Webster’s Dictionary defines “computer” as any programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve and process data. The basic idea of computing developed in the 1200’s when a Moslem cleric proposed solving problems with a series of written procedures.

As early as the 1640’s mechanical calculators were being manufactured for sale. Records exist of earlier machines, but it is common belief that Blaise Pascal invented the first commercial calculator, a hand powered adding machine.

A step towards automated computing was the development of punched cards, which were first used successfully with computers in the 1890 census. Herman Hollerith of MIT developed a system that could read information that had been punched into the cards automatically, without human help. Because of this, reading errors were dramatically reduced, work flow increased, and, most importantly, stacks of punch cards could be used as easily accessible memory of almost unlimited size. Different problems could be stored on different stacks of cards and accessed when needed.

These advantages were seen by commercial companies and soon led to the development of improved punch-card using computer

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