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{{See also|History of computing hardware}}
{{See also|History of computing hardware}}
{{relevance}}
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The earliest known tool for use in computation was the [[abacus]], and it was thought to have been invented in [[Babylon]] c. 2700–2300 BC. Its original style of usage was by lines drawn in sand with pebbles. Abaci, of a more modern design, are still used as calculation tools today. This was the first known computer and most advanced system of calculation known to date - preceding Greek methods by 2,000 years.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}
The earliest known tool for use in computation is the [[Sumerian]][[abacus]], and it was thought to have been invented in [[Babylon]] c. 2700–2300 BC. Its original style of usage was by lines drawn in sand with pebbles. Abaci, of a more modern design, are still used as calculation tools today. This was the first known computer and most advanced system of calculation known to date - preceding Greek methods by 2,000 years.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}


In c. 1050–771 BC, the [[south-pointing chariot]] was invented in [[History of China#Ancient China|ancient China]]. It was the first known [[gear]]ed mechanism to use a [[differential gear]], which was later used in [[analog computer]]s. The [[China|Chinese]] also invented a more sophisticated abacus from around the 2nd century BC known as the [[Chinese abacus]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}
In c. 1050–771 BC, the [[south-pointing chariot]] was invented in [[History of China#Ancient China|ancient China]]. It was the first known [[gear]]ed mechanism to use a [[differential gear]], which was later used in [[analog computer]]s. The [[China|Chinese]] also invented a more sophisticated abacus from around the 2nd century BC known as the [[Chinese abacus]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}
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In the 3rd century BC, [[Archimedes]] used the mechanical principle of balance (see [[Archimedes Palimpsest#Mathematical content]]) to calculate mathematical problems, such as the number of grains of sand in the universe (''[[The sand reckoner]]''), which also required a recursive notation for numbers (e.g., the [[myriad]] [[myriad]]).
In the 3rd century BC, [[Archimedes]] used the mechanical principle of balance (see [[Archimedes Palimpsest#Mathematical content]]) to calculate mathematical problems, such as the number of grains of sand in the universe (''[[The sand reckoner]]''), which also required a recursive notation for numbers (e.g., the [[myriad]] [[myriad]]).

Around 200 BC the development of gears had made it possible to create devices in which the positions of wheels would correspond to positions of astronomical objects. By about 100 AD [[Hero of Alexandria]] had described an odometer-like device that could be driven automatically and could effectively count in digital form.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wolfram|first=Stephen|title=A New Kind of Science|publisher=Wolfram Media, Inc.|year=2002|page=1107|isbn=1-57955-008-8}}</ref>


The [[Antikythera mechanism]] is believed to be the earliest known mechanical analog computer.<ref>[http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/project/general/the-project.html ''The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project''], The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project. Retrieved 2007-07-01</ref> It was designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in 1901 in the [[Antikythera]] wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and [[Crete]], and has been dated to ''circa'' 100 BC.
The [[Antikythera mechanism]] is believed to be the earliest known mechanical analog computer.<ref>[http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/project/general/the-project.html ''The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project''], The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project. Retrieved 2007-07-01</ref> It was designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in 1901 in the [[Antikythera]] wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and [[Crete]], and has been dated to ''circa'' 100 BC.

Revision as of 15:33, 26 April 2018

History of computing
Hardware
Software
Computer science
Modern concepts
By country
Timeline of computing
Glossary of computer science

The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables. The timeline of computing presents a summary list of major developments in computing by date.

Concrete devices

Digital computing is intimately tied to the representation of numbers.[1] But long before abstractions like the number arose, there were mathematical concepts to serve the purposes of civilization. These concepts are implicit in concrete practices such as :

Numbers

Eventually, the concept of numbers became concrete and familiar enough for counting to arise, at times with sing-song mnemonics to teach

Piraha language), and even some animals like the blackbird can distinguish a surprising number of items.[3]

Advances in the numeral system and mathematical notation eventually led to the discovery of mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squaring, square root, and so forth. Eventually the operations were formalized, and concepts about the operations became understood well enough to be stated formally, and even proven. See, for example, Euclid's algorithm for finding the greatest common divisor of two numbers.

By the High Middle Ages, the

trigonometric functions. By the time of Isaac Newton's research, paper or vellum was an important computing resource, and even in our present time, researchers like Enrico Fermi would cover random scraps of paper with calculation, to satisfy their curiosity about an equation.[4] Even into the period of programmable calculators, Richard Feynman would unhesitatingly compute any steps which overflowed the memory of the calculators, by hand, just to learn the answer.[citation needed
]

Early computation

Main article:
Timeline of computing hardware 2400 BC–1949
See also: History of computing hardware

[relevant?]

