computer studies

HISTORY OF COMPUTING

 
Since the creation of man, a significant amount of human activities has been ascribed to organizing and
processing information so that it could be more easily presented for easy comprehension. Many devices have
been used in the past before the advert of computer. It is then necessary to vividly look into their evolution.
Early computing machines:


1. Abacus (-2500BC): This is a hand- held device made of beads stung on rods in a frame. The rods
correspond to positions of the digits while the beads correspond to the digits.


2. Napier’s Bone (2500BC): This was invented by John Napier’s (1550 - 1617). This consists of
small rods with appropriate markings on them. It is a mechanical aid to computation that consists of nine such
rods (called bones) with one for each digit 1 through 9. He also invented logarithms which made possible to do
division and multiplication by performing addition and subtraction.


3. Slide Rule (1600AD) by William Oughtred (1575 - 660): He invented it in 1622 but announced it
in 1632 this consist of rules on which markings represent logarithms of numbers and also permits calculation
involving exponents, trigonometric functions, etc.


4. Pascal mechanical calculator (1600) or Numerical wheel calculator:-Blaise Pascal (1623 -1664)
in 1642 invented the first adding machine called Pascaline. The brass rectangular box used eight moveable dials
to add and sum up of eight figures long using base 10. It can perform all the four arithmetic operation with
previous unheard speed.


5. Leibnitz mechanical multiplier (1600): In 1694 Gottfried Wilhem Von Leibnitz (1646 -1716)
improved upon the pascaline by creating a machine that can also multiply using a system of dials and gear.


6 Colmar’s Calculator (1820) by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar: This presented a more
practical approach to computing.


7 Punched-Card machine (Jacquard’s loom) (1801): Joseph Marie Jacquard.


8 Mechanical computer: Charles Gabbage (1792-1871) Father of the computer. Difference engine
powered by steam and large as locomotive the machine has a stored program and could perform calculations
and print the result automatically. We also have Analytical engine credited to him.


9 Hermann Hollerith (1860-1929)

 a)Hollerith’s system punch-card reader machine:-for counting census result in 1890 in US.

b) formed tabulating machine company in 1896(TMC)

 c)Automatic Tabulating Machine (ATM)-1900

TMC was renamed to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924 after series of
mergers.
In summary, the history of computing began with an analog machine. In 1623 German scientist Wilhelm
Schikard invented a machine that could add, and with the aid of logarithm tables, multiply and divide. Since
then the development has pass through a lot of stages such as the invention of punched cards to program
patterns to create woven fabrics by Joseph-Marie Jacquard a French inventor in 19th century. Another

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