mechanical age of computers (1450-1840)

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Think Like a Computer!

II. THE MECHANICAL AGE: 1450 - 1840

ALL COMPUTATIONS ARE DONE BY MACHINES AND GEARS.

UNLOCKING TECHNICAL TERMS

- An electronic, programmable device that can store, retrieve and process data.

Computer

Calculator- An electronic or

mechanical device that performs calculations.

Punched Card- A card on which data

is stored in the form of a pattern of small holes.

Prototype- A first or experimental

working model of something to be manufactured, usually on a large scale.

Engine- A machine for converting

thermal energy into mechanical energy or power to produce force and motion.

1. First Information Explosion

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1450

JOHANNESGUTENBERG

MOVABLE METAL-TYPE PRINTING PROCESS

It’s invention paved the way to the development of book indexes and the widespread use of page numbers.

The first book to ever be printed was a Latin language Bible, printed in Mainz, Germany.

2. The First General Purpose

“Computers”

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1614

JOHN NAPIER

LOGARITHMSLogs allow multiplication

and division to be reduced to addition and subtraction.

The logarithm of x to the base b is written logb(x) or, if the base is implicit, as log(x). So, for a number x, a base b and an exponent y,

1617

JOHN NAPIER

NAPIER’S BONESA special version of the multiplication tableson a set of four-sided wooden rods, allowing users to multiply and divide large numbers and find square and cube roots.

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1623

WILHELM SCHICKARD

SPEEDING CLOCK/CALCULATING CLOCK

The first mechanical calculator;

It can work with six digits, and carries digits across columns.

1625

WILLIAM OUGHTRED

SLIDE RULEUses two scales (Napier’s

logarithms & Gunter’s logarithmic scales) sliding byone another to perform directmultiplication and division.

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1642

BLAISE PASCAL

PASCALINEA mechanical calculation

machine that is madeout of clock gears and levers, and could solve basic mathematical problems like addition and subtraction.

1671

GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ

STEPPED RECKONERA machine that could multiply

5 digit and 12 digit numbers yielding up to 16 digit number.

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1801

JOSEPH MARIE

JACQUARD

JACQUARD LOOMA loom with punched

cardboard cards for controlling woven patterns.

1820

CHARLES XAVIER

THOMAS DE COLMAR

ARITHMOMETERThe first mass-produced

calculator that can perform the same type of computations as a Stepped Reckoner.

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1821 DIFFERENCE ENGINE

The first modern computer design: a steam powered adding machine.

CHARLES BABBAGE“Father of

Computers”

1832

CHARLES BABBAGE“Father of

Computers”

ANALYTICAL ENGINEA mechanical adding

machine that tool information from punched cards to solve and print complex mathematical operations.

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS

YEAR INVENTOR INVENTION / CONTRIBUTION1842

AUGUSTA ADA LOVELACE

ADA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

The first program for Babbage’s Analytical Engine.

Ada Lovelace is the first computer programmer.

•Though she was only 19, she was fascinated by Babbage's ideas and through letters and meetings with Babbage she learned enough about the design of the Analytical Engine to begin fashioning programs for the still unbuilt machine.

•Ada wrote a series of “notes" wherein she detailed sequences of instructions she had prepared for the Analytical Engine.

ASSIGNMENT1. What are the inventions during the 

electromechanical age of computers?2. How are these inventions work?3. Why is it important to trace the 

development of computers?4. Define the ff.:

• Electromechanical• Telecommunication•Binary Algebra or Boolean Algebra