The very first computing devices were man's own fingers. When this tool was not enough, pebbles, sticks, shells were used. Adding such a set to tens, and then hundreds, a person learned to count and use the means of measuring numbers. It was with pebbles and shells that the history of the development of computer technology began. Laying them out in different columns (digits) and adding or removing the required number of pebbles, it was possible to add and subtract large numbers. With multiple additions, even such a complex action as multiplication could be performed.
Then begins the history of the development of computer technology. The first means of calculation were the inventions invented in Russia. In them, the numbers were divided into dozens with the help of horizontal guides with stones. They became an indispensable assistant to merchants, officials, clerks and managers. These people knew how to use accounts simply masterly. In the future, such a necessary device penetrated into Europe.
The very first mechanical device for counting, which the history of the development of computer technology knows, was a calculating machine, which in 1642 was built by the outstanding French scientist Blaise Pascal. His mechanical “computer” could perform such actions as addition and subtraction. This car was called "Pascalina" and it consisted of a whole complex in which the wheels with the numbers from 0 to 9 were mounted vertically. When the wheel was in full rotation, it hooked on the next wheel and turned it by one number. The number of wheels determined the number of bits of the computer. If five wheels were installed on it, then she could already carry out operations with huge numbers up to 99999.
Then, in 1673, the German mathematician Leibniz created a device that could not only subtract and add, but also divide and multiply. Unlike Pascal’s machine, the wheels were toothed and had nine different tooth lengths, which ensured such incredibly “complex” actions as multiplication and division. The history of the development of computer technology knows many names, but one name is known even to non-specialists. This is an English mathematician Charles Babbage. He is deservedly called the father of all modern computer technology. It was he who owned the idea that in a computer, a device is needed that will store numbers. Moreover, this device should not only store numbers, but also give instructions to the computer what it should do with these numbers.
The idea of Babbage and formed the basis for the design and development of all modern computers. Such a unit in a computer is called a processor. However, the scientist did not leave any drawings and descriptions of the machine that he invented. This was done by one of his students in his article, which he wrote in French. The article was read by the Countess of Hell Augustus Lovelace, the daughter of the famous poet George Byron, who translated it into English and developed its own programs for this machine. Thanks to her, the history of the development of computer technology has received one of the most advanced programming languages - ADA.
The 20th century gave a new impetus to the development of computer technology related to electricity. An electronic device was invented that remembered electrical signals - a tube trigger. The first computers created with its help could be considered thousands of times faster than the most advanced mechanical calculating machines, but they were still very bulky. The first computers weighed about 30 tons and occupied a room larger than 100 square meters. meters. Computers received further development with the advent of an extremely important invention - a transistor. Well, modern means of computer technology are inconceivable without the use of a microprocessor - a complex integrated circuit developed in June 1971. This is a brief history of the development of computing. Modern advances in science and technology have raised the level of modern computers to an unprecedented height.