The History and Development of Computers For better or worse, computers have filtered every aspect of our society. Today computers do much more than simply compute. The history and development of computers has come a long way. To fully understand and appreciate the impact computers have on our lives and promises they hold for the future, it is important to understand their evolution. The abacus, which emerged about 5,000 years ago in Asia Minor, may be considered the first computer. This device lets users to make computations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack. But as the use of paper and pencil