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History of Computers
Today's computers have the ability to process, store, and share large quantities of information. They were preceded by a wide variety of inventions attempting to do similar tasks. Some succeeded better than others.
Information Processing
Today's computers are responsible for a great deal of the world's information processing and sharing. A long history leads to this modern era of desktop computers. Centuries ago, people used knotted string and piles of pebbles to help them count. The abacus is a simple but powerful aid to counting and computation and has survived for thousands of years. It is still in use.
During the last century, a number of mechanical calculators, such as that developed by Blaise Pascal, were invented. In the mid-1800s, Charles Babbage developed plans for a device he called the analytical engine. Although his device was never completed, the analytical engine was designed to use gears and steam to process and store information. It was a true predecessor to today's computer.
The field of electronics has generated many new ideas for devices to process information. Electronic components work faster and more efficiently than mechanical devices. The vacuum tube provides an on/off switch that is much more efficient than mechanical switches had been. Using vacuum tubes, the first truly electronic-based computer was created. The electrical numerical integrator and calculator—the ENIAC—used 18,000 of these switches.
The computers your students use bear little resemblance to ENIAC or Babbage's Analytic Engine. The computers they use are fast, small, and powerful. The software and hardware available to students combines to provide machines capable of doing many different tasks in amazingly short periods of time. The computer, which was first perceived as an aid to calculation, has quickly become an aid to communication.
Information Storage
To communicate with one another, early humans developed complex oral languages. A spoken language, while an effective system for sharing ideas, is limited in application. People have to be within hearing distance of each other to communicate. The creation of a symbolic or written language removed this limitation. Information could now be stored. Once ideas could be put into written form, people could communicate across distances. A progression of inventions evolved to assist people with information storage. Clay tablets, scrolls, books, and the printing press are all part of this evolution.
Information storage is important in the history of computing, and the Jacquard loom that stored fabric patterns on punched cards provided a crucial step. The punch card storage idea was adopted by Herman Hollerith for the 1890 U.S. Census. Hollerith's invention led to the modern punch card which was used for information storage on the computers that existed in the 1960s and 1970s.
People now use a wide range of information storage devices, such as books, audiotapes, videotapes, still photos, and computer-based technology, to store and disseminate information. Storage of information using a computer consists of two different types of memory—long-term and temporary. Long-term storage is necessary to keep information. Hard drives, CD-ROMs, floppy disks, and magnetic optical disks are examples of long-term storage devices.
During the processing of information by computers, some information storage is temporary, but equally important. Special integrated circuits called memory chips are often dedicated to the task of temporary storage of data. The technology used by today's computers for information storage is more flexible and has more capacity than any earlier form of information storage.
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