The history of computers goes back over 200 years. At first theorized by mathematicians and entrepreneurs, during the 19th century mechanical calculating machines were designed and built to solve the increasingly complex number-crunching challenges. The advancement of technology enabled ever more-complex computers by the early 20th century, and computers became larger and more powerful.

Today, computers are almost unrecognizable from designs of the 19th century, such as Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine — or even from the huge computers of the 20th century that occupied whole rooms, such as the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator.  

Here's a brief history of computers, from their primitive number-crunching origins to the powerful modern-day machines that surf the Internet, run games and stream multimedia. 

19th century

1801: Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French merchant and inventor invents a loom that uses punched wooden cards to automatically weave fabric designs. Early computers would use similar punch cards.

1821: English mathematician Charles Babbage conceives of a steam-driven calculating machine that would be able to compute tables of numbers. Funded by the British government, the project, called the "Difference Engine" fails due to the lack of technology at the time, according to the University of Minnesota. 

1848: Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician and the daughter of poet Lord Byron, writes the world's first computer program. According to Anna Siffert, a professor of theoretical mathematics at the University of Münster in Germany, Lovelace writes the first program while translating a paper on Babbage's Analytical Engine from French into English. "She also provides her own comments on the text. Her annotations, simply called "notes," turn out to be three times as long as the actual transcript," Siffert wrote in an article for The Max Planck Society. "Lovelace also adds a step-by-step description for computation of Bernoulli numbers with Babbage's machine — basically an algorithm — which, in effect, makes her the world's first computer programmer." Bernoulli numbers are a sequence of rational numbers often used in computation.

Famed mathematician Charles Babbage designed a Victorian-era computer called the Analytical Engine. This is a portion of the mill with a printing mechanism. (Image credit: Getty / Science & Society Picture Library)

1853: Swedish inventor Per Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard design the world's first printing calculator. The machine is significant for being the first to "compute tabular differences and print the results," according to Uta C. Merzbach's book, "Georg Scheutz and the First Printing Calculator" (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977).

1890: Herman Hollerith designs a punch-card system to help calculate the 1890 U.S. Census. The machine,  saves the government several years of calculations, and the U.S. taxpayer approximately $5 million, according to Columbia University  Hollerith later establishes a company that will eventually become International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

Early 20th century

1931: At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Vannevar Bush invents and builds the Differential Analyzer, the first large-scale automatic general-purpose mechanical analog computer, according to Stanford University. 

1936: Alan Turing, a British scientist and mathematician, presents the principle of a universal machine, later called the Turing machine, in a paper called "On Computable Numbers…" according to Chris Bernhardt's book "Turing's Vision" (The MIT Press, 2017). Turing machines are capable of computing anything that is computable. The central concept of the modern computer is based on his ideas. Turing is later involved in the development of the Turing-Welchman Bombe, an electro-mechanical device designed to decipher Nazi codes during World War II, according to the UK's National Museum of Computing. 

1937: John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, submits a grant proposal to build the first electric-only computer, without using gears, cams, belts or shafts.

The newly renovated garage where in 1939 Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started their business, Hewlett Packard, in Palo Alto, California. (Image credit: Getty / David Paul Morris)

1939: David Packard and Bill Hewlett found the Hewlett Packard Company in Palo Alto, California. The pair decide the name of their new company by the toss of a coin, and Hewlett-Packard's first headquarters are in Packard's garage, according to MIT. 

1941: German inventor and engineer Konrad Zuse completes his Z3 machine, the world's earliest digital computer, according to Gerard O'Regan's book "A Brief History of Computing" (Springer, 2021). The machine was destroyed during a bombing raid on Berlin during World War II. Zuse fled the German capital after the defeat of Nazi Germany and later released the world's first commercial digital computer, the Z4, in 1950, according to O'Regan. 

1941: Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, design the first digital electronic computer in the U.S., called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). This marks the first time a computer is able to store information on its main memory, and is capable of performing one operation every 15 seconds, according to the book "Birthing the Computer" (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016)

1945: Two professors at the University of Pennsylvania, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, design and build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC). The machine is the first "automatic, general-purpose, electronic, decimal, digital computer," according to Edwin D. Reilly's book "Milestones in Computer Science and Information Technology" (Greenwood Press, 2003). 

Computer operators program the ENIAC, the first automatic, general-purpose, electronic, decimal, digital computer computer, by plugging and unplugging cables and adjusting switches (Image credit: Getty / Historical)

1946: Mauchly and Presper leave the University of Pennsylvania and receive funding from the Census Bureau to build the UNIVAC, the first commercial computer for business and government applications.

1947: William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of Bell Laboratories invent the transistor. They discover how to make an electric switch with solid materials and without the need for a vacuum.

1949: A team at the University of Cambridge develops the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), "the first practical stored-program computer," according to O'Regan. "EDSAC ran its first program in May 1949 when it calculated a table of squares and a list of prime numbers," O'Regan wrote. In November 1949, scientists with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), now called CSIRO, build Australia's first digital computer called the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Automatic Computer (CSIRAC). CSIRAC is the first digital computer in the world to play music, according to O'Regan.

Late 20th century

1953: Grace Hopper develops the first computer language, which eventually becomes known as COBOL, which stands for COmmon, Business-Oriented Language according to the National Museum of American History. Hopper is later dubbed the "First Lady of Software" in her posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom citation. Thomas Johnson Watson Jr., son of IBM CEO Thomas Johnson Watson Sr., conceives the IBM 701 EDPM to help the United Nations keep tabs on Korea during the war.

