Computers And Society :: essays research papers

Computers and SocietyThe decade of the 1980s saw an explosion in data processor engineering and computer usage that deeply changed society. Today computers are a part ofeveryday life, they are in their simplest form a digital play along or more complexlycomputers manage power grids, telephone networks, and the money of the world.Henry Grunwald, former US ambassador to Austria best describes the computersfunctions, It enables the mind to ask questions, decide answers, takeknowledge, and devise plans to move mountains, if not worlds. Society hasembraced the computer and accepted it for its many powers which can be used forbusiness, education, research, and warfare.The first mechanical calculator, a governing body of miserable beads called theabacus, was invented in Babylonia around 500 BC. The abacus provided the fastestmethod of calculating until 1642, when the French scientist Pascal invented acalculator do of wheels and cogs. The concept of the juvenile computer wasfirst o utlined in 1833 by the British mathematician Charles Babbage. His designof an analytical engine contained all of the necessary components of a moderncomputer enter devices, a memory, a control unit, and output devices. Most ofthe actions of the analytical engine were to be done through the use of lapedcards. Even though Babbage worked on the analytical engine for nearly 40 years,he never actually made a working form.In 1889 Herman Hollerith, an American inventor, patented a calculatingmachine that counted, collated, and screen out information stored on punched cards.His machine was first used to help sort statistical information for the 1890United States census. In 1896 Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Companyto affirm mistakable machines. In 1924, the company changed its name toInternational Business Machines Corporation. IBM made punch-card officemachinery that dominated business until the late 1960s, when a new generation ofcomputers made the punch card machines obs olete.The first fully electronic computer used vacuum tubes, and was so secretthat its existence was not revealed until decades after it was built. Inventedby the face mathematician Alan Turing and in 1943, the Colossus was thecomputer that British cryptographers used to break secret German military codes.The first modern general-purpose electronic computer was ENIAC or the electronicNumerical Integrator and Calculator. Designed by two American engineers, JohnMauchly and Presper Eckert, Jr., ENIAC was first used at the University ofPennsylvania in 1946.The invention of the transistor in 1948 brought about a revolution incomputer development, vacuum tubes were replaced by small transistors thatgenerated little heat and functioned perfectly as switches. Another deep find in computer miniaturization came in 1958, when Jack Kilby designedComputers And Society essays research papers Computers and SocietyThe decade of the 1980s saw an explosion in computer technology andcomputer usa ge that deeply changed society. Today computers are a part ofeveryday life, they are in their simplest form a digital watch or more complexlycomputers manage power grids, telephone networks, and the money of the world.Henry Grunwald, former US ambassador to Austria best describes the computersfunctions, It enables the mind to ask questions, find answers, stockpileknowledge, and devise plans to move mountains, if not worlds. Society hasembraced the computer and accepted it for its many powers which can be used forbusiness, education, research, and warfare.The first mechanical calculator, a system of moving beads called theabacus, was invented in Babylonia around 500 BC. The abacus provided the fastestmethod of calculating until 1642, when the French scientist Pascal invented acalculator made of wheels and cogs. The concept of the modern computer wasfirst outlined in 1833 by the British mathematician Charles Babbage. His designof an analytical engine contained all of the necessary com ponents of a moderncomputer input devices, a memory, a control unit, and output devices. Most ofthe actions of the analytical engine were to be done through the use of punchedcards. Even though Babbage worked on the analytical engine for nearly 40 years,he never actually made a working machine.In 1889 Herman Hollerith, an American inventor, patented a calculatingmachine that counted, collated, and sorted information stored on punched cards.His machine was first used to help sort statistical information for the 1890United States census. In 1896 Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Companyto produce similar machines. In 1924, the company changed its name toInternational Business Machines Corporation. IBM made punch-card officemachinery that dominated business until the late 1960s, when a new generation ofcomputers made the punch card machines obsolete.The first fully electronic computer used vacuum tubes, and was so secretthat its existence was not revealed until decades after it was built. Inventedby the English mathematician Alan Turing and in 1943, the Colossus was thecomputer that British cryptographers used to break secret German military codes.The first modern general-purpose electronic computer was ENIAC or the ElectronicNumerical Integrator and Calculator. Designed by two American engineers, JohnMauchly and Presper Eckert, Jr., ENIAC was first used at the University ofPennsylvania in 1946.The invention of the transistor in 1948 brought about a revolution incomputer development, vacuum tubes were replaced by small transistors thatgenerated little heat and functioned perfectly as switches. Another bigbreakthrough in computer miniaturization came in 1958, when Jack Kilby designed