Computer Timeline

  • Holes in Cards

    A medium for feeding data into a computer, essentially a card punched with holes or notches to represent letters and numbers or with a pattern of holes to represent related data. Also called Hollerith card. Invented in 1725.
  • The Analytical Machine

    The Analytical Machine
    It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, a design for a mechanical computer.
  • ENIAC

    ENIAC
    (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) was the world's first general-purpose computer. ENIAC was designed and built for the United States Army to calculate artillery firing tables. 1946.
  • UNIVAC

    UNIVAC
    The UNIVAC I was the first commercial computer produced in the United States.
  • High-Level Programming Language

    High-Level Programming Language
    A programming language such as C, FORTRAN, or Pascal that enables a programmer to write programs that are more or less independent of a particular type of computer. Such Languages are considered high-level because they are closer to human languages.
  • UNIX Operating System

    UNIX Operating System
    A family of multitasking, multi user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, developed starting in the 1970s at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others.
  • Altair

    Altair
    A microcomputer designed in 1974 by MITS and based on the Intel 8080 CPU.
  • PC

    PC
    (personal computer) is a microcomputer designed for use by one person at a time. 1975.
  • Cray-1

    Cray-1
    The Cray-1 was a supercomputer designed, manufactured and marketed by Cray Research. The first Cray-1 system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976 and it went on to become one of the best known and most successful supercomputers in history.
  • Apple

    Apple
    Manufacturers of the Macintosh range of personal computers as well as the earlier Apple I, Apple II and Lisa. Founded on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
  • First Electronic Spreadsheet

    First Electronic Spreadsheet
    An electronic spreadsheet is a computer application that displays and organizes data. Each data is stored in a cell of a worksheet and can be manipulated using formulas to calculate or change the data in other cells. 1978.
  • Mactinosh

    Mactinosh
    A full-length waterproof coat.
  • Windows

    Windows
    A computer operating system with a graphical user interface.