ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

History of computer science

Okay, kiddo, let me explain the history of computer science in a way you can understand. A long, long time ago there were no computers. People had to do everything with their own hands and brains, like counting, writing, and calculating.

But then, some very smart people started to come up with ideas about how to make machines do these things for us. The first big breakthrough was made by a man named Charles Babbage. He came up with the idea for a machine that could do complex calculations automatically, without us even having to think about it!

This machine was called the Analytical Engine and it was like a giant mechanical brain with gears and wheels. Unfortunately, Babbage was not able to build his machine at that time because technology was not advanced enough.

It wasn't until the 20th century that computers started to become more widely used. One of the first computers was called the ENIAC and it was built in the 1940s. It was like a big room full of switches and wires, but it was still much faster than a human could ever be!

From there, computer science started to grow and evolve. People came up with new programming languages and ways to make the computer do things like play games and even talk to us! Now, we have computers that are small enough to fit in our pockets and we can use them to do things like play games, watch videos, and talk to our friends all over the world.

So, in short, computer science is the study of how we can use computers to do all sorts of amazing things!