History of the keyboard Free Essay Example, 3000 words

Keyboard: Summary: - Within a computer system, there are a few devices which are responsible for giving the input to the computer in the form of instructions or data. These are called as input devices. There are a few other devices to which the computer sends its feedback after the instruction processing. These are called as the output devices. Keyboard is one of the primary input devices that most of the modern computers use for the input of data/instruction. There are a series of changes that a keyboard has gone through within a span of around 130 years that a keyboard was first invented. The keyboard has seen various formats including the one that had the letters arranged sequentially and the others most of which were designed in such a manner so as to increase the typing speed and reduce the movement of fingers as far as possible. But the one that has been used prominently and very frequently, the QWERTY keyboard, is the one that has been designed for just the contrary. It has b een designed so that the typing speed could be as slow as possible. We will write a custom essay sample on History of the keyboard or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The reason behind this is that with the increased efficiency of typing the keys of the keyboard used to get stuck when pressed in quick succession. Therefore Sholes, with one of his relatives who was adept at mathematics, derived a keyboard placing the most frequently keys as far apart as possible. Thus reducing the typing speed considerably and removing this problem and the keys getting stuck. Introduction: - A computer system is generally an apt combination of four kinds of devices: - 1. Input Devices 2. Processing Units 3. Storage Units 4. Output Devices 1. Input Devices: - The devices that are connected to the computer to provide input to the computer system are called as input devices. The input may be in the form of either data or control instructions. Input devices are also used so that the user may interact with the application program. The examples of input devices include keyboard, mouse, punch card reader etc. 2. Processing Units: - The devices that are responsible for the processing of data to obtain the intended results are called the processing unit. The CPU is the Central Processing Unit for the computer. It is also commonly called as the processor. 3. Storage Units: - The devices that are responsible for storing the results of the operations and sometimes even the application program and data are called the storage units or memory devices. Examples are Hard disk, Compact Disk, Floppy Disk etc. 4.