Generation Zero Mechanical calculating machine (1642-1945)

• Prior to the 1500s, a typical European businessperson used an abacus for calculations and recorded the result of his ciphering in Roman numerals.
• After the decimal numbering system finally replaced Roman numerals, a number of people invented devices to make decimal calculations even faster and more accurate.
• Wilhelm Schickard(1592-1635) invented the first mechanical calculator (add and subtract 6 digits)..
• BlaisePascal (1623-1662) developed a mechanical calculator called the pascalineto help his father with his tax work. Its basic design was still being used at the beginning of the twentieth century (add with carry and subtract)..
• Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716) invented a calculator that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide .
• Although pascaline were used into the 20thcentury, new calculator designs began to emerge in the 19thcentury.
• One of the most ambitious of these new designs was the Difference Engine by Charles Babage (1791-1871). Some people refer to Babage as “the father of computing.”
• The Analytical Engine (AE) include many of the components associated with modern computers: an arithmetic processing unit to perform calculations, memory, and input and output device.
• Ada, Countess of Lovelace and Daughter of poet Lord Byron suggested that Babage write a plan for how the machine would calculate numbers
• This is regarded as the first computer program, and Ada is considered to be the first computer programmer.
• It is also rumored that she suggested the use of the binary number system rather than decimal number system to store data.
• Babage designed the AE to use a type of punched card for input and programming.
• Using card to control the behavior of a machine did not originate with Babage, but with one of his friends, Joseph-Marie Jacquard.
• Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752-1834). In 1801, Jacquard invented a programmable weaving loom that could produce intricate pattern in cloth.
• The most important of the late-nineteenth-century tabulating machines was the one invented by Herman Hollerith.
• Herman Hollerith (1860-1929). Hollerith’s machine was used for encoding and compiling 1890 cencus data.
• This cencus was completed in record time, thus boosting Hollerith’s finances and the reputation of his invention.
• Hollerith later founded the company that would become IBM (International Business Machines).
• His 80-column punched card, the Hollerith card, was a staple of automated data processing for 50 years