rekordy: History of computing hardware

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The history of computing hardware spans developments from early devices used for simple calculations to today's complex computers, encompassing advances in both analog and digital technology. The first aids to computation were purely mechanical devices which required the operator to set up the initial values of an elementary arithmetic operation, then manipulate the device to obtain the result. In later stages, computing devices began representing numbers in continuous forms, such as by distance along a scale, rotation of a shaft, or a specific voltage level. Numbers could also be represented in the form of digits, automatically manipulated by a mechanism. Although this approach generally r…

Evidence: 47 • authority: 72

A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or a simulation like an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators were comparable in size to small desktop computers and have been rendered obsolete by the advent of the electronic calculator and the digital computer. In 1642, Blaise Pascal invented the first operational mechanical calculator with better tens-carry. Concerned about his father's exhausting work as tax collector in Rouen, Pascal designed the Pascaline to help with the large amount of tedious arithmetic required. In 1672, Gottfried Leibniz started designing an entirely new…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 80

Study of the set of initial values of pseudorandom number generators based on floating point arithmetic