n 2017, The Next Web reported that 3.8 billion people use the internet, and more than a year later, the number is sure to have increased. In 2014, 36% of the world population was projected to use cell phones. That number has significantly increased. There are 1 billion Windows-powered PCs as of 2017. Technology is an important part of our lives and in this article I’m going to talk about the history....
The First Computer was the 'Difference Engine', created by Charles Babbage in 1822. It was a mechanical calculator that was very different from a modern day computer. It was not a programmable computer, instead it was a set of gears that took
numbers and produced results.
It was the size of a small car. Now you can get calculators that fit in your pocket!
The gears had sets of numbers on them that only went to one decimal place. Charles Babbage made several difference machines, but the one he made in 1837 was the most revolutionary. He created the Analytical Machine, which had more functions and was more generalized. In 1938, Konrad Zuse created the first programmable computer. It was also one of the first electrical computers. Despite the fact that they were made a century apart, they still used the same method of storage: punch cards.
Punch cards were cards made of stiff paper that could be inserted into the machine. When people would put them in, they were blank, but when they came out, they were
filled with information
A big step in the history of computers begin in 1943 when John Presper Eckert and John Mauchly began working on the UNIVAC which stood for UNIVersal Automatic Computer. This is the computer that people talk about when they say that computers in the 50’s were huge and took up entire rooms.
The UNIVAC was completed in 1946 and became universally available in 1951. Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company continued to make models of the computer into the mid-60s. UNIVAC ran on the EXEC 1 Operating System which was introduced in 1962.The operating system supported multitasking far before Microsoft even began making computers.
In 1953, the UNITYPER introduced magnetic tape, and it became widely popular, replacing punch cards. IBM began to use magnetic tape in their computers, and this helped magnetic tape overtake punch cards.
I I
Technology Timeline -
The History Of Computers
Written By: Noah Stanich