text: what was the first computer built for?   it really depends on how you define computer.  if you mean a programmable, electronic, digital computer, then most of the first ones were built around or just after world war ii, and many of the applications were military.  for example, the eniac was built under contract for the military so that artillery tables could be computed more quickly.  but the war ended before the computer was finished.  incidentally, ada was not a computer, but a famous person in the history of computing (ada lovelace).  in the 1980s, a programming languagfe was named ada in her honor.