History Essay Since the beginning of time there has been a need for oneself to keep track of ones trading transactions by applying some method to calculate in a fair and accurate manner. Merchants trading goods not only needed a way to count goods bought and sold but also to quickly the cost of g...
During the late 1940s, the U.S. government sponsored substantial research in computer technology leading to the development of the ENIAC, the first electronic computer utilizing von Neumann's famed "stored program" concept. ... The lab was headed by Carl Eckert, a noted astronomer who was the first to use "computers" in order to perform astronomical computations. ... When I interviewed for a position in the Math department, I also found out that Elliott Montroll had joined the division as head of a special department known as "General Sciences department", dedicated to very exploratory re...
The inspiration for the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, occurred in the early 1930's when Mauchly, long frustrated with the slow pace of traditional calculators, began thinking of building his own calculating machine. ... In the summer of 1942, Mauchly and Presper Eckert drafted a "proposal titled "The Use of High Speed Vacuum Tube Devices for Calculation". ... They decided their "machine would have three parts: one to handle the math, one to be the memory, one to be a controller. ... It weighed 30 tons, occupied 1,800 square feet of floor, and was 1,000 times f...
It also contained a "mill" with a control unit that allowed processing instructions in any sequence, and output devices to produce printed results. ... His first task was to find a faster way to compute the U.S. census. ... It was slow, taking three to five seconds per calculation, and inflexible because sequences of calculations could not change, but it could perform basic math and also more complex equations. ... One of its impressive early achievements was predicting the winner of the 1952 presidential election, Dwight D. ... The first machines to take advantage of this transistor t...
From the first computer, software has become more important. ... People use them to make math easier with calculators, and use them to withdraw money on the go with ATM machines. ... The first one is composed of writing, music, and film, which are covered by copyright. ... Current patent laws also make it more costly to develop new software such as new input software to replace mouse devices. ... For instance, in what may be a virtual reality future, the glove might be the input device. ...
