Connecting with Computer Science Chapter 1 Review:
Key Terms:
Abacus: (6) A counting device with sliding beads. Used mainly for adding and subtracting.
Assembly Language: (13) A Human-readable language used to represent numeric computer instructions.
Binary Code: (13) The numeric language of a computer based on the binary system of 1s and 0s.
Boolean Logic: (10) A logical system that uses truth tables to indicate T / F output based on T / F inputs.
Browser: (30) A program that accesses and displays files on a network or internet.
CPU: (19) The central controlling device inside a computer that makes decisions at a very low level.
Chip: (16) A piece of encased silicon. usually the size of your finger nail that holds IC's
Embedded Computers: (33) Computers embedded into other devices: a phone, car or thermometer.
GUI: (25) An interface to the computer that uses graphics instead of text.
Hardware: (12) The physical device on which software runs
Hypermedia: (30) Different sorts of info that are linked in such a way that that a user can move and see content easily from 1 link to another.
Hypertext: (30) Media that is specifically text.
Integrated Circuit: (16) Miniaturized transistors in solid silicon. Has electronic conducting and non-conducting channels etched into their surface.
Killer App: (23) A SW program that becomes so popular that it drives the drives the popularity of the HW it runs on.
Mainframe: (15) A large computer serving many terminals, used by large organizations. A 1st gen system.
Micro-computer: (22) A desk-sized computer with a CPU designed to be used by 1 person at a time
Micro-processor: (19) A CPU on a single chip used in microcomputers.
Mini-computer: (18) Mid-sized computer introduced in the mid - late 60's costing 10K vs 100K for mainframes.
Open architecture: (21) Computer hardware that is accessible for modification and sometimes even documented.
Open Source: (32) Software with source code that is accessible and potentially even documented for modification.
OS: (16) Software that allows applications access to hardware resources.
Parallel Computing: (27) The use of multiple computers or CPUs to process a single task simultaneously.
PC: (24) A desktop-sized computer with a CPU designed to be used by 1 person at a time.
Program Loop: (8) The capability of a program to "loop back" and repear commands.
Slide Rule: (6) A device that can perform complicated math by using sliding guides on a ruler.
Software: (12) A program for managing all the computers' jobs.
Stored Program Concept: (11) The idea that a computer can be operated by a program loaded into the machine's memory.
Super Computer: (27) The fastest and usually most expensive computer available. Used for research by engineers and scientists.
Time Sharing: (17) A computer's ability to share its computing time with many users simultaneously
Transistor: (16) A signal amplifier much smaller than a vacuum tube used to represent a 1 or 0.
Ubiquitous Computing: (34) The possibility of computers being embedded into almost anything and potentially able to communicate.
Vacuum Tubes: (10) A signal amplifier that preceded the transistor. Takes more power, larger and burns out faster.
Chapter Summary:
Understanding the evolution of computers and computer science helps you understand the broader
context of the many different tasks that you will undertake throughout your education and career.
Computers are unique tools in that they do different jobs depending on what software is running on
them.
Today you can find computers everywhere from your desk-top to your countertop.
At its core every computer performs symbolic and mathematical manipulation.
The history of mathematical tools can be traced as far back as the Assyrians and their clay
mathematical tables
The punch card a major development in the history of computing, owes its development to Jacquard’s
loom.
Charles Babbage is considered the father of modern computing because of his development of the
Analytical Engine; Ada Lovelace Byron is considered the first programmer.
Herman Hollerith, later playing a part in what would become IBM, solved the US. Census problem of
1890 by use of a mathematical counting tool.
The ENIAC, attributed mainly to John Mauchly, J Presper Eckert and John Von Neumann has been
called the first electronic computer, it used vacuum tubes had thousands of switches and weighed
tons.
Mauchly and Eckert went on to build the first commercial computer, the UNIVAC.
IBM dominated the mainframe marketplace in the late 50’s , 60’s and 70’s.
Transistors and then integrated circuits shrank the size of the computer, leading first to the
minicomputer in the mid 1960’s then the micro-computer in the late 70’s.
UNIX AND BASIC were invented in the early 1970’s.
