U N I T 2 THE INTERNET AND ITS HISTORY In this Unit we focus on a new way of communication: a global network of networks connecting millions of users worldwide using simple standard common addressing systems and protocols. Taking a big step back, we will analyse the history of the Internet and how it is becoming more and more part of our lives. We will surf through the most famous search engines and find out about Web 2.0 tools for designing a personal website. A. WHO INVENTED THE COMPUTER? The modern world we know, made up of high technology, electronic devices and towering expertise, could not have come about if computers had not been developed. They are used throughout society in the storage and handling of every kind of data, from secret governmental files to banking transactions, from private household accounts to health and care service. Computers are now familiar at school, work, home and as desktop personal computers, but who invented the computer? It is not a question with a simple answer. Many inventors contributed to the history of computers as it is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered as a separate invention; moreover, there have been many types of computers, or computing machines, dating back to the 1800 s. The Analytical Engine, the Babbage Machine, conceived by Charles Babbage in 1822, can be considered the first fully automatic calculating, programmable and digital computer, as it was designed to embody many basic elements of a modern computer. From the 1950s onwards digital computers have evolved at an extremely rapid pace, thanks to the invention of transistors which replaced the valves. Transistors, combined on a tiny sliver of silicon the chip formed the integrated circuits, an important breakthrough in the new science of microelectronics. A modern digital computer is a device capable of solving problems by processing information; it operates on data including GLOSSARY byte: unità di dati breakthrough: svolta busbar: conduttore elettrico to come about: avvenire to embody: includere handling: manipolazione magnitude: grandezza pace: ritmo to perform: eseguire random: casual recall: ricordare sliver: frammento towering expertise: imponente competenza throughout: in tutto valve: valvola wave: onda 176