What is Computing?

Algorithm

A precise sequence of instructions for processes that can be executed by a computer

Compiler

A program that translates instructions or code into a language that can be read and understood by a computer.

Computer

An electronic device that performs calculations by following and executing specific instructions to solve a problem.

Ada Lovelace

Considered to be the first computer programmer, wrote a computer language for the Analytical Engine.

John Mauchly & Presper Eckert

Designed the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, the first general purpose electronic digital computer.

Abacus, Analytical Engine, ENIAC, IBM Laptop

Earliest types of computers from earliest to most recent

Alan Turing

English mathematician who conceived of the Turing machine and broke German codes during World War II

ENIAC

First general purpose electronic computer, designed to calculate artillery firing tables for Army and for calculations of hydrogen bomb.

Charles Babbage

Known as the "Father of Computers" - developed the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine which was powered by steam to move punch cards.

Mark Dean

Led the design team responsible for creating the first one-gigahertz computer processor chip.

Grace Hopper

This member of the US Navy came up with the idea for a compiler, a program that translates human readable code into machine language.

Turing Machine

a mathematical model of a hypothetical computing machine that can use a predefined set of rules to determine a result from a set of input variables.

Analytical Engine

design of a mechanical general-purpose computer, ran off of punched cards but never completed.

UNIVAC

first commercially successful electronic digital computer

Difference Machine

this device could produce a table of numbers. It could be used by ship's navigators. Never manufactured.