Computers and networks have been around a longer than you might imagine. Analog computers for counting, addition, subtraction and division like the abacus have been around for centuries. As with many technologies the Internet and informational technology have largely been a result of military necessity. The German Enigma cipher machine was an extremely sophisticated computer but still a mechanical device. The first digital computer, the Einac, was developed to replace analog calculators for artillery trajectory. It was built in 1945, comprised of some 18,000 vacuum tubes, was rumored to cause a Philadelphia wide power brownout, and weighed about 30 tons. Soon more computers appeared in various forms and they logically needed to connect to each to swap information and thus networking was born.

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