Feb 11, 2021
The Accessibility of Computers
Technology has transformed the world. Personal computers and the internet allow for easy access to the world and the ability to learn and create with minimal effort. At first, using computers required deep knowledge of how a computer worked, but now no deep education is required to use a computer. Though using a modern computer requires little knowledge of its design, modern computers still function using methods present in the first computers.
Ada Lovelace was one of the first to imagine a more accessible way to instruct computers. Unlike many women at the time, Lovelace was raised to study science and math. Through this, she took interest in Charles Babbage’s difference engine. Babbage intended his difference engine to crunch numbers, but Lovelace thought deeper. She observed that most of the world can be explained through calculations, so this machine must be capable of expressing more of the world too. Through this creativity, she pioneered the first computer program. The first computer programs were similar to punch cards used to design patterns in looms. This new methodology to instruct computers was easier to understand and modify. Now, this idea remains in modern programming but is even easier to use due to more inventions decreasing the distance between the mind and the computer.
Today, sending instructions to computers can be done with ease. The development from punch cards to keyboards was a result of creativity. Engineers such as Mark Dean have enabled computers to display results in full color and motion. Audio can be transmitted anywhere thanks to inventors like James West and Marian Croak. Ray Tomlinson’s invention of email is used by millions to communicate around the world. Thanks to the designers and inventors of original computers, anyone can invent and create with computers. First inventors sought only to instruct computers, but now computers can be used by inventors and creators, as a medium to develop new creations.
