PC TECH PLANET: COMPUTER A Brief History

The history of computers is very long. Human beings always try to find ways to make their work easier and faster. Previously they did not have to perform complex calculations. As they began to change their lifestyle and their needs grew more and more they had to calculate much more complex calculations and the need for better calculating devices arose. Some of the devices which was developed are being described here.

• ABACUS : ABACUS was the first calculating device which was invented in China about 3000 years ago. It was used for counting. ABACUS consists of wooden frame in which wires are attached and beads are stung on these wires. Calculations were done by moving beads up and down. It is still used in some of the countries.
• PASCAL'S ADDING MACHINE : This was the first mechanical device made from gears, wheels and dials. This was invented by Blaise Pascal, a young Frenchman in 1642. It was used to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
• JACQUARD'S LOOM : Jacquard was a weaver who invented automatic loom. This loom used punched cards to produce and designs on a cloth.

• CHARLES BABBAGE ENGINE : in 1833, Charles Babbage invented an engine called Differential Engine on which modern computers are based. This machine was able to do all the calculations like subtraction, division, and multiplication automatically. Charles Babbage is called as father of computers.
• MARKS-I : It was the first electromechanical computer developed by Professor Haward Aiken of Harvard University in 1944. Mark-I was the first machine which could perform automatically, according to the instructions without any manual interference. This machine performed three addition operations, one subtraction operation and one multiplication operation per second.
• ENIAC : ELECTRONIC NUMERICAL INTEGRATION AND CALCULATOR, popularly known as ENIAC was developed by J.P. Eckert and J. Mauchty in 1946. It was the first electronic and digital computer. This could perform calculations at a very high speed , was huge in size and needed a large amount of power which produced a lot of heat.
• UNIVAC-1 : UNIVERSAL AUTOMATIC COMPUTER-1, was the first commercial computer by United States. It was effectively, an updated version of ENIAC. Data could be input using magnetic computer tape. It also used vacuum tubes.