The digital age Flashcards
Who coined the term digital?
George Stibitz – Bell Telephone Laboratories mathematician.
What department/facility is responsible for the first development of digital
communication?
United states defence department – initiated a program to interconnect defence computers across the United States
What was Defence Department’s Advanced Research projects Agency (ARPA)’s main mission in the 1960s
Reconceptualize the digital computer as a device inherently interconnected, where communication holds equal importance to functions like calculation, storage, and control.
What did Samual Morse invent and how did it work?
- Electric telegraph
- Pulses, not continuous currents,
employed code that allowed for
sending messages
rapidly/accurately over long
distance, minimum number of
wires/apparatus.
Give a brief summary of the history of telecommunications
Began with Morse and Wheatstone electric telegraphs of
mid-19th century, then spread of telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, Elisha Grey, Thomas Edison.
What is a typesetter?
Certain letters used more frequently; codes chosen for those letters shorter than others.
When was First Digital computers invented?
1930s and 1940s
Who was Charles Babbage?
Came up with the idea of an analytical engine. Only could be made during WW2 due to advancements
What ability resulted in true mechanization of calculation?
- The ability to add numbers. (not just record)
When was did the mechanization of calculation occur?
Pascal’s adding machine 1642
What did Leibniz do?
extended Pascal’s invention – developed machine that could multiply.
What was the first successful calculator?
The Felt Comptometer
What did Alexander Graham bell do?
publicly demonstrated telephone. Relationship to
computing was indirect.
Who is the ancestor of today’s “Unisys”?
William S. Burroughs – Burrough’s adding machine – 1880s – commercial success.
What invention was used in the 1890 US census?
Punch Cards – method of storing information coded as holes punched into cards.
