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Computer History
This category includes questions and answers about the history of the computer. Ask questions about the first computer and major developments in computing.
5,564 Questions
When was the digital computer invented?
Some believe the first such invention occurred in 1944. However, there is strong evidence that the Atanasoff-Berry computer was invented and "reduced to practice" in 1939 at Iowa State University, and that portions were copied by the ENIAC inventors. This was determined in 1973 by a federal court presiding over a patent case between Honeywell and Sperry Rand. In similar developments, Colossus was the first electronic computer (that was developed by the British) to crack the LORENZ codes used by the German high command. The existence of Colossus remained a secret long after WWII. Until recently ENIAC was thought to be the first (although later than Atanasoff-Berry), but the secrecy of Colossus was finally lifted and we find it (and 9 others) were first operational in Jan 1944 while various portions of ENIAC were made operational in the period of June 1944 through October 1945. There are yet others who believe earlier calculators qualify as the first "digital computers".
What was Charles Babbage obsessed with?
Charles Babbage the mathematical inventor didnt have much hobbies excepte making plans for inventions and spendind time with his kids and wife.
How were the first computers programmed?
The very first computers were built for a specific purpose - that is to perform one task only. Essentially, the way they were built was the programming that we know of today and there was no 'software' to speak of. Later, people set about creating a general purpose computer that could serve more than one purpose. The functionality was changed again through modifications to the hardware but this only took days, in comparison to the years it would have took to build the single purpose equivalent.
Eventually computers could be programmed to use software with no changes in the hardware required. These computers contained an instruction set, memory, clock rates and a lot of other things we find in computers used today. Programming was carried out in pure binary (1's and 0's) at first until human friendly equivalents were created. A command of 1101 would equate to LDA (load accumalator). This method was used in majority until the 80's (and still is now, though not as much) when high level languages were introduced that focused on problem oriented tasks.
An Abacus is a device to help do math.It is basically a frame with rods and beads in the rods.One rod will represent ones,the next tens, then hundreds,then thousands.You move the beads up when you want to add and down when you want to subtract.
How much does the altair 8800 cost?
No one knows for sure, but by the end of August 1975, MITS claimed to have sold more than 5,000 Altair 8800s. Ed Roberts, who owned MITS, claimed to have sold more than 40,000 of the computers in total.
How much did he first desktop computer cost?
The first computers had no fixed selling price. They were usually built on cost plus fixed fee contracts, because the people making them could not guess at final cost to build them.
For example the ENIAC was estimated at $50,000 when the Army signed the cost plus contract. The Army eventually payed a bit more than $500,000.
The UNIVAC I original fixed price contracts were for $250,000 but when the machine went into production its actual price was $2,500,000. Remington Rand lost lots of money on the first two UNIVAC's sold as the company had to pay the difference between cost to build and what the customer payed!
What state had the first computer in 1946?
as you are being so precise in your question, i can be very precise in my answer: ENIAC
What is the difference of computer before and now?
Computers before had the same knowledge of present day calculators (or less) and were often the size of a large room. Now computers are smaller, easier to use, hold more memory, can do more advanced and complex computations, much much faster and so on!
The 1957 printing of Webster's New World Dictionary defines:
computer: see calculator
calculator:
1. a person who calculates.
2. a book of tables for calculating.
3. a calculating machine.
Also, computers are smarter and faster these days. A few years ago it took a few days to download something but now it takes a few minutes. Also, if your downloading something you can still do other tasks on the computer because of more RAM. And computers are much more secure now too.
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For me most computers have better graphics and design because of modern technology. Computers change year by year.
Was Charles Babbage a scientist?
Answer:
Charles Babbage was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer! Answer:
Charles Babbage was a mathematician by education, having attained a Master's degree in mathematics from Cambridge University in 1817. Scientists use math extensively in their work, but math and science are not synonymous.
As an inventor, Babbage functioned as a mechanical engineer, using his knowledge of math and physics to create early prototypical computers called the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine.
You could call Babbage a scientist, but he was also a mathematician, inventor, author, and philosopher.
How have computers changed your lives in positive ways?
Computers create an easer way to do things. They make life easer basically. With them we can talk to people, pay bills or rent, go shopping and even receive latest news with out leaving the house. It does a lot for us; money is even exchanged throughout the web.
What were hieroglyphs first used for?
By the ancient Egyptians as a writing system and it was never used for anything before that
What was the first computer to use Microsoft software?
Microsoft's first software was a a BASIC programming language interpreter that they created for the MITS Altair 8800 computer in 1975. Microsoft developed Applesoft BASIC for the early Apple computers (the name being a combination of Apple and Microsoft) before moving on to operating systems first with their UNIX clone called XENIX in 1980 and Windows in 1986.
Advantages of computer modelling?
-It avoids danger and loss of life.
-The result of simulation can be studied under different conditions.
-It is cost effective(Does not cost much as the real experiment).
-The simulation can be operated more quickly than the actual system(Real experiment).
-If the actual experiment (real life) is too fast or too slow you can slow down and or make it operate more quickly to study it's behavior .............
