Computers have undoubtedly improved life in many ways, but they have not always been so easy to use, nor so widespread. Changes in the computer are due to technological progress and the need for performance. With a world changing so rapidly and getting bigger every day, it's no wonder that systems needed to be implemented to keep up with the fast pace of an evolving society. The twentieth century was a period of rapid technological progression, spurred by globalization, conflict and access to information. Computing machines, such as Herman Hollerith's tabulator for the 1890 census, had been around for a while and operated on mechanical systems. These machines generally had only one purpose and could never be reprogrammed to do anything other than what the original design intended. This was also true of the Atanasoff-Berry computer, the first digital computer. However, this computer worked using electronics, used the representation of binary numbers for its calculations, and separated computation and memory (O' Regan). These three points were essential for all subsequent projects in the field of digital computing. The first programmable digital computer was completed in 1946 by a team who developed it for use by the U.S. Army. The machine was called ENIAC and its purpose was to calculate the trajectories of the missiles. The computer was very large, as it was made of vacuum tubes, a device that simulated 1s and 0s. The ENIAC could be reprogrammed by physically rewiring the machine (O' Regan), an arduous and time-consuming task. Vacuum tubes were also very unreliable and prone to breakage, and produced a significant amount of heat. In summary, computing required very large, expensive and error-prone machines to perform calculations, ... half of paper ... .the computer industry (O' Regan), and from this thought specialized computers were born, such as home and personal computers. The change in design, from older computers to these more dedicated machines, has contributed to the spread of computers into all aspects of life, from gaming and photography to banking and analytics. In the late 19th century, government officials feared that processing U.S. census data would take so long that the data would become obsolete once completed. For this reason, a tabulating machine was designed that can halve this time spent. Computers like this were made and improved because they are necessary to accommodate a rapidly growing society, and the period from the 1950s to the 1970s saw magnificent changes in the hardware and software design of these computers. As we evolve and advance, technology must too.