Past, Present, And Future Of Computers

1746 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A history of computers from Abacus to mid 1940

Past, Present, and Future of Computers

Imagine being able to do almost anything right from your own living room.
You could order a pizza, watch cartoons, or play video games with people from around the entire world. All are possible today with your computer. The beginnings of the computer started off in a rather unique way. It was first used to produce intricate designs with silk, a task far to long a tedious for a human to do constantly. It's really unbelievable how the computers changed from that to what they are now. Today, computers are completely astounding. The possibilities are endless. Who knows where they will take us in the years ahead.
The computer is the most influential piece of equipment that has ever been invented. The begginings of the computer are actually kind of strange. It started in the 1800's when a man named Charles Babbage wanted to make a calculating machine.
He created a machine that would calculate logarithms on a system of constant difference and record the results on a metal plate. The machine was aptly named the Difference Engine. Within ten years, the Analytical Engine was produced.
This machine could perform several tasks. These tasks would be givin to the machine and could figure out values of almost any algebraic equation. Soon, a silk weaver wanted to make very intricate designs. The designs were stored on punch-cards which could be fed into the loom in order to produce the designs requested. This is an odd beginning for the most powerful invention in the world. In the 1930's, a man named Konrad Zuse started to make his own type of computer. Out of his works, he made several good advances in the world of computing. First, he developed the binary coding system. This was a base two system which allowed computers to read information with either a 1 or a 0. This is the same as an on or and off. The on or off functions could be created through switches. These switches were utilized with vacuum tubes. The functions could then be relayed as fast as electrons jumping between plates.
This was all during the time of the Second World War and further advancements were made in the area of cryptology. Computer advancements were needed in order for the Allied Coding Center in London to decode encrypted Nazi messages. Speed was of the essence, so scientists developed the first fully valve driven computer. Before this, computers only had a number of valves, none were fully driven by them because of the complexity and difficulty of producing it.

Show More
Related

  • History Of The Navajo Indians

    3251 Words  | 7 Pages

    ...ainting motifs you need to know how to construct the loom, spin the yarn, and the skill to weave the patterns. This takes many years of training as well as dedication because of the amount of time that is needed to do so.

    Read More

  • Medieval Tapestry

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    A: Weaving tapestries was a skilled profession. Men rested tapestries because women were not allowed to be a part of weaving. The only task they were allowed was spinning yarn. Most tapestries were made in luxury workshops. These tapestry weavers had to be an expert of dying. They were limited on the number of colors, usually under 20, available for dying in the medieval times. These craftsman had to be creative and fritter their dye (Nimocks).

    Read More

  • Getty Museum Experience

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    The type of ornamentation depended on the local customs and style of the specific period and location. It was also intriguing to learn the design process behind the work. The monks and artists would lightly draw out the guidelines for the placement of the text and illustrations. The artist would also sketch out their designs on a notebook prior to the final draft and would either trace or refine the final drawings. The illustrations are used to portray an image to the text and tell the story of what is written.

    Read More

  • What Are The Similarities Between Ancient China And Islamic World

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ancient Chinese developed the idea of collecting the cocoons of silkworms to create one of the finest natural textiles of all time. One great piece of Chinese silk art is the painted silk Funerary Banner from the tomb of the Marquise of Dai. As trading between cultures went on, the Islamic World started to incorporate fine silk in to art of their own. The Maqsud of Kashan’s Ardabil carpet is an enormous funerary carpet. This huge piece of hand-woven art is made with wool and silk.

    Read More

  • Synchronous and Asynchronous Mode

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    A digital communication system uses discontinuous transmission that may vary in frequency, amplitude and/or phase to represent binary data.

