| 18th Century History |
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Articles and Products of History Early Calculators and ComputersMany historians disagree as to when the first computer was created. It is commonly known that the Chinese had a tool for counting called the Abacus over one thousand years ago. The Abacus was the earliest form of a calculator on record. Many Chinese still use the Abacus today instead of a calculator or computer.
A computer is run by what is called binary code. The simplest way to describe binary code is that they are all ones or zeros. Each letter in the alphabet and each number one through ten are assigned a series of ones and zeros. For instance, a B might be three zeros and two ones. But how would a bunch of zeros and ones help the human race? It all had to do with the speed of processing the binary code. Now we had the code but what about the hardware to process the code? The first documented, programmable computer, was invented by Konrad Zues in the late 1930s this computer was called the Z1. As the years went by America entered World War two, the need for deciphering machines brought on a spurt of hardware invention. Although more of a mechanical computer the Germans developed a machine to code and decipher their battlefield messages. This machine was called the Enigma. The vacuum tube was the next leap forward for the computer. In the mid 1940s Mauchly and Eckert developed the ENIAC computer. It is estimated this computer had thousands of vacuum tubes. The size of the ENIAC was massive it took up a whole floor of a building. Two other major issues for the ENIAC were cost and heat. The cost of the ENIAC kept the computer out of the hands of the regular businessman. This as we know would change over time. The heat issue is still something we deal with in our present computers. Although vacuum tubes are no longer used it is still important to keep the present day chips cool, for them to function properly. One can only imagine the stifling heat in the first computer labs. Today computers are lightweight inexpensive and self cooled. The future of the computer is bright; currently over thirty percent of the households in North America have a computer. That number will continue to grow and our childrens children will most likely grow up with a computer both in their home and classroom. Further Reading
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