intro to computers 001 Flashcards
which computer did william oughtred invent and what technology did he use
WILLIAM OUGHTRED invented the SLIDE RULE
which computer did blaise pascal invent and what technology did he use
BLAISE PASCAL invented the PASCALINE, first numeral calculating machine
which computer did charles babbage invent and what technology did he use
CHARLES BABBAGE
- designed the difference machine to calculate logs but never built it
- ANALYTICAL MACHINE [first general purpose computer] used PUNCH CARDS
which computer did alan turing and MHA newman invent and what technology did he use
ALAN TURING & MHA NEWMAN invented the COLOSSUS [world’s first programmable, digital, electronic, computing devices]. they used VACUUM TUBES to perform calculations
what is the eniac
Electronic Numerical Integrator Computer which used VACUUM TUBES
what is univac
UNIVAC uses MAGNETIC TAPE unit as a buffer memory
what is system/360
SYSTEM 360 was IBM’S first family computer
what is the MITS
MITS is the ALTAIR COMPUTER, THE I/O consisted of SWITCHES and LIGHTS designed by ED ROBERTS and BILL YATES
who founded microsoft
bill gates founded microsoft n paul allen adapt and sell basic to mits for the altair pc
what is a computer
- access input [keyboard, mouse]
- processes data [cpu]
- stores data [hdd, ssd, usb…]
- produces output [display, printer…]
it is done by a series of instructions
primary storage, memory
temp. holds data
secondary storage
data stored permanently
file
collection of data stored within files
program software
series of instructions that tell processing tasks
types of computers
pc, workstation, server [data–client], mainframe [thousands of users], videogame console, handheld
microcontroller
microcontroller is a special purpose microprocessor built into machine
how does software work
compilers transform source code to machine code, which instructions a cpu can execute
what is firmware
firmware is software stored on non-volatile/permanent storage [bios: basic input output system, uefi: unified extended firmware interface] it can be stored into rom, prom, eprom, or flash memory
what is os
[mac os, dos, windows, linux, unix]
controls and monitors the execution of all programs, provides application program interface [api].
user interface allows to un programs, manage storage, customize environment
what happens when you boot a computer
- computer verifies comp op, os is loaded from hdd to ram
boot program [rom] tells hard disk to load os which is from hdd, which gets loaded in the ram, where the os is available in the processor
multitasking
a single core can only perform a single task, one thing at a time it’s an illusion; there is a queue. a multicore processor can perform many tasks at a time
what is copyright
a copyright is a form of legal protection that grants the author of an original work exclusive right to copy, distribute,
how are the ways to use a computer program
single user, multiple user, site
what is EULA
EULA is [end-user license agreement] which is displayed on screen when you first install software. it tends to be difficult to read.
types of software licenses
- property of software licenses
- shareware (free for limited time)
- freeware (free for unlimited time, but copy and share can be limited)
- open source: GPL (General public license) -> free to run, study, modify, share. BSD (Berkley software distribution)
data storage basics
- access time: time it takes to access the requested information
- transfer rate: rate at which data is transferred from the device to the memory
- sequential or random access
second generation data storage device
- magnetic storage device [magnetizing]
- interfaces: sata: serial advanced technology attachment
sas: serial attached scsi - has its own optimized cpu
third generation data storage
optical storage [microscopic light and dark spots]: cd, dvd, blu-ray. random access
RO: read-only
R: recordable
RW: rewritable
fourth generation data storage
SSD [erasable, rewritable, higher transfer random access.
interface: SATA Serial Advanced Technology Attachment
SAS: serial attached SCSI
SSD MEMORY CARDS
USB [universal serial bus] FLASH DRIVES
fifth generation data storage
the cloud over the internet
file system
os manages by providing a file system that is hierarchical
- files are leaf or terminal nodes in the tree structure [only contain data]
- folders [contain other folders and files]
file formats
fat32, exfat [extended fat], ntfs [new technology file system]
