Computer History - Part 1

Punch Cards

Wooden or cardboard pieces with punched holes in predefined positions; used to store and process information in early calculating and computer devices.

Stepped Reckoner

Cylindrical wheel with a movable carriage: add, subtract, multiply, divide, square roots

Ada Lovelace

She is considered to be the first computer programmer. She wrote a computer language for the Analytical Engine.

Polynomials

The relationship between several variables.

Pre-Computed Tables

A lookup table that can be used by an algorithm to avoid repeated computation each time it is executed.

Slide Rule

An everyday mathematics tool for adding and subtracting integers and fractions

Analytical Engine

1st mechanical computer. Ran off of punched cards. Created by Charles Babbage, but never completed by him.

Abacus

A calculator that performs arithmetic functions by manually sliding counters on rods or in grooves.

United States Census

A count of all U.S. inhabitants done every ten years.

Difference Engine

A wholly mechanical computer with only wheels, cogs, and gears invented by Charles Babbage.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

German philosopher and mathematician who invented the Stepped Reckoner.

Herman Hollerith

He invented the "Tabulating Machine." The Tabulating Machine used punch cards to store information. It was later used to tabulate the U.S. Census.

Charles Babbage

He is known as the "Father of Computers." He developed the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine. These two machines were powered by steam to move the punch cards and operate the gears. His ideas were later used to design calculators and computers.

IBM

International Business Machines, was part of the historic shift to a mass consumer economy after World War II, and symbolized another momentous transformation to the fast-paced "Information Age."

Tabulating Machine

Made for the US Census using electricity and punch cards to store info.