Week 2-A short history of Computing and the internet

I found this weeks lecture quite interesting although we didn't get through the lot. I was happy that i got to learn about the history of computers and the birth of the first computer. We take these sophisticated machines for granted but got no clue about their origins. Well now i know.

Turns out the inventor of the first digital computer was Charles Babbage who was born in 1971. Babbage came up with the plans for the analytical engine, the forerunner for the modern digital computer. It wasn't until the 1950's where computers were first commercially produced by IBM and were used for military, government and corporate work. It is amazing to see how computers have come such a long way. They started off looking like large boxes and now the modern computers can fit into a hand bag. As i was on youtube i came across an interesting slide show about Charles Babbage's analytical computer engine and thought i'd share it with you all!

In this new device, he dreamed of performing any mathematical operations based on the instructions from punched cards (memory unit to store numbers), sequential control and other operations. However Babbage was unable to complete the Analytical Engine, until his notes were discovered in 1937.

Besides the Analytical Engine and calculator inventions, Babbage created dynamometer, standard railway gauge, heliograph ophthalmoscope, Greenwich Time signals, occulting lights at the lighthouse and the locomotive cowcatcher. He is also credited for establishing the modern postal system in England.