How Computer Was Invented?

Friends, do you know that the person who makes new things in the world become famous. So, do you want to be famous? Anyone can make new things but most of the inventions have been done by great scientists. Each and every thing which we use in our daily lives is either invented or discovered. For example, steam engine is invented and fire is discovered. To become a scientist you have to study and work very hard because they were all qualified and intelligent.

Friends, do you want to know about one such invention? Today we’ll discuss about computers. It is used by us to play games, do shopping, watch movies, search information and many more important tasks.

Friends, computer has become a basic necessity nowadays. I wonder what life would have been without computers. But there was a time when there was no computer. It is a modern invention.

Friends, do you want to know how it all began. Well, it is a long story.

The term computer is derived from the word ‘compute’’ which means to calculate. Computers are versatile calculating machines that can handle different tasks at the same time.

To know about the history of computers, we have to go back to the days when people used the abacus to calculate complex sums. Friends, it is the same abacus which we used during our kindergarten days. It is the first counting device. It was invented about 5000 years ago in China. Do you remember how abacus looked like? Well, it is made up of wooden frame with rods each having beads. The counting on the abacus can be done by sliding these beads across the rods.

Let us now discuss about the Pascaline. It is the first mechanical calculator in the world. Friends, do you know why it is called the Pascaline? It is known as Pascaline because it was invented by Louis Pascal and so it is named after him. It is made up of wheels and gears. It can handle decimal values by rotating a wheel from one to nine steps. It is used for adding numbers quickly. Just like your bicycle has wheels and gears and it is used to travel from one place to another quickly. The meters in taxis nowadays are an example of Pascaline.

Do you know who is called the Father of computer?

Charles Babbage is known as the Father of the Computer. He was a British mathematician who designed Analytical Engine. Do ypu know what Analytical Engine is? Well, it is an engine powered by a huge steam engine. It can handle large amount of data and process them at high speed. Just like your school bag which can store lots of books and you can carry all the books together. He is known as the Father of Computer because he introduced the idea of storing and reading the information before processing. For example before answering the question in your exam, you read the question, understand it and then answer it. All modern computers are based on this concept.

Let us now discuss about the Tabulating machine. This machine is capable of reading data, processing it and giving output. It can read both numbers and letters.

Let us now discuss how modern computers developed generation after generation.

First Generation Computers 

The computers that were developed during the period of 1914 to 1956 are called first generation computers. One of the earliest and largest computers is the Colossus. It was used by the British code breakers during the Second World War to decode any messages.

The first generation computers are very large and expensive as they used vacuum and magnetic drums. They also consumed a huge amount of electricity. The ENIAC and UNIVAC are examples of first generation computers.

Second Generation Computers 

The computers that were developed during the period of 1956 to 1963 are called second generation computers. They are different from first generation computers as they used transistors instead of vacuum tubes as transistors are smaller in size, the computer become smaller in size. They also become faster and cheaper. They also consume less electricity than first generation computers. These computers were generally used in atomic generation industry.

Third Generation Computers 

The computers that were developed during the period of 1964 to 1971 are called third generation computers. They used IC (Integrated Circuit) and smaller transistor and they were placed on silicon chips called semiconductors. This was done to make them faster than the second generation computers. These were also been used by the common man.

You must be thinking that are the computers which we use today are third generation computer? Friends, we use fourth generation computers these days.

Fourth Generation Computers 

The computers that are been developed from 1971 till the present date are called the fourth generation computers. They use microchips. 0 nad1 were coded to do arithmetic operations. They are called Binary numbers as binary means two. These computers are fast and efficient and so they are widely used. The computer on your table is a fourth generation computer. The mouse and joystick were developed during the stage.

These computers can be interlinked together in a network which led to the development of the Internet.

Friends, there are further development in computers as well. They are called the fifth generation computers. They are currently under development and are called supercomputers.

You must be wondering why they are called supercomputers. Well, they are called supercomputers since they have high storage capacity, speed and efficiency. It has many CPUs connected together and can carry out large number of scientific operations in a very short interval of time.

So friends, this was the history of modern computers.