https://github.com/bzz/computing-history
A brief history of computing
https://github.com/bzz/computing-history
history-of-computing
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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A brief history of computing
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/bzz/computing-history
- Owner: bzz
- License: other
- Created: 2018-12-18T17:05:34.000Z (over 6 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2020-12-01T23:08:50.000Z (over 4 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-04-17T20:39:48.687Z (about 2 months ago)
- Topics: history-of-computing
- Language: Go
- Homepage:
- Size: 421 KB
- Stars: 5
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE.md
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README
# Computing History
A personal project on putting knowledge about history of computing into perspective.
> “To teach a subject without the history of how it happened is to reduce
> knowledge to a mere consumer product.”
‒ [Neil Postman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman)
# Timeline
- Universe age: 13.7 billion years (The Big Bang)
- Earth age: 4.45 billion years
- First life on Earth: 4 billion years ago
- First plants: 1.3 billion years ago
- First birds: 150 million years ago
- First Homo sapiens: 250,000 years ago
- First cave paintings: 32,000 years
- First cities: 8,800 years ago
- Invention of the wheel, writing: 5,500 years ago
- Printing press: 540 years ago
- Scientific revolution: 450 years ago
- Fossil fuel revolution (coal, trains): 180 years ago
- Telephone: 130 years ago
- [Alan Turing's](people/alan-turing.md) seminal paper: 85 years ago (1936)
- Term "bit" coined by [Claude Shannon](people/claude-shannon.md): 71 years ago (1948)
- Term "software" coined by John Tukey: 61 years ago (1958)
- Term ["computer science"](http://archive.fo/JrSwK): 60 years ago (1959)
- Term ["software engineering"](http://archive.is/UtWMo): 50 years ago (1968)
- First 4 node ARPANET: 50 yeas ago (5 December 1969)
- Early Internet (TCP/IP as [main protocol in ARPANET](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET#Software_and_protocols)): 40 years ago (1983)
- Public commercial use of Internet: 30 years ago (1990)
[Source](http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/timeline.html)
# People
period | name
---------- | --------------
1930s | [Alan Mathison Turing](people/alan-turing.md)
1940s | [Vannevar Bush](people/vannevar-bush.md)
1950s | [Alan Jay Perlis](people/alan-perlis.md)
1950s | [Claude Shannon](people/claude-shannon.md)
1960s | [Douglas Engelbart](people/douglas-engelbart.md)
1960s | [Ivan Sutherland](people/ivan-sutherland.md)
1960s | [J.C.R. Licklider](people/jcr-licklider.md)
To update README and table above.
`$ go run gen-readme.go people/*.md > README.md`
# License
[CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](./LICENSE)