CTH - Evolution of the Word 'Computer' (Lesson)

Computer - In the Beginning

Now that you have formulated your current thought of what a computer is, let's examine the evolution of the word computer.  Note that the use of quotes around a set of words means that these are being quoted verbatim, they are words taken from a particular source who deserves credit for the original work.

In this case, the quotes are taken from the Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Online Edition, 2008.

Definition 1

Did you get this first reference or the underlying meaning of doing calculations when you documented your first impression of what a computer was? No, don't go back and change yours. Yours is a reflection of what you knew then and you now add to your understanding of the word. 

The first documented use of the word computer was in 1613. The use of the word referred to people who did calculations or computations, an arithmetician, referred to today as a mathematician or accountant. There were no computers as we know them today. The person doing the calculations did them by hand.

Think about it. A documented reference means that this is the first time that the word was in print, but people had been doing calculations in various capacities throughout history. The use of the word computer as a person doing detailed mathematical computations continued being used into the 20th century even with the second definition below. The idea of a person computing, using mathematical calculations, continued as it was a definition of what the person did, the function associated with the job.

Definition 2

This new definition acknowledged that people may have some help in doing the computations at hand. Look at the pictures and how the world has changed yet remained the same. All of the pictures below are hand machines, or rather, a device that required human interaction to calculate.

The abacus above is a calculating machine that is still widely used today, especially in Africa and Asia. This machine above has calculated the number 1,352,964,708. The abacus has been used by civilizations throughout history to enable a person to calculate larger numbers, thus becoming a better computer. What was required to use the calculating devices in each of the pictures above? A person, manipulating the device so that the device could the answer the person needed.  This manipulation is the human intervention. 

Definition 3

In the picture above, the human computers, the women, are reconnecting the wiring to allow the first digital computer to perform the assigned calculations. They are working on the ENIAC, the first digital computer. ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer.

Examine the picture again. This was only a part of the whole computer. Look at the size of the parts. Compare the size change to today's computers. Who is the computer in the picture?    The women. Men actually made the machine but women actually did the manipulation required for the calculation. 

Now consider the third definition of a computer - one held in 1945.

Electricity creates further change in the world. In the picture above is the wiring of the ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, the world's first electronic computer. The ENIAC could be reprogrammed by changing the wiring. With the introduction of the ENIAC in 1946, computer technology changed the world. Ideas were explored in all directions to add to this new and emerging technology.   In 2005 desktops were becoming common not only in schools, but in homes. Consider where we are today, with the passage of less than a century. A technological revolution has taken place in less than 70 years. 

How many of the terms in this definition did you get in your discussion? It is okay if you did not get them all. Notice how the definition is changing yet staying the same.  Answer each of the following questions with what you now think based on the information provided. 

1. What is consistent about all of the definitions of computer? 
2. Name a common small computer that is very prevalent today?   

Did you notice that the definition of computer changed to be more inclusive of devices, yet remained consistent as well. Features may be added, but the essential computational construction requirement remains. 

With the introduction of the ENIAC, computer technology began changing rapidly with ideas being explored in many directions. In 2005 desktops were becoming common not only in schools, but in homes.  Now, computers are so small, they can go anywhere.  Look at a fitness tracker that you wear on your wrist; a computer that you carry on your arm and there are computers that are even smaller. 

Answers to questions above.

1.    A computer must handle calculations.  In all instances from when a human was the computer to now, being able to handle calculations is the key to the definition.  
2.    Smartphones, fitbits, fitness trackers, etc. are just a few.

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