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Data Processing Technicians

History

The field of electronic data processing is relatively new. Forerunners of today's modern computers were not developed until the 1930s, and the first all-electronic general-purpose computer was not completed until 1946. This computer was called ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) and was huge in size, using 18,000 vacuum tubes. In 1951, the U.S. census was processed by computer for the first time; in 1954, the computer moved into private businesses. Since then, public and private industries, universities, and other research centers have developed many new and different kinds of computers. These technological advances have enabled people to solve problems faster and more accurately than ever before and to use computers for factory and office automation, scientific and medical research, robotics, aerospace engineering, and word and information processing in every industry.

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