History of Computer
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History of computing hardware
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Computing hardware is a platform for information processing. History of computing | Hardware | * Hardware before 1960 * Hardware 1960s to present * Hardware in Soviet Bloc countries | Computer science | * Artificial intelligence * Compiler construction * Computer science * Operating systems * Programming languages * Software engineering | Modern concepts | * Graphical user interface * Internet * Personal computers * Laptops * Video games * World Wide Web | Timeline of computing | * 2400 BC–1949 * 1950–1979 * 1980–1989 * 1990–1999 * 2000–2009 * 2010–2019 * more timelines ... | * Category | * v * t * e |
Computing hardware evolved from machines that needed separate manual action to perform each arithmetic operation, to punched card machines, and then to stored-program computers. The history of stored-program computers relates first to computer architecture, that is, the organization of the units to perform input and output, to store data and to operate as an integrated mechanism.
Before the development of the general-purpose computer, most calculations were done by humans. Mechanical tools to help humans with digital calculations were then called "calculating machines", by proprietary names, or even as they are now, calculators. It was those humans who used the machines who were then called computers. Aside from written numerals, the first aids to computation were purely mechanical devices which required the operator to set up the initial values of an elementary arithmetic operation, then manipulate the device to obtain the result. A sophisticated (and comparatively recent) example is the slide rule in which numbers are represented as lengths on a logarithmic scale and computation is performed by setting a cursor and aligning sliding scales, thus adding those lengths. Numbers could be
History of computing hardware
)
Computing hardware is a platform for information processing. History of computing | Hardware | * Hardware before 1960 * Hardware 1960s to present * Hardware in Soviet Bloc countries | Computer science | * Artificial intelligence * Compiler construction * Computer science * Operating systems * Programming languages * Software engineering | Modern concepts | * Graphical user interface * Internet * Personal computers * Laptops * Video games * World Wide Web | Timeline of computing | * 2400 BC–1949 * 1950–1979 * 1980–1989 * 1990–1999 * 2000–2009 * 2010–2019 * more timelines ... | * Category | * v * t * e |
Computing hardware evolved from machines that needed separate manual action to perform each arithmetic operation, to punched card machines, and then to stored-program computers. The history of stored-program computers relates first to computer architecture, that is, the organization of the units to perform input and output, to store data and to operate as an integrated mechanism.
Before the development of the general-purpose computer, most calculations were done by humans. Mechanical tools to help humans with digital calculations were then called "calculating machines", by proprietary names, or even as they are now, calculators. It was those humans who used the machines who were then called computers. Aside from written numerals, the first aids to computation were purely mechanical devices which required the operator to set up the initial values of an elementary arithmetic operation, then manipulate the device to obtain the result. A sophisticated (and comparatively recent) example is the slide rule in which numbers are represented as lengths on a logarithmic scale and computation is performed by setting a cursor and aligning sliding scales, thus adding those lengths. Numbers could be