History of computing

Main article: History of computing hardware

The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in 1613, referring to a person who carried out calculations, or computations, and the word continued with the same meaning until the middle of the 20th century. From the end of the 19th century onwards, the word began to take on its more familiar meaning, describing a machine that carries out computations.

Limited-function early computers

The Jacquard loom, on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England, was one of the first programmable devices.

The history of the modern computer begins with two separate technologies—automated calculation and programmability—but no single device can be identified as the earliest computer, partly because of the inconsistent application of that term. Examples of early mechanical calculating devices include the abacus, the slide rule and arguably the astrolabe and the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient astronomical computer built by the Greeks around 80 BC.The Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD) built a mechanical theater which performed a play lasting 10 minutes and was operated by a complex system of ropes and drums that might be considered to be a means of deciding which parts of the mechanism performed which actions and when.This is the essence of programmability.
The "castle clock", an astronomical clock invented by Al-Jazari in 1206, is considered to be the earliest programmable analog computer.It displayed the zodiac, the solar and lunar orbits, a crescent moon-shaped pointer travelling across a gateway causing automatic doors to open every hour, and five robotic musicians who played music when struck by levers operated by a camshaft attached to a water wheel. The length of day and night could be re-programmed to compensate for the changing lengths of day and night throughout the year.
The Renaissance saw the invention of the mechanical calculator, a device that could perform all four arithmetic operations without relying on human intelligence, in 1642. The mechanical calculator was at the root of the development of computers in two separate ways ; initially, it is in trying to develop more powerful and more flexible calculators that the computer was first theorized (Charles Babbage, Alan Turing) and then developed (ABC, Z3, ENIAC...) leading to the development of mainframe computers, but also the microprocessor, which started the personal computer revolution, and which is now at the heart of all computers regardless of size or purpose, was invented serendipitously by Intel during the development of an electronic calculator, a direct descendant to the mechanical calculator.