History of the Computer and Internet

By: StormyPeriod: 6th

The First Computer

• In 1939, Konrad Zuse completed the Z2, the first fully functioning electro-mechanical computer. These machines were used to produce secret codes for the German military.

“Debug”

• The term “debug came from Grace Murray Hopper's report of finding an actual bug--a moth--inside a computer and removing it.

When, Why, and Who Invented the Internet

• Internet was invented by DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the late 1960s so that U.S. Department of Defense researchers could share information with each other and with other researchers.

Babbage’s Analytical Engine• An analytical engine is a

programmable calculator designed by British scientist Charles Babbage. After his Difference Engine failed its test in 1833, Babbage started his Analytical Engine in 1834. Because it took a long time to build, a trial model was finally built in 1871, the year Babbage died. Although he never completed it, it was a major advance in computing because it contained the principles of the stored program computer. For example, it provided a conditional statement that would branch somewhere else in the program based on the value being tested. The parts of the engine that were actually built did work however.

Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine

• The tabulating machine was an electrical device designed to assist in summarizing information and, later, accounting. Invented by Herman Hollerith, the machine was developed to help process data for the 1890 U.S. Census.

The ENIAC

• ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, was the first general-purpose, electronic computer. ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the US Army’s Ballistic Research Lab in Pennsylvania.

Programs

• A program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task for a computer.

The First Microcomputer• 1975: Ed Roberts, the "father

of the microcomputer" designed the first microcomputer, the Altair 8800, which was produced by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). The same year, two young hackers, William Gates and Paul Allen approached MITS and promised to deliver a BASIC compiler. So they did and from the sale, Microsoft was born.

The Binary System• The binary system is essential in

technology. The reason is that any electronic circuit can have only two possible states, on or off. A simple example is the light in your room. The switch has only two options, on or off. Another example of a binary system would be Morse code. It also works with only two digits, a dot or a dash. Anything expressed in Morse code is done with these two digits. Electronic circuits work the same way, they are either on or off. And every sequence of these two signals has a certain meaning. Every communication that takes place inside your computer uses this binary system.

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n_was_the_computer_invented• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Wher

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• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_invented_the_Internet&alreadyAsked=1&rtitle=Who_invented_internet

• http://www.answers.com/topic/analytical-engine

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• http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/binary1.html