Computersight -

The alarm rings! Bob gets up and turns it off. Then he dresses and starts walking toward the computer. He suddenly hears a beeping sound and remembers that he set the coffee maker to have coffee ready when he wakes up. He goes to the dishwasher, pulls out a coffee mug and pours himself some coffee. Bob then checks the weather. He also checks his email. Then he gets up, grabs his coat, and runs out the door. He gets into his car and drives to work. As you can see by this short story, our modern world revolves around computers.

The first automatic calculating machine was made in 1642. It was invented by Blaise Pascal. It used sets of wheels and gears to perform addition and subtraction. In the early 1670’s, Gottfried Leibniz improved Pascal’s calculating machine. Leibniz made it possible for this machine to also do multiplication and division. He also developed the binary numeration system.

In 1801, Joseph Jacquard made a punched-card system. This machine could create complex woven patterns. It used a pattern of holes through which needles with thread rose and fell.

Charles Babbage invented a mechanical computer in the 1830’s that could perform complex calculations. The sad thing was he didn’t have the funds to build it.

A new punched-card system was invented in 1888 by Heramn Hollrith. It was used to add up the results of the 1890 U.S. census. In 1 day 56 of these machines stored the information of more than 6,000,000 people.

The first special-purpose computer was invented in 1944 by Howard Aiken. This computer was controlled by electrochemical relays. Aiken called it the Mark 1.

One of the first general purpose digital computers was invented by J Eckert and John Mauchly in 1945. They called it the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer(ENIAC). It took up the space of more than 1.500 sq. ft. and used more that 150 kilowatts of power. It could do more that 5,000 additions and 1,000 multiplications in one second.

J. Eckert and John Mauchly invented an even better computer in 1951. They called it the Universal Automatic Computer(UNIVAC). It could compute numbers and letters equally well. It was put in the U.S. Census Bureau and used to calculate the results from the 1952 Presidential election. Within 45 minutes after the polls closed, it already had the results.

In 1975, the first personal computer was made. It was called the Altair.

Also in 1975, Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded the Microsoft Corporation. The first thing they did was make programs for the Altair.

IN 1977, Apple Computer, Inc., was founded by Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs. Wozniak and Jobs also invented the Apple 2 in 1977. The Apple 2 was the second personal computer.

By the mid 1990’s, it was estimated that 1/3 of all households in the United States had personal computers.

There are four main kinds of computers. These are personal computers, mainframes, embedded computers, and dedicated computers.

Personal computers are computers that are small enough to fit on a desktop. They are the most common computers. They are usually used in the home or in smaller businesses.

Portable personal computers are also very common. These include laptops, notebooks, and palmtops. Laptops or notebooks have about the same power as desktops, where as palmtops have less power but are quite smaller.

The second kind of computer is the mainframe. Mainframes are the largest kind of computers. Of course this means they are also the most powerful. Mainframes are usually built into cabinets. They can store huge amounts of data and can handle complex operations.

Embedded computers are computers that are built onto the device they control. They are built into cars, airplanes, robots, telephones, watches, children’s toys, and many other devices.

Dedicated computers are computers that are programmed to do only one thing. Another name for the would be special-purpose computers. Examples of dedicated computers include word processors and arcade game stations.

As most of you already know, a computer is made up of may parts. The five main parts of a computer are the microprocessor, memory chips, output devices, input devices, and storage devices.

The microprocessor consists of millions of transistors, wires, and many other electronic parts arranged into circuits. This is built onto a chip, usually made of silicon, that is no larger that you fingernail.

Memory chips are used to hold data and instructions for the computers. There are two kind of memory chips. There is the read only memory(ROM), and the random access memory(RAM).

ROM memory chips are used to hold instructions that the computer uses repeatedly. They hold ther memory even when the computer is turned off. The computer user cannot change the memory of a ROM chip.

RAM memory chips are used to store information that is currently need bye the computer. They hold their memory only when the computer is on. RAM chips memory can be changed bye the computer user.

Output devices show the work done bye the computer. The main output devices include monitors, printers, plotters, and speakers.

Monitors are used to display animation and video. They are much like television screens. Monitors can display millions of different colors.

Printers are used to produce pictures or symbols on paper. There are 3 main kinds of printers. These are the laser printer, the ink jet printer, and the dot matrix printer.

Plotters are used to make drawings, diagrams, and graphs on the computer. They use special pens to draw on the computer.

Speakers are used to produce sound. They play the sound files that they get from the computer.

Input devices are used to give information or instructions to the computer. The 7 main input devices are keyboards, trackballs, light pens, touch screens, scanners, microphones, and the mouse.

Storage devices are used to hold data. Hard disks, floppy disks, tapes, and Cd’s are all storage devices.

There are many ways in which we use the computer. Some we don’t even notice and we just take them for granted. We use computers in work and for entertainment. Banks use computers to keep track of their records and the money of millions of other people. Many industries use them to store the orders they get from people. They also use mini computers in things like cars, appliances, and airplanes. Carpenters use them to make blueprints and also to accurately calculate very large numbers. Our government uses them to store the information of many people. They also use the to add up election results.

Computers are used all over the world as a source of entertainment. You can play games or surf the web to learn about all kinds of things.. Email is used to send letters or other files to anybody with an email address and you don’t even have to pay postage.

As for all you readers, I hope you learned at least a little about computers and their history.