As the deadline nears, the student turns on his computer and connects himself to the world of information. The screeching sound and dial tone interrupt his train of thought and leaves him pondering on a question that has captivated many, "Where does this bizarre sound come from?" Had it been an anthem that united the nations in the past, or was it an old ancient language spoken centuries ago? Though its origin is relatively unknown, its sound is universal in meaning: Twenty seconds of a horrendous sound and open is the door to a world of information. Such a simple action was unheard of about a decade ago. When computers only performed simple arithmetic operations, and occupied a whole room.
Since the first computer was developed, countless numbers of advancements have taken place to modernized and adopt computers into everyday life. For better or worse, computers have infiltrated every aspect of our society. Today computers do much more than simply compute. Supermarket scanners can calculate our grocery bill while keeping store inventory. Computerized telephone switching centers play traffic cop to millions of calls and keep lines of communication untangled. Even automatic teller machines (ATM) let us conduct banking transactions from virtually anywhere in the world. Yet as further advances in the computer industry are made and computers continue taking over jobs which were once done by hand, one must wonder, how far is too far?.
From the abacus, the first computing device, to the most advanced NASA mainframes, computers have come a long way in such a short period of time. As mentioned by Mr. Hector Giraudo, 10 year computer engineer at IBM, "Computer's are with out a doubt the beginning of a new era in technology"( ). Size and speed of computers are just the tip of the iceberg on the vast amounts of developments that have occurred, and yet, are the changes most recognized. .
In the 1940's, computers had just begun to emerge from the depths of science.