Evolution of Computers [aboutcomputer99.blogspot.com]

Evolution of Computers [aboutcomputer99.blogspot.com]

11 commission said modern computers were critical to enabling the FBI and intelligence agencies to connect the dots of disparate evidence and prevent attacks. .... Especially if it can easily evolve over time as Moore's Law drastically increases ... 'Sentinel', New FBI Computer System, Finally Tracking Cases -- Years Late And ...

Computers are our world's gateway and information super highway yet they were not always so complex, integrated and involved in our lives. The computer has been slowly developed over centuries and has taken the skills of many inventors. In the search of formalizing a counting mechanism, the concept of positional notation was introduced. In or around 3000BC the Chinese abacus was developed. The abacus was the only computing device in history for over four thousand years. In the 1600s German scientist Wilhelm Schikard invented a device that used eleven complete and six incomplete sprocket wheels that had the ability to add, multiply and divide.

It was not for another three-hundred years that the world first programmable computer was built. The Z1, created by Konrad Zuse in the late 1930s, had all the basics of our modern day computers, such as use of the binary system and separation of storage and control. Unlike the devices we use today, the Z1 weighed a little ov er two thousand pounds. Like the Z1, the ENIAC was very large; its size equaled to that of two semi-trucks and weighed over thirty tons. The ENIAC was built in the US in the mid 1940s by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert and was the first electronic computer.

Over the next few decades the development of computer devices transformed from a machine that took up every bit of space in a room to a device that is as portable as a cellular phone. The Apple and IBM Companies built the first recognizable computers in the late seventies and early eighties. As years go by the size and speed of personal computers have changed for the better.

The internet as we know it has only been around in the last twenty years, yet we depend on it like the air we breathe. The World-Wide Web (WWW) was developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991 and since then has continuously added websites and services that were previously not available to a person from their home. There are a number of things available to you on the Net, you can find anything from simple word definitions to integrated personal or Corporate Training Solutions.

One of the items we, as the latest generation, can say is imperative to our everyday lives is a laptop. Due to their small size and portable functionality, people are able to do almost anything from a number of locations. This feature motivates businesses to offer Enterprise Learning Solutions to their employees. With the flexibility of such devices learning on and off the job is as simple as pressing the power button.

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Question by johannadycristine: In what ways did the world war effort contribute to the evolution of computer? As with many technologies, World War II greatly influenced the development of computers? In what ways did the war effort contribute to the evolution of computer technology? In what ways did the need for secrecy during the war hinder computer development? Best answer for In what ways did the world war effort contribute to the evolution of computer?:

Answer by Feisty
Research IBM and the Holocaust and the Enigma Machine (No, I'm not writing your essay)

Answer by brainstorm
Mainly in the effort to crack German military codes. The first practical electronic computer was Colossus invented at Bletchley Park , England to do in six hours what it would take humans six weeks thus making the information more useful.

Answer by Steven TJ
The Allies developed the Colossus and Enigma to crack codes sent by Nazis. These two machines were the prototypes of computers today and they were advanced, complex calculators. Because this technology is top secret, nobody knew of their existence until much later in the 1950s. During that time, the first computers were developed by the US defense and military and were not available to the general public or private sector companies. It was until the 1970s did they become commercialised by IBM and Apple.

Answer by llordlloyd
Alan Turing, who was working on the Enigma project, imagined a machine that was fed data on two strings, and that produced a predictable output depending on the input. This idea was the very genesis of the binary system. Turing was later persecuted by his own country for being homosexual, and ultimately forced to commit suicide, even though he probably did more than any other single individual to win the war. Military scientists developed simple mechanical computers for difficult targeting (eg, battleships at sea or fast aircraft trying to hit one another), to control radar and so on. These, and radar itself, taught us much about how to actually MAKE the computers, and the miniaturisation of components. Secrecy did not hinder the US and Britain too much because they agreed to share all technology just after Pearl Harbour. In fact, modern anti-competition laws such as patents and copyright are far more restrictive.

[evolution of computers]