Hobbyists created the first micro computers; the Altair 8800 was considered to be the very first.
Big business officially entered the microcomputer scene with the introduction of the IBM PC.
In the 1980’s with the microcomputer, companies began selling software directly to end users; before
the microcomputer, software usually came with the machine.
Apple computer introduced the small business community to inexpensive computing with the Apple II
and VisiCalc, the first “killer app.”
Apple’s Macintosh introduced the first Graphical User Interface to most of the world but was built on
the work of Douglas Engelbart.
Test Your-self:
1.) Name 2 needs of society that led to the development of more complex mathematics.
The evolution of the human race [i.e.] advancing from tents to buildings and building structures of epic
proportions and scale (i.e.) pyramids and Greek Parthenon’s
Navigation across both land and water also demanded the need for more complex math.
2.) What was the first mechanical device used for calculation?
The Slide ruler was the first mechanical device used for calculation.
3.) How would you compare the early electronic computer to a piano player.
Both devices had a stored program and could be programmed by using the interface.
4.) What technology did Herman Hollerith borrow from the Jacquard loom?
The concept of PUNCH CARDS (i.e.) a set of re-usable cards. Similar to that of the PLAYER PIANO[used at that
time period.] where a series of holes in a paper drum had air blowing through them, determining which notes to
play.
5.) Who has been called the "First" programmer?
Ada Lovelace Byron
6.) Name an important concept attributed to the person named in Question 5.
The “program loop.”
7.) What innovation does the ENIAC appear to borrow from the Atanasoff-Berry Computer?
Vacuum tubes and Boolean logic were the innovations the ENIAC borrowed from the Atanasoff-Berry Computer.
8.) Name at least one computer other than the ENIAC that was developed independantly and simultaneously during World War II.
Mark I
9.) What reason is given for the invention of assembly language.
Writing programs in binary is long, tedious and an error-prone process. Assembly language is easier to manage
than straight binary.
10.) What color can you attribute to IBM of the 1950's and what significance did it have for IBM's eventual dominance of the market place?
Blue was the color that could be attributed to IBM in the 1950’s. The significance it had to IBM’s eventual
dominance in the market place was the appeal it had to the general public. Showing men in blue business suits, as well as their slogan: “You can’t go wrong buying IBM.”
11.) Name two important developments of the second generation of hardware.
The transistor replaced the vacuum tubes. It was far smaller and cooler. A form of RAM was also developed.
12.) What long-term memory storage device that computers have today did second-generation computers often lack?
13.) In what language was the first UNIX operating system written? What did Thompson and Ritchie have to create for the second version of UNIX?
The first UNIX operating system was written in the B language. Thompson and Ritchie had to create the addition
of data typing to accommodate the broader range of storage types and operations available on the PDP 11 for the second version of UNIX.
14.) On what kind of computer was the first UNIX operating system written.
The DEC PDP – 7
15.) Before the Altair, Ed Roberts created what?
Calculators.
16.) What software did the Altair micro computer get that later helped make Bill Gates rich?
BASIC.
17.) Name the two people responsible for the first Apple Computer. Name the "Killer app" responsible for the Apple II's success.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were responsible for the first Apple Computer. The killer app that was
responsible for the Apple II’s success was: VisiCalc
18.) What challenge to the IBM PC did Apple launch in 1984. What response did MS. launch against Apple a few years later?
Macintosh. The concept of open architecture and for it to sell its OS to Hardware vendors. Also MS worked to
release an OS that would mimic the Mac's GUI. As such released a version of Windows 3.x in 1988.
19.) One of the ideas used in the development of ARPANET --- splitting information into blocks and re-assembling them at their destination came from the Rand Corporation. The initial concept began in relation to what system.
The U.S. telephone system.
20.) To whom, writing in the 1940s, have the origins of hypertext been attributed.
Hypertext had its origins in a 1945 proposal by U.S. President Roosevelt's scientific advisor Vannevar Bush.
Bush imagined a machine that could store information and allow users to link text and illustrations, thus creating "information trails."
