The computer age essay

Believe it or not, but the age of computers is upon us. I believe Computers are not only here to stay, but in my opinion computers are the wave of the future. Only a device like the computer can change the way we work, live, and think. I see computers taking us places where no man has gone before. Twenty years ago people were just not up to date with computers back then. I mean if you ask someone about a computer, they probably would say something like, what in the world are you talking about, or what the heck is a computer? So when was the first computer invented? Unfortunately this question has no easy answer because of all the different classifications and computers. The Z1 originally created by Germany’s Konrad Zuse [1] in his parent’s living room in 1936 to 1938 is considered to be the first electrical binary programmable computer. In 1975 Ed Roberts coined the term personal computer when he introduced the Altair 8800.

Although the first personal computer is considered to be the Kenback-1, which was first introduced for $750 in 1971. The computer relied on a series of switches for inputting data and output data by turning on and off a series of lights. The first major use for a computer in the US was during the 1890 census. Two men, Herman Hollerith and James Powers, developed a new punched-card system that could automatically read information on cards without human intervention. In the 1930’s punched-card machine techniques had become so well established that Howard Hathaway Aiken, together with engineers at IBM, came up with the automatic computer called Mark I. The Mark I ran by using pre-punched paper tape. The Mark I was slow, and required 3 to 5 seconds to perform multiplication.

But the computer was fully automatic and could complete long math problems without any human intervention. Today many kids have computer games that will just blow you away, computer games so realistic, they can damn near scare you to death. From Charles Babbage, who to many is consider the father of computers till now, computers have grown from a standing start, into one of the biggest industries in the United States. I see computers in the future taking us places where no man has gone before. Truly it is my belief and opinion, the computer is one of the most incredible inventions of this time period or any other.