The earliest known tool for use in computation is the Sumerianabacus, and it was thought to have been invented in Babylon c. 2700–2300 BC. Its original style of usage was by lines drawn in sand with pebbles. Abaci, of a more modern design, are still used as calculation tools today. This was the first known computer and most advanced system of calculation known to date - preceding Greek methods by 2,000 years.[citation needed]

In c. 1050–771 BC, the

Chinese abacus.[citation needed
]

In the 5th century BC in

Ashtadhyayi which was highly systematized and technical. Panini used metarules, transformations and recursions.[5]

In the 3rd century BC,

The sand reckoner), which also required a recursive notation for numbers (e.g., the myriad myriad
).

Around 200 BC the development of gears had made it possible to create devices in which the positions of wheels would correspond to positions of astronomical objects. By about 100 AD Hero of Alexandria had described an odometer-like device that could be driven automatically and could effectively count in digital form.[6]

The Antikythera mechanism is believed to be the earliest known mechanical analog computer.[7] It was designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, and has been dated to circa 100 BC.

Mechanical analog computer devices appeared again a thousand years later in the

castle clock, which is considered to be the first programmable analog computer.[13]

During the Middle Ages, several European philosophers made attempts to produce analog computer devices. Influenced by the Arabs and

Gottfried Leibniz
(early 18th century), who developed his ideas further, and built several calculating tools using them.

Indeed, when

Bernoulli numbers
, a complex calculation requiring a recursive algorithm. This is considered to be the first example of a true computer program, a series of instructions that act upon data not known in full until the program is run.

Several examples of analog computation survived into recent times. A

air
both as the analog quantity and the controlling element. Unlike modern digital computers, analog computers are not very flexible, and need to be reconfigured (i.e., reprogrammed) manually to switch them from working on one problem to another. Analog computers had an advantage over early digital computers in that they could be used to solve complex problems using behavioral analogues while the earliest attempts at digital computers were quite limited.

Smith Chart is a well-known nomogram
.

Since computers were rare in this era, the solutions were often hard-coded into paper forms such as nomograms,[14] which could then produce analog solutions to these problems, such as the distribution of pressures and temperatures in a heating system.

Digital electronic computers

Main articles: History of computing hardware and History of computing hardware (1960s–present)

The “brain” [computer] may one day come down to our level [of the common people] and help with our income-tax and book-keeping calculations. But this is speculation and there is no sign of it so far.

— British newspaper The Star in a June 1949 news article about the EDSAC computer, long before the era of the personal computers.[15]

None of the early computational devices were really computers in the modern sense, and it took considerable advancement in mathematics and theory before the first modern computers could be designed.

The first recorded idea of using digital electronics for computing was the 1931 paper "The Use of Thyratrons for High Speed Automatic Counting of Physical Phenomena" by C. E. Wynn-Williams.[16] From 1934 to 1936, NEC engineer Akira Nakashima published a series of papers introducing switching circuit theory, using digital electronics for Boolean algebraic operations,[17][18][19] influencing Claude Shannon's seminal 1938 paper "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits".[20]

The 1937 Atanasoff–Berry computer design was the first digital electronic computer (though not programmable), and the Z3 computer from 1941, by German inventor Konrad Zuse was the first working programmable, fully automatic computing machine.

Turing-complete
programming systems.

During World War II, ballistics computing was done by women, who were hired as "computers." The term computer remained one that referred to mostly women (now seen as "operator") until 1945, after which it took on the modern definition of machinery it presently holds.[21]

The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) was the first electronic general-purpose computer, announced to the public in 1946. It was Turing-complete,[citation needed] digital, and capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems. Women implemented the programming for machines like the ENIAC, and men created the hardware[21].

The

Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, and ran its first program on 21 June 1948.[22] The first stored-program transistor computer was the ETL Mark III, developed by Japan's Electrotechnical Laboratory[23][24][25] from 1954[26] to 1956.[24]

The

microcomputer revolution
.

The 1980s brought about significant advances with microprocessor that greatly impacted the fields of engineering and other sciences. The

TI 99/4
computer.

