TMCnet Feature Free eNews Subscription
November 04, 2020

3 Fun Facts About Computer History that You Probably Didn't Know



The first tentative forays into computing and computers may seem funny to us today, and some of that weird heritage is still with us no matter how cutting-edge your tech may be. Whether you view them with surprise, something akin to horror, or amusement, yesterday’s state-of-the-art computer tech is part of the evolution towards a connected world and makes for interesting reading. Just to get you started, here are three fun computer history facts that not everybody knows.



That Keyboard is Still With You

Typewriters are to blame for the QWERTY keyboard we still use today. The layout wasn’t designed to make typing easier. On the contrary, it spaced frequently used letters far apart to prevent the lever arms that drove the letters onto the page from becoming tangled. Touch typing remains a challenge to learn despite the many advances in computing, and that keyboard isn’t going away anytime soon.

There are a ton of other interesting facts about keyboards, but this one has to be the prize-winner. If you’re one of the people who struggles to find the right letter on the keyboard when typing, you can blame typewriters and old-fashioned word processors for your difficulty. Early computers adopted the same layout as manual typewriters to make adoption easier for people who already knew how to type.

A Woman Born in 1815 was the First to Recognize Computers’ Potential

If you thought that computers are a 20th century invention, think again. Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet, Lord Byron, was the first to recognize that computers could be much more than just adding machines. Working with Charles Babbage, she was co-responsible for the creation of the “Analytical Engine.” Today, she is widely recognized as the world’s first computer programmer.

The Analytical Engine itself was basically a very bulky calculator, but groundbreaking for its time since it was able to perform four mathematical functions and “print” both the calculation process and its results on punched cards. Punched cards went on to be the means for inputting data and receiving results in computing until the 1960s.

1GB of Data Storage Weighed 250 kg (550 lb) in 1980

As data processing developed, the need to store data grew. Entire rooms were devoted to this, but in 1980, IBM (News - Alert) came up with a breakthrough” 1MB of storage in a cabinet the size of a regular refrigerator and weighing in at 550 pounds. This monster was seen as a real advance in making data storage more compact than it had previously been. After all, just a year earlier, 250mb of storage was taking up around about the same space and bulk.

Today, we look back and shake our heads. Our phones store more data than that! But without the developmental process, we would never have reached the point where we are today.

The future of data storage will be interesting and ever-more lucrative. IBM says it can now store one bit of data on just 12 atoms. Currently, your computer needs 1 million atoms of space to do just that. However, this advance is still in its infancy and isn’t compatible with existing hardware. In decades to come, our children will be laughing at the infinitesimal capacity of 2020’s technology.

Computers and Computing Are Still Changing: Enjoy the Ride

Computers and smartphones have changed the way we get and process information. What may have taken several library visits a few decades ago, is just a search engine query away. If we can code, we can create our own apps to do things that would otherwise have been time consuming - but hold on - there’s an app for that already - even apps to help with coding!

The worlds of computers and computing is a fast-paced one, and new developments are still coming thick and fast. Processing capacity and storage will continue to grow and the multitude of useful things we can do using technology will continue to expand. Enjoy the ride! There’s lots more to come.



» More TMCnet Feature Articles
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE

LATEST TMCNET ARTICLES

» More TMCnet Feature Articles