The Development of Digital Computers

Abstract

In the 1950s, the transistor replaced the vacuum tubes that had empowered Eniac, Colossus, and other early computers in the 1940s. In the 1960s and 1970s, computing moved from slow, expensive mainframes to faster mini-and microcomputers and multiprocessors, empowered by chip technology and integrated circuits, and leveraged by increasingly sophisticated operating systems and programming languages. By the 1980s, commercially available programs were able to perform commonly needed computational functions. With the growth of computer capabilities and computer storage capacities, database technology and database management systems gave rise to the development of distributed database systems. Effi cient computer-stored databases proved essential to many medical computing applications, making vast amounts of data available to users. Over time computer applications became more numerous and complex, with software claiming a larger fraction of computing costs. Display terminals and clinical workstations offered graphic displays and supported structured data entry and reporting. Devices, such as the mouse, light pens, touch screens, and input technologies, such as speech and handwriting recognition, were developed to ease the user's tasks and foster physician acceptance. Over the same span of time, computer communications evolved as well, moving from copper wire to fi ber optic cable and, most recently, to wireless systems. The Internet and the World Wide Web became the main modes used for local and global communications. By the 2010s laptops replaced desktop computers, and tablets and smart phones were commonplace in health care.

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