The history of computers and evolution
The history of computers and evolution
Computers have been around a lot longer than many people might imagine. The word "computer" has changed meaning over decades, but the electronic computer that we think of in modern times developed throughout the second half of the 20th century. Its popularity as a household item surged in the 1980s following the arrival of operating systems by Apple and Microsoft that mixed graphics and text, replacing the text-only systems of the 1970s. By the 1990s, computers incorporated enhanced communication and multimedia applications and became an indispensable part of daily life for millions of people.
Early Computing
The original definition of the word "computer" was a person who made calculations. This definition goes back to the 1600s and extends midway through the 20th century, when the term "computer" began to refer to a machine. The computer is based on the same concept as the abacus, which goes back many centuries. Technology made a giant leap with punched cards, introduced by Joseph-Marie Masquard in 1801. It's interesting that an early use of this system involved music, in which piano rolls assigned actions to notes on a piano, leading to the "player piano" in the 1870s. In 1835 Charles Babbage combined punched cards with a steam engine to invent what he called an "analytical engine."
Mechanical Information Processing
The company IBM grew out of the invention of the tabulator, crafted by Herman Hollerith in the late 1880s. This was the first use of punched cards representing data as opposed to punched cards automating a mechanical function like a player piano. The information processing world through the 1950s was based on a combination of punched cards, the tabulator and key punch machines. The first calculators appeared in the 1930s. Analog machines began to get replaced by the digital concept of zeroes and ones throughout the World War II era. The first computer made for the masses was UNIVAC, made by Remington
Computers have been around a lot longer than many people might imagine. The word "computer" has changed meaning over decades, but the electronic computer that we think of in modern times developed throughout the second half of the 20th century. Its popularity as a household item surged in the 1980s following the arrival of operating systems by Apple and Microsoft that mixed graphics and text, replacing the text-only systems of the 1970s. By the 1990s, computers incorporated enhanced communication and multimedia applications and became an indispensable part of daily life for millions of people.
Early Computing
The original definition of the word "computer" was a person who made calculations. This definition goes back to the 1600s and extends midway through the 20th century, when the term "computer" began to refer to a machine. The computer is based on the same concept as the abacus, which goes back many centuries. Technology made a giant leap with punched cards, introduced by Joseph-Marie Masquard in 1801. It's interesting that an early use of this system involved music, in which piano rolls assigned actions to notes on a piano, leading to the "player piano" in the 1870s. In 1835 Charles Babbage combined punched cards with a steam engine to invent what he called an "analytical engine."
Mechanical Information Processing
The company IBM grew out of the invention of the tabulator, crafted by Herman Hollerith in the late 1880s. This was the first use of punched cards representing data as opposed to punched cards automating a mechanical function like a player piano. The information processing world through the 1950s was based on a combination of punched cards, the tabulator and key punch machines. The first calculators appeared in the 1930s. Analog machines began to get replaced by the digital concept of zeroes and ones throughout the World War II era. The first computer made for the masses was UNIVAC, made by Remington