Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Colossus Mark I and II - Blog Post 2


Through class discussions we have learned about different ways how computers have come to be what they are today. Like all other technology, you have to work with what you have available at that certain time. The information age came to be from when the first computer was created.
The first computer was created at the start of the information age,which was WWII, and during the war was when they used the colossus for good reasons. The computers that had come out at this time in the information age around the 1940s were the Z3,ABC,Colossus Mark I and II, Harvard Mark I, and the ENIAC. The one computer that really caught my attention was the Colossus Mark I (prototype) and the Colossus Mark II(which is pictured above). The reason that it caught my attention was what it helped the British accomplish during WWII.
According to Wikipedia" The colossus machine were electronic computing devices used by the British code breakers to read encrypted German messages during WWII."
This really amazes me to see how the computer really has come a long way. I know that large machines doesn't look like it would be too easy to use, but to think about a computer in the 1940s is very surprising. To see something like this and how the British were able to get information off of the Germans encrypted codes, makes this colossus mark 2 very interesting.

1 comment:

  1. The development of computers is indeed amazing. If you look at all of the early computers listed above. They were gigantic and expensive machines, which usually only performed one specific purpose. In the case of The Colussus it is generally regarded as the first modern computer, as it was the first electronic unit that was also able to be programed. This ultimately was the industry norm in terms of how computers were made.

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