When the first computer appeared , no one can say for sure. Man has always sought to simplify and speed up the process of counting, not knowing what the modern computer will turn into. The wealth of the tribes grew, and fingers on their hands were no longer enough to count. Pebbles and sticks were used, with the help of which primary mathematics, the decimal system of calculus, could be conceived. Some time passed, and wearing so many pebbles and sticks just became uncomfortable. A question arose in improving computations, and perhaps the “thought” arose about creating a machine for counting. Ancient men puzzled over the method of calculating profits and accounting for goods, livestock, and utensils.
So what is a computer? Of course, it is necessary to get out of the view of a modern computer and plunge into the depths of history and still consider what a calculator was in this or that era. Indeed, after a decade, our children may name the latest model of the “branded” laptop of 2012 - “calculator” or “abacus”. Or even worse.
The first computational mechanism is considered "abacus", the progenitor of the Russian account. Usually, it was a board with lines, or grooves, on which pebbles were laid out. There were special rules that allowed making calculations for addition and subtraction, and subsequently, multiplication.
The contribution to the development of this calculating machine was made by the French scientist Gerber (950-1003). But, after the ubiquity of the decimal number system and the possibility of performing calculations on a sheet of paper, "abacus" has lost its former meaning.
And again, returning to the question of what a computer is, an “abacus” is somehow not very similar to the first computer. But it is also not worth removing it from the accounts - after all, history.
Computing processes have become more and more complex. Banking was developing, production required automation, the idea of ​​creating an account machine did not leave a person’s mind. Around 1632, the German scientist Schikkard assembled the first counting mechanism in history. Soon, Blaise Pascal created an improved machine, which became the progenitor of an arithmometer.
So we probably came to the moment when the first computer appeared. Arithmometers were firmly fixed on the tables of accounting offices and various institutions where I had to count a lot. He acted very simply. When counting, two gears rotated inside the arithmometer, turning a dozen in any category into a unit of the next category. Wilhelm Leibniz, the great philosopher and mathematician who has made a huge contribution to the development of science and the foundations of computer technology, has already “taught” to multiply and share this machine.
The first computer can also be considered not a mechanism for computing at all, but a loom, invented in 1804 by the French engineer Joseph Marie Jacquard. The mechanism was able to embroider complex patterns without human intervention, being programmed using special punched cards (the prototype of the first floppy disks), on which the necessary information was recorded.
But what a computer, or what basic parameters it should have, probably was revealed to humanity by Charles Babbage, having begun assembling the computer in 1834. Due to the requirements for accuracy and miniature details, the process has not progressed very much, because in the yard the 19th century and technology are only at the development stage. In addition, Charles constantly made changes and improvements, which probably prevented him from completing his brainchild. He left behind detailed drawings and detailed comments recorded by his collaborator, Ada Lovelace, which made it possible to give a powerful impetus to the development of computers.
The Babbage computer had a data input device, a memory device, such as random access memory, an arithmetic device for making calculations, a control device, a device for outputting the result. And, the most interesting, that all the downloaded programs for performing actions, Bebbage's computer executed from beginning to end without human intervention and produced the final result in the form of a punch card encoded in a special language. Several programs were written by Ada, a theory of programming was born.
A modern computer has retained all the basic nodes of the Babbage computer. Only the use of transistors and semiconductors infinitely increased its performance and ensured ease of use.
So the answer to the question "What is a computer?" raises a huge layer of historical events and technological innovations that have evolved from sea pebbles to superconductors.