History of Computer

         The word "computer" as a combination of the word "compute" and the suffix "-er" that literally means, something that computes and like how scientists define it, Computer is an electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations.

              As what I've known when I was in high school is that the  history of computers starts out about 2000 years ago and it started with the abacus.

ABACUS

The abacus or counting frame was used in doing mathematical calculations. It can be used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and square root for whole numbers. Expert Abacus users can sometimes do math faster than the basic calculators. It was made of a wooden rack holding two horizontatl wires with beads strung on them.
  

LOGARITHMS

A Scotsman named John Napier invented logarithms in 1617 which are a technology that allows multiplication to be performed via addition wherein the logarithm of each operand, was originally obtained from a printed table. But Napier also invented an alternative to tables, where the logarithm values were carved on ivory sticks which are now called Napier's Bones. 

CALCULATING CLOCK

The first gear-driven calculating machine to actually be built was probably the calculating clock, so named by its inventor, the German professor Wilhelm Schickard in 1623. This device got little publicity because Schickard died soon afterward in the bubonic plague.

PASCALINE

Pascaline or Arithmetic Machine is the first calculator or adding machine to be produced in any quantity and actually used. It was designed and built by the French mathematician-philosopher Blaise Pascal between 1642 and 1644. It could only do addition and subtraction, with numbers being entered by manipulating its dials.

STEPPED RECKONER 

Stepped Reckoner is a calculating machine designed in 1671  and was built in 1673 by the German mathematician-philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. The Step Reckoner expanded on the French mathematician-philosopher Blaise Pascal’s ideas and did multiplication by repeated addition and shifting.

POWER LOOM

In 1801 the Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a power loom that could base its weave (and hence the design on the fabric) upon a pattern automatically read from punched wooden cards, held together in a long row by rope. 

Babbage Difference Engine

In 19^th century England, Charles Babbage, a mathematician, proposed the construction of a machine that he called the Babbage Difference Engine. It would not only calculate numbers, it would also be capable of printing mathematical tables. The Computer history museum in Mountain View, CA built a working replica from the original drawings. Visitors can see in the device in operation there. Unable to construct the actual device, he earned quite a few detractors among England’s literate citizens. However, Babbage made a place for himself in history as the father of computing. Not satisfied with the machines limitations, he drafted plans for the Babbage Analytical Engine. He intended for this computing device to use punch cards as the control mechanism for calculations. This feature would make it possible for his computer to use previously performed calculations in new ones.
Babbage’s idea caught the attention of Ada Byron Lovelace  who had an undying passion for math. She also saw possibilities that the Analytical Machine could produce graphics and music. She helped Babbage move his project from idea to reality by documenting how the device would calculate Bernoulli numbers. She later received recognition for writing the world’s first computer program. The United States Department of Defense named a computer language in her honor in 1979.


The computers that followed built on each previous success and improved it. 

Turing Colossus

Turing Colossus is the first programmable computer built in 1943.It was pressed into service to decipher World War II coded messages from Germany.

ENIAC

 ENIAC or Electronic Numerical Integrator And Compute, was the first electronic computer, in 1946. It was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory.










In 1951, the U.S. Census Bureau became the first government agency to buy a computer,UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer)


The Apple expanded the use of computers to consumers in 1977.


The IBM PC for consumers followed closely in 1981, although IBM mainframes were in use by government and corporations.


And then A Harvard freshman by the name of Bill Gates decided to drop out of college so he could concentrate all his time writing programs for this computer. This early experienced put Bill Gates in the right place at the right time once IBM decided to standardize on the Intel microprocessors for their line of PCs in 1981. The Intel Pentium 4 used in today's PCs is still compatible with the Intel 8088 used in IBM's first PC.








John Dominique Galang. *I was late enrolled*


History of Computers