Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Computer science
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==History== {{main|History of computer science}} {{History of computing}} [[File:Christoph Bernhard Francke - Bildnis des Philosophen Leibniz (ca. 1695).jpg|thumb|200x200px|[[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]] (1646–1716) developed [[logic]] in a [[binary number]] system and has been called the "founder of computer science".<ref>{{cite web |title=2021: 375th birthday of Leibniz, father of computer science |url=https://people.idsia.ch/~juergen/leibniz-father-computer-science-375.html |website=people.idsia.ch |access-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-date=September 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921232935/https://people.idsia.ch/~juergen/leibniz-father-computer-science-375.html |url-status=live }}</ref>]] [[File:Babbage40.png|upright|thumb|[[Charles Babbage]] is sometimes referred to as the "father of computing".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbi.umn.edu/about/babbage.html|title=Charles Babbage Institute: Who Was Charles Babbage?|website=cbi.umn.edu|access-date=28 December 2016|archive-date=January 9, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109093346/http://www.cbi.umn.edu/about/babbage.html|url-status=live}}</ref> ]] [[File:Ada lovelace.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Ada Lovelace]] published the first [[algorithm]] intended for processing on a computer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/|title=Ada Lovelace {{!}} Babbage Engine {{!}} Computer History Museum|website=www.computerhistory.org|access-date=28 December 2016|archive-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225024329/http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/%20|url-status=live}}</ref> ]] The earliest foundations of what would become computer science predate the invention of the modern [[digital computer]]. Machines for calculating fixed numerical tasks such as the [[abacus]] have existed since antiquity, aiding in computations such as multiplication and division. [[Algorithm]]s for performing computations have existed since antiquity, even before the development of sophisticated computing equipment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Computer Science |url=https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/Courses/134/history.html#:~:text=In%20the%201960%27s,%20computer%20science,person%20to%20receive%20a%20Ph. |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=cs.uwaterloo.ca |archive-date=July 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729210116/https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/Courses/134/history.html#:~:text=In%20the%201960%27s,%20computer%20science,person%20to%20receive%20a%20Ph. |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Wilhelm Schickard]] designed and constructed the first working [[mechanical calculator]] in 1623.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wilhelm Schickard – Ein Computerpionier|url=http://www.fmi.uni-jena.de/fmimedia/Fakultaet/Institute+und+Abteilungen/Abteilung+f%C3%BCr+Didaktik/GDI/Wilhelm+Schickard.pdf|language=de|access-date=December 4, 2016|archive-date=September 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919014352/https://www.fmi.uni-jena.de/fmimedia/Fakultaet/Institute+und+Abteilungen/Abteilung+f%C3%BCr+Didaktik/GDI/Wilhelm+Schickard.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1673, [[Gottfried Leibniz]] demonstrated a digital mechanical calculator, called the [[Stepped Reckoner]].<ref>{{cite web|title = A Brief History of Computing|url = http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2012/06/25/history-of-computing/|first = Fiona|last = Keates|work = The Repository|publisher = The Royal Society|date = 25 June 2012|access-date = January 19, 2014|archive-date = June 29, 2012|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120629072020/http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2012/06/25/history-of-computing/|url-status = dead}}</ref> Leibniz may be considered the first [[computer scientist]] and information theorist, because of various reasons, including the fact that he documented the binary number system. In 1820, [[Thomas de Colmar]] launched the mechanical calculator industry<ref group=note>In 1851</ref> when he invented his simplified [[arithmometer]], the first calculating machine strong enough and reliable enough to be used daily in an office environment. [[Charles Babbage]] started the design of the first ''automatic mechanical calculator'', his [[Difference Engine]], in 1822, which eventually gave him the idea of the first ''programmable mechanical calculator'', his [[Analytical Engine]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Science Museum, Babbage's Analytical Engine, 1834–1871 (Trial model)|url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co62245/babbages-analytical-engine-1834-1871-trial-model-analytical-engines|access-date=2020-05-11|archive-date=August 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830123359/https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co62245/babbages-analytical-engine-1834-1871-trial-model-analytical-engines|url-status=live}}</ref> He started developing this machine in 1834, and "in less than two years, he had sketched out many of the [[wikt:Special:Search/salient|salient]] features of the modern computer".<ref name="Hyman1982">{{cite book|first=Anthony|last=Hyman|author-link=R. Anthony Hyman|title=[[Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1982|isbn=978-0691083032}}</ref> "A crucial step was the adoption of a punched card system derived from the [[Jacquard loom]]"<ref name="Hyman1982" /> making it infinitely programmable.<ref group=note>"The introduction of punched cards into the new engine was important not only as a more convenient form of control than the drums, or because programs could now be of unlimited extent, and could be stored and repeated without the danger of introducing errors in setting the machine by hand; it was important also because it served to crystallize Babbage's feeling that he had invented something really new, something much more than a sophisticated calculating machine." [[#COLLIER|Bruce Collier]], 1970</ref> In 1843, during the translation of a French article on the Analytical Engine, [[Ada Lovelace]] wrote, in one of the many notes she included, an algorithm to compute the [[Bernoulli number]]s, which is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scottlan.edu/Lriddle/women/ada-love.htm |title=A Selection and Adaptation From Ada's Notes found in Ada, The Enchantress of Numbers," by Betty Alexandra Toole Ed.D. Strawberry Press, Mill Valley, CA |access-date=4 May 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060210172109/http://www.scottlan.edu/lriddle/women/ada-love.htm |archive-date=February 10, 2006 }}</ref> Around 1885, [[Herman