HISTORY OF COMPUTER

History Of Computer

Introduction

The history of computing has its roots back centuries to the days when our ancestors started to commodity-money relations. Then they took, and any tools for doing calculations.

The word "computer" means "computer", i.e., a device for computing. Many thousands of years ago for the account used by counting sticks, stones, etc. Over 1500 years ago (and perhaps much earlier) to facilitate the calculations have been used abacus. The first true calculating machine appeared only in 1642 invented by French mathematician Pascal. Built on the basis of gears, it could sum up the decimal number. In 1673 the German mathematician Leibniz invented a machine that performs all four arithmetic operations. She became the prototype for calculators used in 1820 to 60 years of 20TH century. Starting from the 19th century. Adding machines have very wide application. They perform even very complex calculations, such as calculations of ballistic tables for artillery firing. There was also a special profession - the counter - a person working with the adding machine, quickly and accurately observes a sequence of instructions (a sequence of instructions later became known as the program). But many of the calculations were made very slowly - even tens of meters should have been working on for several weeks and months. The reason is simple - when such calculations, selection of actions performed and recording the results produced by man, and its speed is very limited. (Mowshowitz, 2002)

Discussion

The first idea of program-controlled calculating machine having an arithmetic unit, control unit, input, and print (although using the decimal number system), was launched in 1822 by English mathematician Babbage. His project is ahead of the technical possibilities of his time and has not been realized. English mathematician, tried to build a universal computing device - analytical engine, which was to perform calculations without human intervention. For this she was able to execute programs introduced by using punch cards (cards from construction paper with the information applied with the help of holes), and have a memory for storing data and intermediate results. Babbage was not able to finish work on the development of analytical machine - it was too difficult for the technology of that time. However, he has developed all the basic ideas, and in 1943 the American Howard Aiken with Babbage's work on the basis of the technique of 20th century. - Electromechanical Relays - was able to build at one of the firm "IBM" a machine called the Mark-1. Even earlier, Babbage's ideas were rediscovered by German engineer Conrad Zeus, who in 1941 built a similar machine. (Minsky, 2008)

Only 40-years of the twentieth century managed to create a programmable calculating machines, and on the basis of electromechanical relays, which can stay in one of two stable states: "on" and "off". It is technically easier than trying to implement ten different states, based on information processing based on the decimal rather than binary notation. In the second half of the 40-ies were first electronic computers, cell base ...