Computer Inventions Worth Noting

All the best programming inventions were brought to us by talented humans who were dedicated and passionate about the origins of programming. It is because they followed up on their ideas that today we can look back through history at great inventions in computer science.

Software inventions are a result of the need to develop critical thinking. When an individual is faced with a problem, they have to think of new and out-of-the-box ideas to find a solution.

1) The First Computer Inventions

The first computer inventions do not even resemble today’s hardware.

In 1821, the “difference engine” appeared and gave hope for a revolution in the field of computer science, and more specifically, programming. Charles Babbage’s first mechanical computer, commissioned by the British government, made it possible to carry out maths tables to help the work of astronomers who needed to make long and complicated calculations that could contain errors.

At the time, this work was not completed as it was too expensive and the scientist embarked on a new project that processed calculations, stored information and entered data with a punch card and printer. Unfortunately, this was not completed either but these two computer inventions are considered to be the first programming inventions in history.

2) Ada Lovelace's Computer Inventions 

Ada Lovelace, the pioneer of computer inventions, may be the most famous programmer in the world.

In particular, while working on Babbage’s machine, she is known for having written the first programming language.

Evidently, Lovelace, translated mathematician Luigi Menabrea’s recording on Babbage’s machine. Amongst her translation notes was an algorithm for calculating Bernoulli numbers using the analytical machine. This algorithm is considered to be the world’s first programming language.

Today, she is a major figure, especially amongst the feminist movement, even though her work was not recognised during her lifetime.

3) The First Programmable Inventions

One of the most notable inventions in computer science includes Konrad Zuse’s first functional computer, the Z3 which of course, followed two previous versions. The mechanical Z1 only worked for a few minutes. The Z2 was then later developed by the computer scientist before the 1941 Z3 version, the electromagnetic computer that used punch tape technology to store databases which was one of the notable software inventions of the day too.

This was another of the inventions in computer science aided by the German government but destroyed during World War 2.

4) Creation of the First Programmable Electronic Computer

Even though 1942 saw its first electronic computer by Clifford Berry and John Vincent Atanasoff it was not programmable. Known as the ABC it was mainly used to find solutions for simultaneous linear equations. A year later, Tommy Flowers appeared with a programmable version, thus making it one of the first notable software inventions.

Named Colossus, this was one of the programming inventions used to help the British during the Second World War. It ended up being a massive success in terms of inventions in computer science because it could decipher messages in a matter of hours instead of taking weeks like it used to.

5) The First in General-Purpose Programming Inventions

In 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC), was developed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania.

Financed by the American army to assist with feasibility calculations for the first hydrogen bomb in the world, the ENIAC worked with complex software inventions such as loops through the program with electronic cables, switches and card readers. Sadly, this was one of many where inventions of computer were for the purposes of warfare.

6) Programming Inventions with a Stored Program

In 1948, the SSEM (Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine) was introduced by Frederic C. Williams and Tom Kilburn. Developed for the creation of the first random-access digital storage based on the CRT, it aimed to solve delay line memory problems. This computer made it possible to set up better storage with the help of software inventions that provided a binary code.

7) Invention of a High-Level Programming Language

Inventions in computer science continued unabated, resulting in the Plankalkül (or computational plan) which was developed in 1948 by Konrad Zuse.

As far as software inventions go, it is considered to be the first programming language of a high level. Prior to that, it was only the work of Ada Lovelace that contributed to a programming language. Developed between 1944-1945, yet only published in 1948, the Plankalkül was the first completed code in history where the language was used to store pieces of code for various functions so that they did not need to be copied each time.

Zuse’s programme did not receive much attention at the time of its creation but came into its own several decades later when an invention by another of many famous programmers called Joachim Hohmann came onto the scene.

8) The First Assembler

To understand the history of programming, it helps to understand what programming is. The first assembler, created in 1949 to assemble programmes in memory, was a lower-level language that took machine language and made it understandable for humans.

Programming is when codes and symbols are read by the machine and represented in "mnemonic” easy-to-remember symbols. In this way, the assembler enables the machine to switch from machine language to simplified human language and vice versa. For instance, decimal values are decoded into binary language. This first assembler was created for EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator).

9) The First Personal Computer

All types of inventions of computer continued until Edmund Berkley created the first personal computer in 1950. It has nothing to do with our current day computers, the first personal computer called Simon could perform four operations of basic arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

10) Creating the First Compiler

In 1952, Grace Hopper was made famous when she simplified computer languages allowing for high level languages to be easily translated into human language, for example, the A-0 system. This evolved into the A-2 system which is considered by some as the first open-source software. Even today, Grace Hopper is one of the great names in computer science history.

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 11) Glennie's Autocode: The First Auto Code

After the first compiler was created, the autocode, which is a high-level programming language was created. The auto-code works with the compiler to make the software more understandable.

This first known autocode was created by Alick Glennie from the University of Manchester.

12) Real-Time Graphic Display: The First

The AN/FSQ-7 computer created by IBM in 1951 was the first of the inventions of computer to display real-time, screen information. Of course, in the digital world of today, this sounds bizarre, however, before this, computer operations were not able to be seen on the screen of the machine on which they were being performed. This computer with its graphic display was first used, among other things, by American air defence systems to highlight tracks for targets.

13) The Programming Language, FORTRAN

In 1957, the first high-level programming language, called FORTRUN was created by John W. Backus. Used for performing complex scientific calculations, it is still in use today.  This language is used to perform complex scientific calculations and is still used today. In his work, Backus managed to largely simplify programming languages to make them more practical, and more affordable.

FORTRAN is a language that is still in use today and that many computer scientists have used to progress the development and innovation of programming.

14) First Commercial Desktop Computer

In 1965, The Programma 101, also known as Perottina, was the first commercialised computer to be released. The revolutionary equipment, created by Pier Giorgio Perotto was produced by the Italian manufacturer Olivetti. Gone were the four single operations that could only be done by old computers, the first commercial computer was also able to work out square roots, fractions and absolute values. Of course, these were features that were widely appreciated by its early users and no less than 44 000 machines were sold at a price of $3 200.

15) Simula: The Object-Oriented Programming Language

SIMULA 67, created in 1967 was the first object-orientated programming language ever created. Invented by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard, it was based on the Algol 60 language and followed in the shoes of SIMULA 1. Object-oriented programming is when objects are able to interact through different programming languages. Today, in programming for popular culture, object-orientated languages have become widely used. Just think about how visual your screen is these days.

Oh! Don’t miss our article on the best programming films ever made.

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