Based on my research about the history of computers, it begun 2000 years ago when a wooden rack called the ABACUS which holds two horizontal wires with beads strung on them was invented.
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| abacus |
In 1617 a Scotsman named John Napier invented Logarithms , which are a technology that allows multiplication . He also invented Napier's bones as an alternative to tables ,where logarithm values were carve on iron sticks.He's invention led to the SLIDE RULER where it is built in England in the year 1632.
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In 1623 a German professor named Wilhelm Schikard invented the CALCULATING CLOCK, which was the first gear-driven calculating machine to actually be built. In 1642 Blaise Pascal was credited for building the first digital computer which added numbers entered with dials.
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In 1694 Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz built a computer which could add and multiply. He also invent the step gear mechanism which introduced the addend digits.
Thomas of Colmar created the first successful mechanical calculator which was the improved version of the prototypes made by Pascal and Leibinz. By the year 1890, there was an improvements such as :
Accumulation of partial results, storage and automatic reentry of past results and printing of he results.
During the development of desktop calculators, a series of development in computers started in Cambridge led by Charles Babbage. He designed an automatic mechanical calculating machine called a difference engine . In 1833, he had a better idea of constructing a fully-program controlled digital computer, the Analytical Engine.
Because of the connection to the Jacquard loom,Babbage called the two main parts of his Analytic Engine the "Store" and the "Mill". The Store was where numbers were held and the Mill was where they were "woven" into new results. In a modern computer these same parts are called the memory unit and the central processing unit (CPU).
Hollerith's invention, known as the Hollerith desk , a large wall of dial indicators to display the results of the count.He built a company, called International Business Machines(IBM). IBM grew rapidly .IBM continued to develop mechanical calculators for sale to businesses to help with financial accounting and inventory accounting.
In 1944 Harvard and IBM partnered to build the Mark 1 computer that was the 1st programmed digital computer in U.S.A..
A Harvard freshman by the name of Bill Gates decided to drop out of college so he could concentrate all his time writing programs for this computer. This early experienced put Bill Gates in the right place at the right time once IBM decided to standardize on the Intel microprocessors for their line of PCs in 1981. The Intel Pentium 4 used in today's PCs is still compatible with the Intel 8088 used in IBM's first PC.
And that's the history of computer. Actually the history is really long. this just a summary of the beginning and the last of the history. I know that it doesn't look like summary, but it is the summary. Thanks for reading and sorry if the summary of the history is a bit longer .
