ESSAY

Concept of efficiency with respect to the development of computers

Concept of efficiency with respect to the development of computers

Introduction

Efficiency is a very important concept when it comes to analysing the relationship between input and output (Aubyn et.al. 2009, p. 5). Many words are used in synonymous of this concept such as effectiveness, competency, productivity, and proficiency yet each vary in terms of their formal meaning especially the terms efficiency and effectiveness. These two terms and the concept of efficiency are better understood with respect to any process, organisational procedures, and structures etc. which help in identifying the essential features comprising the concept. One such process is the development of computer systems and its history that can also help significantly in understanding the concept of efficiency in a better manner.

Discussion

Computer has become an integral part of today's world and its uses and functions can be seen all around us. If the history of their development is traced back, it can be seen that the purpose of their creation was to increase the efficiency with which work was done. Moreover, not only their creation but the way they developed into this present form and the advancements that were taken in this regard were to meet the demands and needs of producing the best results. This implies that efficiency requires that the relationship between input and output is one that yields better outputs for lesser amount of inputs (Heyne, 2008).

The history of computer can be traced back to more than 2000 years ago with the birth of abacus followed by the creation of the first digital computer in 1642 when it served the purpose of adding numbers. This was further enhanced by Leibniz to add as well as multiply. All these were then overlooked with the creation of the mechanical calculator that could add, subtract, multiply and divide too. Charles Babbage then more than a century later showed some interest and started developing ideas for the construction of a general purpose automatic mechanical digital computer. He could not though finish the idea that he had and failed to some extent. Interest was lost for a few years but advancements in many areas and designing of things such as railroads, steamships, bridges etc. required differential calculus solutions and therefore, there was a need for a machine that could rapidly perform such repetitive calculations (Campbell-Kelly & Aspray, 2004, p. 7).

With the start of the World War II, there was another need for computer with regard to military and their weapons. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was thus developed that was faster than all those previous generation computers. But the manner in which the machine was built, not only required a lot of space but also a lot of electrical power. Despite that it was successful in terms of the computations that it had to perform. The success of this was then carried on by other people who showed how the size of this machine could be reduced while it continues at the ...