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Author Topic: Computer class, first computer?  (Read 16347 times)

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Cityscape

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Computer class, first computer?
« on: April 16, 2010, 03:56:13 PM »
What was the first computer? I'll be teaching an elementary school computer class on Monday. And I'm going to do a bit about the history of computers (followed by Hardware & operating). Any kind help is appreciated. I think someone did a really good thing on the history, I think it might have been Mulreay, would anyone know how to find that?

2x3i5x



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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2010, 04:24:53 PM »

rthompson80819



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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2010, 04:27:33 PM »
Also read this from right here on CH.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm

harry 48



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Geek-9pm


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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2010, 05:08:30 PM »
First digital computer was the Abacus.   :P

harry 48



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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2010, 07:48:13 AM »
First digital computer was the Abacus.   :P


going back still , what about stones set out on the ground to count them

Cityscape

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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2010, 01:00:27 PM »
Thanks for the help guys.  8)

The first digital computer was Harvard’s Mark I.

harry 48



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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #7 on: April 18, 2010, 01:07:10 PM »
Thanks for the help guys.  8)

The first digital computer was Harvard’s Mark I.

no problem

your question was:- the first computer not digital  ;D

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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #8 on: April 18, 2010, 01:43:46 PM »
Thanks for the help guys.  8)

The first digital computer was Harvard’s Mark I.

Not viewed from this side of the Atlantic. The British Colossus was earlier, but you won't be told that in an American school. (anyone remember the U-571 movie?)

British Colossus - electronic, first run December 1943
American Mark I - electro-mechanical, first run May 1944

The IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), called the Mark I by Harvard University,  was probably the last electro-mechanical computer. The British Colossus computers, used for decoding German encrypted messages, were the world's first programmable, digital, electronic, computing devices. They used vacuum tubes (thermionic valves) to perform the calculations and thus were not only earlier, but more modern than the Mark I. They were kept secret for many decades which led to claims of "firsts" in computing that later turned out to be incorrect.

In fact if you allow electro-mechanical calculating machines like the Mark I to be called "computers", then I think that the German Konrad Zuse's Mark 3 of 1941 has a prior claim.


Cityscape

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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #9 on: April 18, 2010, 01:46:11 PM »
Not viewed from this side of the Atlantic.
Really? I got this from a British source.

Salmon Trout

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Re: Computer class, first computer?
« Reply #10 on: April 18, 2010, 01:47:52 PM »
Really? I got this from a British source.

Not a very well-informed one, it would seem. Would you care to name it?

Treval



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    Re: Computer class, first computer?
    « Reply #11 on: April 18, 2010, 02:32:20 PM »
    A computer is something that computes.. i.e. calculates.

    Salmon Trout

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    Re: Computer class, first computer?
    « Reply #12 on: April 18, 2010, 02:34:47 PM »
    Get your English lessons chez les belges... avec frites alors !

    rthompson80819



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    Re: Computer class, first computer?
    « Reply #13 on: April 18, 2010, 02:36:26 PM »
    You should mention something about difference engines, which were the first sophisticated calculators, and which were built about 100 years earlier.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine

    harry 48



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    Re: Computer class, first computer?
    « Reply #14 on: April 18, 2010, 02:44:50 PM »
    quote salmon trout :- Not viewed from this side of the Atlantic.

    you will never win that one everything here came second , we did not invent anything in the world , or start football , hockey , racing , car racing , the list go'es on , they were all started somewhere else , i just forget which country