Computers are involved in every aspect of modern life, but this has not always been the case. In the early days of technology, people were skeptical of these new technologies, and hesitant to try using them. In early days when technology was more of a curiosity than a reality, computers were owned by few: the hobbyists, the wealthy, and the technologists. It was not until the 1952 presidential election that the public truly understood the potential impact of computers on society. During this election, an early computer, the UNIVAC, was broadcast on national television claiming that it could predict the election results. When the UNIVAC accurately predicted Eisenhower as a landslide winner, the public was impressed and intrigued. However much
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Still today, in a time where almost every individual in society owns multiple computers of some sort, few people truly know what went into developing these devices. In a modern, technology-driven society like the one we live in today, it is important to understand the evolution of technology and see how far it has come to perform in such an advanced manner as it does today. The first generation of computers can be characterized by the use of vacuum tubes. Early computers containing vacuum tube technology were so large they could fill up entire rooms. Vacuum tube constructed devices were tricky: vacuum tubes often broke or failed, and the tubes generated so much heat that air conditioning units had to be built into the machines. Though we now view vacuum tubes as bulky and unreliable, at the time of their introduction they were revolutionary, especially in their use for representing binary states. In the early days of computers, before they became mainstream, …show more content…
What started with hundreds of vacuum tubes in first generation computers transformed into small transistors and soon after into integrated circuits containing multiple transistors by the third generation of computers. To top even that impressive progress, during fourth generation computing developments, engineers further revolutionized this technology by developing microprocessors: small silicon chips each containing thousands of integrated circuits. The best part? Each computer only needed one microprocessor to function. It was during this era of computing that personal computers became popular. Before this time, few people had home computers, but now computers were more affordable than ever. “Together with its ‘killer app’ VisiCalc, the Apple I1 helped move the microprocessor-based computer out of the hobby market and into the desktop market. […] this began the transition from people caring about how the computer worked to people caring about what the computer did” (Tredennick). As Tredennick recognized, fourth generation developments made the computer a publicly accessible technology, which increased its popularity tremendously. As is standard in the nature of development, the more time spent researching and improving, the better the technology. Logically, in this case, the latest technology will be the fastest, strongest, and most reliable. As evidenced by these many supporting factors, the fourth
Still today, in a time where almost every individual in society owns multiple computers of some sort, few people truly know what went into developing these devices. In a modern, technology-driven society like the one we live in today, it is important to understand the evolution of technology and see how far it has come to perform in such an advanced manner as it does today. The first generation of computers can be characterized by the use of vacuum tubes. Early computers containing vacuum tube technology were so large they could fill up entire rooms. Vacuum tube constructed devices were tricky: vacuum tubes often broke or failed, and the tubes generated so much heat that air conditioning units had to be built into the machines. Though we now view vacuum tubes as bulky and unreliable, at the time of their introduction they were revolutionary, especially in their use for representing binary states. In the early days of computers, before they became mainstream, …show more content…
What started with hundreds of vacuum tubes in first generation computers transformed into small transistors and soon after into integrated circuits containing multiple transistors by the third generation of computers. To top even that impressive progress, during fourth generation computing developments, engineers further revolutionized this technology by developing microprocessors: small silicon chips each containing thousands of integrated circuits. The best part? Each computer only needed one microprocessor to function. It was during this era of computing that personal computers became popular. Before this time, few people had home computers, but now computers were more affordable than ever. “Together with its ‘killer app’ VisiCalc, the Apple I1 helped move the microprocessor-based computer out of the hobby market and into the desktop market. […] this began the transition from people caring about how the computer worked to people caring about what the computer did” (Tredennick). As Tredennick recognized, fourth generation developments made the computer a publicly accessible technology, which increased its popularity tremendously. As is standard in the nature of development, the more time spent researching and improving, the better the technology. Logically, in this case, the latest technology will be the fastest, strongest, and most reliable. As evidenced by these many supporting factors, the fourth