1954: John Backus and his team of programmers at IBM publish a paper describing their newly created FORTRAN programming language, an acronym for FORmula TRANslation, according to MIT.

1958: Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil the integrated circuit, known as the computer chip. Kilby is later awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work.

1968: Douglas Engelbart reveals a prototype of the modern computer at the Fall Joint Computer Conference, San Francisco. His presentation, called "A Research Center for Augmenting Human Intellect" includes a live demonstration of his computer, including a mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI), according to the Doug Engelbart Institute. This marks the development of the computer from a specialized machine for academics to a technology that is more accessible to the general public.

The first computer mouse was invented in 1963 by Douglas C. Engelbart and presented at  the Fall Joint Computer Conference in 1968 (Image credit: Getty / Apic)

1969: Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and a group of other developers at Bell Labs produce UNIX, an operating system that made "large-scale networking of diverse computing systems — and the internet — practical," according to Bell Labs.. The team behind UNIX continued to develop the operating system using the C programming language, which they also optimized. 

1970: The newly formed Intel unveils the Intel 1103, the first Dynamic Access Memory (DRAM) chip.

1971: A team of IBM engineers led by Alan Shugart invents the "floppy disk," enabling data to be shared among different computers.

1972: Ralph Baer, a German-American engineer, releases Magnavox Odyssey, the world's first home game console, in September 1972 , according to the Computer Museum of America. Months later, entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell and engineer Al Alcorn with Atari release Pong, the world's first commercially successful video game. 

1973: Robert Metcalfe, a member of the research staff for Xerox, develops Ethernet for connecting multiple computers and other hardware.

1977: The Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor (PET), is released onto the home computer market, featuring an MOS Technology 8-bit 6502 microprocessor, which controls the screen, keyboard and cassette player. The PET is especially successful in the education market, according to O'Regan.

1975: The magazine cover of the January issue of "Popular Electronics" highlights the Altair 8080 as the "world's first minicomputer kit to rival commercial models." After seeing the magazine issue, two "computer geeks," Paul Allen and Bill Gates, offer to write software for the Altair, using the new BASIC language. On April 4, after the success of this first endeavor, the two childhood friends form their own software company, Microsoft.

1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-found Apple Computer on April Fool's Day. They unveil Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board and ROM (Read Only Memory), according to MIT.

The Apple I computer, devised by Steve Wozniak, Steven Jobs and Ron Wayne, was a basic circuit board to which enthusiasts would add display units and keyboards. (Image credit: Getty / Science & Society Picture Library)

1977: Radio Shack began its initial production run of 3,000 TRS-80 Model 1 computers — disparagingly known as the "Trash 80" — priced at $599, according to the National Museum of American History. Within a year, the company took 250,000 orders for the computer, according to the book "How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution" (The Seeker Books, 2007).

1977: The first West Coast Computer Faire is held in San Francisco. Jobs and Wozniak present the Apple II computer at the Faire, which includes color graphics and features an audio cassette drive for storage.

1978: VisiCalc, the first computerized spreadsheet program is introduced.

1979: MicroPro International, founded by software engineer Seymour Rubenstein, releases WordStar, the world's first commercially successful word processor. WordStar is programmed by Rob Barnaby, and includes 137,000 lines of code, according to Matthew G. Kirschenbaum's book "Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing" (Harvard University Press, 2016).

1981: "Acorn," IBM's first personal computer, is released onto the market at a price point of $1,565, according to IBM. Acorn uses the MS-DOS operating system from Windows. Optional features include a display, printer, two diskette drives, extra memory, a game adapter and more.

The Acorn was IBM's first personal computer and used MS-DOS operating system. (Image credit: Getty / Spencer Grant)

1983: The Apple Lisa, standing for "Local Integrated Software Architecture" but also the name of Steve Jobs' daughter, according to the National Museum of American History (NMAH), is the first personal computer to feature a GUI. The machine also includes a drop-down menu and icons. Also this year, the Gavilan SC is released and is the first portable computer with a flip-form design and the very first to be sold as a "laptop."

1984: The Apple Macintosh is announced to the world during a Superbowl advertisement. The Macintosh is launched with a retail price of $2,500, according to the NMAH. 

1985: As a response to the Apple Lisa's GUI, Microsoft releases Windows in November 1985, the Guardian reported. Meanwhile, Commodore announces the Amiga 1000.

1989: Tim Berners-Lee, a British researcher at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), submits his proposal for what would become the World Wide Web. His paper details his ideas for Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), the building blocks of the Web. 

1993: The Pentium microprocessor advances the use of graphics and music on PCs.

1996: Sergey Brin and Larry Page develop the Google search engine at Stanford University.

1997: Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple, which at the time is struggling financially.  This investment ends an ongoing court case in which Apple accused Microsoft of copying its operating system. 

1999: Wi-Fi, the abbreviated term for "wireless fidelity" is developed, initially covering a distance of up to 300 feet (91 meters) Wired reported. 

21st century

2001: Mac OS X, later renamed OS X then simply macOS, is released by Apple as the successor to its standard Mac Operating System. OS X goes through 16 different versions, each with "10" as its title, and the first nine iterations are nicknamed after big cats, with the first being codenamed "Cheetah," TechRadar reported. 