Practice Exercises:
1.) In 1642 Pascal created a mechanical device with gears and levers. This device was capable of what kind of
calculation.
b. Addition and Subtraction (pg 6)
2.) Leibniz built on Pascal's work by creating the Leibniz Wheel. This device was capable of what kind of calculations
in addition to the ones Pascal's could do.
d. Multiplication and Division (pg 6)
3.) The Jacquard loom is important in the history of computing for what innovation.
b. Reusable cards with holes that held information.
4.) IBM has some of its origins in what 1890 event?
a. The U.S. census.
5.) Name 4 important elements of Babbage's Engine that are components of today's computer.
c. An input device, memory, a central processing unit and an output device. (pg 8)
6.) What logical elements did Charles Sanders Peirce realize electrical switches could emulate in 1880?
c. Boolean algebra. (pg 10)
7.) The U.S. military used the ENIAC computer for its intended purpose during World War II.
b. False (pg 10)
8.) What important concept is attributed to John Von Neumann?
b. Stored Program concept. (pg 11.)
9.) What company controlled 70% or more of the computer marketplace in the 60's and 70's.
b. IBM. (pg 15.)
10.) What features of transistors made superior for computers, compared with vacuum tubes?
d. They were cheaper, smaller and cooler than tubes and lasted longer.
11.) What important pastry helped move your job up in the queue in second-generation software, and what third
generation software development made that pastry unnecessary?
c. Donuts and time-sharing.
12.) In hardware, the next step up from the transistor was the transmitter.
b. False (pg 16)
13.) What magazine can you thank for the first microcomputer?
b. Popular Electronics and Radio Electronics. (pg 20)
14.) Which important concept did the Altair use, which was borrowed by its competition, including the IBM
personal computer?
15.) The Apple computer became very popular. What was its largest market and what software made it interesting to that market?
d. The business market and the program VisiCalc.
16.) In 1990 what software company dominated the software market and what major product did it sell.
a. Lotus and Lotus 1-2-3
17.) Today, Microsoft considers its major competition in operating systems to be what system.
c. Linux operating system.
18.) ARPA was created in response to what major event in world history.
c. The launch of Sputnik
19.) Name the three most likely critical large-scale developments of the fifth generation of software development
from this list of options:
a. Parallel computing, networking and the multiple-data-stream approach
20.) Marc Andreessen released what application that made browsers wide spread.
Digging Deeper:
1.)
How has the idea of open-source development changed the software industry.
Open architecture allows end users to customize their software and hardware components to their
own desired needs. This technology has been a compliment to the I.T. and technology industry in that
it freed end users from their reliance on big corporations to provide all the answers to their needs. It
spawned the birth of “plug-and-play.” In addition to being more affordable in building custom and/or
generic computer systems. Also allowing for smaller vendors to enter the technology market.
2.)
How did the microcomputer revolution change how software was distributed? Who is partly
responsible for this change?
The microcomputer revolution changed how software was/is distributed in a sense that software could
now be more easily copied, pirated and hacked MITS would be partly to blame since the cost of their
operating software was greatly inflated if purchased independently as opposed to being purchased
with a system; Leading individuals to explore such avenues. The internet also changed the way
software was/is distributed in that some distributor(s) were essentially eliminated, therefore, saving
companies distribution costs. Also… allowing programmers a venue to market their products.
Microsoft is likely also culprit. In-that. Their efforts to produce STABLE operating systems have been
questionable. Pirating a copy of Windows
(what-ever)
is more cost effective than having to purchase a
legitimate copy and still dealing with the same errors and bugs.
3.)
After selling MITS, Ed Roberts went to get his medical degree and became a doctor. Why did his
computer quickly lose dominance in the microcomputer industry and his company eventually fold?
What would you have done differently?
It was not market ready. It lacked peripheral devices that would come later, produced by 3
rdparty
vendors. It also came as a disassembled product. It had a BASIC operating system.
Personally I would have offered a product that that was market ready and able to perform at the
marketed standard. Something more COMPLETE as opposed to a box with shiny lights and a promise of
greatness.
4.)
What critical agreement and what hardware decisions might have allowed Microsoft to monopolize
the computer world, as IBM slowly lost market share?
5.)
Has Microsoft been unfairly labeled a monopoly? Would the demise of Linux change your opinion?