How did computers evolve ?

Question

How did computers evolve ?

Answer 1

natural selection. the weaker forms (tandy TRS-60, commodore series and RF-2) died out and only 2 were left the IBM and the Apple.

Answer 2

Back about 1970 a NASA Physicist showed me a computer in a large building that went all the way around the room. I'm not sure of the rooms size anymore. (About thirty by forty feet) and it had all of those spinning items you can see in some old movies or reports.  And in the middle of the room was a new computer that was three feet X three feet X four feet. And he was so proud of it because the new smaller one could do all that the great big one could.

  Today we could probably put all that the new one could do in the palm of our hands.

Answer 3

It decided to sprout a mouse. Then it decided to grow a keyboard. Then it decided to install Windows 98. Then it decided to get a virus and die.

Answer 4

took the evolution of humans for computers to evolve ;p

Answer 5

Through the adaptation of the human brain to more technical matters.

The more the brain evolved the more it could invent/improve on things

Answer 6

in a way un answerable by yahoo answers, but we can point you in the correct direction, start of with a search of computers on wikipedia

Answer 7

Mankind imitating nature. First there was the Abacus. Then the calculator, and on and on.

Answer 8

by hundreds of Japanese scientists

working round the clock

to improve on the latest tech knowledge

and then the Japanese electrical engineering  company's

are given the blueprints

for a improved comp system

by making a smaller faster and better computer

than the last edition,it originated from mathematicians

Answer 9

We started out using a flip-flop (called a mono-stable multivibrater by Brits back then) to indicate if something was on or off.  We used vacuum tubes to build banks of these to store information but they created lots of heat, used too much power & were very big  for the small amount of info they stored. Then we discovered a means of storing the information on a magnitized iron core by sending a pulse to magnitize the core or de-mmagnitize said core (this was called core memory).  Core memory was a big step up from the flip-flop, but 4K bytes filled a box about the size of today's PC. Chuckle, 512MB would fill an entire floor of a standard office building.

During the 50s the transistor arrived, making the flip-flop smaller & much easier to use, and reducing power use.

Card readers & paper tape readers/punches became the "fast" methods of entering programs & assy language programming replaced machine language programing (where we entered the program 1's & 0's from the front panel switches).  Later higher level program languages like Fortran & Cobol made programming much faster & easier.

In the mid 60s Texas Instruments produced the 1st "micro-chips" & although they were slow, expensive & typically contained fewer than 30 devices, they drastically reduced the size of the average computer.

I'll cut this short & move to apple & IBMs introduction of the 1st home user class of computers in the early 80s. If you have further questions address them & I will give you specifics... as I designed many computers & peripheals in the era you are refering to.

Answer 10

If I could draw a picture of it, it would be the opposite of the Evolution of man, where the computer starts huge and beefy but evolves to a tiny handheld device.

Answer 11

"Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention.  

This series covers many of the major milestones in computer history (but not all of them) with a concentration on the history of personal home computers.



Computer History

Year/Enter Computer History

Inventors/Inventions Computer History

Description of Event

1936 Konrad Zuse - Z1 Computer First freely programmable computer.

1942 John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry

ABC Computer Who was first in the computing biz is not always as easy as ABC.

1944 Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper

Harvard Mark I Computer The Harvard Mark 1 computer.

1946 John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly

ENIAC 1 Computer 20,000 vacuum tubes later...

1948 Frederic Williams & Tom Kilburn

Manchester Baby Computer & The Williams Tube Baby and the Williams Tube turn on the memories.

1947/48 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain & Wiliam Shockley

The Transistor No, a transistor is not a computer, but this invention greatly affected the history of computers.  

1951 John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly

UNIVAC Computer First commercial computer & able to pick presidential winners.

1953 International Business Machines

IBM 701 EDPM Computer IBM enters into 'The History of Computers'.

1954 John Backus & IBM  

FORTRAN Computer Programming Language The first successful high level programming language.

1955

(In Use 1959)

Stanford Research Institute, Bank of America,  and General Electric

ERMA and MICR The first bank industry computer - also MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) for reading checks.

1958 Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce

The Integrated Circuit Otherwise known as 'The Chip'

1962 Steve Russell & MIT

Spacewar Computer Game The first computer game invented.

1964 Douglas Engelbart

Computer Mouse & Windows Nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end.

1969 ARPAnet The original Internet.

1970 Intel 1103 Computer Memory The world's first available dynamic RAM chip.

1971 Faggin, Hoff & Mazor

Intel 4004 Computer Microprocessor The first microprocessor.

1971 Alan Shugart &IBM

The "Floppy" Disk Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.

1973 Robert Metcalfe & Xerox

The Ethernet Computer Networking Networking.

1974/75 Scelbi  & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 5100 Computers The first consumer computers.

1976/77 Apple I, II & TRS-80 & Commodore Pet Computers More first consumer computers.

1978 Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston

VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software Any product that pays for itself in two weeks is a surefire winner.

1979 Seymour Rubenstein & Rob Barnaby

WordStar Software Word Processors.

1981 IBM

The IBM PC - Home Computer From an "Acorn" grows a personal computer revolution

1981 Microsoft

MS-DOS Computer Operating System From "Quick And Dirty" comes the operating system of the century.

1983 Apple Lisa Computer The first home computer with a GUI, graphical user interface.

1984 Apple Macintosh Computer The more affordable home computer with a GUI.

1985 Microsoft Windows Microsoft begins the friendly war with Apple.

..................AND THEN SOME

Answer 12

God created man.  Man created computers.

Answer 13

Blaise Pascal was the first to make a working calculator, it may not be a computer, but still good enough...

Also, you may like to research about Automaton, made in the 17th century and onward, those were very interesting.

Actually the first discovery that enable the democratization of computers was the transistor. Discovered at the end of the 60`s. It enable the replacements of bulbs, that were burning often...