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| style="width: 70%;" |During the mechanical and electric analog phases of technology, information was created by a series of physical changes converted into electrical impulses for storing and  machine, and each analog information storage required a specialized equipment to decode and read the information. A cassette player or a gramaphone disc is an example of such a device.  Analog machines could be programmed for specific applications as well as for generalized computation. Representing information for computing using physical changes often meant that the results could not be accurate as the changes could not be replicated exactly.   

| style="width: 70%;" |During the mechanical and electric analog phases of technology, information was created by a series of physical changes converted into electrical impulses for storing and  machine, and each analog information storage required a specialized equipment to decode and read the information. A cassette player or a gramaphone disc is an example of such a device.  Analog machines could be programmed for specific applications as well as for general computing. Since information was being represented physically, results were not always accurate as they could not be replicated exactly.   

| style="width: 30%;" |See below how a difference engine, designed by Charles Babbage worked.

| style="width: 30%;" |See below how a difference engine, designed by Charles Babbage worked.

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| style="width: 70%; " |An important breakthrough came when the binary system was invented.  In the binary system information can in a series of "0"s and "1"s thus allowing information to be accessed through only a combination of "1"s and "0"s.  This allowed information to be communicated in discrete bits which could be combined and recombined. Such a computer which uses "0"s and "1"s to perform computations a digital computer. What makes our society now different from ever before is the presence of digital technologies. Combined with the development of new methods of designing circuits like transistors and micro chips, it became possible to design computers which performed computations using digital methods.  This improved the reliability and ease of computations significantly over the analog machines.  The digital electronics changed operations in many applications including manufacturing, however the impact on ICT has been almost revolutionary.  This has led to the growth of computers as we know it - from large clunky computers to the computer on your desktop to the laptop and now the smart phone.   

| style="width: 70%; " |This changed when the binary system was invented.  In the binary system information is represented as a series of "0"s and "1"s thus allowing information to be accessed through only a combination of "1"s and "0"s.  This allowed information to be communicated in discrete bits which could be combined and recombined. Such a computer which uses "0"s and "1"s to perform computations a digital computer.  

 

What makes our society now different from ever before is the presence of digital technologies. This development came with the development of new methods of designing circuits like transistors and micro chips; thus giving birth to the digital computer.   

 

This improved the reliability and ease of computations significantly over the analog machines.  This has led to the growth of computers as we know it - from large clunky computers to the computer on your desktop to the laptop and now the smart phone.   

| style="width: 30%;" |slideshow - http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/

| style="width: 30%;" |slideshow - http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/

See the slideshow here for a glimpse of how the digital technology revolutionized history of computing.

See the slideshow here for a glimpse of how the digital technology revolutionized history of computing.