ABSTRACT
The development of the computer traces back, historically, to the first use of mechanical devices or “engine” for mathematical calculations. The simplest form of digital computer is the abacus. Herman Hollerithlater associated with Thomas J. Watson, Sr. in 1914, in the Computer Tabulating-Recording Company which later became the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). The IBM personal computer originated from the innocuous acronym IBU. An “IBU” was IBM-speak for an “independent business unit”. The development of the first successful electronic digital machine — Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator — and an earlier innovative design, ABC, matched closely the theoretical work of John von Neumann. The progress of engineered technology has reached the era of automated mechanization. A machine in Neumann’s model is a finite, geometric pattern of contiguous cells with a specification of a state for each cell in the pattern.
