The computer is defined as any programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data. The very basics of computing can be traced back as early as the 1200's. It was at that time that a Moslem cleric suggested solving problems with a series of written procedures. Computers have increasingly advanced their technology over the years. This is in-part due to many known scientists that develop new and exciting inventions every year. .
The history of computers can basically be broken down into seven time frames beginning with the Mechanical Era and continuing through the Sixth Generation Computers. In the following paper I will attempt to lay out in a logical sequence the events and inventions that take us through the above segments in time. Thus, showing the evolution and history of the computer.
The first segment in time ranging from 1623 through 1945 is known as The Mechanical Era. We can trace back at least to the early 17th century when mathematicians such as Wilhelm Schickhard, Blaise Pascal, and Gottfried Leibnitz designed machines that could solve mathematical problems such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Those computing machines were the very first calculators. In 1623 Wilhelm Schickhard invented the calculating clock. Although, the plans were lost in the war several times the machine was finally reconstructed in working fashion in 1960. It was however, in 1642 that Blaise Pascal was credited for building the first commercial calculator, a hand powered adding machine, the Pascaline. Although it was more limited than the calculating clock it became better known. It was then in the 1670's that Gottfried .
Melanie Kizziar.
Leibnitz attempted to multiply mechanically. Then, at the very beginning of the 1800's Joseph-Marie Jacquard built a loom that weaved by reading punched holes stored on small sheets of hardwood. Those perforated sheets of hardwood were then placed inside the loom which read the pattern of punched holes and created the weave.
