the evolution of the computer

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The evolution of the computer

• In 3000 B.C., the Chinese were using the abacus for their calculations.

In 1642, Blaise Pascal invented the pascaline

which was capable of making additions and

substractions. It used gears to do the

increments.

Later on Gottfried Wilhelm developed it to make

multiplications and division as well, and named it

the stepped reckoner.

The invention of the punched cards

During the beginning of the 19th century, Joseph

Mary Jacquard created a weaving machine which

created patterns using special punchedcards.

The pioneers of the modern computer

In 1820, an English mathematician

and scientist called Charles Babbage

invented the Difference engine,

which theoretically was capable of 

doing calculation up to 20 decimalplaces. But it was not made due to

lack of technology at the time.

In 1834, Babbage designed the analytical

engine, which was capable of storing

results by using punched cards. This

design had the same fate as his earlier

design, and was never finished.

 The speciality was that this system

introduced the basic input-process-outputsteps which the modern computers use.

He is considered as the father of the

computer.

A friend and an apprentice of Babbage, known as Ada

Augusta Lovelace (Ada Byron) wrote programs for the

Analytical engine, even though the machine never

came to life. She is considered as the first computer

programmer in the world.

  The competition which was to make a

machine that would help the census in

America, in1890, was won by Herman

Hollerith, by his “Hollerith Desk”. He

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used the punched card system, which

was introduced by Jacquard in the early

19th century.

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 The Computer in the 20th Century!

 The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, which was making the Hollerith

desks became the International Business Machines”or IBM in 1924.

A British mathematician called Allan Turing made the

 Turing Machine which can be considered as a pioneeringdevice for the modern day digital computer.

During the 1930s, Howard Aiken, an American

mathematician, designed the Automatic

Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) which

was later named the Mark 1.

In 1939, John V. Atanasoff and Clifford

Berry Created and demonstrated the

Atanasoff-Berry Computer(ABC)

In 1941, a German called Konrad Zuse created the Z3,

which was a significant iteration of his earlier

developments. It was developed in secret, resulting in no

contribution at all for the development of the computer.

All the prototypes were destroyed by allied bombing.

In 1943, at Bletchley park, Britain, the Colossus was

designed in secret to decrypt German messages.