Challenges Faced in Inventing Computers
Many scientists who tried to come up with computers functioning like the human brain have encountered several challenges that void their efforts. Their intentions have always been to come up with a highly intelligent device that can store data, but that can facilitate easy retrieval (Risinger, 2015). As a result, the mechanical computer created by Charles Babbage cannot resemble computers used today because it was highly ineffective and heavy. The word ‘computer’ was used for the first time in 1613 to refer to individuals who could perform calculations and computations. Therefore, computers were intended to do the same function with significant ease. However, the proper path of development was hampered by some challenges such as lack of funds, difficulty in searching for resources to create computers, and eh ineffectiveness of the early computers among others. The challenges almost stalled the whole process of developing computers. The discussion below identifies and explains the challenges that made the initial invention of computers difficult.
Challenges that Faced Initial Invention of Computers
Various challenges made the first steps of creating computers difficult. First, the people wanted instant success in their desire of coming up with intelligent computers (Nigon, 2013). They wanted the first computers to do calculations and computational operations that were beyond human capabilities. However, after a heavy investment of time and resources, the devices were highly mechanical, ineffective, and unreliable. For instance, the Babbage’s computer created was heavy, unprogrammable, and could not execute some operations. Therefore, the move to develop computers was viewed to have stalled, and no success was expected after that.
Moreover, there was great emphasis on creating computers that could work just as the human brain. Therefore, some individuals who...
For instance, though Babbage’s son, Henry Babbage, later continued with his father’s ideas by finishing the project of creating an intelligent computer but the final work was unappealing. The excessive manual operations made it ineffective. Possibly, people could not create what they had in their minds but what was expected of them. With the emphasis on what was to be made for the society, the burden of delivering the flawless computer was just unbearable, and the inventions became unsustainable.
The subsequent inventions were very advanced and effective than the computer created by Babbage. However, the resources that were required to build them were excessive. The Z1 was created between 1936 and 1938 by Konrad Zuse and showed significant improvements from the previous models, as it could be programmed to do certain things (Swanson, 2012). However, it was too big compared to the human brain. This influenced the need for coming up with something that was similar to the human brain but the materials to be used could not be found easily. Therefore, the people who created them ended up using more resources but got an insignificant appreciation for their work. For instance, the Z1 did not effectively follow instructions and failed to replicate what the human brain could do. Therefore, the weakness was below human expectations and earned little recognition.
The early computers were ineffective and inaccurate in analyzing data. For instance, they analyzed data using mathematical variables in the form of physical quantities although they were varying continuously. Therefore, the inventors focused more on replacing real and physical processes by mathematical models having the same properties. At this point, they were referred to as analog computers. Although they could show the solutions simply and graphically, they were still inaccurate, unreliable,…
