Curiosities About Computer History

The history of computing is a narrative rich in curiosities and important frameworks that shape how we interact with machines.

Since antiquity, the human being has shown interest in developing systems that facilitate complex calculations and operations.

However, it was only in the 20th century that technology evolved significantly and allowed the emergence of two first electronic computers.

Two curious facts about the history of computing date back to the period of World War II, when scientists Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers built the first electronic computer to decipher Nazi codes.

The device, known as Colossus, was one of the first machines to employ Boolean logic and work with binary languages, fundamental features of modern computers.

Another interesting curiosity about the history of computing is the role of women in the development of technology.

It is often isolated or marginalized, many women are pioneers in computer programming.

Ada Lovelace, for example, is considered the first programmer in history, having developed algorithms for Charles Babbage's Analytical Machine, in the early 19th century.

Grace Hopper, who worked in the Harvard Mark I programming during World War II, was one of the main people responsible for the popularization of the term “depuração” (debugging), used here in the programming jargão.

Curiosity 1:

Before the invention of the mouse, computers were controlled by keyboards and text commands, making interaction with a machine a little complicated.

In 1968, computer engineer Douglas Engelbart presented the first prototype of a device called “XY Position Indicator for a Display System”, which would later be known as a mouse.

The device was developed by the Apple company in the 1980s and quickly became popular, becoming an essential element of personal computers.

Curiosity 2:

The first computers were huge and took up entire rooms, but the miniaturization of the electronic components allowed the machines to become smaller and more portable.

An important framework in this process was the invention of the microprocessor, a chip that incorporated the CPU, memory, and input and output devices into a single integrated circuit.

The first commercial microprocessor, or Intel 4004, was launched in 1971 and had only 2,300 transistors.

Since then, microprocessors have evolved significantly and become much more powerful, allowing the emergence of increasingly compact and efficient computers.

Today, it is possible to have a complete computer in the size of a palm.

Curiosity 3:

One of the first programming languages was created by Grace Hopper, in 1952, and received the name A-0.

This language allowed programmers to write code using English words, instead of numerical codes.

Subsequently, she developed the COBOL language (Common Business Oriented Language), which became very popular in commercial, financial and government data processing systems.

COBOL is still used in some organizations today.

Curiosity 4:

The first personal computer was the Altair 8800, launched in 1975.

The device was sold as a kit for home assembly and featured an Intel 8080 CPU, 256 bytes of RAM and no monitor.

To interact with the machine, it was necessary to connect a keyboard and a panel with keys to insert the data.

The Altair 8800 was the precursor of a revolution in the personal computer industry, which would culminate in the launch of the Apple II, in 1977, and the IBM PC, in 1981.

Curiosity 5:

The first electronic games were developed in the 1950s and 1960s, using military and academic computers.

One of the first popular games was “Spacewar!”, created by MIT students in 1962.

The game allowed two players to control space ships in a battle in a gravitational field.

With the popularization of two personal computers, electronic games evolve rapidly and become a billionaire industry.

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Curiosity 6:

The World Wide Web, the interconnected information network that we use daily on the Internet, was created by British physicist Tim Berners-Lee, in 1989, while he was working at CERN, or the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.

Berners-Lee developed the idea of a hypertext network that would allow the sharing of information and documents between researchers from different institutions.

It created the HTML language (HyperText Markup Language) and the HTTP protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), which forms the basis of the web as we know it.

Conclusion

The history of computing is full of fascinating curiosities that show how long we have learned from the first gigantic computers to the portable devices that we see today.

The evolution of computers not only changed the way we live and work, but also allowed the emergence of new industries and technologies, such as electronic games on the World Wide Web.

These curiosities show us how the creativity and hard work of engineers, programmers and computer scientists transform the world.

From the first mouse to the invention of the HTML language, each innovation contributes to the advancement of technology and development of computers.

There is no doubt that the future of computing will be even more exciting, and we can hardly wait to see the innovations that are about to come.

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