Historical Stages of Computer Development - Essay Example

Student’s Name Course Tutor Date Early development of computers What may be considered as the first computer is known as abacus. It emerged in the Asia Minor over 5,000 years ago. Interestingly, abacus is still in use in many parts of Asia. The simple device enables users to make computations through the use of sliding beads systems that are neatly arranged on a wooden rack. Records have shown that early traders used the abacus for proper record keeping of business transactions. However, due to the spread of the use of writing technology in Europe, the abacus lost its significance. A lot of time elapsed which is estimated to have been about twelve centuries for the next meaningful advance equipment in computing to emerge. For example it was until 1642 that Blaise Pascal, the son of a popular French taxman came up with what he named numerical wheel calculator. His idea of inventing the numerical calculator was to help his father ease up the accounting work. It was a rectangular box made of brass and consisted of movable dials that were designed to achieve additions to a maximum of eight figures. The only limitation of Pascal’s device was its inability to correctly carry out addition. Another invention that followed shortly was done by Gottfried Wilhem von Leibniz in 1694. He was German philosopher and mathematician. His work majored on improving the Pascaline by putting additional features to the machine such as the ability to carry out multiplication. Like the machine invented by his predecessor, the mechanical multiplier brought to use by Leibniz functioned by a system of dials and gears. He accomplished his invention by studying the original drawings and notes of Pascal hence had the ability to make quite a number of changes. The central component of the device was the drum gear design that offered a lengthy model of the simple flat gear. Although such devices were helpful in counting, mathematical calculators were not fully embraced until the beginning of 1820 when a Frenchman, Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar came up with an apparatus that could perform with ease the four fundamental arithmetic functions. The arithometer, as the name of Colmar's mechanical calculator was known, presented more meaningful and practical approach to arithmetic computation for it had the ability of doing addition, division, subtraction and multiplication. Owing to its versatility, the device gained broader use until the First World War. Although a lot of improvements were latter carried on the machine, Colmar together with Pascal and Leibniz were instrumental in preparing the road to the era of mechanical computation (Williams 35-67). The beginnings of real computers as they are currently known are credited to Professor Charles Babbage, who was an English mathematician in the eighteenth century. Owing to many frustrations he was undergoing as a result of calculation errors he came across while examining numerous calculations for the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). Before 1812, the distinguished mathematician had noticed the existence of natural harmony between mathematics and machines, the latter were good at performing the assigned tasks so many times without making mistake and mathematics on the other hand was well known for production of mathematic tables that called for repetition of steps. The emerging problem was mostly related to the application ability of machines to the fundamental needs of mathematics. The first trial of solving the problem was proposed by Babbage in 1822 when he talked of a machine that can perform differential equations, hence calling it a Difference Engine. In his thought, he figured out the machine to be fuelled by steam and should have a stored program hence performing mathematical calculations and automatically print the results. After a decade of work on the Difference Engine, the mathematician was again inspired to start work on a computer that can perform so many functions that he named Analytical Engine. Together with his assistant, Augusta Ada King and the daughter of Lord Byron, they embarked on designing the machine. The lady was instrumental in revision of the plans, communication of the findings to the general public as well as securing research funding from the British government. The better understanding of the machine enabled her to create numerous instruction manuals to be fed into the machine thus making her to be the first female computer programmer. In fact the lady was honored by the American department of Defense (DOD) the 80's by naming ADA, a programming language her honor (Ensmenger 1-4). Although the steam powered engine proposed by Babbage was never built and by today’s standards it may seem very odd and primitive, it was very vital as it outlined the primary elements of what a modern general use computer may look like and hence was a concept that achieved significance after many years. The main design of the Analytical Engine consisted of several components and its secondary design had input equipment with perforated cards embedded with instructions of operations and memory store for 1,000 numbers and a capacity of 50 decimal digits long. It also had a control mill with a control unit that enabled instruction processing in a sequence as well as output devices to give out printed results. Babbage therefore borrowed the concept of punch cards to enable him encode instructions from the machine. The loom concept brought about by Jacquard was also used by Herman Hollerith, an American inventor in 1889. Due to the delays in knowing the American population census, he decided to work on equipment that can compute the American population census in a much faster way. As was the case, the population census carried out in 1880 to about seven good years to count and with the rapid increase in population, such slow method of counting would not achieve much. Unlike the concept that Babbage had thought of which uses perforated cards to feed instructions to the machine, Herma's method fundamentally used cards for storage of data information which were then fed into a machine programmed to mechanically compile the results. Each mechanical punch on a card was a representative of one number, and two simultaneous punches represented a letter. The system allowed storage of many variables on a single card. It made counting census results easier and instead of the many years of counting Hollerith's machine reduced the workload to just six weeks. Additionally, the punch cards were very important in data storage as they were instrumental in minimizing errors arising from computation. Hollerith gained prominence and therefore brought the punch card reader into the commercial scene as he founded a company known as Tabulating Machine Company (TMC) in 1896 that latter changed trading name in 1924 to International Business Machines (IBM) following a series of business mergers. Punch cards became popular for government and businesses for processing of data until the late 60's. Several engineers made other important advances in the latter years, thus in 1931 Vannevar Bush developed a scientific calculator for going about differential equations. The machine had the ability of solving very complex differential equations that could not be solved by brilliant mathematicians and scientists. The machine was not a simple one given that it had so many gears and shafts that were critical in representing numbers as well as their complex interrelationships. In order to do away with this bulkiness, Professor John V. Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, thought of an electronic computer that would make use of Boolean algebra in its circuit instead of the gears and shafts. This approach was borrowed from the work of George Boole who in the nineteenth century made significant clarifications on the e binary system that characterizes algebra hence any mathematical equations could simply be stated as either true or false. The extension of this idea to electronic circuits that displayed an on and off system, Atanasoff and his graduate trainee developed the very first electronic computer before 1940. Due to loss of funding, their work lost meaning and was overshadowed by the latter similar developments that enabled the production of first, second and subsequent generation of computers (Computers: History and Development 1-3). Conclusion In the modern world, the main defining characteristic of computer that distinguishes it from the earlier ones is that it is highly programmable. It is therefore a complex yet very portable machine that can be transformed with ease to other machines. For example, through installation of new software, a modern computer can serve another assigned function such as Internet gateway and word processor. The uses of a modern computer can be said to be only limited to the imagination of human beings hence computer is a machine that is so unique. The technology behind the computers is very complex and very important to tie to a single moment of invention. The history of this important electronic gadget is therefore as large as to its uses. The historical information demonstrates that there are numerous inventors as well as many firsts which are all worthy of paying attention to and appreciating. Works Cited Computers: History and Development. Web. March 10, 2012 http://www.dia.eui.upm.es/asignatu/sis_op1/comp_hd/comp_hd.htm Ensmenger, Nathan. Early History of Computing Web. March 10, 2012 from http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/hci.html Williams, M.R, A History of Computing Technology Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society Press, 1997 Read More