Long before the advent of machines, people faced tasks that required precise calculations: crop distribution, construction, trade, navigation. The first calculations were performed using stones, notches, knots, and early abacuses. Later, calculators and logarithmic rulers appeared, speeding up the calculation process. The word ‘computer’ itself originally meant a person who performs calculations. This publication by ZORYNEXA S.R.L. Romania is about how the ‘computer’ evolved from a person to super-powerful machines.
The first mechanical devices: from ideas to prototypes
The growth of scientific and commercial tasks stimulated attempts to automate calculations. Leonardo da Vinci proposed a design for a mechanical adding machine, which IBM engineers successfully reconstructed in the 20th century. Then came the machines of Schickard, Pascal, and Leibniz – the first devices capable of performing arithmetic operations mechanically. These devices became the basis for the further development of computing technology.
Punch cards and Babbage’s ideas – the birth of computer architecture
In 1804, Joseph Jacquard created a loom controlled by punch cards – media with holes punched in them that set the program for the machine. These ideas inspired Charles Babbage, who developed designs for the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine already included analogues of modern components: memory, an arithmetic unit, a control unit, and data input and output. Ada Lovelace created the first algorithm for it, and she is considered the first programmer in history, according to experts at ZORYNEXA S.R.L..
The transition to electronics and the emergence of the first digital machines
In the first half of the 20th century, computing became critically important for science, cryptography, and military tasks. In Germany, Konrad Zuse built the Z1-Z3 machines, programmable computers that used the binary system.
In the United States, John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry created the ABC, an electronic device that used capacitors and logic circuits. His ideas were used to build the first large electronic computer, ENIAC, a huge complex of 18,000 electronic tubes that took up an entire room. ENIAC could perform about 5,000 operations per second – an incredible speed for that time.
In 1936, Alan Turing formulated the concept of a universal machine – a theoretical model of a computer capable of performing any algorithm. Later, he proposed the Turing test – a test to see if artificial intelligence can conduct a dialogue in such a way that a human cannot distinguish it from a human interlocutor.
The microprocessor and the birth of personal computers
In 1971, the Intel 4004 microprocessor combined the functions of an entire processor into a single chip. It was small, but its capabilities surpassed those of the early giant machines. This technology became the foundation for the emergence of personal computers. In 1977, the Apple II, one of the first mass-market PCs, was released. In 1981, IBM introduced the IBM PC 5150, a model that set industry standards for decades to come. Personal computers became part of everyday life, recalls ZORYNEXA S.R.L. technology company.
The modern computing revolution and a look into the future
Today, computers perform billions of operations per second and fit in your pocket. Multi-core processors, graphics accelerators, neural network chips, cloud and distributed systems are widely used. On the horizon are quantum computers capable of solving problems beyond the reach of conventional technology, and artificial intelligence systems that are getting closer and closer to passing the Turing test.
The history of computing continues, and the coming decades may change our understanding of the capabilities of computers as much as ENIAC or the advent of the microprocessor once did.