Hollerith]] invented the [[tabulating machine|tabulator]], which used [[punched card]]s to process statistical information; eventually his company became part of [[IBM]]. Following Babbage, although unaware of his earlier work, [[Percy Ludgate]] in 1909 published<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog/miscellany/TCD-SCSS-X.20121208.002/TCD-SCSS-X.20121208.002.pdf/ |title=The John Gabriel Byrne Computer Science Collection |access-date=August 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416071721/https://www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog/miscellany/TCD-SCSS-X.20121208.002/TCD-SCSS-X.20121208.002.pdf |archive-date=April 16, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the 2nd of the only two designs for mechanical analytical engines in history. In 1914, the Spanish engineer [[Leonardo Torres Quevedo]] published his ''Essays on Automatics'',<ref name="LTQ1914es">Torres Quevedo, L. (1914). "Ensayos sobre Automática – Su definicion. Extension teórica de sus aplicaciones". ''Revista de la Academia de Ciencias Exacta'', 12, pp. 391–418.</ref> and designed, inspired by Babbage, a theoretical electromechanical calculating machine which was to be controlled by a read-only program. The paper also introduced the idea of [[floating-point arithmetic]].<ref>Torres Quevedo, Leonardo. [https://quickclick.es/rop/pdf/publico/1914/1914_tomoI_2043_01.pdf Automática: Complemento de la Teoría de las Máquinas, (pdf)], pp. 575–583, Revista de Obras Públicas, 19 November 1914.</ref><ref>Ronald T. Kneusel. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eq4ZDgAAQBAJ&dq=leonardo+torres+quevedo++electromechanical+machine+essays&pg=PA84 Numbers and Computers],'' Springer, pp. 84–85, 2017. {{ISBN|978-3319505084}}</ref> In 1920, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the arithmometer, Torres presented in Paris the [[Leonardo Torres y Quevedo#Analytical machines|Electromechanical Arithmometer]], a prototype that demonstrated the feasibility of an electromechanical analytical engine,<ref>Randell, Brian. [https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/1074100.1074334 Digital Computers, History of Origins, (pdf)], p. 545, Digital Computers: Origins, Encyclopedia of Computer Science, January 2003.</ref> on which commands could be typed and the results printed automatically.{{Sfn|Randell|1982|p=6, 11–13}} In 1937, one hundred years after Babbage's impossible dream, [[Howard Aiken]] convinced IBM, which was making all kinds of punched card equipment and was also in the calculator business<ref>"In this sense Aiken needed IBM, whose technology included the use of punched cards, the accumulation of numerical data, and the transfer of numerical data from one register to another", [[#HAIKEN|Bernard Cohen]], p.44 (2000)</ref> to develop his giant programmable calculator, the [[Harvard Mark I|ASCC/Harvard Mark I]], based on Babbage's Analytical Engine, which itself used cards and a central computing unit. When the machine was finished, some hailed it as "Babbage's dream come true".<ref>[[#CITEREFRandell1973|Brian Randell]], p. 187, 1975</ref> During the 1940s, with the development of new and more powerful [[computing]] machines such as the [[Atanasoff–Berry computer]] and [[ENIAC]], the term ''computer'' came to refer to the machines rather than their human predecessors.<ref>The [[Association for Computing Machinery]] (ACM) was founded in 1947.</ref> As it became clear that computers could be used for more than just mathematical calculations, the field of computer science broadened to study [[computation]] in general. In 1945, IBM founded the [[Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory]] at [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]]. The renovated fraternity house on Manhattan's West Side was IBM's first laboratory devoted to pure science. The lab is the forerunner of IBM's Research Division, which today operates research facilities around the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1945.html |title=IBM Archives: 1945 |date=January 23, 2003 |publisher=Ibm.com |access-date=2019-03-19 |archive-date=January 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105013948/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1945.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Ultimately, the close relationship between IBM and Columbia University was instrumental in the emergence of a new scientific discipline, with Columbia offering one of the first academic-credit courses in computer science in 1946.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/compsci/ |title=IBM100 – The Origins of Computer Science |publisher=Ibm.com |date=1995-09-15 |access-date=2019-03-19 |archive-date=January 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105051800/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/compsci/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Computer science began to be established as a distinct academic discipline in the 1950s and early 1960s.<ref name=Denning>{{Cite journal |last1=Denning |first1=P.J. |last2=Comer |first2=D.E. |last3=Gries |first3=D. |last4=Mulder |first4=M.C. |last5=Tucker |first5=A. |last6=Turner |first6=A.J. |last7=Young |first7=P.R. |date=February 1989 |title=Computing as a discipline |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/19833 |journal=Computer |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=63–70 |doi=10.1109/2.19833 |issn=1558-0814 |access-date=March 3, 2022 |archive-date=March 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303023329/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/19833 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/conference/EDSAC99/statistics.html |title=Some EDSAC statistics |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=19 November 2011 |archive-date=September 3, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070903055322/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/conference/EDSAC99/statistics.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The world's first computer science degree program, the [[Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science]], began at the [[University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory]] in 1953. The first computer science department in the United States was formed at [[Purdue University]] in 1962.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cs.purdue.edu/about/conte.html |title=Computer science pioneer Samuel D. Conte dies at 85 |date=July 1, 2002 |publisher=Purdue Computer Science |access-date=December 12, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006142241/http://www.cs.purdue.edu/about/conte.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Since practical computers became available, many applications of computing have become distinct areas of study in their own rights.{{see also|History of computing|History of informatics}}
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)