The 12 Biggest Breakthroughs In Computer Technology
TABLE OF CONTENTS Abacus 4 Pascaline Calculator 6 Jacquard Loom 8 Tabulating Machine 10 Atanasoff-Berry Computer 12 Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer 14 Transistor 16 Integrated Circuit 18 Internet 20 Microprocessor 22 Personal Computer 24 Smartphone 26 Fact Sheet 28 Glossary 30 For More Information 31 Index 32 About the Author 32
1 ABACUS BECOMES FIRST MACHINE USED FOR COUNTING We might think of computers as sleek electronic devices with lots of programs and games But a computer is any machine that uses numbers to process information By this definition people have been using computers for thousands of years The first computers came about because people needed a better way to count Before then people counted using their fingers or pebbles As much as 30,000 years ago people made tally marks on bones or sticks But these methods only worked for small numbers People started to develop tools for counting larger numbers In approximately 190 CE the Chinese invented the first machine used for counting The Chinese abacus had a wooden frame 4 with beads that moved along metal rods The beads in each row have a specific value such as ones tens and hundreds The beads can be moved to add subtract multiply and divide This simple device set the stage for more complicated tools to come SALAMIS TABLET Before the abacus merchants used counting boards to calculate large sums One of the earliest known counting boards was the Salamis Tablet Babylonian traders started using it in approximately 300 BCE They drew lines on a slab of marble Columns of lines showed place value Merchants used the tablet to count add and subtract larger numbers
13 Number of vertical wires on a Chinese abacus Each wire has seven beads Introduced in approximately 190 CE in China Used to add subtract multiply and divide Led to more complex machines to process data The abacus is s ill used in The abacus is still used in The abacus is still used in parts of the world for quick parts of the world for quick parts of the world for quick parts of the world for quick math calculations ca cu a o s math calculations math calculations a 5
