History of Computers

History Of Computers

In the past 50 years, the computer has had a profound impact on business and on society in general. But the history behind its making an evolution is very long. Let us have a look at the major milestones which led to present day computers.

Blaise Pascal was the mastermind who built the first mechanical digital calculator called Pascaline in 1642. Pascaline could perform addition and subtraction on whole numbers. However, it was a big financial failure.

In 1804, Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard built an automated punched-card machine to operate weaving looms. His invention showed that data could be coded on cards; the cards could be joined to create a series of instructions. Programmable instructions proved to be a concept of great importance for modern computers.

In 1822, Charles Babbage designed the difference engine that had mechanical memory to store results. His design grew complex as revisions occurred to him. He then proposed a more elaborate computing machine, the analytical engine. For his contributions, Babbage earned the title of “Father of the Computer”.

Babbage had a confidante and partner, Augusta Ada, who suggested using a binary system rather than decimal for storage. She is called “the first programmer” because she refined the design of the analytical engine by including looping, which is extremely valuable to today’s programmers as well.

In the 1850s, George Boole realized that complex mathematical problems could be solved by reducing them to a series of affirmatively, or negatively answered questions. The binary system of 1s and 0s was thus implemented. The theory of Boolean logic became fundamental to the design of computer circuitry.

In the 1880s, Dr. Herman Hollerith built the first electromechanical, punched-card, data-processing machine.

The first prototype electronic computer was conceived by Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff. He teamed up with Clifford Berry and began to build the first electronic computer. They called it the ‘Atanasoff-Berry Computer’ or ABC. The ABC used vacuum tubes for storage and arithmetic-logic function.

In 1947, Mauchly and Eckert built ENIAC (ENIAC is the acronym for Electronic Numeric Integrator and Calculator). It was a general purpose electronic computer.

1949 saw further progress. Englishman Maurice V. Wilkes built EDSAC (Electronic Delayed Storage Automatic Computer), the first stored program computer. Then, Mauchly, Eckert and Von Neumann built EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), the second stored program computer. In the same year, AN Wang developed magnetic-core memories. Subsequently, Jay Forrester at MIT organized magnetic-core memory to be ore efficient. Computers became not only faster, but also more reliable and capable of containing larger memories.

In 1951, Mauchy and Eckert formed their own company to create a commercially usable general-purpose computer—UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer).

It wasn’t long before other companies including Burroughs (now called UNISYS), Honeywell, IBM, and others realized the commercial value of computers and began offering their own.

In 1957, backus, an IBM engineer, developed FORTRAN (Formula Translation Language). In 1959, Kilby and Noyce developed the COBOL ( Common Business Oriented Language) programming language.

The computer language BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was developed in 1965 by Dr. John Kemey and Dr. Thomas Kurtz.

In 1970, Intel created a memory chip that could store a kilobit of information. A kilobit translates roughly into 25 five-letter words. Another innovation at Intel came from ted Hoff, who had integrated circuit by compressing twelve chips into four. The arithmetic and logic functions of several chips could be contained on one chip, called microprocessor.

H. Edward Roberts, an electrical engineer who is now generally known as the “Father of the Microcomputer” designed the first microcomputer in 1987

Finally, in the 1980s, lower-cost computer systems or personal computers intended for home use were produced. As they gained popularity, many companies introduced their own versions.

A Computer Guy

History Of Computers