CHAPTER1 The Interconnections Problem 6 Timeline CONTENTS CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 Early History From People to Machines Calculating Machines The Second Generation One Chip Portable Computers The Future of Computing CHAPTER 8 ESSENTIAL FACTS 100 GLOSSARY 102 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 104 SOURCE NOTES 106 INDEX 110 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 112
CHAPTER 1 THE INTERCONNECTIONS PROBLEM Computers Computers are everywhere today But these modern machines have existed for only a few decades The first electronic digital computers were created in the 1940s for military purposes and they were costly room filling machines The military needed computers for activities such as breaking enemy code and performing calculations to improve the accuracy of artillery fire By the 1950s computers were being mass produced for business government and scientific use but they were still very large and very expensive One key technology that helped reduce the size and cost of computers was the transistor invented in 1947 and used in the wildly popular transistor radio in the mid 1950s
Sac LeoCO poo See Rabadell The military used early computers such as the RCA Typhoon to guide missiles ships planes and submarines KAAM
