|
The history of computers starts from about 2000 years ago, at the birth of the Abacus, a wooden rack holding two horizontal wires with beads strung on them. When these beads are moved around, according to the programming rules memorized by the user, all regular arithmetic problems can be done. Another important invention around the same time was the Astrolabe, used for navigation. In 1671, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz invented a computer which was built in 1694. It could add, and, after changing some things around, multiply. Leibniz invented a special stepped gear mechanism for introducing the addend digits, and it is still being used. In the 1960's, efforts to design and develop the fastest computer with the greatest capacity reached a turning point with the LARC machine, built for the Livermore Radiation Laboratories of the University of California by the Sperry - Rand Corporation, and the Stretch computer by IBM. The LARC had a base memory of 98,000 words and multiplied in 10 Greek MU seconds. The trend during the 1970's was, to some extent, moving away from very powerful, single - purpose computers towards a larger range of applications for cheaper computer systems. Most continuous-process manufacturing firms, such as petroleum refining and electrical-power distribution systems, now used computers of smaller capability for controlling and regulating their jobs. In the 1960's, the problems in programming applications was a barrier to the independence of medium sized on-site computers, but gains in applications programming language technologies removed these obstacles. Application languages were now available for controlling a large range of manufacturing processes, for using machine tools with computers, and for many other things. Moreover, a new revolution in computer hardware was under way, involving decrease of computer-logic circuitry and of components by what are called large-scale integration techniques. Many companies, such as Apple Computers and, Radio Shack introduced very successful PC's in the 1970s. In the 1980s some resistance occurred in the crowded PC field, with Apple and IBM keeping strong. In the manufacturing of semiconductor chips, the Intel and Motorola Corporations were very competitive in the 1980s, although Japanese firms were making strong economic advances, especially in the area of memory chips. Microprocessors equipped with read-only memory (ROM), which stores constantly used, unchanging programs, now performed an increased number of process-control, testing, monitoring, and diagnosing functions, like automobile ignition systems, automobile-engine diagnosis, and production-line inspection duties. Cray Research and Control Data Inc. dominated in the field of supercomputers, or the most powerful computer systems, through the 1970s and 1980s. In the early 1980s, however, the Japanese government announced a gigantic plan to design and build a new generation of supercomputers. The computer field continues to experience huge growth. Computer networking, computer mail, and electronic publishing are just a few of the applications that have grown in recent years. Advances in technologies continue to produce cheaper and more powerful computers offering the promise that in the near future, computers or terminals will reside in most, if not all homes, offices, and schools.
Related Items:
|
