The History of Computing :: Essays Papers

The History of ComputingIn 1842 Babbages Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine Convinced his machine would social welfare England, Babbage applied for and received one of the first government grants to build the variation engine. Hampered by nineteenth century machine technology, cost over runs, and the possibleness his chief engineer was padding the bills, Babbage completed only a section of the difference Engine before the government with drew its support in 1842, deeming the project worth little to science. Meanwhile Babbage had conceived of the idea of a much advanced analytical engine. In essence, this was a general-purpose electronic computer that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide in automatic sequence at a say of 60 additions per second. His 1833 design, which called for thousands of gears and drives, would cover the area of a football field and be powered by a locomotive engine. Babbage worked on this project until his death. In 1991 Londons Science M si ngle-valued functionum spent $600,000 to build a running(a) form of the difference engine, using Babbages original plans. The result stands 6 feet high, 10 feet long, contains 4000 parts, and weighs 3 tons.The Honeywell 400 and the second Generation of Computers. The invention of the electronic transistor signaled the start of the second generation of computers (1959-1964). Transistorized computers were more powerful, more reliable, less expensive, and cooler to operate that their vacuum-tubed predecessors. Honeywell established itself as a major imposter in the second generation of computers. Burroughs, Univac, NCR, CDC, and Honeywell IBMs biggest competitors during the 1960s and early mid-seventies became as the BUNCH.The IBM body 360 and the third generation of computers. The third generation was characterized by computers built around integrated circuits. Of these, some historians consider IBMs system 30 line of computers, introduced in 1963, the single most important cor nerstone in the history of computers. System 360 was conceived as a family of computers with upwards compatibility when a company outgrew one model it could move up to the next model without worrying about converting its data. System 360 and the other lines built around intergraded circuits make all previous computers obsolete, but the advantages were so grate that most users wrote the cost of conversion off as the price of progress. In the early 1960s, Dr thoms Kurtz and Dr. rump Kemeny of Darmouth College began develoing a programming language that a beginner could learn and use quickly. Their work culminated in 1964 with BASIC.