What Is a Computer?Before the Industrial RevolutionThe Stone AgeThe Bronze AgeThe Iron AgeThe Islamic Golden AgeThe Renaissance and EnlightenmentThe Steam AgeThe Jacquard LoomVictorian Barrel Organs and Music BoxesBabbage’s Difference EngineBabbage’s Analytical EngineMechanical Differential AnalyzersThe Diesel AgeThe IBM Hollerith Tabulating MachineElectromechanical Differential AnalyzersElectromechanical Machines of World War IIThe Zuse Z3The Electrical AgePure Electronic Cryptology of World War IIENIACVirtual Machine ENIACThe Manchester BabyThe 1950s and Commercial ComputingThe Transistor AgeThe 1960s and Big TransistorsThe 1970s and Integrated CircuitsThe 1980s Golden AgeThe Bland 1990sThe 2000s and Reconnecting the CommunityThe 2010s and the End of Moore’s LawThe 2020s, the Cloud, and the Internet of ThingsSo Who Invented the Computer?SummaryExercisesFurther Reading