Computing Facts & Knowledge

Computing Facts & Knowledge

By Martyn Cox

The First Computer

• Called ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania and began construction in 1943 and was not completed until 1946.

• It occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons.

Multiple Choice

The first programming language was developed in 1945. What was it called?

• Plankalkul

• Binary

• Python

• Machine Code

Multiple Choice

Doug Engelbart invented the first computer mouse in around 1964. What was it made from?

• Plastic

• Wood

• Metal

• Cardboard

Multiple Choice

The first ever hard disk drive was made in 1979. What was its storage capacity?

• 5Mb

• 250Mb

• 500Mb

• 1Gb

Multiple Choice

Elk Cloner was the first virus to be detected in the wild. Written in 1982 by a 15-year-old, that infected Apple II computers but what kind of virus was it?

• Boot Sector Virus

• Resident Virus

• File Infector

• All of the above

Computer Power is Limited

• In the 1960s, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, observed that the number of transistors that could be fitted on a silicon chip was doubling every two years.

• In 2010, Moore himself predicted that the laws of physics would call a halt to the exponential increases. “In terms of size of transistor,” he said, “you can see that we’re approaching the size of atoms, which is a fundamental barrier.

Multiple Choice

Which country has the fastest internet in the world?

• South Korea

• North Korea

Multiple Choice

Email is..........................than the World Wide Web.

• older

• younger

Multiple Choice

Why are errors in software called "bugs"?

• Bugs Bunny always caused problems for Elmer Fudd.

• A moth in a computer in 1946 caused an error.

• Mistakes in software are hard to find and really bug you.

• Programming term called "Broken User Grammar in Software Development.

Multiple Choice

The Apollo 11 Lunar Lander which was used to travel to the moon, has less processing power than the processor of a cell phone.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What was the first game played in space (by an astronaut)?

• Pong

• E.T.

• Tetris

• Space Race

First Computer Game

• Spacewar!, developed in 1962 at MIT (Stephen Russell a.o.). Spacewar originally ran on a PDP-1 computer the size of a large car.

• Two players each control a spaceship circling a planet. The players can shoot each other, turn their ships, and accelerate. The goal is to hit the other player before being hit yourself.

Multiple Choice

If Mario were a real person, how many miles would he have to run (and swim) to complete Super Mario Brothers?

• 2.4

• 3.4

• 4.4

• 5.4

Multiple Choice

When was the first "home computer" game invented?

• 1972

• 1982

• 1992

• 1962

Multiple Choice

What is the average age of the video game player?

• 15

• 25

• 35

• 45

Multiple Choice

What is the highest selling single-platform video game of all time?

• Super Mario Bros.

• Pokémon Red

• Wii Sports

• Grand Theft Auto V

How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb?

None, its a hardware problem!