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2000 BCE
Abacus
The abacus is possibly the first mechanical accounting device in history. It is about 5,000 years old and actually is also used in many countries. Nowadays is used by children to learn mathematical competences. -
Blaise Pascal's pascalina
The Pascaline has been the first mechanical calculator in history. Invented by the French thinker, philosopher, and mathematician Blaise Pascal at the age of nineteen in 1642. The machine was able to add and subtract. Pascal developed the invention to make his father’s job easier. The Pascaline is an ancestor of modern calculators and also of current computers. -
Jacquard's loom
The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801. The contraption used punched cards to weave patterns into the fabric, allowing even the most inexperienced users to craft complex designs. -
Babage´s analytic machine
The analytical machine is a design for a modern general-purpose computer by the British mathematics professor Charles Babbage, which represented an important step in the history of computing. The next computers that were logically comparable to the analytical machine could only be built 100 years later. -
Holleryth's tabulator machine
The tabulator machine is one of the first application machines in computing. In 1890, Herman Hollerith (1860-1929) developed a logic-based electric punch card system, applying it to a tabulator machine of his invention. Hollerith's machine was used to tabulate that year's census in the United States. The machine had a card reader, a counter, a classifier and a tab created by it. So, in 1896, Hollerith created the Tabulating Machine Company, with it he intended to market his machine. -
Zuse 1
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First generation computers
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Zuse 2
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Zuse 3
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Zuse 4
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Second generation of computers
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IBM 1401
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IBM 1620
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Third generation of computers
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CDC 6600
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Forth generation of computers
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Apple 1
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Fifth generation of computers
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Montte
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Sixth generation of computers
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An actual computer