The Appearance of the First Computers [aboutcomputer99.blogspot.com]

The Appearance of the First Computers [aboutcomputer99.blogspot.com]

Question by TrueTrueGJH T: How did they program the first computer in the 20th century? It's easy now these days since you have a computer that can program a new computer! But I want to know how the hell they programmed the very first computer. That shit must have been hardcore. Like how the hell did they set values for things, and get key input values, outputs, visual (monitor), how did they program all that when the first computer came out? Best answer for How did they program the first computer in the 20th century?:

Answer by Mike O
Hardcore is right, as usual it was the defense industry that funded it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC It reminds me of Kittyhawk. For the 100th anniversary, they assembled a bunch of aviation engineers, and gave them the same tools that Orville and Wilbur Wright had. The thing the built never got off the ground...

Answer by Mercuri
The first computer was hard-wired. "Programming" it was basically plugging in the wires in a certain way to achieve the desired result. If you're talking about the first computers to use memory for programs and data, then you could actually write 1s and 0s in machine code for the CPU to execute. After that, you could write assemblers to turn a low-level language into machine code for you. After that came compilers that turn high-level languages (like C++ and Java) into assembly for the assemblers to turn into machine code for you.

Answer by Robert
Every computer has a processor and every processor understands "machine language". In fact, processors then and processors now understand only "machine language". That's it. Everything else we use is an abstraction that has to be compiled or parsed back to machine language for the program to run. So the very first computer was programmed in machine language. Not sure if it was CISC (Complex Instruction Set computing) or RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) or some predecessor but every computer we use today still uses processors that only understand machine language. Most are RISC processors. Machine language is really low level stuff. I think the RISC instruction set is only about 80 or so instructions and they include things like "move cursor to right", "move cursor to left", etc., etc. Machine Language is called 1st generation language. The only 2nd generation language I'm familiar with is "assembler" and that is basicly a bunch of syntax built using machine language. 3rd generation languages like C, Cobol, Fortran, etc. are essentially syntax libraries that were built using assembler. 4th generation languages like Python, Ruby, and the rest are basicly just syntax libraries built using C or some other 3rd generation language.

[the first computer]

FF547 ENIAC Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, the first general purpose electronic computer, programmers, punch card, conceived and designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert 1940s,

aboutcomputer99.blogspot.com FIRST COMPUTER ENIAC

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No one who lives in the modern times is allowed to know nothing about the history of one of the most important machines that controls our lives. This machine would be the computer - the machine in front of which we spend lots of hours a day and the machine which has brought so much controversy in our lives because of this.

The first computers were some mechanical machines manufactured by Blaise Pascal or Charles Babbage. In fact, we can even state that these were the machines which set the bases of what we see as computers today. George BOole also had an important impact upon the history of computers due to his theory, according to which there were two states: true and false. In fact, these operations have been named after him.

Claude Shannon was the one who put his theory into practice, combining it with electronic circuits. He was the one who introduced different voltages for each type of such operation. The first computer as we know it was created by Kon rad Zuse, a German engineer, who created the Z3. ENIAC was the next one, a computer which was created for the government of the United States of America, the government using it for calculating trajectories.

The second generation of computers started with the invention of the transistors, which replaced the classic and uncomfortable electronic lamps. This generation brings new micro-programming languages and a lot of models manufactured by IBM.

Last but not least, the third generation led to the great explosion in this domain. This is when the integrated disk was made and this led to the manufacture of the Intel microprocessor. Computers have been evolving ever since, becoming an indispensable object in our lives.

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