Computers play an important role in today's society, in work as well as in recreation. It's hard to imagine spending a day without the use of a computer whether it be to check e-mail, to type a letter, or just to surf the internet. And although computers are very much commonplace now, the history of the computer as we know it is a short one.  Starting with the abacus, one of the first computational tools, the computer took nearly two centuries just to evolve into something even remotely similar to those of today.

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