Computers Today

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This post is part 1 (out of 6) in a series of blog posts: 

  1. Computers Today (this blog post)
  2. Where Computers Came From
  3. Computer Hardware
  4. Computer Programs
  5. Why Are There so Many Programming Languages?
  6. Where Did BASIC Come From?

 

What are computers?

First, let's look at what it's like today (sort of)...

Imagine that it’s 7:40 AM and your phone loudly plays your favorite tune (hopefully not another song about Friday, since there are 6 other days in the week that should also have songs). You shut the phone off on the beat, and as you brush your teeth, you swipe your phone to check if you got any missed calls or text messages last night. Your friend texted you an interesting story about a near-death experience involving an ice cream truck. You decide you want to take a fast shower, so you set your phone to the stopwatch and let it go… you finish the shower and check your phone… a new record!

You pocket the phone and head to the breakfast table, where you pick up your tablet. You quickly check online to see how your favorite super-hero-wizard-robot-teen-survival film faired in the box office that weekend. Then… BING! You’re startled as your friend Skyped you to tell the tale of the ice cream truck with full hand motions!  

Let’s fast forward to after school…

Tired from your team’s practice, you plop down at the kitchen table with a laptop full of homework assignments, a few dead-tree editions of books in your backpack to read, a book report that’s due tomorrow, and a strong desire to play Halo 12. But you fight the temptations, open your touch laptop, start up Microsoft Word, and begin typing your report. You need to add an image to make your report more appealing, so you open your favorite paint program and begin to draw.

After drawing part of the picture, you suddenly remember that you can’t draw! And so you open your Web browser and search for an image. At the same time, you start your media player to listen to a relaxing song after all this hard work. After you finish your homework, you chat with your friends on Facebook and play a game with them, exchanging some words amongst your friends. Then you and your friends move to your Xboxes and play Halo together… separately.

Okay, let’s stop imagining for now.

All those applications and games are the software that runs on your computers, devices, and consoles. That software was written with a programming language.

But where did these computers come from?

 

Next, read #2 in this series: 

  1. Computers Today (this blog post)
  2. Where Computers Came From
  3. Computer Hardware
  4. Computer Programs
  5. Why Are There so Many Programming Languages?
  6. Where Did BASIC Come From?

    

Have a good bye! A great one!

   - Ninja Ed