History of Computers

The definition of a computer has changed over time. The history of computers goes back as far as history itself; but since the 1940s, digital computers as we know them today have changed dramatically. Many years ago, a computer, by definition, was something or someone that computes. Today, a computer is known as a complex electronic machine that can compute as well as perform the tasks of a clerk, such as word processing and organizing.

The first computers that were not human were early forms of counting. These counting devices go back as far as 35,000 B.C. with the use of notched bones. "The earliest notched bones of prehistory are the most ancient known archeological objects which had been used for numerical ends" (Ifrah 9). Another ancient computer is the abacus. The first abacus was invented by the people of Sumer. The Chinese abacus is better known, and was also called the Sau Pau (Ifrah 11).

During the last fifty years or so, computers have become the complex electronic machines that we know today. Many people use these every day, and most don't realize how much they affect their daily life. During the early 20th century, before World War II, a need for calculating machines arose from the military. These first machines were usually designed to do one task each, so they were not general use, but specific use (Campbell-Kelly 1-3).

During this time, the punched-card machine was more popular than digital computers. Punched-card machines processed data from paper cards with holes punched in them. The main supplier of these machines and cards was the IBM Company. "As late as 1960 IBM was still primarily a punched-card machine supplier. It was not until 1962 that computer sales equaled those of its traditional punched-card products" (Campbell-Kelly 131).

It is unclear what the very first digital computer was. A machine called the ENIAC "is often claimed to be the Ð''first electronic, general purpose, large scale, digital computer', and you certainly have to add all those adjectives before you have a correct statement" (Rojas 3). John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly was credited with developing this machine.

By 1943, construction of the ENIAC began. This would be the most complex electronic system of its time, containing tens of thousands of individual components. "Its purpose was to calculate firing tables for the U.S. Army, a task that involved the repetitive solution of complex mathematical expressions" (Ceruzzi 15). The ENIAC would continue development until 1946. It contained over 20,000 vacuum tubes when it was finally completed.

A machine called the Colossus was developed just before the end of World War II. They were used to decipher military codes. The Colossus was developed by a team which was led by M.H.A. Newman and T.H. Flowers. "These machines were produced from 1943 onward, under conditions of strictest military secrecy. The Colossus machines were totally electronic binary analytical calculators that were structurally designed to solve logical problems, to give plain-English read-outs of encrypted texts, and to reconstruct the processes and the key or keys of the German cipher systems" (Ifrah 218).

Several other major computers were developed during the 1940s and 1950s. John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry developed the ABC computer in1942. The Harvard Mark I computer was developed in 1944 by Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper. Other computers include the Manchester Baby Computer, the UNIVAC Computer, and the IBM 701 EDPM Computer (Bellis 1).

The History of Computers changed dramatically with the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958. Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce were the developers of the integrated circuit. Also known as Chips, integrated circuits allowed computers to be many times smaller. They took large, complex circuits and compacted them into a single component. Integrated circuits are still used today, and can contain up to several millions of components in each chip (Bellis 1).

Early consumer computers included the Radio Shack TRS-80, the Intel 8080, the Commodore PET, and the Apple II. All of these computers were first introduced in 1977. "Although it was more expensive than the TRS-80 or the PET, the Apple II sold better. It did not take long for people to write imaginative software for it" (Ceruzzi 265). By this time, companies were offering 8