Computer History

I think this deserves a medal. It took me so long to get this together.

                                             Computer timeline


1642 - Blaise Pascal (France) makes a numerical wheel calculator, an early mechanical adding machine.
1694 - Gottfried von Liebniz, Germany, makes a machine that can multiply numbers.
1820 - Charles Xavier de Colmar, France, makes an ‘arithometer’ that can add, subtract, multiply and divide.
1822 - Charles Babbage, England, devises his difference engine.
1829 - Wheatstone uses punched paper tape to store data
1834 - Babbage conceives the analytical Engine
1889 - Hollerith’s punch card machine used in the US census
1928 - IBM adopts 80-column punched card
1944 - Harvard’s Mark I, first digital computer
1952 - Univac computer accurately predicts the US election winner
1953 - First IBM electronic digital computer (IBM 701)
1956 - First hard disk drive (IBM). Term “artificial intelligence” devised
1958 - First chess game between computer and human
1960 - USA has 6’000 computers
1963 - ASCII (American standard code for information Interchange) introduced
1967 - IBM releases floppy disk
1970 - Douglas Engelbart patents first computer mouse
1971 - Intel builds the microprocessor “computer on a chip” Wang 1200, worlds first word processor
1972 - e-mail invented by Ray Tomlinson. First electronic video game, Pong
1975 - Microsoft founded by William H. Gates, later to become the worlds richest person.
1976 - First Apple computer Cray-1, first supercomputer
1979 - Compuserve launches first commercial bulletin board (BBN) service
1980 - USA has more than one million computers. First laptop computers
1981 - First Nintendo home video game. Commercial introduction of the computer mouse. Microsoft introduces software for IBM personal computers
1982 - Worldwide, 200 computers connected to the internet
1983 - USA has more than ten million computers
1984 - Apple Macintosh computers launched
1985 - Microsoft ships win 1.0
1986 - USA has more than 30 million computers
1988 - 4.7 million microcomputers, 120,000 minicomputers and 11,500 mainframe computers sold in USA
1989 - 100,000 hosts on the net
1990 - World Wide Web described by Tim Berners-Lee. First palmtop computer
1991 - First use of the phrase “surfing the net” by Jean Armour Polly
1993 - Mosaic, the first graphical internet browser
1994 - 135 million P.C’s worldwide. First adds on the ‘world wide web’ (ad for wired magazine claimed as first)
1995 - Amazon.com Internet bookseller founded. Microsoft’s internet explorer browser launched
1998 - Computer Hope created by Nathan E. The company offers free technical support, computer product information, free online forums, computer product buying tips, third-party computer company information, driver listing, computer dictionary, news, and a weekly computer newsletter.
1999 - 150 million people use internet worldwide (more than half in USA)
2000 - Dot-com crash
2001 - AOL subscribers reach 29 million worldwide
2004 - More than 2.8 million ipod digital music players sold


You can fill in the rest yourselves I'm tired 

See you put your life and sole in and you get nothing out!  I have it saved to a word doc so I'll attach it to my grave stone!

[Moderator]

That'll be a good sized stone...

That'll be a good sized stone...

I want a mountain. Or a small stone. Not sure yet, as long as it has my name on it.

So what happened in 2005?

You missed the Aztecs and the Egyptians and the Chinese and the....

There were way more before 1642.

You missed the Aztecs and the Egyptians and the Chinese and the....

There were way more before 1642.

Yes I forgot about the Egyptian duo core processors. silly me. 

Yes I forgot about the Egyptian duo core processors. silly me. 

Can you tell that I'm getting bored?

Can you tell that I'm getting bored?

Oh yes. It's that part of the day where there are no new 'good' topics coming in so we just talk random thoughts.

You have thoughts?

*bows down and worships*

You have thoughts?

*bows down and worships*

Come on guys what can I put for 2005-2009?

It doesn't matter, you missed the old stuff.  There actually were computers prior to 1 BC, the Egyptians had them.  They were actually hand held.

It doesn't matter, you missed the old stuff.  There actually were computers prior to 1 BC, the Egyptians had them.  They were actually hand held.

lol

lol

I actually didn't mean that to be funny.  The Chinese also had the Abacus.

A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.

The abacus does not qualify.

Actually a computer is something that performs mathematical calculations.
The first computers were human:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer#History_of_computing

But still, the abacus probably doesn't qualify. But a human with an abacus would.

