The effort toward development of computing machines had started long back in the sixteenth centwy.

An initial attempt in this direction was a mechanical computer developed by Blaise Pascal in 1640. This,J

machine was based on wheels and it used to add and subtract numbers. Long before this, the first~

computing instrument known as ABACUS was developed in 400 B.C. Gradually, in course of time,j

Napier's bones (1600), Pascal's firs, computer (1642), Leibnitz's mecbanical catcolator (1771),<, Babbage's

difference engine (1822) were developed. These devices evcotnally led to !be develnJ>men!, of pre- day

3
oompnters. The development of !be first computer, named MARK-I marked the beginning I
COMPUTER APPRECIATION AND
of modem computer technology and generation of co.riputers. In the field of software, the British,
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
mathematician Augusta Ada Byron became the first programmer in history to program Babbage's ;
Analytical Engine (1836). BASIC was introduced by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth ;J

...
College in 1965. IBM PC was introduced in 1981, the first Macintosh computer, the "MAC" with!

,8
graphic interface, ~ame in 1984. Windows 1.01 from Microsoft was introduced in 1985.
m

", -, .' Windows 3.1,

,. . ~--.,
I
which became ve~ popular was introduced in 1992. .

The computing machines developed initially were able to do restricted arithmetic computation,

such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers. Most of these were

mechanical ;

machines. In the mechanical computers, users had to compute the basic arithmetic operations and no

programs were required to do it. Computation used to be carried step-by-step to get the desired results. '

The era of electronic computing started in 1940's after the invention of electronic valves. Now in the

modern age, the computer is a general-purpose machine that processes data according to a set of

instructions that are stored internally. The set of instructions according to which it performs operations

are called programs. In other words, it is a programmable computing machine. Initially this machine

was used for scientific and engineering computation but now it is used for a wide variety of jobs in

practically all areas of human activity. There are three main types of processing functions, namely,

calculating, comparing and copying, performed by the computer.

The digital computer manipulates the number represented in binary form. Any number in the

decimaI nwnber system may be represented as an equivalent binary number. The baaic technology for

the generation of computers began with the electrical computers, whicb used electrical relay and

switching circuits. Then came !be electronic digital computers, wbose generation is characterized by

the type of switching circuit used in designing !bese oompnters. The output of a digital computer is