First computer

The history of computers goes back over 200 years. At first theorized by mathematicians and entrepreneurs, during the 19th century mechanical calculating machines were designed and built to solve the increasingly complex number-crunching challenges. The advancement of technology enabled ever more-complex computers by the early 20th century, and computers became larger and more powerful. Today, computers are almost unrecognizable from designs of the 19th century, such as Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine — or even from the huge computers of the 20th century that occupied whole rooms, such as the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator. Here's a brief history of computers, from their primitive number-crunching origins to the powerful modern-day machines that surf the Internet, run games and stream multimedia. 19th century 1801: Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French merchant and inventor invents a loom that uses punched wooden cards to automatically weave fabric designs. Early computers would use similar punch cards. 1821: English mathematician Charles Babbage conceives of a steam-driven calculating machine that would be able to compute tables of numbers. Funded by the British government, the project, called the "Difference Engine" fails due to the lack of technology at the time, according to the University of Minnesota. 1848: Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician and the daughter of poet Lord Byron, writes the world's first computer program. According to Anna Siffert, a ...

That’s where I have been teaching computer engineering for over 30 years, and I’m also a collector of old computers. I got to meet Atanasoff when he visited Iowa State and got a signed copy of his book. Before ABC, there were mechanical computing devices that could perform simple calculations. The first mechanical computer, The ABC’s drums. Courtesy of Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives, The ABC weighed over 700 pounds and used vacuum tubes. It had a rotating drum, a little bigger than a paint can, that had small capacitors on it. A capacitor is device that can store an electric charge, like a battery. The ABC was designed to solve problems with up to 29 different variables. You might be familiar with equations with one variable, like 2y = 14. Now imagine 29 different variables. These are common problems in physics and other sciences, but were difficult and time-consuming to solve by hand. Atanasoff was credited with several breakthrough ideas that are still present in modern computers. The most important idea was using Another idea was the separation of the program (the computer instructions) and memory (places to store numbers). The ABC completed one operation about every 15 seconds. Compared to the millions of operations per second of today’s computer, that probably seems very slow. Unlike today’s computers, the ABC did not have a changeable stored program. This meant the program was fixed and designed to do a single task. This als...

Although ENIAC was designed and primarily used to calculate ENIAC was completed in 1945 and first put to work for practical purposes on December 10, 1945. ENIAC was formally dedicated at the [ citation needed] It had a speed on the order of one thousand times faster than that of ENIAC was formally accepted by the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps in July 1946. It was transferred to Contents • 1 Development and design • 1.1 Components • 1.2 Operation times • 1.3 Reliability • 2 Programming • 2.1 Programmers • 2.2 Programming languages • 2.3 Role in the hydrogen bomb • 2.4 Role in development of the Monte Carlo methods • 3 Later developments • 3.1 Role in the development of the EDVAC • 3.2 Improvements • 4 Comparison with other early computers • 4.1 Public knowledge • 4.2 Patent • 5 Main parts • 5.1 Parts on display • 6 Recognition • 7 See also • 8 Notes • 9 References • 10 Further reading • 11 External links Development and design ENIAC's design and construction was financed by the United States Army, Ordnance Corps, Research and Development Command, led by Major General ENIAC was designed by ENIAC was a large, modular computer, composed of individual panels to perform different functions. Twenty of these modules were accumulators that could not only add and subtract, but hold a ten-digit trays, as they were called). In order to achieve its high speed, the panels had to send and receive numbers, compute, save the answer and trigger the next operation, all without any moving parts. K...

CSIRAC plays the Colonel Bogey march • Australia's first computer, the CSIRAC, begins operating in 1949. Chief programmer Geoff Hill came from a musical family and as part of preparations for a demonstration of CSIRAC during the first Australian Conference on Automatic Computing Machines, he programmed it to play several songs, including Colonel Bogey, a popular regimental march written at the beginning World War I. Ferranti Mark I sold • The title of “first commercially available general-purpose computer” probably goes to Britain’s Ferranti Mark I for its sale of its first Mark I computer to Manchester University. The Mark 1 was a refinement of the experimental Manchester “Baby” and Manchester Mark 1 computers, also at Manchester University. A British government contract spurred its initial development but a change in government led to loss of funding and the second and only other Mark I was sold at a major loss to the University of Toronto, where it was re-christened FERUT. First Univac 1 delivered to US Census Bureau • The Univac 1 is the first commercial computer to attract widespread public attention. Although manufactured by Remington Rand, the machine was often mistakenly referred to as “the IBM Univac." Univac computers were used in many different applications but utilities, insurance companies and the US military were major customers. One biblical scholar even used a Univac 1 to compile a concordance to the King James version of the Bible. Created by Presper Ecker...

