A Brief History of the Computer
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This book will take you on a nostalgic journey as we look back at the people, computers, programming languages and games that have forged the history of the computer.
Ever since the abacus was invented thousands of years ago, the human race has been using devices to help with computation, but it wasn't until the mechanical calculator was invented by Wilhelm Schickard in 1623 that the era of the computer truly began.
The invention of the punched card in 1801 was another significant milestone in the history of the computer. In 1801, Joseph-Marie Jacquard developed a loom in which punched cards controlled the pattern being woven. The series of cards could be changed without changing the mechanical design of the loom ... this was a landmark point in programmability.
The defining feature of a computer is the ability to program it, and programmable machines gradually became more widespread from about 1835 onwards. A program enables a computer to emulate different calculating machines by using different stored sequences of instructions. In 1837, Charles Babbage described his Analytical Engine, which was a general purpose programmable computer that used punched cards for input and a steam engine for power.
Electrical digital computers were invented in the 1940s, with the onset of the Second World War causing great advances to be made in computer design and development. Electronic circuits, relays, capacitors and vacuum tubes replaced their mechanical equivalents, and digital calculations replaced analog ones.
The next major step in the history of the computer was the invention of the transistor in 1947, which replaced the fragile and power-hungry valves with a much smaller and reliable component. This was the beginning of miniaturization.
The explosion in computers really began with the invention of the integrated circuit (or microchip), which led to the invention of the microprocessor at Intel. The microprocessor led, in turn, to the development of the microcomputer. Microcomputers were affordable to small businesses and individuals alike, and continued the unstoppable technological march that has brought us to where we are today.
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To download/open the ebook, click the following link:
- A Brief History of the Computer (file size: 1MB)
- A Brief History of the Computer Cover (file size: 430KB)
You don't need to download this if you don't want to
The content in this book is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. This basically means that you are free to copy and distribute the contents of the ebook so long as you allow others to do so.
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