First Generation Of Computers example essay topic

Computers are a major part of society. They allow us to communicate, keep organized, calculate bills, and they " re even used to entertain people. There is a long history behind computing that goes back to almost 5,000 years ago. The evolution of computers is very important to us today because in this day and age we wouldn't be anything without them.

(The Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History) The abacus, which emerged about 5,000 years ago in Asia Minor and is still used today, can be considered the first computer. This machine used a system of sliding beads, arranged on a rack to calculate. When pencil and paper were more used in Europe, the abacus was not used anymore and it took twelve centuries to come up with a new invention. In 1642, Blaise Pascal, the 18-year-old son of a French tax collector invented a numerical wheel calculator to help out his father. It's a rectangular box also called a Pascal ine that used eight movable dials to add sums up to eight figures long. After summing, a new method of multiplying was introduced by a German mathematician and philosopher, Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz.

He used Pascal's drawings and method to create a more complex machine. This one had a " stepped-drum gear design". Leibniz's mechanical multiplier worked by a system of gears and dials. In 1820, Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar, a Frenchman, invented a machine with the four basic arithmetic functions.

It was a mechanic calculator that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide. He called it the arithometer and it was used up until World War I. Because of this invention along with Pascal's and Leibniz, more computers were made with more functions. An English mathematics professor, Charles Babbage introduced the idea that computers should work with steam. In 1882 he built the Difference Engine which was powered by steam.

This machine had a stored program and performed calculations and even printed the results automatically. After working on the computer for 10 years he began working on another one called the Analytical Engine. It was the first general-purpose computer. Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was Babbage's assistant and she was very interested in computers.

She was also very intelligent and made the computer public. She created instruction routines to be put into the computer, which made her the first female computer programmer. In 1889, an American inventor, Herman Hollerith wanted to find a faster way to compute the U.S. Census. Hollerith used cards to store information. He put the data into a machine that grouped the results mechanically. He brought his new invention into the business world and it later founded a company known as International Business Machines or as we know it IBM.

From 1924 until the 1960 are the punch card methods were used. After the punch card method, many others began adding on to computers. Inventors like Konrad Z use who designed the Z 3 computer was able to design airplanes and missiles in World War II. Also In 1943, the British completed a secret code-breaking computer called Colossus to decode German messages. In the mid-1940's Johnson Neumann joined a team of computer engineers and built the first computer that had been was used for over 40 years.

The Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer held and stored data and most important, it used electricity. It was even awarded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This was the first generation of computers. In the second generation, transistor's changed the computer development. Computers were now much smaller and much faster. Many new computer organizations were used in businesses.

Some of theses computer companies were Burroughs, Control Data, Honeywell, IBM, Sperry-Rand. Later, transistors used too much heat and ruined the inside of the computers. In the third generation, Texas instruments were introduced and an operating system that allowed a computer to run more than one program at the same time. The fourth generation put all of this information into one little chip, which is used today.

The Intel 4004 chip was developed in 1971. Computers were later sold to people all over and not just in businesses. Allot of the programs like word processing and Pac Man were very popular. Some of the newest computer corps. are Apple, Packard Bell, updated IBM and Intel. Computers have affected people's lives in many ways and because of new inventions, in a few years we might have computers doing everything for us. Computers are very effective for businessmen as well as children who use the Internet to educate themselves.