I have been involved with computers since the early 1970’s. The changes that I have witnessed in the intervening years are staggering, and that is just in a period of three decades. We live in a world where technology is exploding around us. It seems that every day there is some new and exciting discovery, some barrier crossed. The computer has changed our lives forever, and in ways that might surprise you.
Occasionally I will meet people who tell me that they have never used a computer, they are liars!
Use an ATM, heat up a TV dinner in the microwave, make a phone call! All of these simple everyday tasks involve using a computer. It is hard to imagine a world without them, or the fact that the $20 digital watch on your wrist has more computing power in it than the 30-ton monster computers of the 1940’s
There have been many books written about the history of the computer and it is my hope that this brief introduction will prompt you to delve deeper into the subject, the stories are wonderful, and the characters are colourful. This book is by no means comprehensive. It is based partly on my own personal experiences, and partly on research I have conducted.