Which computer is largest and storage capacity super computer or main frame?
Supercomputers are by definition roughly 10 times the performance of the fastest mainframe, but sometimes are actually physically smaller to help reduce signal propagation times thereby increasing speed.
Who is the inventor of dot matrix printer?
First developed at Xerox PARC by Gary Starkweather and released in 1971, a laser printer is a type of printer that utilizes laser technology to print images on the paper. Laser printers are often used in corporate, school, and other environments that require print jobs to be completed quickly and in large quantities. To the right is an example of what a laser printer may look like. This picture is of the Lexmark C782n laser printer. Finally, below is a chart of the steps a laser printer takes to print.
What is the first prototype computer?
The prototype for the Atanasoff-Berry computer was demonstrated in October 1939, it used 11 vacuum tubes. The full Atanasoff-Berry computer (the first electronic digital computer) was finished in early 1942, it used 280 vacuum tubes, 31 thyratrons, and was about the size of a desk.
Who designed the Apple I Computer?
The Apple I computer was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. Steve Jobs, Wozniak's friend, came up with the idea of producing more of them and selling them.
What was the name of the person that invented the first computer?
Charles Babbage (26 December
1791 - 18 October 1871)
Charles Babbage was an English
mathematician, philosopher,
mechanical engineer and (proto-)
computer scientist who
originated the idea of a
programmable computer. Parts
of his uncompleted mechanisms
are on display in the London
Science Museum. Working from
Babbage's original plans, a
computer was ultimately built
and functioned perfectly. Built to
tolerances achievable in the 19th
century, the finished engine
indicated that Babbage's
machine would have worked.
Babbage had even designed a
printer; it featured astonishing
complexity for a 19th century
device.
Do not fold spindle or mutilate was written on every punch card who invented the punch card?
actually "do not fold spindle or mutilate" was NOT written on every punched card. the standard IBM card form that they sold the most of was just a plain card with 80 copies of the digits "0" through "9" printed on it and the IBM form number in small print near one corner. the card forms on which "do not bend fold spindle or mutilate" WAS printed on (in large print) were usually billing forms to tell the clerk processing them not to damage them before returning them with the payment so their account could be properly credited for the payment. spindling especially was a very common practice at the time of clerks to keep papers on their desk organized, but it punched a hole in each paper spindled!
the 80 column rectangular hole IBM card was invented in 1924, it is unclear by who, probably a group, as a replacement for Herman Hollerith's 45 column round hole card.
Herman Hollerith's original 1890 punch card was even smaller. I have no idea where the idea it was the size of an 1890 dollar bill came from, I have seen samples of the 1890 census punched cards and they aren't much different in size from an ordinary 3x5 index card.
Why was the first computer virus made?
The very first virus for the PC was developed as a harmless programme which would simply detect whether or not there was enough space on the floppy disk to carry it. Dubbed 'Brain' because it relabelled disks and changed the volume label of the disk to read "©Brain" (after the company where it was created), it was merely written to explore security holes in the operating system of the software being used by the developers.
The virus was written by the Farooq Alvi brothers, in Pakistan. Some sources will incorrectly state that the virus was made to deter piracy of the developers' software, but that was never the intention.
Punch cards are a very old way of programming a computer. The punch card would have long rows of numbers, representing certain instructions. You would punch a hole through the number corresponding to the instruction you wanted to execute. You would then feed the card into the computer, and it would run the program.
What were first generations computers like?
first generation computers were not fast and were less reliable.
Who is the inventor of mark 1?
Grace Hopper invented the Mark 1 computer and she invented the other series of the mark computers also.
Wrong! Grace Hopper had nothing to do with design of the Harvard Mark I as she wasn't even there. Her first contact with it was several months after it was fully operating, when she was hired as its 3rd programmer.
Howard Aiken designed the Harvard Mark I and IBM built it for him using Navy funds.
Hopper did suggest and help design some upgrades to the Harvard Mark I and was influential on other Harvard Mark machines, but she invented none of them.
Hopper did invent many software development methodologies on machines ranging from the Harvard Mark I to the UNIVAC I, including several compilers culminating in FLOW-MATIC, which was the major input used in defining COBOL.
Note that there were several computers identified as Marl 1, not just the Harvard machine. A few examples are:
- Ferranti Mark 1, in Manchester England the first British commercial computer
- Manchester Mark 1, the prototype for the Ferranti Mark 1
- ETL Mark 1, in Japan
Were the early computers used in homes?
The first personal computer, the MITS Altair 8080, was released in 1975 and changed the world forever. A handful of geeks (Bill Gates included) saw this humble $395 kit as the beginning of something big... but nobody knew how big!
The Altair sold a few thousand units in 1975. Today, more than 130 million personal computers are sold each year! How did we get here, and which computer platforms were around for the journey? A lot of people who have come into personal computing recently do not know that there were once many different platforms-- a glance at a 1980 issue of Popular Computing revealed over 100 different manufacturers of incompatible brands!
