Evolution of Computing Technologies - Assignment Example

Download file to see previous pages... The present research has identified that Science in History: From the Abacus to the Modern Computer defined abacus as the first form of computing device since it addressed the foremost need of the ancient man - counting.  Timeline of Computing History provided the information that it was invented in Babylonia in 3000 B.C. Josh and Patrick highlighted the structure of the device and stated that 10 beads were strung onto the wires which were fixed in a wooden frame. It was considered to the first manual device to perform arithmetic operations, such as addition and subtraction. It stored the results on an extreme end of the device. Blaise Pascal is considered to be the inventor of the first mechanical calculator that performed addition operations. White stated that this machine was invented in 1642 and became known as the “Pascaline”. The machine had metal wheels that could be turned to denote desired digits. The answers to the addition operation used to appear at the top of the calculator. Charles Babbage invented the analytical engine that is considered to be one of the most remarkable contributions in the evolution of computing technologies. Josh and Patrick stated that the simplified arithmetic operations by breaking them into two parts; ‘arithmetic unit’ performed the calculations and ‘store’ recorded the intermediate and final results of the calculations. Such sequenced form of operations forms the basis of modern computers. According to Copeland, he designed the analytical engine in 1833 that read the instructions from punched cards. The first generation of computers was witnessed from 1941 to 1958. According to History of Computers: 3000 BC to Present; Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC) was invented during this era. It is considered to be the first successful commercial computer. These computers were designed to only perform the functions for which they had been made, for example, this machine was only capable of handling business data processing. Copeland provided the information that this machine was sold to the US census bureau. Gray stated that the size of UNIVAC was about 14 feet by 8 feet by 8.5 feet high. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More