Brief history of computer software

The history of software development spans centuries, not decades. From the creation of the first adding machine hundreds of years ago, our civilization has been improving technology in ways previously deemed impossible. Along with those hardware upgrades have been software improvements that have made our lives easier, from calculators to calendars to retail software that lets customers use their debit cards to buy a sweater. The evolution of software from the first computer up until today is a fascinating look into how we manipulate the world around us, including the digital world that we&#;ve created.

Early Computers

While some may think computers didn&#;t exist in any form until the 20th century, the first real computer was invented in the early 19th century. It was invented by Charles Babbage and called the Difference Engine, and its purpose was to be a simple calculator. This developed quickly into the Analytical Engine, which was much closer to the computer we know today. Using punch cards, a human could program the engine to process several different calculations at a time, and its output could be printed or graphed. This was the original custom software development, and it set the stage for the 20th century.

Around , the world began to see computers as we know them today, more or less. One of the earliest models was the Atanasoff-Berry computer. It was too large to fit through a doorway but could be used to solve linear equations. The official first piece of software to be written was created with punch cards, and it calculated the greatest divisor of 2 to the power of It took 52 minutes to complete the calculation! This achievement led to a boom in software development, including the creation of the first programming language, FORTRAN. This was a language like we might see today, with English words representing lower-level functions to make it easier to read and program. It was released in and th

A complete history of computing would include a multitude of diverse devices such as the ancient Chinese abacus, the Jacquard loom () and Charles Babbage's ``analytical engine'' (). It would also include discussion of mechanical, analog and digital computing architectures. As late as the s, mechanical devices, such as the Marchant calculator, still found widespread application in science and engineering. During the early days of electronic computing devices, there was much discussion about the relative merits of analog vs. digital computers. In fact, as late as the s, analog computers were routinely used to solve systems of finite difference equations arising in oil reservoir modeling. In the end, digital computing devices proved to have the power, economics and scalability necessary to deal with large scale computations. Digital computers now dominate the computing world in all areas ranging from the hand calculator to the supercomputer and are pervasive throughout society. Therefore, this brief sketch of the development of scientific computing is limited to the area of digital, electronic computers.

The evolution of digital computing is often divided into generations. Each generation is characterized by dramatic improvements over the previous generation in the technology used to build computers, the internal organization of computer systems, and programming languages. Although not usually associated with computer generations, there has been a steady improvement in algorithms, including algorithms used in computational science. The following history has been organized using these widely recognized generations as mileposts.

Mechanical Era ()

The idea of using machines to solve mathematical problems can be traced at least as far as the early 17th century. Mathematicians who designed and implemented calculators that were capable of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division included Wilhelm Schickhard, Blai

Software is the component in a computer system that permits the hardware to perform the various functions that a computer system is capable of doing. The history of software and its development can be traced to the early nineteenth century. All computer systems are designed to utilize the "stored program concept" as first developed by Charles Babbage in the s. The concept was lost until the mids, when modern computers made their appearance. Today, because of the complex and myriad tasks that a computer system can perform, there has been a differentiation of types of software. There is software designed to perform specific business applications. There is software that controls the overall operation of a computer system. And there is software that is designed to carry out specialized tasks. Regardless of types, software is the most critical component of any computer system. Without it, all one has is a collection of circuits, transistors, and silicone chips.

Many people think computers are a fairly recent invention, but the truth is the concept of the computer dates all the way back to This is when Charles Babbage, an English mathematician, conceived of the idea of a calculating machine driven by steam. In , a man by the name of Herman Hollerith developed a punch card system for use during the census. He would then go on to establish the company which would eventually be known as IBM. Throughout the s, computers continued to evolve from large machines and in the s, they continued getting smaller, to the point of fitting in one&#;s pocket. Along with the evolution of the computer came changes in software throughout the years. Writing software first began in the s, and late in the next decade, the term software engineering was coined. As the Internet developed in full force, the number of computer users jumped to millions throughout the world. With the Internet came viruses and security issues, which forced programmers to learn a whole new set of skills. Software engineering is still considered a new field that continues to evolve on a regular basis.

Babbage&#;s Difference Engine

Charles Babbage, a mathematician from England born in , is credited with designing the first automatic computing machine. Although he designed it, he was unable to actually build it. The idea of the steam-driven calculating machine was to have the ability to compute tables of numbers. His project was funded by the English government. It failed, and the first Babbage Difference Engine wasn&#;t built until in London.

Herman Hollerith&#;s Punch Card System

Considered the first statistical engineer, Herman Hollerith developed a punch card system to help with the census. Thanks to his efforts, the government was able to do the census in much less time, saving millions of dollars. His punch card system was a step towards automated computation. In , Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company whic