The History Of Computers

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The History of Computers Did you ever wonder how computers were developed, or who invented them? Well, computers have come a long way since the first one was built in 1623. Even with all the improvements made over the past 376 years, there are still many future developments anticipated going into the new millenium. As time goes on they are making computers much easier and faster to use.

The very first type of computing machine built was the analog machine. Invented in 1623 by Wilhelm Schikard (german scientist) the analog machine could add, and with the help of logarithm tables, multiply and divide. 19 years later a gentleman by the name of Blaise Pascal invented one that could borrow from column to column allowing it to add and subtract. Only 50 copies of this machine were made. These two types of computers were the start to great developments in computers.

In the early 19th century a specialized type of computer was devised. It was called the loom and is still used in manufacturing today. It used punch cards to program patterns. The patterns output woven fabrics by the loom. This was very useful which is why it is still around today. Not too long after this, Herman Hollerith had pretty much the same idea but used punch cards and devices that read the cards electronically. It was named the tabulator and it was used for the 1890 U.S. census. In 1924 the tabulating machine company joined with other companies to form IBM.

In 1936 amore advanced idea was proposed by British mathematician Alan Turing.

He invented what is now known as the Turing machine. It resembled an automatic typewriter that used symbols for math and logic instead of letters. Also in the 1930's, the Mark I Calculating machine was...