The Electronic Computer

Part I of Essay
One of the most important themes in the history of civilization is our ever increasing use of tools to shape and control the world around us. These tools range from the simple hammer and saw of the carpenter to all the complex machine of our modern civilization. We use tool ....

Part II of Essay
.... information. It is that we are using every day. The idea of an automatic computing machine can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century. But it was only in the 1904s, when electronics was applied to the task of automatic computing, that fast, reliable computers became possible. Early computers were used mainly for scientific and technical calculations. In the 1950s, businesses, universities and government began using computers to store and process such nonmathematical data as orders, invoices, and personnel records. The use of computers ....