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history of computers
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Contents page Page no. Titles 1 Contents 2 Summary 2 Introduction 3 In The Beginning 6 Introduction Of Electricity And The Generations That Follows 6 First-Generation Computers 7 Second-Generation Computers 8 Third-Generation Computers 8 Fourth-Generation Computers 11 Fifth-Generation (present and beyond) 12 Conclusion 13 Bibliography Summary Computers where did they come from and where are they going? These are the questions that hopefully will be answered. 2ooo years ago the need to hold calculations on a machine was solved with the abacus. This machine was purely used to calculate simple sums. The need to find easier and more efficient methods of calculating simple and more complicated equations became greater and eventually technology allowed the beginning of computer development. The report takes us through from the beginning through all five generations and looks into the future. No body knows what the future holds for human and computer relations but understanding where they came from is just as important as looking into the future. Introduction Modern life would not be what it is without computers. For better or worse computers are parts of everything in today’s society. Today’s machines do much more than compute equations: shop scanners automatically calculate the bill while also keeping a precise inventory of stock; and cash machines let us do all our banking transactions almost any where in the world. Where did all this technology come from and will it ever stop. To understand the machines of today we need to look at where did it start and the development from then to now. The impact on every day life that computers have is very much taken for granted. To understand what life would be like without computers, we need to understand what computers actually did for us throughout its development. If computers were not helpful to us would the extreme development that occurred actually happen? In the beginning 5000 years ago, the first computer like machine was the abacus. This system allows the user to perform calculations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack. Early traders used the abacus to keep trading transactions. It took nearly twelve centuries for the next significant advance into computing. In 1642, an 18-year-old son of a tax collector called Blaise Pascal invented a rectangular box called the Pascaline or the Numerical Wheel Calculator. This machine used a system of eight movable dials, which gave it ability to reach numbers of eight figures long. The dials worked on a base of ten, when the first dial reached ten it would move the second dial once and so on. The only floor in the design was that it was limited to addition only. In 1694, a German mathematician and philosopher, Gottfried Wilhem Von Leibniz improved Blaises designs of the pascaline by creating a machine that could not only add but it could multiply as well. It used a system of dials and gears. However it was not until 1820 when mechanical calculators gained widespread use. A French man called Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar invented a machine that could perform the four basic mathematical functions. It was called the Arithometer, many people used it widely and it did not become obsolete until the First World War. Although many inventors refined the arithometer, its first design helped define the age of mechanical computers. The real beginning to computers, as we know them, was in the mind of an English maths professor called Charles Babbage. Babbage frustrated by the many errors he found while examining calculations for the Royal Astronomical Society, Babbage declared “I whish to god these calculations had been performed by steam”. By 1812 Babbage had noticed that machines were best at performing tasks repeatedly without any mistakes. The production of maths tables, often required simple repetition of steps, the only problem Babbage had to overcome was simply to apply this ability to a machine. It wasn’t until 1822 when Babbage designed a machine to perform differential equations, it was called the Difference Engine. It was powered by steam and it was the size of a locomotive. The machine would have a stored program and could perform calculations while printing the results automatically. After 10 years of work on the Difference Engine, Babbage was inspired to begin work on the first general purpose computer, which he called the Analytical Engine.
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