Technology is almost impossible to avoid in our everyday lives anymore. Everyone pretty much has a computer. While computers didn't appear overnight, their growth and development has been fast paced over the years. These days, having a computer that is older than a year is considered outdated.
Charles Babbage designed the first computers in the mid-1800s and while these designs were not created in Babbage's lifetime, the designs were persevered. These early computers bear little resemble to the computers that we know but they paved the way for some concepts that are used today. These concepts include separating storage from processing and the logical structures of computers.
These computers were followed by the first electronic computers of the late 1930s. These computers used vacuum tubes. The first general purpose programmable electronic computer was the ENIAC or Electronic Numerical Integrator and computer. This computer, built by J Presper Eckert and John Mauchly was for calculations during the hydrogen bomb designing.
In the 1950s high level programming languages were introduced, including FORTRAN, ALGOL, and COBOL. These higher level computers led to the first two supercomputers were designed for numeric processing in scientific applications. The first commercial available computers were also introduced in the fifties.
In the sixties, one of the most important advances for modern day computers, the microchip and microprocessor were introduced. By the seventies 16 bit models of computers were available. The seventies also brought the first personal computers thanks to the microchip. These allowed computers to be smaller and not take up a whole room like some of their ancestors.
The first laptop was advertised in the eighties and as computers became smaller and lighter became more popular. By the 2000s most households had at least one computer. The rise of mobile computing pushed the popularity of computers even farther. Now most computer functions are available in the palm of the hand by smartphones.
Now in the tablet computer is picking up steam. The trend of faster and smaller computers is still going strong. In one hundred years computing has made big progress. From taking up whole rooms to fitting in the palm of the hand. From doing basic math, to internet, email and more.
The possibilities of computers of the future are unpredictable. While the processing power and size are bound to follow the same pattern, what new features computers may gain are up in the air. Maybe in the next one hundred years we will see computers like the ones we see in sci-phi movies. With the rise of computers comes the rise of crime as well. Next time we will look at the rise of computer crimes.
The information for this post came from here and here.
Firstly, your topic attracts readers. Technology definitely become an important part in our daily life. You used time sequence to show that how computers evolve. Additionally, the picture about evolution of computers directly show how the technology improved.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, you have good introduction in your first paragraph. And in the conclusion, you introduced what would you write about in your next blog. Thus, you can also attract readers to read your next blogs.
Thank you, I thought it would be different topic to cover that many people don't think about. I'm glad that the time sequence worked, I wasn't sure how it would work out. I hope the topic isn't too boring to those not interested in computers. Because everyone could benefit from knowing more about cyber security.
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