Of course that computers, computer programs, and computer science all evolved from previous machines, techniques and concepts. But that's almost meaningless, a

Of course that computers, computer programs, and computer science all evolved from previous machines, techniques and concepts. But that's almost meaningless, a truism, (almost?) everything can be traced back historically from something else. The abstractions that underlie computers, computer programs, and computer science were discovered by analyzing and playing with concrete objects that had a historical lineage, but the abstraction exists independent of the objects. It is the abstraction that's important, not the objects. When we talk about the first computer and the first program we are talking about the first physical realization of an abstract idea.