Abstract
Computer, machine that performs tasks, such as calculations or electronic communication, under the control of a set of instructions called a program. Programs usually reside within the computer and are retrieved and processed by the computer’s electronics. The program results are stored or routed to output devices, such as video display monitors or printers. Computers perform a wide variety of activities reliably, accurately, and quickly.
Computer technology is now the foundation of the engineering and construction industry. Sophisticated software applications and the hardware on which they run are used to efficiently create and manage every construction project underway today as well as planned for the future. From the start of the decade to today, PCs in the home have become immensely popular. Computers have increased their role from professional and business machines to entertainment and educational tools.
Beginnings
The history of computing began with an analog machine. In 1623 German scientist Wilhelm Schikard invented a machine that used 11 complete and 6 incomplete sprocketed wheels that could add, and with the aid of logarithm tables, multiply and divide.
French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist Blaise Pascal invented a machine in 1642 that added and subtracted, automatically carrying and borrowing digits from column to column. Pascal built 50 copies of his machine, but most served as curiosities in parlors of the wealthy. Seventeenth-century German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz designed a special gearing system to enable multiplication on Pascal’s machine
First Punch Cards
In the early 19th century French inventor Joseph-Marie Jacquard devised a specialized type of computer: a silk loom. Jacquard’s loom used punched cards to program patterns that helped the loom create woven fabrics. Although Jacquard was rewarded and admired by French emperor Napoleon I for his work, he fled for his life from the city of Lyon pursued by weavers who feared their jobs were in jeopardy due to Jacquard’s invention (Gerrit, 1997).....................
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