Jan 4, 2021
The history of the machine that you are reading this post on
Did you know that your devices that are in your hands now, or those on your desk actually evolved from abacus?
If you didn’t you will surprise when you learn how big were the computer machines before. Let’s start
When we logically think. There has to be a father/mother of something to be found. Or we can shortly say “Founder”. But first, let’s look at our first counting aid: Abacus
No matter how wonderful the human brain is, there is also the problem of forgetting. The abacus was discovered for saving the information that we may forget. And we needed it to count or calculate something. In some sources, the simple calculator, abacus, is described as the first computer.
The abacus, called Suan-Pan in Chinese, as it appears today, was first chronicled circa 1200 C.E. in China. -Wikipedia
In 1642 abacus evolves into the first mechanical adding machine, built by mathematician and scientist,” Blaise Pascal” (Inventor of Calculator).
Although the calculator made by Blaise Pascal was called numerical, it was far from the concept of numerical today. It was not possible to do anything other than addition and subtraction by entering numbers with rough keys.
You can also learn how it works:
The advanced calculator, designed by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz in 1671, however, could only be implemented in 1694, and it could perform four operations(Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction)through special gears.
The first commercially available mechanical calculator was made by Charles Xavier Thomas in 1820. -Wikipedia
After long researches and several trials, the steam-powered automatic calculator was built in 1823 by Charles Babbage.
In 1830, Babbage stopped work on his difference engine, and he focused on the Analytical Engine. He is the Father of Computer and also he originated the concept of a programmable computer.
It is the analytical machine’s ability to use punch cards, something that was unheard of until then. He came to the conclusion that there was a need for users to be able to make programs in advance, and that the suitable medium for transmitting the programs to the machine was punch cards. Babbage tried to design the machine in such a way that it could perform more than one function sequentially.
You can read more Details About Charles Babbage and Punch Cards:
There is also a woman who worked closely with Babbage:Ada Lovelace
She was the first programmer, and invented an algorithm that would calculate Bernoulli numbers that were designed to work with Babbage’s machine
In 1936, Alan Turing proposed the concept of a universal machine later to be dubbed the Turing machine, capable of computing anything that is computable.
A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation that defines an abstract machine, which manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite the model’s simplicity, given any computer algorithm, a Turing machine capable of simulating that algorithm’s logic can be constructed.
Now I want to write some important inventors. You can find some details about the shown and the other different inventors in References section.
In 1936,Konrad Zuse, invented the world’s first programmable computer. This device can read instructions from punched tape
He also released the world’s first commercial computer.
In 1945, mathematician John von Neumann, contributed a new understanding of how computers should be organized and built, further elaborating on Turing’s theories and bringing clarity to the idea from computer memory and addressing.
He also introduced stored-program concept and the modern computers are based on this concept.
Let’s explain this concept briefly. So there are two types of the computer.
The First one is Fixed Program Computers:
These computers are programmed for doing one specific things. And they can’t be helpful for another needs.(for instance you can’t expect hearing music from calculator)
The second is Stored Program Computers :
These Computers can do various tasks. And they can be programmed for it. Smartphones can be a good example for it.
This post is for informative purposes and all the information received is shown in the references section. For more detailed information, you can collect information from the links embedded in the articles.
