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Vacuum tube
The vacuum tube was invented in 1904 by John Ambrose Fleming and it was a big improvement from the mechanical relays. They were a lot faster, more reliable and drew less power. It was made by a glass tube with electrodes inside controlling the electric flow which made it fully digital. The ABC computer was the first computer to utilize vacuum tubes and was therefore the first digital computer -
Alan Turing and the Turing machine
Contrary to all of the previous computers built, the Turing machine, also called the Universal machine, could compute anything that was computable. The machines before could only compute what they were programmed to. The modern computers are largely based on what Turing discovered. -
The transistor
When the transistor arrived to the market it revolutionized computers. They were smaller than the older vacuum tubes and they were a lot more reliable. A big stepping stone for transistors was when they were made together on a chip. When the transistors had been created they were enormous compared to now because now new transistors can be smaller than ten nanometers. -
Hard disk drives
Without a working way to store whats on a computer we wouldn't be able to do anything on them. It would be impossible to make operating systems because we wouldn't be able to store them. When time has passed we have invented better technology to store more data on one disk so instead of a room we only need a 6 cm long compact hard disk drive. -
Random Access Memory
RAM as its also called is a type of storage that is a lot faster than hard drives. But it cant store the data for long periods of time. The RAM speaks directly with the processor and other parts of the computer. At the beginning of computers RAM was not something that you needed but now its a necessity. It speeds up the computer by a lot since it can always give the processor relevant information quickly. -
Windows
Windows one was the first iteration of Microsofts Windows and was developed in 1985. The first version was not that well received but the operating system became more popular over the years when new and better version arrived. Now, Windows is the most common operating system for computers mostly because its very user friendly. Windows made everyone able to use computers without any prior knowlege. -
World Wide Web
The world wide web was created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist, in 1989. WWW allowed the whole world to meet without almost any delay. This allowed data to be transmitted to the whole world. Now new inventions would spread quicker. This includes everything like guides on how to program. Now everyone can program if they put in the time and effort to do it which couldn't be done before. -
The iPhone
The iPhone was developed by Apple in 2007 under Steve Jobbs. It was the first smartphone and they quickly took of and soon everyone in the developed world had their own minicomputer. This allowed everyone to access the internet. Right now almost all jobs require a smartphone for the workers. The smartphone industry has speed up computing because the companies are working to outcompete each other by making faster and better technology.