non-programmable, electromechnical machines.

Well without numbers computers wouldn’t exist or have any reason to exist. The whole point of a computer is to perform mathematical computations. Computers weren’t the first to do these mathematical calculations though. In 1623 AD Wilhelm Schickard invented “The Calculating Clock” which would perform operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In the year 1801 Jacquard Loom devised a punch card system with a power loom and an automatic card reader.

The Second Generation (1955–65): Transistors and Batch Systems In the early 1950's, The first operating system was introduced and they were called single-stream batch processing systems. These new machines were called mainframes and these were built with the use of transistor in it. They were programmed in FORTRAN and assembly language. Due to their high prizes only government agencies or large corporations were able to afford

Leibniz added a cylinder with ridges of incremental length which allowed the calculator to do more than just add. Known as the Leibniz wheel, it was the basis of another of his inventions, the Stepped Reckoner. It was the first calculator that could perform all four arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. The device was inaccurate due to the inferior technology of his time, and could not automatically multiply or divide; the process the machine takes to multiply is to repeatedly add the n... ... middle of paper ... ...ing ways to calculate math easier and more efficient than by hand. Early inventions like the abacus and slide ruler proved useful, but the need for a mechanized solution was made more evident as time passed and needs for faster calculating increased.

Teachers assign projects that almost completely require the use of a computer. Where did this explosion of PC’s come from, though? Just a few short years ago you were lucky to have a computer. About 25 years ago people would have called you crazy if you said you had a personal computer. That’s because before 1975 there were no personal computers that were available, or affordable, to the general population.

His system was rudimentary, using punch-cards in the computation; however, his ideas were far from basic. In fact, the analysis of his Analytical Engine includes fundamentals of computer programming, including data analysis, looping, and memory addressing (History). So things started rolling and in no time, we arrived in the 20th century and many new advances in computing came with time. The discoveries became more and more significant and computers became more and more advanced. In 1943, a computer used in Britain for code-breaking was created, followed by the 1945 completion of the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzor and Computer, which was used in the United States to assist in the preparation of firing tables for artillery.

Both Mauchly and Eckert realized that the ENIAC needed major improvement and began working on other designs. Unfortunately due to several members abandoning the project to pursue other jobs their next computer, the EDVAC never really took off. The first commercially successful computer to hit the market was in 1951. The computer was named the UNIVAC. The UNIVAC was manufactured by Remington Rand and was influenced by Eckert and Mauchly.

What caused the inventor(s) of the computer to invent it? The computer was invented for many reasons, but mainly for solving math problems faster. It was also invented for stocks and trading. At the time that the computer was really needed was in the time period of WWII time to crack secret messages from the opposing countries and to help the countries create new weapons. When people were doing math, it could take them minutes or even hours to do using a slide rule, while a computer could take only seconds to do the same problem.