    Read More

  • Invent a Writing Technology

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    “And-O Tempora! O Mores!-to lose the soft warm touch of sheepskin, the knowledge that some lamb chop had died to create this beloved writing surface! Let us weep.” (Tribble& Trubek, pg. 9) Some of us may have wept over this project, weeping over how might to do this writing project. Many of us succeeded in coming up with a unique way to write with natural materials, a few of us cheated to by using limited technology and some of us failed to do the project. All of benefited because we were exposed or unexposed to our element, the writing technologies we as writers use everyday. I cheated since there cannot be found in nature a magnifying glass, which I used.

    Read More

  • Silk - Research Method

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Do you know the process that goes into making silk? Many people over look this fine, luxurious garment. When I first heard that we had to do an I-search, I was overwhelmed by the choices. I made many changes before finally settling on this topic. When I first though of how to make silk, I didn't think that it would be that hard with the right tools.

    Read More

  • Computers: Past, Present and Future

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since the time when man first learned to express how they felt in written form, by drawing or writing, we have tried to communicate with other people. First, it was the prehistoric man with their conceptual cave drawings showing what animals to hunt, how to hunt them, and how to cook them. Soon that form took to hieroglyphics, in which the Egyptians would tell stories about battles they had won and about new pharaohs that had been born. This picture form soon turned in to words in which the Romans would communicate with one another. So it went, each generation progressed more and more, until it was the 20th century.

    Read More

  • The Advancement Of Computers

    1782 Words  | 4 Pages

    asteroid was on a line with Earth, the computer would show us and enable us

    Read More

  • The History Of Computers

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 500 B.C. the abacus was first used by the Babylonians as an aid to simple arithmetic. In 1623 Wihelm Schickard (1592 - 1635) invented a "Calculating Clock". This mechanical machine could add and subtract up to 6 digit numbers, and warned of an overflow by ringing a bell. J. H. Mueller comes up with the idea of the "difference engine", in 1786. This calculator could tabulate values of a polynomial. Muellers attempt to raise funds fails and the project was forgotten. Scheutz and his son Edward produced a 3rd order difference engine with a printer in 1843 and their government agreed to fund their next project.

    Read More

  • The Pen

    1512 Words  | 4 Pages

    This was a simple means of writing that required raw materials ample in the environment. The degree of technology it used can be seen as only slightly higher than the scientific concept of the sharpened wedge (blade) used to cut an angle on the reed tip. The small effort needed to build a pen was far less than that of the ink needed. Nature grew the reed, humans merely plucked it from the ground and sliced off its bottom tip. During this period of Antiquity, the Egyptians had also constructed the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx. By no means was the pen as physically large and complex a creation as the wonders of the world, which were constructed with the sole purpose of being the final resting-place of the Pharaoh. However, the reed pen had a much more profound, a much greater effect on the world and the path our present-day history took.

    Read More

  • The History of Computers

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thousands of years ago calculations were done using people’s fingers and pebbles that were found just lying around. Technology has transformed so much that today the most complicated computations are done within seconds. Human dependency on computers is increasing everyday. Just think how hard it would be to live a week without a computer. We owe the advancements of computers and other such electronic devices to the intelligence of men of the past.

    Read More

  • The First Generation Of Computers

    333 Words  | 1 Pages

    The First Generation of Computers The first generation of computers, beginning around the end of World War 2, and continuing until around the year 1957, included computers that used vacuum tubes, drum memories, and programming in machine code. Computers at that time where mammoth machines that did not have the power our present day desktop microcomputers. In 1950, the first real-time, interactive computer was completed by a design team at MIT. The "Whirlwind Computer," as it was called, was a revamped U.S. Navy project for developing an aircraft simulator.

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Digital Fabrication On The Construction Industry

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    - Freedom in esthetic and design - Determination of the production costs before the execution of work

    Read More

  • The Role of Computers in Our Future

    500 Words  | 1 Pages

    As far as computers in the future, I feel that they are going to play a major role. They will be in everyday life, in everything we do. There will be many areas affected by the wide use of computers. Areas such as: home, work, schools, automobiles, electronics, and humans. Although these areas are already affected, they will be even more as we move into the future.

    Read More

More about Past, Present, And Future Of Computers

Open Document