Lesson 1. 


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Welcome to our first lesson of
"Learn to Use the Computer Without Sweating"!
The Computer

Platforms. Everything after the computer comes on is about the programs,
the applications and browsers. Where you go for the magic. It's important
to know what they are, how to get there and how they work. There are
similarities and differences. They have all been created by a computer
programmer. If that's appreciated, it helps understand what's happening.
A little.



Since the dawn of civilization (and even before!) we have used
machines to help us process and organise data. The Lebombo
Bone, found in a cave in Swaziland, dates back to 35,000 BC
and is a baboon's fibula with 29 distinct notches thought to be
early man's record of kills. During the industrial revolution
mathematicians started using mechanical devices to calculate
difficult or repetitive equations. Perhaps the most noteworthy
of these were the Jacquard's Loom in the 1830's which was
a machine that could be 'programmed' to weave different designs
(though not technically a computer in today's sense of the word),
and Charles Babbage's (1791 - 1871) difference and analytical
engines, though these were only completed over a century later
in an effort to see if the designs would actually work. They did
and can now be seen in the Science Museum in Kensington,
England. With the advent of electricity and the ever decreasing cost
of components these machines became much more powerful.
First we had electromechanical machines, then valve powered
machines, then machines using transistors. Now we use silicon
microprocessors. In the future we may even have machines
based on DNA, the coding material all organic life uses to store
the information of how to grow.

As computers are now small, cheap and powerful they are found
in almost all areas of modern life. My fridge uses a computer
to regulate the temperature, my car uses a computer to constantly
tune the engine and control the anti-locking breaking system.
In work, an ever larger number of us use personal computers
in our day-to-day tasks. In communications telephone exchanges
are now computer controlled and mobile phones have quite
sophisticated processors in them. In British schools all children
use computers. Not so long ago this article would have been hand
written or typed on a typewriter; I am writing it using a word processor
on a personal computer. In 1977 Ken Olson founder of Digital
Equipment Corp said, "There is no reason anybody would want
a computer in their home". In 1943 Thomas Watson the then
chairman of IBM said, "I think there is a world market for maybe
five computers". Today I have more than three times that number
in my home alone!



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