Late 1980s and beginning in the early 1990s we see more advances with actual computers to aid with actual computing.[clarification needed] In 1990, Apple released the Macintosh Portable, it was heavy weighing 7.3 kg (16 lb) and extremely expensive. It was not met with great success and was discontinued only two years later. That same year Intel introduced the Touchstone Delta supercomputer, which had 512 microprocessors. This technological advancement was very significant as it was used as a model for some of the fastest multi-processors systems in the world. It was even used a prototype for Caltech researchers who used the model for projects like real time processing of satellite images and simulating molecular models for various fields of research.

Navigation and astronomy

Starting with known special cases, the calculation of logarithms and trigonometric functions can be performed by looking up numbers in a

W.J. Eckert
systematized the use of interpolation in tables of numbers for punch card calculation.

Weather prediction

The numerical solution of differential equations, notably the

Navier-Stokes equations
was an important stimulus to computing, with
weather forecasts.[citation needed
]

Symbolic computations

By the late 1960s, computer systems could perform symbolic algebraic manipulations well enough to pass college-level calculus courses.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Digital Computing - Dictionary definition of Digital Computing | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  2. ^ W., Weisstein, Eric. "3, 4, 5 Triangle". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2017-09-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ISBN 0-416-53860-6
    .
  4. ^ "DIY: Enrico Fermi's Back of the Envelope Calculations".
  5. doi:10.1016/0024-3841(78)90076-1
    .
  6. ISBN 1-57955-008-8
    .
  7. ^ The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project. Retrieved 2007-07-01
  8. ^ "Islam, Knowledge, and Science". University of Southern California. Archived from the original on 2008-01-19. Retrieved 2008-01-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0498.1976.tb00214.x
  10. ^ Simon Singh, The Code Book, pp. 14-20
  11. ^ "Al-Kindi, Cryptgraphy, Codebreaking and Ciphers". Retrieved 2007-01-12.
  12. doi:10.1016/S0094-114X(01)00005-2
    ..
  13. History Channel, archived from the original on March 1, 2014, retrieved 2008-09-06 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help
    )
  14. ^ Steinhaus, H. (1999). Mathematical Snapshots (3rd ed.). New York: Dover. pp. 92–95, p. 301.
  15. ^ [1]
  16. doi:10.1098/rspa.1931.0102
  17. ^ History of Research on Switching Theory in Japan, IEEJ Transactions on Fundamentals and Materials, Vol. 124 (2004) No. 8, pp. 720-726, Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan
  18. ^ Switching Theory/Relay Circuit Network Theory/Theory of Logical Mathematics, IPSJ Computer Museum, Information Processing Society of Japan
  19. ^ Radomir S. Stanković, Jaakko Astola (2008), Reprints from the Early Days of Information Sciences: TICSP Series On the Contributions of Akira Nakashima to Switching Theory, TICSP Series #40, Tampere International Center for Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology
  20. ^ Radomir S. Stanković (University of Niš), Jaakko T. Astola (Tampere University of Technology), Mark G. Karpovsky (Boston University), Some Historical Remarks on Switching Theory, 2007, DOI 10.1.1.66.1248
  21. ^ a b Light, Jennifer S. (July 1999). "When Computers Were Women". Technology and Culture. 40: 455–483 – via JSTOR.
  22. ISSN 0958-7403
    , retrieved 19 April 2008
  23. ^ Early Computers, Information Processing Society of Japan
  24. ^ a b 【Electrotechnical Laboratory】 ETL Mark III Transistor-Based Computer, Information Processing Society of Japan
  25. ^ Early Computers: Brief History, Information Processing Society of Japan
  26. ^ Martin Fransman (1993), The Market and Beyond: Cooperation and Competition in Information Technology, page 19, Cambridge University Press
  27. ^ a b c Federico Faggin, The Making of the First Microprocessor, IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine, Winter 2009, IEEE Xplore
  28. ^ Nigel Tout. "The Busicom 141-PF calculator and the Intel 4004 microprocessor". Retrieved November 15, 2009.
  29. ^ Aspray, William (1994-05-25). "Oral-History: Tadashi Sasaki". Interview #211 for the Center for the History of Electrical Engineering. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
  30. ^ "Computers | Timeline of Computer History | Computer History Museum". www.computerhistory.org. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  31. ^ Conner, Stuart. "Stuart's TM 990 Series 16-bit Microcomputer Modules". www.stuartconner.me.uk. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  32. ^ Charney, Fjörtoft and von Neumann, 1950, Numerical Integration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation Tellus, 2, 237-254
  33. ^ Witman, Sarah (16 June 2017). "Meet the Computer Scientist You Should Thank For Your Smartphone's Weather App". Smithsonian. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  34. ISBN 978-0262013925
    .

External links

British history links

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