Computers are a magnificent feat of technology. They have grown from simple calculators to machines with many functions and abilities. Computers have become so common that almost every home has at least one computer, and schools find them a good source for information and education for their students (Hafner, Katie, unknown). Computers have created new careers and eliminated others and have left a huge impact on our society. The invention of the computer has greatly affected the arts, the business world, and society and history in many different areas, but to understand how great these changes are, it is necessary to take a look at the origins of the computer.
There are many different beginnings to the origins of computers. Their origins could be dated back more than two thousand years ago, depending on what a person means when they ask where the first computer came from. Most primitive computers were created for the purpose of running simple programs at best. (Daves Old Computers) However, the first ‘digital’ computer was created for the purposes of binary arithmetic, otherwise known as simple math. It was also created for regenerative memory, parallel processing, and separation of memory and computing functions. Built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry during 1937-1942, it was dubbed the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC).
“After the integrated circuits the only place to go was down—in size that it. Large scale integration (LS) could fit hundreds of components onto one chip. By the 1980’s, very large scale integration (VLSI) squeezed hundreds of thousands of components onto a chip. Ultra-Large scale integration (ULSI) increased that number into millions. The ability to fit so much onto an area about half the size of ...
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...pher, “Fourth Generation (1971-Present)”, Computers: History and Development, 11 February 2011,
Lackman, Jon, “Digital Art History”, The Art History Newsletter, 13 May 2010, A1
Paul, E. Geruzzi, “Ready or Not Computers are Coming to the People”, OA4 Magazine of History, July 2010, 25-28
Paul, Christiane, “Abstract”, Digital Art (World of Art), 28 July 2003,
“Primitive Computer”, Daves Old Computers, 4 March 2011,
The History of Photoshop, 17 February 2011,
Tomeski, Edward, Lazarus, Harold, People-Oriented Computer Systems: The Computer in Crisis, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, 1975
Schlager, Neil, and Josh Lauer. "The History, Development, and Importance of Personal Computers." Science and Its Times 7 (2001): n. pag. Print.
Also, I read the chapters 5, 6 and 7 from “A history of the personal computer: the people and the technology” even though I was not convinced because I find them too general and somehow historical, but I was
“Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr and “How Computers Change the Way We Think” by Sherry Turkle are two articles that explore how technology influences our daily lives. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” discusses the effects of the internet in our society, how it is robbing us of our deep thoughts, memories and our ability to read books. Carr also talks about how the internet has become our primary source of getting information. The writer also discusses about how he’s having difficulty focusing on reading. “How Computers Change the Way We Think” is talking about how people don’t use their brains full potential capacity to solve problems. Instead, we depend on technology to do that for us.
Many encyclopaedias and other reference works state that the first large-scale automatic digital computer was the Harvard Mark 1, which was developed by Howard H. Aiken (and team) in America between 1939 and 1944. However, in the aftermath of World War II it was discovered that a program controlled computer called the Z3 had been completed in Germany in 1941, which means that the Z3 pre-dated the Harvard Mark I. Prof. Hurst Zuse (http://www.epemag.com/zuse/)
During the past ten years, computers have been increasing in there popularity across the board (2004). Over the years, the personal computer has become affordable for the general public. The popularity of the computer is not limited to one area of our lives. With innovation in technology, they can be found in our government, businesses, education, and most homes (2004). Billions of dollars have been invested to provide computers for personal use and for our various institutions (2004). The computer has not only been a luxury, it has quickly become a necessity. The rapid growth of the Internet has also contributed to the escalation of computer popularity.
Turkle, Sherry. _The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit_. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984.
Computer engineering started about 5,000 years ago in China when they invented the abacus. The abacus is a manual calculator in which you move beads back and forth on rods to add or subtract. Other inventors of simple computers include Blaise Pascal who came up with the arithmetic machine for his father’s work. Also Charles Babbage produced the Analytical Engine, which combined math calculations from one problem and applied it to solve other complex problems. The Analytical Engine is similar to today’s computers.
A glance back into history illustrates many eras that have come and gone which have left their mark on the world and its people. The industrial revolution changed the face of modern society and yet there is no comparison between its effect and that of the computer. Today, it is difficult to find an area of our lives that computer technology has not touched.
There is no escape from technology. In most cases this is not a problem though. Many people respect and admire technology because it is there to benefit them. Without the technological advances we have had over the years, the world would not be what it is today. What people don’t understand is that technology can actually be a bad thing. In society today, people are looking for more and more ways to be entertained, and all it is doing is causing problems. People are doing less and less thinking and more and more watching, listening, and playing, all because of technology.
Capron, H. L. Computers, Tools for an Information Age, Upper Saddle River: Addison Wesley, 2002.
The computer came from unpretentious beginnings in 1936 when a German Scientist named Konrad Zuse made a mechanical calculator and he called it the Z1. Also, the Z1 was the world’s first binary computer (The First Freely Programmable Computer Invented by Konrad Zuse 1). Zuse used it to discover nume...
First of all, the computer’s role in society has increased significantly throughout recent years. In the past, a computer was mostly used for minor tasks, such as typing a paper or playing a game for leisure. A child could rarely be found sitting in front of a monitor screen, and they usually didn’t even know how to operate the machine. Software games were on the market, but were not very popular for purchase. Usually the more developed households and higher-class families were the ones that contained a computer at home, but mostly adults were found to be the users. Many families found it easy to do without one, as they were mostly used for typing, and typewriters or handwriting took their place. In the past, computers went without the Internet, were extremely slow, and weren’t capable of much of anything.
Boepple, Paul. "Internet." The New Book of Knowledge. 34th ed. 20 vols. Chicago: Grolier Inc., 2000.
Technology – as defined by the US National Academy of Science (cited in Jones 1996, p.17) –
The history of the computer dates back all the way to the prehistoric times. The first step towards the development of the computer, the abacus, was developed in Babylonia in 500 B.C. and functioned as a simple counting tool. It was not until thousands of years later that the first calculator was produced. In 1623, the first mechanical calculator was invented by Wilhelm Schikard, the “Calculating Clock,” as it was often referred to as, “performed it’s operations by wheels, which worked similar to a car’s odometer” (Evolution, 1). Still, there had not yet been anything invented that could even be characterized as a computer. Finally, in 1625 the slide rule was created becoming “the first analog computer of the modern ages” (Evolution, 1). One of the biggest breakthroughs came from by Blaise Pascal in 1642, who invented a mechanical calculator whose main function was adding and subtracting numbers. Years later, Gottfried Leibnez improved Pascal’s model by allowing it to also perform such operations as multiplying, dividing, taking the square root.