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.
And his signal concept of an all-purpose, stored-program computer – the model for our digital devices today – was often attributed to others, from Charles Babbage in the nineteenth century to John von Neumann in the twentieth. (Saler 1)
...ank and the English mathematician Charles Babbage developed the "analytical engine", precursor to the modern computer.
Technology is constantly evolving. Computers, tablets, and cell phones have changed drastically over the past several years. For many years, computers were not available for personal use. Computing machines did not emerge until the 1940’s and 1950’s. Questions about the ownership of the first programmable computer are still disputed today. It appears as if each country wants to take credit for this accomplishment. Computer enthusiasts believe that Great Britain’s Colossus Mark 1 computer in 1944 was the first programmable computer and others give credit to the United States’ ENIAC computer in 1946. However, in 1941, a relatively unknown German engineer built a programmable binary computer. His name was Howard Zuse and his Z3 computer has been acknowledged as the first electromechanical binary programmable computer.
Mark I. It was actually a electromechanical calculation. It is said that this was the first potentially computers. In 1951 Remington Rand’s came out with the UNIVAC it began
Many encyclopaedias and other reference works state that the first large-scale automatic digital computer was the Harvard Mark 1, which was developed by Howard H. Aiken (and team) in America between 1939 and 1944. However, in the aftermath of World War II it was discovered that a program controlled computer called the Z3 had been completed in Germany in 1941, which means that the Z3 pre-dated the Harvard Mark I. Prof. Hurst Zuse (http://www.epemag.com/zuse/)
The subject of this term paper will be about computers in the 1950’s. The divisions that will be covered are; the types of computers there were, the memory capacity of computers, the programming languages of that time, and the uses of the computers for that time. Information will be gathered from the Internet, from books, and from magazines, and from the encyclopedia.
If there is one piece of technology in this world today that has been through thousands of revolutions and evolutions in the past several decades, it is the computer. The basis of all computers is the microprocessor, which is integrated on the motherboard which functions as the computer's nucleus or brain. The microprocessor has evolved heavily since Intel's discovery of the 4004 in 1971 to the present Pentium III class processors. Even today, the speed, complexity, versatility, and efficiency of processors are enhancing at a lightning fast pace.
them is Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and futurist who has, among other things, correctly predicted the
The original computer was nothing like it is known now. It was a simple device known as an abacus, a mathematic tool that may have been invented in the fourth century BC by the Babylonians (PBS). Before a new computer could be created, a few things had to happen.
The early history of mechanical computers really began to take off in the mid 1940’s. Between 1943-1946 the first true general purpose electronic computer was made. Constructed at the University of Pennsylvania the computer was named the ENIAC (electronic numerical integrator and computer.) The ENIAC was developed by two important keystone species, John William Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert Jr. The ENIAC was absolutely humongous; it stood 10 feet tall and occupied 1,000 square feet of floor space. On top of that it weighed in at 30 tons! The major problem with the ENIAC was its reliability. The ENIAC ran on vacuum tubes, and these vacuum tubes constantly burnt out causing people to replace them on an average of 50 times a day. 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.
Computer growth continued to become an inspiration to society. John Mockley created the furthermost modern computer in society ca...
The history of the modern computer age is a brief one. It has been about 50 years since the first operational computer was put into use: the MARK 1 in 1944 at Harvard and ENIAC in 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania. Early use of computers in education was primarily found in mathematics, science and engineering as a mathematical problem-solving tool, replacing the slide rule and thus permitting students to deal more directly with problems of a type and size most likely to be encountered in the real world.[6]
In 1886 Dorr D. Felt (1862 - 1930) invented the "comptometer". This was the first calculator where the operands are entered by just pressing keys. In 1889 in also invents the first printing desk calculator.
The history of the computer dates back all the way to the prehistoric times. The first step towards the development of the computer, the abacus, was developed in Babylonia in 500 B.C. and functioned as a simple counting tool. It was not until thousands of years later that the first calculator was produced. In 1623, the first mechanical calculator was invented by Wilhelm Schikard, the “Calculating Clock,” as it was often referred to as, “performed it’s operations by wheels, which worked similar to a car’s odometer” (Evolution, 1). Still, there had not yet been anything invented that could even be characterized as a computer. Finally, in 1625 the slide rule was created becoming “the first analog computer of the modern ages” (Evolution, 1). One of the biggest breakthroughs came from by Blaise Pascal in 1642, who invented a mechanical calculator whose main function was adding and subtracting numbers. Years later, Gottfried Leibnez improved Pascal’s model by allowing it to also perform such operations as multiplying, dividing, taking the square root.
The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about.