Computers

Computers

Computers have made life easier for the human race. Americans today take for granted the great impact the computer has on their lives, making things easier, faster, and more convenient for them. Computers helped the world a lot and helped us take a large step into the future. Almost anything you know is run or made by computers, industry, cars, jets, and ect. Computers are the most important innovations in history, without computers the world would not be able to function in the manner today that people are accustom to.

Before there were electronic computers most of the tasks we now do with a computer were done other ways. Computers today have replaced many of the roles that people had once done manually. This is both a positive and a negative, people are losing the jobs they once fulfilled and being replaced by this intelligent machine. It is also creating new opportunities for technology in the workplace and creating new types of jobs involving the computer. "People were once necessary to make written entries, keep accounts, make copies of documents, and do mechanical work" (Aspray 9). Instead of a hard drive on the computer, brains were used to store and manipulate information. The major position that humans were replaced in as computers erupted was clerical work or a clerk.

Many of the tasks performed today require the use of computers, but there was actually a time when they were not necessary. Years ago there was no such thing as a word processor, letters, and reports were all handwritten or produced on a typewriter. When people needed to find information on something, there was no internet to search, but yet a library filled with books for them to peruse. Communication was also quite different, use of the telephone or what is now referred to as "snail" mail, when sending letters through the mail.

In the poem "Life before computers," it humorously states ways in which life was different and has changed before the invention of the computer:

An application was for employment

A program was a TV show

A cursor used profanity

A keyboard was a piano!

Memory was something that you lost with age

A CD was a bank account

Compress was something you did to garbage

Not something you did to a file

And if you unzipped anything in public

You'd be in jail for awhile!

Log on was adding wood to a fire

Hard drive was a long trip on the road

A mouse pad was where a mouse lived

And a backup happened to your commode!

Cut - you did with a pocket knife

Paste you did with glue

A web was a spider's home

And a virus was the flu!

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper

And the memory in my head

I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash

But when it happens they wish they were dead! (PageTutor 1)

The inventing of computers first started out about two thousand years ago. The first step in the making of the magnificent technology was abacus. Abacus consisted of a wooden rack holding two horizontal wires, strung with beads. Abacus's helped us to solve simple arithmetic problems, users did this by studying the programs rules and bead movements. ""Back in the early 1600 to 1800s, people had theories, plans, or ideas of making a device that could do complex problems and mathematics so that they wouldn't keep writing down problems and solve them manually""(Lewis 2). Many people started building a device that could add and subtract, they called this the calculator or computer. The first digital calculator could add and subtract it was created by a mathematician, named Blaise Pascal. As years passed by, newer calculators or computers were being invented. "In 1671, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz invented a small computer, not very advanced, but it could add and multiply" (Lewis 9). Charles Xavier Thomas built a calculator that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide. His invention was the first to become successful. The inventions were inspiration to other people who wanted to continue working to improve the calculator or computer in their own way.

"The first complex computer was ENIAC, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer/Calculator" (Lewis 17). This computer was so big that it took up a large room. ENIAC was invented by Presper Eckert, John W. Maulchy, and their associates. ENIAC was created during World War II, it was used to calculate movement and strategies for the military during the war. It was very helpful for America during World War II.

John Vincent Atanasoff was born on October 4th, 1903. Atanasoff was a professor of mathematics and physics, that had always been interested in finding new ways to perform mathematical calculations at a faster rate. He was the inventor of the electric digital computer. Clifford Berry, a graduate student, and also a gifted engineer helped in assisting Atanasoff in building that world's first electronic computer. ""In December 1939, the first prototype of the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC) was ready"" (Do 2). ""John Vincent Ananasoff gave birth to the field of electronic computing, in doing so, he also gave birth to a new era, an era of computers"" (Do 3).

It is important to know how to use a computer, as a benefit to make your life easier and simpler. A computer collect, processes, stores, and outputs information. An input allows you to communicate with a computer. A key to communicate with a computer. A keyboard, mouse, and scanner are all types of input devices. You provide the input, when you type a command or click on an icon, you are telling the computer what to do. ""The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the main chip in a computer. The CPU processes instructions, performs calculations and manages the flow of information through a computer system. The CPU communicates with input, output, and storage devices to perform tasks"" (Maran 16). A storage device