2003: AMD's Athlon 64, the first 64-bit processor for personal computers, is released to customers. 

2004: The Mozilla Corporation launches Mozilla Firefox 1.0. The Web browser is one of the first major challenges to Internet Explorer, owned by Microsoft. During its first five years, Firefox exceeded a billion downloads by users, according to the Web Design Museum. 

2005: Google buys Android, a Linux-based mobile phone operating system

2006: The MacBook Pro from Apple hits the shelves. The Pro is the company's first Intel-based, dual-core mobile computer. 

2009: Microsoft launches Windows 7 on July 22. The new operating system features the ability to pin applications to the taskbar, scatter windows away by shaking another window, easy-to-access jumplists, easier previews of tiles and more, TechRadar reported.  

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds the iPad during the launch of Apple's new tablet computing device in San Francisco, 2010. (Image credit: Getty /)

2010: The iPad, Apple's flagship handheld tablet, is unveiled.

2011: Google releases the Chromebook, which runs on Google Chrome OS.

2015: Apple releases the Apple Watch. Microsoft releases Windows 10.

2016: The first reprogrammable quantum computer was created. "Until now, there hasn't been any quantum-computing platform that had the capability to program new algorithms into their system. They're usually each tailored to attack a particular algorithm," said study lead author Shantanu Debnath, a quantum physicist and optical engineer at the University of Maryland, College Park.

2017: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a new "Molecular Informatics" program that uses molecules as computers. "Chemistry offers a rich set of properties that we may be able to harness for rapid, scalable information storage and processing," Anne Fischer, program manager in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office, said in a statement. "Millions of molecules exist, and each molecule has a unique three-dimensional atomic structure as well as variables such as shape, size, or even color. This richness provides a vast design space for exploring novel and multi-value ways to encode and process data beyond the 0s and 1s of current logic-based, digital architectures."

2019: A team at Google became the first to demonstrate quantum supremacy — creating a quantum computer that could feasibly outperform the most powerful classical computer — albeit for a very specific problem with no practical real-world application. The described the computer, dubbed "Sycamore" in a paper that same year in the journal Nature. Achieving quantum advantage – in which a quantum computer solves a problem with real-world applications faster than the most powerful classical computer —  is still a ways off. 

2022: The first exascale supercomputer, and the world's fastest, Frontier, went online at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) in Tennessee. Built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) at the cost of $600 million, Frontier uses nearly 10,000 AMD EPYC 7453 64-core CPUs alongside nearly 40,000 AMD Radeon Instinct MI250X GPUs. This machine ushered in the era of exascale computing, which refers to systems that can reach more than one exaFLOP of power – used to measure the performance of a system. Only one machine – Frontier – is currently capable of reaching such levels of performance. It is currently being used as a tool to aid scientific discovery.

FAQs

What is the first computer in history?

Charles Babbage's Difference Engine, designed in the 1820s, is considered the first "mechanical" computer in history, according to the Science Museum in the U.K. Powered by steam with a hand crank, the machine calculated a series of values and printed the results in a table. 

What are the five generations of computing?

The "five generations of computing" is a framework for assessing the entire history of computing and the key technological advancements throughout it. 

The first generation, spanning the 1940s to the 1950s, covered vacuum tube-based machines. The second then progressed to incorporate transistor-based computing between the 50s and the 60s. In the 60s and 70s, the third generation gave rise to integrated circuit-based computing. We are now in between the fourth and fifth generations of computing, which are microprocessor-based and AI-based computing.

What is the most powerful computer in the world?

As of November 2023, the most powerful computer in the world is the Frontier supercomputer. The machine, which can reach a performance level of up to 1.102 exaFLOPS, ushered in the age of exascale computing in 2022 when it went online at Tennessee's  Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) 

There is, however, a potentially more powerful supercomputer waiting in the wings in the form of the Aurora supercomputer, which is housed at the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) outside of Chicago.  Aurora went online in November 2023. Right now, it lags far behind Frontier, with performance levels of just 585.34 petaFLOPS (roughly half the performance of Frontier), although it's still not finished. When work is completed, the supercomputer is expected to reach performance levels higher than 2 exaFLOPS.

What was the first killer app?

Killer apps are widely understood to be those so essential that they are core to the technology they run on. There have been so many through the years – from Word for Windows in 1989 to iTunes in 2001 to social media apps like WhatsApp in more recent years

Several pieces of software may stake a claim to be the first killer app, but there is a broad consensus that VisiCalc, a spreadsheet program created by VisiCorp and originally released for the Apple II in 1979, holds that title. Steve Jobs even credits this app for propelling the Apple II to become the success it was,

• 1943 - British "Bombe," Used To Decode The Enigma Machine

  • Photo: 

    • AntoineTaveneauxcc 

    • wikimedia commons

• The "Bombe" was used to decode the German coding device known as the "Enigma" machine. It was developed by Alan Turing at the British codebreaking center known as Bletchley Park.

• 1944 - Harvard Mark 1

  • Photo: 

    • Pinterest

• The first of four large protocomputers developed by Harvard University professor Howard Aiken. Based on a 19th century "computer" called the Analytical Engine, the computer was one of the first to use electromagnetic relay circuits instead of plugboards to streamline the moving of data.

