Computer’s Origin.

Thousands years ago humans needed to count. Families wanted to know how many animals, how much food and how much land they owned. There were many ways to count and write down numbers.

Between 1000 and 500 B.C. the Babylonians invented abacus. It used small stones which they put in lines. To do calculations they were moving stones from one line to another. Although an abacus could be very fast it wasn't really a machine because it didn't do calculations automatically.

In the 17-th century people began to build calculating machines. In 1640 the French mathematician Blase Pascal made an Arithmetic Machine. During the next 10 years Pascal made 50 more machines.

In the 1960s a German called Leibnitz continued Pascal's work and made a better machine.

In the 19-th century machines changed the world. People could travel more easily and communicate more quickly. The Industrial age was being started.

The second half of the 20-th century saw the start of the Computer age. At first computers were very difficult to use, and only a few people could understand them. But soon computers began to appear in offices, then in homes. When the first computers were built in the 1940s and 1950s, they were enormous. In fact, they were as big as a room. In fact, they weighed less then 1,5 tones.

Today's computers are being preferred in every office, school, university. They are in so ordinary things: cars, CD-players, washing machines, TV-sets, etc. Modern young people can't imagine their life without computers.

The Computers People Have Been Dreaming of for a Long Time.

People had been using calculating machines long before the first computers appeared. And for over the last 60 years the scientists and engineers have been improving them. Now it is impossible to imagine our life without computers. Today they are everywhere.

Nobody can deny it. Any young specialist who wants to get a good job has to deal with computer technique. One can choose any computer configuration he needs. Some prefer laptops because they can take" them anywhere, others buy desktops. It depends upon a person's job. If you don't know which computer to choose because you are a newbie, you can ask for a piece of advice and any computer-literate person will recommend you the best one that is the closest to your ideal or dream.

Modern computers are extremely powerful, run with operating systems working with optical disks and multimedia applications, can integrate text and pictures with animation and voice applications. They have the best performance and expendability. And the most important thing is that the prices are dropping!

So, if you haven't bought the computer of your dream yet, go to the shop and look for one!

The Internet Frequently Asked Questions

The Internet is without doubt one of the most important inven­tions in our history. It was started in 1968 by the US government, but at first if was used mainly by scientists. Since 1990, when the World Wide Web was created, it has changed the world, and its uses are growing ;very day.

The Internet is a network of millions of computers around the world, connected by phone lines, satellite or cable, so that all the com­puters o the net can exchange information with each other.

Not quite so. The Internet links computers, and the World Wide Web is a system which links the information stored inside these com­puters.

A company or organization stores its information in electronic documents in one of the Internet computers, somewhere in the world. This computer space — the company's web site — has an address, in the same way that every telephone has a number. To visit a web site, you simply enter the address. The computer is connected to the web site, a document is downloaded, and a page appears on the computer screen.

When you visit a web site looking for information, some words on the page may be underlined, showing that there is more information about the subject in another document. If you click on one of these words, the Web automatically connects your computer to a new document or web site, even if this is stored thousands of kilometers away. You're surfing the net!

The main use of the Internet is to find information — for your job, about your hobbies, sports or current events. You can also use the Internet to read newspapers and magazines, play games, plan your holiday or buy things from your favourite shop. E-mail makes it pos­sible to send electronic messages anywhere in the world in seconds, and you can use the Internet to chat with people and make new friends.

If you don't use the Internet, all you need to get started is a com­puter, modem and a phone line. Using the Internet is getting cheap­er and easier all the time. There is an exciting Internet world out there waiting for you.