Chap1, 1.6 Flashcards
Although a study of the history of computing is generally INSIDE the scope of this book
TRUE OR FALSE?
False
Although a study of the history of computing is generally OUTSIDE the scope of this book,
It is of particular interest to note that nearly all of the revolutionary concepts that define computer systems today were developed between
A. thirty and sixty years ago
B. Thirty and Twenty years ago
C. Thirty and fifty years ago
A. thirty and sixty years ago
It is NOT possible, nor particularly useful, to identify the date of the ‘‘invention’’ of the computer.
T or F
T
there is recent evidence of the existence of an ancient computing device used for _____ calculations
Astronomical calculations
one could consider the____, already in use as early as 500 BC by the ancient Greeks and Romans, to be an early predecessor of the computer
Abacus
one could consider the abacus, already in use as early as 500 BC by the ____ and ____
Greeks and romans
It was capable of performing calculations and storing data
Abacus
The abacus remained in common use until the ____
A. 1600s
B. 1700s
C. 1500s
C. 1500s
A noted French mathematician of the 1600s, invented a calculating machine in 1642 at the age of nineteen
Blaise pascal
In the late 1500s, though,_____ inventors again began to put their minds to the problem of automatic calculation.
A. Egyptian
B. Greek
C. Europian
C. European
Blaise pascal was never able to construct the machine he invented in 1642
T or f
T
He invented a loom that used punched cards to control the patterns woven into cloth.
Marie Jacquard
It is invented by Marie Jacquard that is used to punch cards to control the patters of woven into cloth
Loom
He’s an English mathemati- cian who lived in the early 1800s, spent much of his own personal fortune attempting to build a mechanical calculating machine that he called an ‘‘analytical engine.’’
Charles Babbage
It resembles the modern computer in many conceptual ways.
The analytical engine
Babbage’s machine envisioned the use of Jacquard’s punched cards for input data and for the program, provided memory for internal storage, performed calculations as spec- ified by the program using a CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT known as a ‘‘___,’’ and printed output
Mill
She worked closely with Babbage and developed many of the fundamental ideas of programming and pro- gram design, including the concepts of branches and loops.
Augusta Ada byron (Countess of Lovelace and the daughter of the poet Lord Byron)
It was capable of selecting one of four arithmetic oper- ations, and of testing the sign of a number with a different program branch specified for each result.
The mill
The sequence of operation was speci- fied by instructions on the operation cards.
The operation cards could be advanced or reversed as a means of implementing a sort of ‘‘____’’ instruction.
Goto instruction
The second set of cards, known as ___ cards, were to be used to specify par- ticular memory locations for the data involved in the calculations.
Variable cards
Babbage envisioned a memory of one thou- sand 50-digit decimal numbers.
T or f
T
Each digit was to be stored using a ten-toothed gear known as
Counterwheel
At approximately the same time, another English mathematician, _______, developed the binary theory of logic that bears his name, Boolean logic.
George boole
At approximately the same time, another English mathematician, _______, developed the binary theory of logic that bears his name, Boolean logic.
George boole
He also recognized the relationship between binary arithmetic and Boolean logic that makes possible the circuitry that implements the modern electronic computer
George boole
In the late 1920s and early 1940s, several different groups of researchers independently developed versions of the modern electronic computer.
T or f
False - In the late 1920s and early 1940s
It is built in 1937 by Howard H. Aiken and associates at Harvard University with help and funding from IBM, used thousands of relays
The Mark I
The Mark I, built in 1937 by____
Howard H. Aiken
___ are mechanical binary switches controlled by electrical currents, familiar to you perhaps as the clicking devices that control operations in tape cassette players and telephone answering machines.
Relays
binary relays were used for computation, the fundamental design was ____
A. Decimal
B. Fraction
C. Ratio
A. Decimal
Storage consisted of seventy-two 23-digit decimal numbers, stored on ______
Counter wheels
A similar electromechanical computer was designed and built by______ in Germany
Conrad Zuse
The FIRST totally electronic digital computer was apparently devised by_____, a physicist at Iowa State College, in 1937.
John V. Atanasoff
It was a binary-based machine, just like today’s computers.
It consisted of an arithmetic/logic unit with thirty units that could do addition and subtraction, a rotating drum memory that held thirty binary numbers of 50 digits each, and punched card input.
ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer)
Despite its limitations, ABC was NOT an important pathmark that led to later significant advances in computer design.
T OR F
F- ABC was an IMPORTANT pathmark
is generally considered to be the first all-electronic digital computer
The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
The ENIAC was designed and built between 1943 and 1946 by_____ and_____ at the University of Pennsylvania
John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert
It had very limited storage capability, with only twenty locations each capable of holding a 10-digit decimal number.
ENIAC
Programs CAN be stored internally, but were hard wired with external ‘‘patch panels’’ and toggle switches.
T or f
F- ProgramsCOULD NOT be stored internally
the first commercially available computer, in 1951.
UNIVAC 1
It contained eighteen thousand vacuum tubes, occupied a floor space of more than fifteen thousand square feet, and weighed more than thirty tons.
ENIAC
