The Computer AgeBelieve it or not, but the computer age is upon us. I believe that computers are not only here to stay, but in my opinion they are the wave of the future. Only a device like the computer can change the way we work, live and think. I see computers taking us places no man has gone before. Twenty years ago people simply weren't up to speed with computers. I mean, if you ask someone about a computer, they'll probably tell you something like, what the hell are you talking about, or what the hell is a computer. Today pretty much anyone you ask can tell you something about a computer. Papia Bhattacharyya states: "In recent years technology has become the protagonist" (59). The first existence of the ancestor of the modern computer is the abacus. The abacus dates back almost 2000 years. It is simply a wooden rack that holds beads strung on strings. The next step in the field of computers took place in 1694 when Blaise Pascal invented the first digital calculating machine, designed to help Pascal's father who was a tax collector. Now let's look at Charles Babbage, who many say is the father of computers. Charles Babbage was a mathematics professor. In 1800 Babbage designed an automatic calculating machine. This machine was powered by steam and could store up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Charles Babbage was so ahead of his time that the machines used then weren't even precise enough to make the parts for his computer. Gulliver states: The first major use of a computer in the United States occurred during the 1890 census. Two men, Herman Hollerith and James Powers, developed a new punch card system that could automatically read the information on the cards without human intervention (Gulliver 82). By the 1930s, punched card machine techniques had become so well established that Howard Hathaway Aiken, together with engineers at IBM, invented the automatic computer called the Mark I. The Mark I operated using pre-punched paper tape. The Mark I was slow, taking 3 to 5 seconds to perform multiplication.