Computer Basics

摘要

This article is intended to teach you a little about the modern digital computer. These machines are becoming more and more common in the workplace, school and the shack. Many people find them daunting, but they shouldn't: they are just machines. Probably the first computer was the Abacus used by the Chinese several thousand years ago. The first attempt at a machine that could calculate was the 'Difference Engine', invented by Babbage in 1823. The first electronic computer was 'Colossus'. Developed at Bletchley Park, it was used to break German secret codes during WWII. By today' s standards it was a massive machine. It used hundreds of glass vacuum valves and generated a lot of heat when it was in action.