Ocean State Libraries

An introduction to the history of, parts for, and future of computers and computing.

Tech is constantly progressing and changing. But have you ever stopped and wondered how it all started? In Computers to Tablets, discover how the first computer evolved into the tablet and portable devices we have today. Engaging inquiry-based sidebars encourage young readers to think, create, guess, and ask questions about this technology. Book includes table of contents, glossary, index, author biographies, and sidebars.

Outlines, in text and illustrations, the development of computers, how they work, and their many uses.

John Mauchly and Presper Eckert designed and built the first digital, electronic computer. This is the story of their three-year race to create the legendary ENIAC and their three-decade struggle to gain credit for it.

"Today's computers come in all shapes and sizes, but not many people actually know how they're made. The journey from circuits and wires to a ready-to-use computer is a fascinating exploration of science and engineering. Readers get a look inside their laptops, desktops, and even their tablets as they're shown step-by-step how these electronic marvels are assembled. Readers will love knowing what goes on inside their own machines, and color photographs...

One night in the late 1930s, in a bar on the Illinois-Iowa border, John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics at Iowa State University, after a frustrating day performing tedious mathematical calculations in his lab, hit on the idea that the binary number system and electronic switches, combined with an array of capacitors on a moving drum to serve as memory, could yield a computing machine that would make his life easier. Then he went back and...