Early Computing: Crash Course Computer Science #1

Hello, world! Welcome to Crash Course Computer Science! So today, we’re going to take a look at computing’s origins, because even though our digital computers are relatively new, the need for computation is not. Since the start of civilization itself, humans have had an increasing need for special devices to help manage laborious tasks, and as the scale of society continued to grow, these computational devices began to play a crucial role in amplifying our mental abilities. From the abacus and astrolabe to the difference engine and tabulating machine, we’ve come a long way to satisfying this increasing need, and in the process completely transformed commerce, government, and daily life.

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[theshyguitarist]

And so it begins... procrastinating on my actual studies to learn something different from crash course

[michaelpisciarino]

0:50 The Industrial Revolution
2:10 Computing's Origins
2:28 The Abacus
3:47 Astrolabe and The Slide Rule. Optimizing
4:57 Leibniz' Step Reckoner
6:37 Range Tables. Speed and Accuracy
7:30 Charles Babbage's Difference Engine approximates polynomials
8:13 The Analytical Engine
8:48 Ada Lovelace, the world's 1st programmer
9:18 The US Census. Hollerith's punch machine.
10:40 IBM: International Business Machine's Corporation
11:14 Next Week: Digital Computers

[pocketrug]

So this is what Quarantine Schooling looks like huh?


Sick

[AEther]

"Computers can seem pretty complicated. But really, they're just simple machines that perform complex actions through many layers of abstraction."... Yeah... okay...

[reddcube]

The fact that you didn't start with #0 bothers me.

[letskeepfighting]

Honestly, thank you for this. My highschool does not offer comprehensive computer classes let alone computer history. Thank you.

[OldieBugger]

My mother, when she was still a young student, got herself a summer job punching those punchcards at the local university. That was early 1970's. They were used for a pretty long time, much longer than any modern storage medium.

[MajorCinnamonBuns]

Damn, this beat my high school CS classes. I feel like I need a refund from the public school system.

[deathdoor]

I like her.
I really really like her!
She talks clearly AND slowly, the best combination for a foreign spectator.

[paulk]

"Hello, world! Welcome to Crash Course Computer Science!"
I see what you did there ;) You knocked it out of the park with this one! I look forward to the rest of the series!

[wyvern]

There are 10 types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can't.

[eddyak]

I would really love it if crash course would make a course about teaching us how to program where in each episode they teach us about the basics of one language

[theUSpopulation]

I didn't know you guys were making a computer science CC! This makes me happy.

[anchorite]

I feel like I've just taken an awesome short course that's quite easy to follow and packed with interesting knowledge, and totally free! Awesome, can't wait to see the next one!

[yixuu]

I really like this host. She speaks clearly, has a nice voice, and a really satisfying accent.

[Leotique]

Gonna love this, but still would like to have Crash Course Philosophy going on

[ave]

as a current comp sci major, i'm super pumped to finally see a crash course comp sci series. hopefully this will encourage more upcoming college students to take an interest in the field.

[d.g]

Of course there's a Crash Course for this. I've been prepping to self-teach programming as a career, just finished college, and I needed this kind of info dump to get myself oriented. This series is going to change my life. I promise. Thank you. My word, thank you.

[nowheregirl]

I loved this episode. I was taught computer science intro in university and honestly, this was never discussed. I am so thankful to you for this, Crash Course. You guys rock!

[mimifu]

For the first time I could actually follow the lessons week by week ❤️