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• 1950 - ERA 1101, Aka UNIVAC 1101

  • Photo: 

    • Public Domain

    • wikimedia commons

• Manufactured by Remington-Rand for the US Government's NSA, this machine was 38 feet long and 20 feet wide, and also was based on the design of the first stored-program computer in the United States.

• AD

• 1952 - UNIVAC 1

  • Photo: 

    • Public Domain

    • Wikimedia Commons

• The UNIVAC 1 was developed by what ultimately became the Sperry-Rand Corporation for the US Department of the Census. This machine helped compute large sets of numerical data. UNIVAC is an acronym for Universal Automatic Computer. Fun fact, it appeared with Walter Cronkite in 1952 to predict the presidential election that year, where it correctly predicted Eisenhower.

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• 1954 - IBM 701

  • Photo: 

    • Dan

    • Wikimedia Commons

• The IBM 701 was the first IBM computer manufactured in quantity. It was used primarily by US defense, nuclear research and weather agencies. Hosting Arthur Samuel's virtual checkers program, the IBM 701 was the first computer to host "artificial intelligence."

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• 1962 - IBM 1401

  • Photo: 

    • Public Domain

    • Wikimedia Commons

• The IBM 1401 was the first reasonably affordable, commercial computer produced by IBM. Thousands of these units were sold or rented as a cheaper alternative to larger, more expensive IBM predecessors. The first computer to sell 10,000 units, the IBM cost $2,500-a-month to run smoothly.

• 1965 - CDC 6600

  • Photo: 

    • JitzeCouperus

    • Wikimedia Commons

• After computer genius Seymour Clay threatened to leave CDC, they provided him with a laboratory to pursue his own work. The result, the Control Data's CDC 6600, which surpassed IBM and established Control Data as the manufacturer of the world's fastest computer. It included 100 miles of wiring, all installed by hand.

• 1968 - HP 9100 A

  • Photo: 

    • Rama

    • Wikimedia Commons

• The HP 9100 A was the first desktop, a "personal computer" that operated like a calculator. It was manufactured by the Hewlett-Packard corporation.

• 1969 - Nova Minicomputer

  • Photo: 

    • YouTube

• Released by Data General, the Nova Minicomputer had 32 KB of memory and cost $8,000, and served as a template for future developers like Apple.

• 1973 - Wang 2200

  • Photo: 

    • Stensoft

    • Wikimedia Commons

• The Wang 2200 was the first personal computer developed by Wang, Inc; previously the company manufactured electronic calculators. A huge success, the Wang 2200 allowed Wang to continue making computers for another 20 years.

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• Actors Who Played Classic Movie Characters On TV - And Nailed It

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• 1977 - Apple II

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    • Rama

    • wikimedia commons

• The Apple II computer became one of the most popular Apple computers ever and was a vast improvement over the Apple I. One of the first models with a color display, the Apple II also came with a keyboard, another novelty at the time.

• 1981 - IBM PC

  • Photo: 

    • Public Domain

    • WIkimedia Commons

• The IBM 5150 Personal Computer was IBM's first desktop personal computer product and coined the term "PC." 

• 1982 - Commodore 64

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    • Wikimedia Commons

• The Commodore 64 was the most popular personal computer ever manufactured and sold 30 million units in a little more than a decade. Its focus was on entertainment software.

• 1984 - Apple Macintosh

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    • Wikimedia Commons

• The Apple Macintosh was the first computer to use a picture-driven screen and further established Apple as a leader in the field of personal computers.

• 1992 - Apple Mac Portable

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    • wikimedia commons

• The Apple Mac Portable was the first portable Macintosh released and introduced battery powered computers into the consumer marketplace. At the time it retailed for a whopping $6,500 dollars, a value today of $12,500, aka 6 Macbook Pros.

• 2003 - HP Pavillion

  • Photo: 

    • Wikimedia Commons

• The HP Pavillion was the first desktop computer designed for use in the home. Its monitor, keyboard, computer tower and printer capability would become and industry standard in the home desktop computer market.

• 2006 - Mac Book Pro

  • Photo: 

    • Wikimedia Commons

• The Macbook Pro was the next evolution of Apple laptops, incorporating its uniquely thin design into a much more portable, personal computing device. An important piece of selfie culture, it was also Apple's first laptop with a built-in camera.

• 2008 - Mac Book Air

  • Photo: 

    • SamanthaLionheart

    • wikimedia commons

• The Mac Book Air was a less powerful cheaper alternative to other more expensive options like the Mac Book Pro. It used a less powerful microprocessor and smaller screen to obtain a lower price.