But a human with an abacus would.

That's like saying a person with a pen and a piece of paper is a computer.

That's like saying a person with a pen and a piece of paper is a computer.

Yes

Yes

No there human.

You don't seem to get that the term computer is older than the electronic machines we today call computers. Up to the early 20th century a computer was a human being. They were essentially made obsolete by the very thing that also took over their name, electronic computers.

But that doesn't change the fact that even today, a human doing calculations, be it with an abacus, pen and paper, or just with his brain, is computing and therefore is a computer.

A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.

Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945). These were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs). Modern computers based on integrated circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space. Simple computers are small enough to fit into a wristwatch, and can be powered by a watch battery. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as "computers". The embedded computers found in many devices from MP3 players to fighter aircraft and from toys to industrial robots are however the most numerous.

The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile, distinguishing them from calculators. The Church–Turing thesis is a mathematical statement of this versatility: any computer with a certain minimum capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can perform. Therefore computers ranging from a mobile phone to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational tasks, given enough time and storage capacity.

Try reading the next section of that wikipedia article.
"The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in 1613, referring to a person who carried out calculations, or computations, and the word continued to be used in that sense until the middle of the 20th century. From the end of the 19th century onwards though, the word began to take on its more familiar meaning, describing a machine that carries out computations."

Try reading the next section of that wikipedia article.
"The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in 1613, referring to a person who carried out calculations, or computations, and the word continued to be used in that sense until the middle of the 20th century. From the end of the 19th century onwards though, the word began to take on its more familiar meaning, describing a machine that carries out computations."

If I agree will you stop posting?

No of course not, but I'll stop hassling you on this subject.

No of course not, but I'll stop hassling you on this subject.

lol good for you! 

Teach: to help others learn
Teacher: a person who teaches.


Compute:make a mathematical calculation

Computer can be taken to mean "a Person who calculates". The fact that the word has been sodomized into the technical vernacular of PC techs doesn't mean that the word takes on that jargonism in general usage.

So I take it people can't compute then? when I say 2+2=4, it's sheer luck that I end up with the same result as a computer; sicne people can't compute.

Give me a break. "Compute" basically means to "calculate" so I take it that all cold calculating killers use a computer for the "calculating" bit?

Also if the Abacus isn't a computer I'd like to know why it get's a paragraph in my encyclopedia article for "computer".

Teach: to help others learn
Teacher: a person who teaches.


Compute:make a mathematical calculation

Computer can be taken to mean "a Person who calculates". The fact that the word has been sodomized into the technical vernacular of PC techs doesn't mean that the word takes on that jargonism in general usage.

So I take it people can't compute then? when I say 2+2=4, it's sheer luck that I end up with the same result as a computer; sicne people can't compute.

Give me a break. "Compute" basically means to "calculate" so I take it that all cold calculating killers use a computer for the "calculating" bit?

Also if the Abacus isn't a computer I'd like to know why it get's a paragraph in my encyclopedia article for "computer".

ok I stand corrected. Sorry BC and Pragma you were right.

[Moderator]

A PC and an Abacus if both left sitting alone with no Human intervention are not calculators or computers...

Pass the pipe.

A PC and an Abacus if both left sitting alone with no Human intervention are not calculators or computers...

Pass the pipe.

I agreed to seem more accessible.

I'm still waiting for the pipe...

I'm still waiting for the pipe...

BC is hogging it.

heh

"jargonism"

Nice listing of history dates Mulreay sorry I don't have the ability to give you a Medal. I know how much work researching history dates can take.

You may also find this section of Computer Hope interesting.
http://www.computerhope.com/history/index.htm

They were essentially made obsolete by the very thing that also took over their name, electronic computers.

Tell this to the accountants!   

Nice listing of history dates Mulreay sorry I don't have the ability to give you a Medal. I know how much work researching history dates can take.

You may also find this section of Computer Hope interesting.
http://www.computerhope.com/history/index.htm

I never new that was there. Sorry Nathan never meant to steal your thunder. To be fair yours is better than mine 

I never new that was there. Sorry Nathan never meant to steal your thunder. To be fair yours is better than mine 

he sed its all right man theres no need to worry

I never new that was there. Sorry Nathan never meant to steal your thunder. To be fair yours is better than mine 

I never took it as you stealing my thunder, mainly just though with you taking the time to create your great list that you'd also find that section useful if you didn't know about it.