Called the “Model K” Adder because he built it on his “Kitchen” table, this simple demonstration circuit provides proof of concept for applying Boolean logic to the design of computers, resulting in construction of the relay-based Model I Complex Calculator in 1939. That same year in Germany, engineer Konrad Zuse built his Z2 computer, also using telephone company relays. David Packard and Bill Hewlett found their company in a Palo Alto, California garage. Their first product, the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, rapidly became a popular piece of test equipment for engineers. Walt Disney Pictures ordered eight of the 200B model to test recording equipment and speaker systems for the 12 specially equipped theatres that showed the movie “Fantasia” in 1940. In 1939, Bell Telephone Laboratories completes this calculator, designed by scientist George Stibitz. In 1940, Stibitz demonstrated the CNC at an American Mathematical Society conference held at Dartmouth College. Stibitz stunned the group by performing calculations remotely on the CNC (located in New York City) using a Teletype terminal connected to New York over special telephone lines. This is likely the first example of remote access computing. The Z3, an early computer built by German engineer Konrad Zuse working in complete isolation from developments elsewhere, uses 2,300 relays, performs floating point binary arithmetic, and has a 22-bit word length. The Z3 was used for aerodynamic calculations but was destroyed in a bomb...

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • When was the word "computer" first used? The word "computer" was first used in The Yong Mans Gleanings by Richard Braithwaite and originally described a human who performed calculations or computations. The definition of a computer remained the same until the end of the 19th century, when the industrial revolution gave rise to mechanical machines whose primary purpose was calculating. First mechanical computer or automatic computing engine concept In First general-purpose computer In The first machine to record and store information In First programmable computer The Konrad Zuse would also later created the First concepts of what we consider a modern computer The The first electric programmable computer The The first digital computer Short for Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the The ABC was an electrical computer that used more than 300 The The first stored program computer The first computer to electronically store and execute a program was the The second stored-program computer was also British: the Around the same time, the Manchester Mark 1 was another computer that could run stored programs. Built at the Victoria University of Manchester, the first version of the Mark 1 computer became operational in April The first computer company The first computer company was Electronic Controls Company and was founded in First computer with a program stored in memory First delivered to the United States government in UNIVAC 1101 or ...

Computers and computing devices from different eras. Top row: automatic mechanical calculator (1820) ( Middle row: early vacuum tube computer ( Bottom row: A broad range of Early computers were meant to be used only for calculations. Simple manual instruments like the Conventionally, a modern computer consists of at least one Contents • 1 Etymology • 2 History • 2.1 Pre-20th century • 2.2 First computer • 2.3 Analog computers • 2.4 Digital computers • 2.4.1 Electromechanical • 2.4.2 Vacuum tubes and digital electronic circuits • 2.5 Modern computers • 2.5.1 Concept of modern computer • 2.5.2 Stored programs • 2.5.3 Transistors • 2.5.4 Integrated circuits • 2.6 Mobile computers • 3 Types • 3.1 By architecture • 3.2 By size, form-factor and purpose • 4 Hardware • 4.1 History of computing hardware • 4.2 Other hardware topics • 4.3 Input devices • 4.4 Output devices • 4.5 Control unit • 4.6 Central processing unit (CPU) • 4.7 Arithmetic logic unit (ALU) • 4.8 Memory • 4.9 Input/output (I/O) • 4.10 Multitasking • 4.11 Multiprocessing • 5 Software • 5.1 Languages • 5.2 Programs • 5.2.1 Stored program architecture • 5.2.2 Machine code • 5.2.3 Programming language • 5.2.3.1 Low-level languages • 5.2.3.2 High-level languages • 5.2.4 Program design • 5.2.5 Bugs • 6 Networking and the Internet • 7 Unconventional computers • 8 Future • 8.1 Computer architecture paradigms • 8.2 Artificial intelligence • 9 Professions and organizations • 10 See also • 11 Notes • 12 References • 13 Sourc...

Once a unique marvel of technology, computers can be found just about everywhere these days. From massive server computers to tiny smartwatches, we live in a world ruled by them. But this wasn’t always the case. Throughout this storied journey, there have been many firsts. These innovations were not always spectacular, but they were breakthroughs that paved the way for greatness, and the stories behind their invention are eventful, awe-inspiring, and, occasionally, glorious. Join us as we delve into the history of computers with a look at some of the watershed moments in the field ranging from the first computers and the early 19th century all the way to the dawn of the modern computing age in 1990. Table of Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • What Was the First Computer? Two women wiring the right side of the ENIAC with a new program. While the question is pretty straightforward, the answer can — surprisingly — vary widely depending on who you ask and what adjective (if any) you use before ‘computer.’ Some might cite the Difference Engine while others go as late as to ascribe the ENIAC with the honor. To answer this question the most accurately, we have to go to the root of the word ‘computer.’ From the early 17th century till the mid-20th century, the word was assigned to people who did calculations (usually at high speed), or ‘computed.’ It wasn’t until machines that could perform the same tasks were invented that the word gradually shifted in meaning. Considering this, ...