https://www.ranker.com/list/photos-of-the-evolution-of-computers/philgibbons

1. Who is known as the "father of computers"?

A) Alan Turing

B) Charles Babbage

C) John von Neumann

D) Blaise Pascal

E) Bill Gates

Answer: B) Charles Babbage

2. What was the first mechanical computer designed by Charles Babbage called?

A) ENIAC

B) Analytical Engine

C) Difference Engine

D) Z3

E) UNIVAC

Answer: C) Difference Engine

3. In which year was the first version of Microsoft Windows released?

A) 1983

B) 1985

C) 1987

D) 1990

E) 1995

Answer: B) 1985

4. Who is credited with creating the first algorithm intended for a computer?

A) Ada Lovelace

B) John Napier

C) Grace Hopper

D) Steve Jobs

E) Alan Turing

Answer: A) Ada Lovelace

5. The first electronic general-purpose computer was called:

A) Colossus

B) ENIAC

C) IBM 701

D) Z1

E) Mark I

Answer: B) ENIAC

6. What does ENIAC stand for?

A) Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

B) Electronic National Information and Calculator

C) Electrical Numerical Intelligent Computing

D) Electrical Navigation Integration and Control

E) Electronic Number Interchangeable Computer

Answer: A) Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

7. Who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates?

A) Steve Jobs

B) Paul Allen

C) Steve Wozniak

D) Larry Page

E) Tim Berners-Lee

Answer: B) Paul Allen

8. The first commercially available microprocessor was:

A) Intel 4004

B) Intel 8080

C) Zilog Z80

D) Motorola 68000

E) IBM 5100

Answer: A) Intel 4004

9. What was the first successful personal computer?

A) IBM PC

B) Apple I

C) Commodore 64

D) Altair 8800

E) ZX Spectrum

Answer: D) Altair 8800

10. The Apple Macintosh was introduced in what year?

A) 1976

B) 1980

C) 1984

D) 1988

E) 1991

Answer: C) 1984

11. Who is known for developing the World Wide Web?

A) Vint Cerf

B) Tim Berners-Lee

C) Marc Andreessen

D) Larry Page

E) Sergey Brin

Answer: B) Tim Berners-Lee

12. Which company created the first graphical user interface (GUI) used in personal computers?

A) Microsoft

B) Apple

C) Xerox

D) IBM

E) Google

Answer: C) Xerox

13. The computer programming language COBOL was primarily developed by:

A) Alan Turing

B) Ada Lovelace

C) Grace Hopper

D) Steve Wozniak

E) Larry Page

Answer: C) Grace Hopper

14. The first portable computer was introduced by:

A) IBM

B) Apple

C) Compaq

D) Osborne

E) HP

Answer: D) Osborne

15. What does "HTTP" stand for?

A) Hyperlink Text Transfer Protocol

B) Hypertext Transfer Protocol

C) Hyper Tool Transfer Protocol

D) Hyperlink Tool Transport Protocol

E) Hyper Transfer Transmission Protocol

Answer: B) Hypertext Transfer Protocol

16. What was the first computer virus called?

A) Creeper

B) ILOVEYOU

C) MyDoom

D) Michelangelo

E) Stuxnet

Answer: A) Creeper

17. Which computer was the first to use an operating system similar to today’s?

A) Apple I

B) IBM System/360

C) Altair 8800

D) Z1

E) ENIAC

Answer: B) IBM System/360

18. What was the first mass-produced personal computer?

A) IBM PC

B) Apple II

C) Commodore PET

D) ZX Spectrum

E) Altair 8800

Answer: B) Apple II

19. Which company developed the first hard disk drive?

A) IBM

B) Seagate

C) Western Digital

D) Hitachi

E) Toshiba

Answer: A) IBM

20. What does CPU stand for?

A) Central Process Unit

B) Central Processing Unit

C) Central Processor Universal

D) Central Programming Unit

E) Centralized Processing Unit

Answer: B) Central Processing Unit

21. The first widely-used operating system was:

A) MS-DOS
B) UNIX
C) Windows 3.1
D) CP/M
E) Mac OS
Answer: B) UNIX

22. What was the name of the first spreadsheet program for personal computers?

A) Lotus 1-2-3
B) Excel
C) VisiCalc
D) Quattro Pro
E) SuperCalc
Answer: C) VisiCalc

23. Which year did the first email get sent?

A) 1971
B) 1975
C) 1980
D) 1985
E) 1990
Answer: A) 1971

24. The company that introduced the first floppy disk was:

A) IBM
B) Apple
C) Compaq
D) Microsoft
E) Dell
Answer: A) IBM

25. The first browser to support graphical content was:

A) Internet Explorer
B) Netscape Navigator
C) Mosaic
D) Firefox
E) Opera
Answer: C) Mosaic

26. Which company introduced the mouse?

A) IBM
B) Microsoft
C) Xerox
D) Apple
E) HP
Answer: C) Xerox

27. When was the first iPhone released?

A) 2004
B) 2006
C) 2007
D) 2009
E) 2011
Answer: C) 2007

28. Who invented the integrated circuit?

A) Jack Kilby
B) Robert Noyce
C) Gordon Moore
D) Charles Babbage
E) Alan Turing
Answer: A) Jack Kilby

29. Which programming language was designed for Artificial Intelligence?

A) Python
B) Java
C) LISP
D) COBOL
E) FORTRAN
Answer: C) LISP

30. The IBM PC was first introduced in what year?

A) 1979
B) 1981
C) 1984
D) 1987
E) 1990
Answer: B) 1981

31. What does ASCII stand for?

A) American Standard Code for International Information
B) American Systematic Code for Interchange Information
C) American Standard Code for Information Interchange
D) Automated System for Code Interchange Information
E) Applied Standard Code for International Information
Answer: C) American Standard Code for Information Interchange

32. The Turing Test is associated with:

A) Software development
B) Artificial Intelligence
C) Networking
D) Cryptography
E) Hardware design
Answer: B) Artificial Intelligence

