History of Computing (Hardware)

Vocabulary flashcards covering early computing devices and key historical hardware milestones.

Abacus

The first counting machine, invented in ancient Babylon between 300 to 500 bc, consisting of beads strung on several wires in columns on a rack where the position of a bead determines its value to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

Abax

The Greek word meaning 'tabular form', from which the word 'Abacus' is derived.

Ancient Babylon

The historical region where the abacus was said to have been invented between 300 to 500 bc.

Jacquard loom (1805)

An early device included in the history of diverse computing hardware alongside devices such as the ancient Chinese abacus.

Charles Babbage's "analytical engine" (1834)

A historical computing device designed in 1834, noted as part of the diverse history of computing hardware.

Marchant calculator

A mechanical device that still found widespread application in science and engineering as late as the 1960s.

Roman system of counting

A counting method contrasted with the abacus, in which different symbols were used to represent larger and larger numbers.