The Creation of the Computer (part I)

The history of computing covers 160 years. The early years from 1830-1950 were considered its infancy. The last 40 years have seen the acceptance of the computer in the business world by corporations. In the last 10 years the personal computer has been accepted by individuals.

Charles Babbage invented the difference engine and the analytical engine. The difference engine was used in finding errors in handwritten tables. The analytical engine was designed for mathematical computations. This machine had five features found in today’s computers. These five features are:

1. An input device;

2. A storage place;

3. A processor used for calculations;

4. A control unit used to direct tasks;

5. An output device.

The Countess of Lovelace, Augusta Ada Byron was the firs programmer. Herman Hollerith’s tabulation machine allowed the 1890 census unofficial counts to be announced in six weeks. The principal difference between Hollerith’s machine and earlier machines was its use of electricity. The Hollerith Code was used in punched cards. This coding structure is rarely used today. IBM was formed through the merger of three companies, one being Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine Company.

Thomas J. Watson, Sr. was the father of IBM and was noted for his iron-fisted ruling of the company. Watson built a sales and marketing force that dominated the business machine market. He lead the company into computers in 1936 by give $1, 000, 000 to Howard Aiken. Aiken read Lady Lovelace’s notes and felt a modern day machine could be built resembling the analytical machine.

Howard Aiken developed the Mark I and unveiled it in 1944. the size of the computer was impressive an 8 feet and 55 feet long. IBM presented the new computer with massive publicity in fact, the machine did very little more than military computations.

ENIAC was created based upon the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) principals. ENIAC was first general purpose computer to use secondary storage and the stored program. This machine was the base for the UNIVAC I.

The Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC I) was the first commercially sold computer. The U.S. Census purchased it in June of 1951. The vacuum tube was used as the primary computer component during the first generation of computers. Punched cards and magnetic tape were used for secondary storage. The major problem with these early computers was the enormous amount of heat from the vacuum tubes.

Exercise 1. Find theUkrainian equivalents for the given words and word combinations:

1. the business world 1. пристрій введення

2. in finding errors 2. ринок ділових машин

3. was designed for 3. комп’ютери загального призначення

4. programmer 4. пристрій виведення

5. the principal difference 5. діловий світ

6. the business machine market 6. для пошуку помилок

7. general purpose computers 7. математичні розрахунки

8. an input device 8. програміст

9. an output device 9. був призначений для

10. mathematical computations 10. основна відмінність

Exercise 2. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words given below:

1. features; 2. use of electricity; 3. computing; 4. coding structure; 5. general purpose computer; 6. the primary computer component; 7. for secondary storage.

1. The history of … covers 160 years.
2. This machine had five … found in today’s computers.
3. ENIAC was first ….
4. Punched cards and magnetic tape were used ….
5. The principal difference between Hollerith’s machine and earlier machines was its ….
6. This … is rarely used today.
7. The vacuum tube was used as … during the first generation of computers.

Exercise 3. Put 8 questions to the text.