The
typical and primitive machines that were used to perform the
arithmetic operations have evolved to punched card machines and to
the latest stored-program computers. Talking about the advent of
stored program computers that were utilized for the basic functions
that chiefly include -: input and output, data storage and to some
sorts of integrated operations were basically related with the
computer architecture.
In
conjunction with this, the first working programmable and fully
automatic modern computing machine is the Z3 by inventor Konrad Zuse
in the year 1941, which gave Zuse the respect of being the inventor
of the computer.
However,
before general-purpose computers came in to being, humans used to
perform all the calculations manually. The few mechanical tools or
the present day calculators that were utilized for making the
calculations easy and fast were known as “calculating machines”
and the humans who operate such devices were called as computers.
Beside,
these written numerals, the initial assistance for computation
involve typical mechanical units that depend entirely upon the
operators to first set the initial values, even for the basic
arithmetic operation and then employ some techniques to obtain the
final result.
Nevertheless,
a more advance (relatively new) illustration is the slide rule
wherein the numbers are represented as lengths on a logarithmic scale
and the calculation for final result is made by setting a cursor and
aligning sliding scales, while adding the lengths as well. Depending
upon the physical property of the final output, the numbers
represented could be set in analog form, for example a voltage or
other physical unit proportional to the numbers on the scale. The
analog computers utilized in World War II and developed by Vannevar
Bush belong to this nature. On the other hand, the numbers could be
represented in the form of digits that can be controlled and computed
by a mechanical machine on its own. Despite the fact that this
methodology needed more intricate mechanism, it cannot be neglected
that the mechanism is terrific when it comes to offering accuracy in
results.
