The Invention of the Computer

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. For stocks and trading, the politicians had to use the telephone, paper / snail mail, and over the counter trading. This took too long to complete and had people working too hard to keep up with the market.

What things went into the first US computer and how did they work?

The first electronic computer was the ENIAC, which contained 17468 vacuum tubes. These vacuum tubes were used like a semi-automatic switch to virtually represent the abacus having one bead on one side or another. It also had a surprising 70 thousand resistors (approximately.) Resistors lower the amount of electricity going along in the power current. They were used here to prevent overvoltages in certain parts of the ENIAC. The ENIAC had about 10 thousand capacitors to hold electricity in the machine for a very short time period. This computer contained near 1500 relays along with around 6000 human operated switches. Relays are used to change voltage, like with a thermostat and the air conditioner itself. The human operated switches are used for programming. Hopefully your program isn’t too long for this machine! This computer was hand-soldered and had an estimate of 5 million soldered joints! These joints connect multiple parts of t...

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... in 1962: the first video game (Spacewar.) The computer mouse and Microsoft WIndows were both created in the year 1964. The first file sharing system, ARPANET, was released in 1969. The Intel 1903 processor was manufactured in 1971. A very simple storage mechanism called the floppy disc was also made in 1971. The ethernet and networking was created in 1973. The Mark 8 computers and IBM 5100 computers were finished in 1974 and 1975. In 1976 and 1977 the Apple 1, 2 , TRS-80, and Commodo CPD computers were made. The Visicalc spreadsheet software was made in 1978, and in 1979 Wordstar word processing software was launched. The IBM home PC was released in 1981. The MS-DOS Computer Operating System was publicized in 1981 too. In 1983 the Apple Lisa computer was put to sale, and next year the Apple Mac was released. Microsoft and Apple begin a friendly competition in 1985.