NEW
Font size
WorksheetsHistory of Computing Quiz
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 10mins
In 1642 Pascal created a mechanical device with gears and levers. This device was capable of what kind of calculation?
Addition
Addition and subtraction
Addition, subtraction, and multiplication
Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
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?
Subtraction
Addition and multiplication
Subtraction and multiplication
Multiplication and division
The Jacquard loom is important in the history of computing for what innovation?
It worked like a player piano.
Reusable cards with holes held information.
It used gears and wheels for calculation.
Paper rolls with holes held information.
IBM has some of its origins in what 1890 event?
The U.S. census
The first Jacquard loom in the United States
Ada Lovelace's first program loop
The introduction of electricity to the United States
Name the four important elements of Babbage's Engine that are components of today's computer.
The stored program technique, an input device, an output device, and memory
Mechanical calculation equipment, human-powered mechanisms, punched cards, and an output device
An input device, memory, a central processing unit, an output device
An input device, the stored program technique, a central processing unit, and an output device
What logical elements did Charles Sanders Peirce realize electrical switches could emulate in 1880?
Epistemological calculus
Ontological algebra
Boolean algebra
Metaphysical algebra
The U.S. military used the ENIAC computer for its intended purpose during World War II.
True
False
What important concept is attributed to John Von Neumann?
The large memory concept
The stored program concept
The discrete variable automation concept
The virtual memory concept
What company controlled 70% or more of the computer marketplace in the '60s and '70s?
Sperry-Univac
International Business Machines
Hollerith Machines
Microsoft
What features of transistors made them superior for computers, compared with vacuum tubes?
They were more expensive than tubes but lasted longer and were cooler in temperature.
They didn't last as long as tubes but were less expensive.
They were cheaper and smaller than tubes.
They were cheaper, smaller, and cooler than tubes and lasted longer.
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?
Donuts and integrated circuits
Bear claws and multitasking
Donuts and time-sharing
Donuts and virtual memory
In hardware, the next step up from the transistor was the transmitter.
True
False
What magazines can you thank for the first microcomputer?
Science and Wall Street Journal
Popular Electronics and Radio Electronics
Popular Electronics and Star Trek Monthly
New Mexico Entrepreneur and Radio Electronics
What important concept did the Altair use, which was borrowed by its competition, including the IBM personal computer?
The computer came in kit form.
The computer's price was $666.
The machine had an open architecture.
The machine could be used without plugging it into a wall outlet.
The Apple computer became very popular. What was its largest market, and what software made it interesting to that market?
The education market and the educational game Shape Up
The games market and the game The Big Race
The business market and the program Lotus 1-2-3
The business market and the program VisiCalc
In 1990, what software company dominated the software market, and what major product did it sell?
Lotus and Lotus 1-2-3
Bricklin and VisiCalc
Apple and the Apple Operating System
Microsoft and Word
Today, Microsoft considers its major competition in operating systems to be what system?
Control Data Corporation OS
Sega Games operating system
Linux operating system
Mac OS X
ARPA was created in response to what major event in world history?
World War II
The McCarthy hearings of the 1950s
The launch of Sputnik
The inability of computers to communicate with one another
Name the three most likely critical large-scale developments of the fifth generation of software development from this list of options:
Parallel computing, networking, and the multiple-data-stream approach
The graphical user interface, networking, and computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools
Networking, the graphical user interface, and packet switching
ARPANET, the Internet, and CASE tools
Marc Andreessen released what application that made browsers widespread?
Netscape
Mosaic
Explorer
Hypertext
