Advancement of the Computer The idea of computing has been in people’s minds throughout history. Today we have a different idea of computers, but a computer is any complex counting machine. The first computer ever used by a person could have been a simple set of stones that he used to represent a set or group of something. These stones were used to perform calculations. This is the same thing a computer does. Today’s computers work by performing calculations. Today’s computer did not just come into being, it went through many years of improvements. When talking about the history of compu