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Computer Then and Now and Where they are Going In modern times, the computer has been one of the most influential, if not the most influential pieces of electronics ever produced. The evolution of the modern computer has come a long way from the times it was first thought of and conceived, and with the advancements of today's modern computers the opportunities seem to be endless. In the computer business each day brings new and more advance ideas in to reality and the potential for the modern computer are ever growing, but without the foundation of past ideas and machines, the computers of today may have been non existing. Therefore, to better understand the future of the computer one must take a look at its past and see how it has evolved in to the machine of today, and how it is going to continue to expand in its limitations. One of the first major pioneers of the computer industry was a distinguished French mathematician and philosopher by the name of Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) (Ceruzzi 28).
In 1642 Pascal invented an adding machine, which was inspired by his father who was a tax collector and who needed a easier and more efficient way of keeping track of numbers (Ceruzzi 28). He invented the first machine of its kind; it was able to keep track of numbers accurately and efficiently. Pascal's device inspired many other adding machines (Ceruzzi 29). Blaise Pascal with his adding machine was one of the starters of the computer revolution, by showing people that a machines can do the work of a humans mind. A man by the name of Charles Xavier Thomas (1785 - 1870) took Pascal's invention of the adding machine and turned it into and commercially successful calculating machine (Ceruzzi 30). He later went to Paris to help start up the insurance industry and found a real need of for a faster and more advanced machine.
He came up with the Arithmometer, which he patented in 1820 (Ceruzzi 30). Thomas was the first one to successfully sell these type machines to a regular number of customers and was able to make steady improvements on them (Ceruzzi 32). There were many adding machines to follow and improvements were made to each one and they continued to grow in popularity, but all of these devices were still mechanical. The next major progression in the computer industry was with the invention of electromechanical devices (Ceruzzi 43). Theses were devices in which electricity was used in order to perform a task; this was a great step from the adding machines of the past that used pulleys and weights to operate. Finally, electricity was harnessed to perform a specific task.
The electromagnetic device began the revolution to modern computer more then any other inventions that were being purposed at its time. A man by the name of Herman Hollerith, came along and almost single-handed advanced the movement of the computer to where it is today. When Herman graduated from college, he was hired on to the US census bureau (Lauckner 255). He became very interested in developing a machine for census tabulation during his first stay at the Census Bureau.
He came up with the idea of using cards, called Hollerith Cards, with holes in them to punch, which in turn would record census data (Ceruzzi 46). He later received a contract from the US census bureau to conduct the tabulation of the 1890 census (Lauckner 255). Herman's system was very successful and was able to accomplish the task of tabulating the census in a means that was unheard of for that time. Hollerith soon started his own company in 1910 called the Tabulating Machine Company (Ceruzzi 48). His company then later merged with two other companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Then in 1924 that company, with the help of a successful sales executive changed its name to International Business Machines Company or IBM, which is one of the major leader of the computer market today. (Ceruzzi 50) Over the next few years there were some majors inventions the swiftly progressed the movement of the computer.
With the invention of resistors, transistors and vacuum tubes computer operators were able to control the flow of electricity to certain parts of the computer. The transistor was invented in 1947 and was not used widely in computer until the late 1950 's (Computers 20). Then in 1958 a man by the name of Jack Kilby while working for the Texas Instruments created the first resistor (Computers 21). During this time there were many massive computer projects going on being conducted by both private and public companies and organizations. One of the first major computer systems to be unveiled to the public was then ENIAC, or the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (Computers 12). Compared to the computer of today it was enormous, it was eighty feet long, three feet deep and weighed over 30 tons (Computers 13).
All through the fifties and sixties, there was a stream of more advanced and smaller computer entering the market. It was not until the 1970 's when there was a real conception for a computer in the home or in offices. It was two men by the name of Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak that developed a prototype called the Apple I, it supplied the user with a computer that was able to fit in the home (Computers 14). They soon found out that there was not a real need for a home based computer at that time, they later in 1977 came out with the Apple II. The Apple II seemed to become their real first successful commercially available machine (Computers 14). There then was an influx in the market of computers, and computers began to be seen as a real useful tool in the home and the market place.
Computers at that time were seen as being useful but not very practical for everyone to own, it was not until a man by the name of Bill Gates came along and revolutionized the computer business. Gates was able to write a computer language that was easy for the user to understand (Cohen 56). This language was called Dos, and it almost single handily moved the computer revolution into light speed. A user was able to perform many tasks with Gates's computer language much easier and with greater speed then they were able to do in times past. This lead to a revolution in the software and programs industry, which in turn caused the hardware side of the business try to keep up (Cohen 59). Gates later went ahead and built a new platform to run over his Dos language and that was called Windows.
Windows has become one of largest software packages ever sold in computer history. It makes the computer easy to use, so that the average lay person can even operate it. The vast majority of computers in today market run on this base program. Now that we have looked at a brief history of the computer, it is best to understand how it works. A computer by definition is: a device which takes data in one form, uses it, and produces a different form of information which is related to (but not the same as) the original data (Lauckner 4). Also to understand how a computer works, it is best to understand what some of its basic concepts and components.
The first major piece of computer is the hardware, which are the electronics and the associated mechanical parts of a computer (Lauckner 7). Computers hardware is all the physical devices, such as items like the monitor, keyboard, and others. The next major part of a computer is its software, which consists of instructions that control the hardware and causes a desired action to be performed (Lauckner 8). The software of the computer is all the instructions that the computer uses to perform a certain task.
All the software is a base of instructions that the computer reads and uses to achieve the desired results. The computers use a system of ones and zeros to communicate this information. This type of code is called binary code and is used by the computer as electronic switches to control and manipulate data (Lauckner 8). Computer programs like to use this type of system because it is both cheap and very reliable.
To perform a task a computer must be able to store and retrieve data. You must start with the parts of the computer the receive the information or programs to be used, these are called the input units, this is the part of the computer that receives the information that y...
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Research essay sample on One Of The First Blaise Pascal
