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The Analytical Computer
To Babbage a computer was a device that could be used to handle basic calculations and therefore terminating human error. Invented in 1833, the Analytical Machine was the first mechanical programmable computing device that could be used to solve complex calculations. This contribution to the development of computers paved the way for the making of new and improved ones. -
The First Computer Programmer
Ada Lovelace was the first person to become a computer programmer. What made this moment even more historical was the fact that she was a woman. Around this time in the late 1800s a computer was considered to be a person whose main job was to add together numbers together but for Lovelace writing a book about the Analytical Machine led her to define a computer as a device that could follow simple instructions when given and could also perform calculations that were complex. -
Alan Turing
As the foundation of what a computer was, started to become popular many persons formed their own perceptions of it. One such person was Alan Turing. His definition of a computer was a Practical Universal Computing Machine that could solve any problem. His main contribution was developing the first type of modern computers and forming the basis for artificial intelligence. -
Grace Hopper
Grace Hopper was among the many that made contributions to the development of computers. Her definition of a computer was no longer a person who did calculations but a machine designated to do the same work. Her main contribution was developing an automatic programming to explore the new ways to use the computer to code. -
Mauchly And Eckert
By now the term of a computer changed from a person to a machine but Mauchly and Eckert added another interesting term to the definition. They defined a computer as a device that could use electricity to think. With this definition they invented the ENIAC which was the world's first large-scale general purpose electronic computer. -
ENIAC Programmers
The ENIAC programmers were a group of people who were recruited at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania to work on and with computers. A computer to them was an all electronic device that could be used for military purposes. From this basis their main contribution was developing the concepts of nesting and subroutines which would be used in the army -
Mark Dean
By this time the computer was now defined as an electronic device. Mark Dean then took the definition further making the basis for the making of computers today. To dean a computer was a device that could not only process information quickly but could also be hooked up to electronic devices in a person's home. His main contribution was developing computers that could process information faster than the old time machines and developing a new chip that was capable of storing data.
