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The pre-history of computers. The first computer was the abacus which was first developed in 2800 B.C. It was the zenith of calculating technology until the 1st century. In the early 1600’s, John Napier invented the Napier’s bones which were multiplication tables inscribe on wood. He also invented logarithms. In 1621 William Oughtred used Napier’s logarithms as the basis for his invention, the slide rule. In 1642, Blaise Pascal developed the “Pascaline.” 1694 when Gottfried Leibnitz invented the “stepped reckoner.” Theoretically this machine could handle the four arithmetic functions, had delayed carrying device, and contained the stepped drum principle, which 150 years later was used in the first commercially successful calculator. In the 1700’s man