33. Which early computer was used to break the Enigma code during World War II?

A) Colossus
B) Z3
C) ENIAC
D) UNIVAC
E) IBM 701
Answer: A) Colossus

34. The first graphical web browser for the World Wide Web was called:

A) Netscape
B) Mosaic
C) Internet Explorer
D) Firefox
E) Opera
Answer: B) Mosaic

35. Who invented Ethernet?

A) Tim Berners-Lee
B) Robert Metcalfe
C) Bill Gates
D) Vint Cerf
E) Marc Andreessen
Answer: B) Robert Metcalfe

36. The first high-level programming language was:

A) FORTRAN
B) COBOL
C) BASIC
D) ALGOL
E) Python
Answer: A) FORTRAN

37. In which year was the first email sent?

A) 1965
B) 1969
C) 1971
D) 1976
E) 1980
Answer: C) 1971

38. Which company developed Java?

A) IBM
B) Microsoft
C) Sun Microsystems
D) Oracle
E) Apple
Answer: C) Sun Microsystems

39. The founder of Intel is:

A) Robert Noyce
B) Bill Gates
C) Steve Jobs
D) Jeff Bezos
E) Sergey Brin
Answer: A) Robert Noyce

40. The first programming language to use English-like syntax was:

A) FORTRAN
B) COBOL
C) BASIC
D) Assembly
E) Pascal
Answer: B) COBOL

41. Who invented the QWERTY keyboard layout?

A) Alan Turing
B) Christopher Sholes
C) Charles Babbage
D) John von Neumann
E) Bill Gates
Answer: B) Christopher Sholes

42. The microprocessor was first used in which year?

A) 1968
B) 1971
C) 1975
D) 1980
E) 1985
Answer: B) 1971

43. Who is known for creating the first compiler?

A) Ada Lovelace
B) Tim Berners-Lee
C) Grace Hopper
D) Dennis Ritchie
E) Ken Thompson
Answer: C) Grace Hopper

44. What does GUI stand for?

A) General User Interface
B) Graphical User Interface
C) General Utility Interface
D) Graphical Utility Interface
E) Generalized User Interaction
Answer: B) Graphical User Interface

45. Which company developed the first laser printer?

A) Canon
B) Xerox
C) HP
D) IBM
E) Brother
Answer: B) Xerox

46. Who developed the Linux operating system?

A) Steve Jobs
B) Linus Torvalds
C) Bill Gates
D) Richard Stallman
E) Mark Zuckerberg
Answer: B) Linus Torvalds

47. What does BIOS stand for in computing?

A) Basic Integrated Operating System
B) Binary Input Operating System
C) Basic Input Output System
D) Basic Information Organization System
E) Binary Information Output System
Answer: C) Basic Input Output System

48. The first commercial computer was:

A) UNIVAC I
B) IBM 701
C) ENIAC
D) Z3
E) Colossus
Answer: A) UNIVAC I

49. Who developed the programming language C?

A) Bjarne Stroustrup
B) Dennis Ritchie
C) James Gosling
D) Ken Thompson
E) Brian Kernighan
Answer: B) Dennis Ritchie

50. What year did the first Macintosh computer release?

A) 1979
B) 1981
C) 1984
D) 1987
E) 1990
Answer: C) 1984

51. What was the name of the first computer to defeat a world champion chess player?

A) Colossus
B) Deep Thought
C) Deep Blue
D) Watson
E) AlphaGo
Answer: C) Deep Blue

52. Which company created the first true laptop computer?

A) IBM
B) Toshiba
C) HP
D) Osborne
E) Apple
Answer: D) Osborne

53. What does DNS stand for in the context of the internet?

A) Digital Network System
B) Domain Name System
C) Dynamic Name Service
D) Data Network Service
E) Distributed Network Structure
Answer: B) Domain Name System

54. Who co-founded Apple Inc. with Steve Jobs?

A) Bill Gates
B) Paul Allen
C) Larry Page
D) Sergey Brin
E) Steve Wozniak
Answer: E) Steve Wozniak

55. The first electronic spreadsheet was developed for:

A) Windows
B) Unix
C) Apple II
D) IBM PC
E) Macintosh
Answer: C) Apple II

56. The IBM Watson computer is famous for winning which game show?

A) Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
B) Wheel of Fortune
C) Jeopardy!
D) Family Feud
E) The Price is Right
Answer: C) Jeopardy!

57. What was the first computer to use transistors instead of vacuum tubes?

A) IBM 650
B) UNIVAC II
C) IBM 1401
D) TX-0
E) PDP-1
Answer: D) TX-0

58. The first software company in the world was:

A) IBM
B) Microsoft
C) Computer Associates
D) Apple
E) SAP
Answer: B) Microsoft

59. The programming language Python was created by:

A) Guido van Rossum
B) Larry Wall
C) James Gosling
D) Dennis Ritchie
E) Bjarne Stroustrup
Answer: A) Guido van Rossum

60. What does ISP stand for in the context of the internet?

A) Internet Service Provider
B) Integrated System Protocol
C) International System Provider
D) Internet System Provider
E) Internal Software Provider
Answer: A) Internet Service Provider

61. Who invented the floppy disk?

A) Steve Jobs
B) Alan Shugart
C) Bill Gates
D) Grace Hopper
E) Jack Kilby
Answer: B) Alan Shugart

62. The first ever domain name registered was:

A) google.com
B) yahoo.com
C) symbolics.com
D) microsoft.com
E) ibm.com
Answer: C) symbolics.com

63. The first computer network was called:

A) ARPANET
B) NSFNet
C) Ethernet
D) World Wide Web
E) Internet
Answer: A) ARPANET

