Who invented/coined the term "computer" ? (off topic...)

[MK]

Hi,


wondered yesterday who actually invented or coined the term "computer". Looked up in an encyclopedia, but found nothing. So I e-mailed to the german c`t magazine, but they also didn`t know anything about that.

Do you know more ??


Greetings

MK

[cswan]

Best place to look would probably be your local library. Do some research on Charles Babbage, though the term (I think) was coined even before him.

[The original spelling, I believe, was 'computor']

[Guyver]

Main Entry: com·pute
Pronunciation: k&m-'pyüt
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): com·put·ed; com·put·ing
Etymology: Latin computare
Date: 1616
transitive senses : to determine especially by mathematical means <compute your income tax>; also : to determine or calculate by means of a computer
intransitive senses
1 : to make calculation : RECKON
2 : to use a computer

Main Entry: com·put·er
Pronunciation: k&m-'pyü-t&r
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Date: 1646
: one that computes; specifically : a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data
- com·put·er·dom /-d&m/ noun
- com·put·er·less /-l&s/ adjective
- com·put·er·like /-"lIk/ adjective


[This message has been edited by Guyver (edited 08-16-1999).]

[Fat Tone]

Quite simply, it was the name given to operators of the earliest machines, such as ENIAC and ACE. At that time they predicted that only 7 machines would satisfy the computing requirements of the whole country!

Try following links from here (where I work):
http://www.npl.co.uk/npl/npl100/index.htm

Cheers

Tony.

[Jammrock]

I did. I invented the word computer. Chuck Babbages build his adding machine and while he was sitting there picking his nose trying to figure out what to call it I said, "well, what the HELL does it do?"

Chuck said, "I don't know, but I think you can play some pretty cool games on it, if only Matrox would ship me my G400 MAX."

And I said, "what the HELL else can it do?"

And Chuck said, "I once used it to compute how broke I was for building this confounded thing."

And I says, "WELL, then, since you can't play games on it, you might as well call it a COMPUTERmaBOBthingy."

Now since programers are so DAMN lazy, they shorted the name to just plain, old, boring computer. That my dear Matrox Users is how it really happened.

Jammrock

------------------------------------
TI-994A, 5 1/4" floppy, cassette backup, Cartridge slot (with Alpine) on my old black and white 5" TV.

[franksch3]

Great how we can have those cool games even though a CPU can only do the following things:

- Read bits
- Store bits
- Calculations on bits
- Comparing bits
- And conditional jumps

Aaaah, the wonders of technique.

Frank

[Rollo]

Hei there!
In my introductory course in programming at the University of Oslo, I was told how the term "computer" came to be.
Between WW1 and WW2 there were huge offices with hundreds of people computing projectile trajectories manually, and then wrote them up in a lookup table. If you worked at such a place, you were a computer. Later these people got replaced by som kind of machine that automated this task, and this machines of course got the same name...

Rollo

[Jorden]

Look up in your English dictionary: Compute

Calculate....

We all just have a sophisticated Calculator sitting on our (clean, to messy to very messy) desks...

You'd better ask where the English word Compute came from, and to be honest, I think you should look into ancient Greek or Roman languages to find the explanation !!

Jorden.

[This message has been edited by Jorden (edited 08-16-1999).]

[MK]

Hi Jammrock,


I should have been asking you before of course.
But thanks for the input anyway.


MK :-))

[This message has been edited by MK (edited 08-17-1999).]

[agallag]

Remember, it's not the length of your code, but how you use it

[Guyver]

Yeah, but you have to have the code, before you can use it! Heh-Heh...

Has anyone come up with the correct answer yet? Besides Jammrock's obvious attempt at a Checkovian answer (Trekkies should catch this one)...

Anyone, Anyone?

[mragsdale]

up.

[MK]

Hi,


need to get in front of TyLau or however he is spelled (not important anyway :-)).

There we are again: How can I make these different smilies ??


Greetings

MK

[Helmchen2000]

up

------------------
and ty%&§!° went down again

Helmchen