From first calculations to digital machines
Numerical records, calculators, vacuum tubes, transistors, and software: the building of digital computing.
Suggested order
Begin with writing, which is also a record of quantities and accounts. Move on to mechanical calculators and early computers, then to the transistor, which changes the basis of electronics. Programming languages show how machines came to be instructed in more human terms. Integrated circuits and personal computers close the trail.
Writing as a Technology of Record-Keeping and Administration
Writing arose independently in more than one region, often tied to administration. See its materials, scribes, the alphabet, and the limits of ancient literacy.
6 min read · Communication
From Mechanical Calculators to the First Computers
From the 17th century to 1951, mechanical calculators, punched cards and wartime projects led to the first electronic computers and the stored program.
6 min read · Computing
The Transistor and the Miniaturization of Circuits
First demonstrated at Bell Labs in December 1947, the transistor replaced vacuum tubes in many roles and made electronics smaller, sturdier and far less power-hungry.
7 min read · Computing
The Evolution of Programming Languages
From numeric machine codes to FORTRAN, COBOL, C and Java, a history of how programming grew closer to human reasoning.
6 min read · Computing
Integrated Circuits and the Expansion of Electronics
In 1958 and 1959, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce found ways to build a whole circuit in one piece of semiconductor, ending the hand-wiring of components.
6 min read · Computing
The Popularization of the Personal Computer
Microprocessors, build-it-yourself kits, spreadsheets, the IBM PC and graphical interfaces carried the computer from large institutions to desks and living rooms.
6 min read · Computing