64. What does RAM stand for?

A) Random Access Memory
B) Readable Automatic Memory
C) Real Access Machine
D) Read Access Module
E) Runtime Application Memory
Answer: A) Random Access Memory

65. The Google search engine was developed by:

A) Bill Gates
B) Steve Jobs
C) Sergey Brin and Larry Page
D) Jeff Bezos
E) Mark Zuckerberg
Answer: C) Sergey Brin and Larry Page

66. What was the first search engine on the internet?

A) AltaVista
B) Yahoo
C) Archie
D) Google
E) Lycos
Answer: C) Archie

67. What does URL stand for?

A) Uniform Resource Locator
B) Universal Resource Locator
C) Uniform Retrieval Location
D) Universal Retrieval Locator
E) Uniform Resource Link
Answer: A) Uniform Resource Locator

68. Who developed the first graphical web browser?

A) Bill Gates
B) Tim Berners-Lee
C) Marc Andreessen
D) Vint Cerf
E) Larry Page
Answer: C) Marc Andreessen

69. The first version of UNIX was developed by:

A) Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie
B) Bill Gates and Paul Allen
C) Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
D) Linus Torvalds
E) Alan Turing
Answer: A) Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie

70. Who invented the programming language Java?

A) James Gosling
B) Guido van Rossum
C) Bjarne Stroustrup
D) Dennis Ritchie
E) Larry Page
Answer: A) James Gosling

71. The first iPad was released in which year?

A) 2007
B) 2009
C) 2010
D) 2012
E) 2014
Answer: C) 2010

72. What does HTML stand for?

A) Hyper Text Markup Language
B) High Transfer Markup Language
C) Hyper Tool Markup Language
D) High Text Markup Language
E) Hyperlink Transfer Markup Language
Answer: A) Hyper Text Markup Language

73. The father of the modern hard drive is:

A) Alan Shugart
B) Jack Kilby
C) Charles Babbage
D) Alan Turing
E) Robert Noyce
Answer: A) Alan Shugart

74. The first truly programmable machine was designed by:

A) Alan Turing
B) John von Neumann
C) Konrad Zuse
D) Charles Babbage
E) Blaise Pascal
Answer: D) Charles Babbage

75. The programming language BASIC was developed by:

A) Bill Gates
B) John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz
C) Dennis Ritchie
D) Bjarne Stroustrup
E) Guido van Rossum
Answer: B) John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz

76. The PDP-1 computer was created by which company?

A) IBM
B) Xerox
C) DEC
D) HP
E) Apple
Answer: C) DEC

77. Which company developed the Z3 computer, one of the first programmable computers?

A) IBM
B) DEC
C) Apple
D) Siemens
E) Zuse KG
Answer: E) Zuse KG

78. The Internet was officially born in what year?

A) 1965
B) 1975
C) 1983
D) 1990
E) 1995
Answer: C) 1983

79. The World Wide Web was invented in which year?

A) 1989
B) 1991
C) 1993
D) 1995
E) 1997
Answer: A) 1989

80. What is the name of the first web browser developed by Tim Berners-Lee?

A) Internet Explorer
B) Safari
C) WorldWideWeb
D) Netscape
E) Mosaic
Answer: C) WorldWideWeb

81. What does TCP/IP stand for?

A) Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
B) Transfer Communication Protocol/Information Protocol
C) Telecommunications Control Protocol/Internet Provider
D) Transfer Control Process/Information Process
E) Transfer Communication Process/Internet Protocol
Answer: A) Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

82. The first known use of the term "bug" to describe a computer glitch was by:

A) Alan Turing
B) Charles Babbage
C) Grace Hopper
D) Steve Jobs
E) Bill Gates
Answer: C) Grace Hopper

83. Which company developed the Pentium microprocessor?

A) AMD
B) Intel
C) IBM
D) Apple
E) Microsoft
Answer: B) Intel

84. Who founded Facebook?

A) Steve Jobs
B) Bill Gates
C) Mark Zuckerberg
D) Jeff Bezos
E) Larry Page
Answer: C) Mark Zuckerberg

85. The first commercial computer game was:

A) Pac-Man
B) Spacewar!
C) Pong
D) Tetris
E) Breakout
Answer: C) Pong

86. What does PDF stand for?

A) Portable Data File
B) Portable Document Format
C) Print Data File
D) Processed Document File
E) Protected Data Format
Answer: B) Portable Document Format

87. The programming language Ruby was created by:

A) Yukihiro Matsumoto
B) Guido van Rossum
C) James Gosling
D) Bjarne Stroustrup
E) Larry Wall
Answer: A) Yukihiro Matsumoto

88. Who founded Amazon?

A) Mark Zuckerberg
B) Larry Page
C) Bill Gates
D) Jeff Bezos
E) Steve Jobs
Answer: D) Jeff Bezos

89. The first computer operating system, Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), was developed in which year?

