history of computing Flashcards
Who is E.W Dijkstra?
A Dutch computer scientist known for stating that computers manipulate symbols to produce results.
What is a computer?
A device that can be programmed to carry out general purpose logical/mathematical computations.
What is a programmable computer?
A computer that can be re-programmed to improve solutions or adapt to changing problems.
What is a general purpose computer?
A computer that can carry out a wide range of tasks, not built for a specific purpose.
What is a digital computer?
A computer that operates using digital signals.
What are signals?
Representations of changing information used to transmit information, being discrete with limited values.
What is an electronic computer?
A computer that operates through the use of electricity.
What is electricity?
The movement of electrons through a material.
What is a semiconductor?
A material that falls between a conductor and an insulator, e.g., silicone, used to control electricity flow.
What are modern computers capable of?
Carrying out general purpose computation via programs, being inexpensive, robust, portable, and energy efficient.
What is an abacus?
An aid to a person doing computations.
What did the term ‘computers’ refer to in the 17th century?
People doing mathematical calculations.
What is a slide rule?
A 1600s analog computer able to calculate logarithms, trigonometric functions, squares, cubes, and their roots.
What is the Difference Engine?
A mechanical computer designed by Charles Babbage in 1822 to calculate polynomials, solving human error in computing.
What is the Analytical Engine?
A general purpose computer designed by Charles Babbage that could store data on punched cards but was never built.
Who is Ada Lovelace?
The first computer programmer who wrote the first algorithm for the Analytical Engine.
Who is Percy Ludgate?
An Irish designer of a machine similar to Babbage’s Analytical Engine, which was also never built.
What is a Turing Machine?
A theoretical machine by Alan Turing that demonstrates the power of computing, consisting of a tape, a head, a state register, and a table of instructions.
What are vacuum tubes?
Small devices that control the flow of electricity.
What is ENIAC?
The first electronic, digital, programmable, general purpose computer, operated by plugging and unplugging cables.
What are transistors?
Small electronic switches that perform the same job as vacuum tubes but more efficiently.
What are integrated circuits?
The third generation of computers consisting of multiple electronic circuits on one semiconductor, known as a chip.
What are microprocessors?
The fourth generation of computers, specifically CPUs, with the first being the Intel 4004 in 1971.
What are personal computers?
PCs made possible by microprocessors, usable by non-experts, with the development of operating systems and hardware.
What characterizes the first generation of computers?
The use of vacuum tubes.
What characterizes the second generation of computers?
The use of transistors.
What characterizes the third generation of computers?
The use of integrated circuits.
