The Influence of Computers on History and the Daily Human Life

Computers have been very influential in daily life, they are in everything from cell phones to cars. They have been influential in history as well. They have been used in wars, business, banking, and so much more. A computer is a device that is used to do, or help with math. The complexity of the math it does can be as simple as adding, or as complicated as multiple equations per second, running a complex program. Dictionary.com defines a computer as, “a programmable electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations.” This definition describes a modern computer, but computers of the past were much simpler, and less powerful. Computers have been used throughout history, from the abacus, to the computer i'm typing this on. They have changed over time, allowing more complex equations to run at the same time. Computers like the abacus were used to do business, while future computers, like Colossus used during WW2, was used for code breaking. They have changed history, starting from before 1100 BC, when the abacus was in common use.

Computers today are smaller and stronger than the computers before, the Colossus was huge, like the name suggests, it weighed 5 tonnes. Today computers can be anywhere from huge servers to small microchips like in a cell phone or calculator. They still influence daily life like they did in the past. They are used for news, communication, education, entertainment, and more. A microchip in a cell phone today is stronger than the Colossus, which was the size of a living room. We can predict the future with the past. History repeats itself, we must learn from what has already happened. From the abacus, to the modern PC, technology has changed drastically. We invented new things, that built off of old things, to make newer things, so we can keep making new things. The computer was made, and that led to a plethora of new inventions. Without vacuum tubes, we would have never made transistors. We can assume that, due to the history of computers that they will continue to get better and smaller for years to come.

The first known calculating device is the abacus, it was used for businesses, and allowed math to be done easier. It is still in use today, especially in asia. The abacus used beads, that were given different values, in order to represent large values, without large amounts of beads. It allowed for people to do math easier and was used in transactions and bookkeeping. Abacuses were the stepping stones for more complex calculators and computers. One of the most important things that developed calculating devices further, was Logarithms. Logarithms allowed people to turn Multiplication into division, this is because, “the logarithm of the product of two numbers is equal to the sum of the logarithms of the numbers” - Britannica. Mathematicians soon used this to their advantage by making tools in order to do complex multiplication.

Soon people made devices that would make it easy to use logarithms. There were tables and devices made to use logs. One of these devices was called the slide rule, and it was used to simplify the process of using logarithms. It was used mainly by the scientific community. In 1623, the first calculator was built by Wilhelm Schickard. He described it to a friend in a letter, and in a later letter he told how it was destroyed in a fire along with the prototype. Modern engineer took details from his letters, and recreate a working model. It may not have been the first, a century beforehand Leonardo da Vinci made plans for a calculator, that was constructed based on his notes. The first constructed and used calculator was the Pascaline, built by Blaise Pascal, a french mathematician, in 1642. It could only add and subtract, and it was made for his father, who was a tax collector. In 1671, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, a mathematician, created the Step Reckoner. It built on the Pascaline and did multiplication with repeated addition and shifting. In 1820, during the industrial revolution, Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar made the first commercial calculator. It was called the Arithmometer, and it could do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It was big, and covered an entire desktop.

Charles Babbage invented The Difference Engine, a computer used for automated production of Logarithm tables used for navigation. The tables of the time often had errors, and it could endanger sailors. The Difference Engine made the tables more accurate, making it safer for sailors. It could do multiple calculations, and had a temporary memory, similar to today, but it was different because it could only do one job, one set of calculations. Babbage got a government grant from the British government in order to fund the project, making one of the first government grants for research and technology. Sadly, it was never completed, as funding ran out, and the machinist building it refused to work without being prepaid.

Babbage thought of ways to improve the Difference Engine, and when the funding ran out in 1833, he had come up with a more general machine, capable of other calculations. He called it the Analytical Engine, it was a major development in computer technology, and worked the same as modern computers. It was made up of the mill, the store, the reader, and the printer. It works exactly like a modern CPU, the mill was the processor, the store was the memory, and the reader and printer was input and output. Sadly once again, it was never built, there was a lack of funding and technology.

Howard Aiken was a harvard professor that had read about Babbage’s analytical engine. He planned out 4 computer that were based on different technologies. He made changes to Babbage’s design based off of new technological advancements. He used electromagnetic relays and vacuum tubes. He decided against using plugboards, which was how data was routed manually. He worked with IBM between 1939 and 1944 to make a computer that took three to six seconds to add two numbers. Alan Turing attempted to solve mathematical equations with algorithms using a machine. The machine is called the Turing machine. He tried to design it so that it could calculate values other than numbers, like logical values. He wanted to make a universal computation device, and inspired others to think of the possibility of one.

John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built a prototype computer in 1939. It could Add and Subtract, as well as store data in capacitors. They began building a bigger and better computer afterwards, called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, or ABC. They continued building until it was discontinued due to WW2. In the time period of 1940 to 1946, George Stibitz and some others built the first computer network. They connected computers together with telephone lines. They could work remotely and server more than 1 user. It used slow mechanical relays that made it less powerful compared to electronic switches. World War Two gave a reason for computer research. In Britain, computers were useful in code breaking. They helped break codes used by Germans, made by devices like the Enigma. The first computer made to break these codes was the Colossus, a massive computer. Alan Turing, the person behind the Turing machine, worked on the project, called the Ultra project, working to break the codes.

Computers developed over time, vacuum tubes changed to transistors, and computers got smaller and faster. They moved from uses in scientific settings, to home use. They continued to advance, from calculators, to computers capable of storing data, playing games, simulations, and so much more. Computers today are more powerful than ever in history, capable of displaying information graphically, and playing sounds, all while doing complex math to make that work. Computers today are more than 100 times as powerful as before, and less than 1/100 of the size. They can do more, and do it better than before. The computers of today are built off of the computers of the past. Without them we wouldn’t have modern computers. Computers have went from only being used by scientists and a few others, to being used in daily life.

Computers are now used all the time in daily life. We listen music on it, we type essays on it, we do nearly everything with a computer. Phones, cars, thermostats, printers; almost everything today uses computers. The internet is all around us, and it is made up of computers called servers, which is how we access data that we use every day. The past often repeats itself. When it comes to computers, there past is long, and full of advancement. Computers got better over time. They got smaller and more compact, whilst at the same time getting stronger and more complex. They are now better than ever before, with people being able to program them to do almost anything.
Computers have a bright future. Likely they will continue to get better, and they will continue to get smaller. They will allow for more, better programs, and become even more a part of daily life. They will be more accessible to everyday people, and they will be used to do more.

Computers have been very influential in daily life, they are in everything from cell phones to cars. They have been influential in history as well. They have been used in wars, business, banking, and so much more. A computer is a machine that is used to do math. Modern computers do math rapidly, though older ones took longer. Past computers were less powerful than modern ones, but were important for the invention of modern computers. Computers have been used throughout history, from the abacus, to the computer i'm typing this on. They have changed over time, allowing more complex tasks to be complete. Computers have changed history, changing the outcome of war, and allowing for more discoveries to be found. Computers have improved throughout their existence, and made more things capable.

Computers today are smaller and stronger than the computers before, the Colossus was huge, while today’s computers are small enough to fit in your hand. They are important to daily life and are used for news, communication, education, entertainment, and more. A microchip in a cell phone today is stronger than computers of the past, which was the size of a living room. We can predict the future with the past and history repeats itself, we can assume that computers of the future will be better and more compact than computers today. Computer technology changed drastically through time, and it has gotten better. We can assume that, due to the history of computers that they will continue to get better and smaller for years to come.