Computers in Our World
Our world is constantly evolving. The only thing in life that is constant is change, and Computers are no different. Even though computers have only existed in the last seventy years, many believe computers have changed the world more than any other technological advance. Over the past seventy years, computers have made a quick evolution into our world with several major advancements. Just as with all things, however, there was a beginning to the computer generation.
Computers were invented to solve “complex mathematical problems using calculators within a computer(De la Bedoyere,1). Computers now can do anything within a large box. A desktop computer has many external parts joined together. A computer consist of a mother board,the motherboard controls and processes what is typed and clicked and programs running. The middle of the motherboard consist of all the work being processed. Including work and data which is sent through the motherboard to the Central Processor unit (CPU). The computer has to hold memory also to save things within computers. The Ram is a major component in saving information but only works when the computer, is running. The reason a Ram is used is to save and store information,so that when it is being worked on it wont be erased. A Computer also has external and internal drives that can read information. When the computer came out for personal use, it made it better for communication possibilities(ceruzzi,6,7)
1939 was an imperative year for computers because that was the year that started it all. David Packard and Bill Hewitt, better known today as the extremely popular computer brand Hewitt-Packard, founded their company in a California garage. “Their first product was the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, which rapidly becomes a popular piece of test equipment for engineers.” It did not take long for the HP 200A Audio Oscillator to find fame. From the beginning, computers already changed lives by helping out Mr. Walt Disney himself. “Walt Disney Pictures ordered eight of the 200B model to use as sound effects generators for the 1940 movie ‘Fantasia’ (“Timeline of “).
Of course computers are all about numbers and calculators. One of the main purposes and functions in the beginning of computer creation and still today is the instant addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers. Some would say that computers have made our minds lazy by doing all the math for us, while others disagree saying our world is a more advanced world with them. Either way, the first computer calculator was created shortly after the HP creation. In 1939, Bell Telephone Laboratories completed this calculator, designed by researcher George Stibitz. This creation would not only begin the development of calculators, developing into the ones used by students all over the world, but also advanced calculators used by engineers to help build some of the world’s largest skyscrapers. This was one step in a world of new beginnings (“Timeline of “).
Over the next twenty years computers continued to evolve. However, in 1968 computers experienced a major advancement with the development and release of the personal home computer, which is what most people experience every day. This advancement was, again, made by Hewitt-Packard. “Hewlett-Packard advertised their ‘Powerful Computing Genie’ as ‘The New Hewlett-Packard 9100A personal computer.’” “By 1979 over half a million microcomputers were sold and the youth of the day had a new concept of the personal computer”(“Timeline of”).
1969 marked a major discovery in the computer age. The beginning of the development of the Internet. There were several events, however, that led to the discovery of the Internet. “Many people have heard that the Internet began with some military computers in the Pentagon called Arpanet that year. The theory goes on to suggest that the network was designed to survive a nuclear attack.” Some theorize that even