A) 1950
B) 1957
C) 1961
D) 1964
E) 1969
Answer: C) 1961

90. Who founded Tesla Motors?

A) Larry Page
B) Elon Musk
C) Bill Gates
D) Sergey Brin
E) Jeff Bezos
Answer: B) Elon Musk

91. What was the first social media platform?

A) MySpace
B) Facebook
C) Six Degrees
D) Friendster
E) Twitter
Answer: C) Six Degrees

92. The acronym WAN stands for:

A) Wireless Access Network
B) Wide Area Network
C) Wide Access Node
D) Wireless Area Node
E) Wired Access Network
Answer: B) Wide Area Network

93. The first personal computer virus was:

A) Melissa
B) Creeper
C) Brain
D) Elk Cloner
E) ILOVEYOU
Answer: D) Elk Cloner

94. Who co-founded WhatsApp?

A) Jack Dorsey
B) Brian Acton and Jan Koum
C) Mark Zuckerberg
D) Larry Page
E) Sergey Brin
Answer: B) Brian Acton and Jan Koum

95. The first version of Microsoft Word was released in which year?

A) 1981
B) 1983
C) 1985
D) 1987
E) 1990
Answer: B) 1983

96. The first video game ever created was:

A) Pong
B) Tetris
C) Tennis for Two
D) Space Invaders
E) Pac-Man
Answer: C) Tennis for Two

97. The first major social media platform to reach 1 billion users was:

A) MySpace
B) Twitter
C) Instagram
D) Facebook
E) WhatsApp
Answer: D) Facebook

98. What does VPN stand for?

A) Virtual Private Network
B) Virtual Personal Network
C) Virtual Protected Network
D) Verified Personal Network
E) Verified Private Network
Answer: A) Virtual Private Network

99. What year was Google Chrome launched?

A) 2005
B) 2006
C) 2008
D) 2010
E) 2012
Answer: C) 2008

100. The first version of Microsoft Office was released in:

A) 1989
B) 1991
C) 1993
D) 1995
E) 1997
Answer: A) 1989

1. What is the history of computers?

Answer:
The history of computers traces back to ancient tools like the abacus and has evolved into modern, sophisticated machines. Key developments include mechanical calculators, the invention of programmable computers, and modern microprocessors.

2. Who is known as the "Father of Computers," and why?

Answer:
Charles Babbage is called the "Father of Computers" because he designed the Analytical Engine, a mechanical device considered the first general-purpose computer.

3. What was the purpose of the first mechanical calculators?

Answer:
Mechanical calculators, like Blaise Pascal's Pascaline, were designed to perform basic arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction.

4. What role did Alan Turing play in the history of computers?

Answer:
Alan Turing developed the concept of a universal machine (the Turing Machine), which laid the foundation for modern computing. He also contributed to breaking the Enigma code during World War II.

5. What is the significance of the ENIAC?

Answer:
The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first fully electronic general-purpose computer, developed in 1945. It could perform thousands of calculations per second, revolutionizing computing.

6. What are the five generations of computers?

Answer:

1. First Generation (1940-1956): Used vacuum tubes.

2. Second Generation (1956-1963): Used transistors.

3. Third Generation (1964-1971): Used integrated circuits.

4. Fourth Generation (1971-Present): Uses microprocessors.

5. Fifth Generation (Present-Future): Focuses on artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

7. What replaced vacuum tubes in second-generation computers?

Answer:
Transistors replaced vacuum tubes in second-generation computers. They were smaller, more reliable, and consumed less power.

8. How did integrated circuits change computing?

Answer:
Integrated circuits, introduced in third-generation computers, allowed multiple electronic components to be packed into a single chip, making computers faster, smaller, and more efficient.

9. What is the importance of microprocessors in computer history?

Answer:
Microprocessors, the foundation of fourth-generation computers, integrate the entire central processing unit (CPU) onto a single chip, enabling the development of personal computers.

10. What is the significance of the abacus in computing history?

Answer:
The abacus is one of the earliest computing tools, used for arithmetic calculations. It represents the beginning of humans creating devices to assist with computation.

11. What was the purpose of the Analytical Engine?

Answer:
The Analytical Engine, designed by Charles Babbage, was intended to perform general calculations using punched cards and included components like a mill (processor) and store (memory).

12. Who was Ada Lovelace, and why is she significant?

Answer:
Ada Lovelace was a mathematician who is often regarded as the first computer programmer. She wrote algorithms for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.

13. How did the invention of personal computers change society?

Answer:
Personal computers made computing accessible to individuals and small businesses, revolutionizing education, communication, and productivity.

14. What was the role of IBM in the history of computers?

Answer:
IBM played a pivotal role by introducing the IBM 650, the first mass-produced computer, and the IBM PC, which popularized personal computing.

15. What is the significance of the Turing Test?

Answer:
The Turing Test, proposed by Alan Turing, evaluates a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from that of a human, marking a key concept in artificial intelligence.

16. What impact did the internet have on computer history?

Answer:
The internet revolutionized computing by enabling global connectivity, data sharing, and communication, transforming computers from isolated machines into networked systems.

17. What are supercomputers, and what are they used for?

Answer:
Supercomputers are extremely powerful computers used for complex calculations, such as weather forecasting, scientific simulations, and data analysis.

18. What is the role of software in computer evolution?

Answer:
Software transformed computers from hardware-dependent calculators to versatile machines capable of performing a wide range of tasks, driven by operating systems and applications.

19. How did World War II influence computer development?

Answer:
World War II spurred advancements in computing as governments sought machines to break codes and perform ballistic calculations, leading to the creation of devices like the Colossus and ENIAC.

20. What are the current trends in computer history?

Answer:
Current trends include the development of quantum computers, advancements in artificial intelligence, and the integration of computing into everyday devices through the Internet of Things (IoT).