History/Hardware

Question 1

What were the Harvard computers?

Answer 1

Team of women who processed astronomical data.

Question 2

When did the Agricultural age start?

Answer 2

12 000 years ago

Question 3

When did the Industrial age start?

Answer 3

1700’s

Question 4

What was the pivotal product of the Agricultural age?

Answer 4

The engine

Question 5

What was the pivotal product of the Industrial age?

Answer 5

Electronics

Question 6

When did the Information age start?

Answer 6

1990’s

Question 7

What was the pivotal product of the Information age?

Answer 7

Knowledge

Question 8

Who was the inventor of the Difference Engine? (1822)

Answer 8

Charles Babbage

Question 9

What was the first general purpose programmable computer?

Answer 9

Analytical Engine, 1837

Question 10

Who was the first programmer?

Answer 10

Ada Lovelace (Augusta Ada King)

Question 11

What was the first published computer program?

Answer 11

Note G

Question 12

Is an abacus a computer?

Answer 12

NO

Question 13

Why did humans invent computers?

Answer 13

Humans seek to minimize costs while maximizing benefits.

Question 14

What is Moore’s Law?

Answer 14

We can expect the speed and capability of computers to increase every couple of years/ number of transistors to double

Question 15

When is Moore’s Law estimated to end?

Answer 15

2025

Question 16

What did Joseph Marie Jacquard invent? (1804)

Answer 16

The Jacquard Loom

Question 17

What was the Jacquard Loom an inspiration for and why?

Answer 17

The Analytical Engine, by using punched cards to program.

Question 18

What was the WWII German cipher machine?

Answer 18

Enigma

Question 19

Who cracked the German code in WWII?

Answer 19

Alan Turing

Question 20

What machine was invented to decipher Enigma?

Answer 20

Colossus

Question 21

What drove the miniaturization of computers in the ’50s-‘60s?

Answer 21

Space Race

Question 22

When did home computing begin?

Answer 22

1980’s

Question 23

What is Firmware?

Answer 23

Software embedded into a computer’s hardware.

Question 24

What does CPU stand for?

Answer 24

Central Processing Unit

Question 25

What does the CPU do?

Answer 25

Executes the instructions in a computer program.

Question 26

Registers (CPU)

Answer 26

Hold the current state/value/data

Question 27

Control Unit (CPU)

Answer 27

Decides what to do next, moves code/data around the CPU.

Question 28

ALU (CPU)

Answer 28

Arithmetic Logic Unit - Performs integer and logical operations.

Question 29

MMU (CPU)

Answer 29

Memory Management Unit - Manages the data flow between RAM and CPU

Question 30

Cache (CPU)

Answer 30

Super fast memory on-board the CPU.

Question 31

Clock (CPU)

Answer 31

Produces the timing signal in the CPU.

Question 32

What is the CPU instruction cycle?

Answer 32

1) Fetch 2) Decode 3) Execute

Question 33

Fetch (CPU)

Answer 33

CPU gets instruction from main memory and holds it in the form of a number.

Question 34

Decode (CPU)

Answer 34

Interprets the instruction that was fetched and generates an electronic signal.

Question 35

Execute (CPU)

Answer 35

The CPU routes the signal to the appropriate component for operation.

Question 36

What determines a CPU speed?

Answer 36

Clock Rate

Question 37

Integer Range

Answer 37

How much information can be processed at one time.

Question 38

Hyperthreading

Answer 38

Provides a single core CPU with multiple instruction streams. So when one execution stream stalls the other continues.

Question 39

What is volatile memory?

Answer 39

Forgotten when turned off.

Question 40

DRAM

Answer 40

Dynamic Ram, must be refreshed to hold its value.

Question 41

SRAM

Answer 41

Static Ram, holds value so long as current flows through circuit.

Question 42

Which is slower, DRAM or SRAM?

Answer 42

DRAM

Question 43

DIMM

Answer 43

Dual Inline Memory Modules

Question 44

What does cache memory allow?

Answer 44

Quicker access to memory.

Question 45

Why is it that 2 cores doesn't equal twice the speed?

Answer 45

More cores means more time spent managing communications between them.

Question 46

What is a motherboard?

Answer 46

Printed circuit board that connects everything together.

Question 47

The bigger the cache, the ______. (speed)

Answer 47

Slower

Question 48

What are the 4 most common types of Non-Volatile memory storage?

Answer 48

1) Paper 2) Magnetic 3) Optical 4) Semiconductor

Question 49

What type of storage is a Hard Disk Drive? (HDD)

Answer 49

Magnetic

Question 50

What keeps the arm on an HDD from touching the surface of the drive?

Answer 50

Aerodynamics

Question 51

How does optical memory work?

Answer 51

Lasers encode and decode data.

Question 52

What are two positives of optical memory?

Answer 52

Cheap and long lasting.

Question 53

What type of memory are Solid State Drives an example of?

Answer 53

Semiconductor, Flash

Question 54

What is it called when a user and a computer take turns inputting and outputting data?

Answer 54

Synchronous

Question 55

What does it mean for I/O to be asynchronous?

Answer 55

The user is able to input data at anytime and the computer is able to output information independent of each other.

Question 56

What is buses short for?

Answer 56

Omnibuses

Question 57

What are buses?

Answer 57

Circuitry that allows numerous devices to be connected to a computer.

Question 58

Where do you find buses?

Answer 58

Typically the motherboard

Question 59

What is the most common peripheral connector?

Answer 59

USB

Question 60

What is the IEC prefix for a billion?

Answer 60

Gibi

Question 61

What two things does IEC combine?

Answer 61

Metric and Binary

Question 62

IEC prefix for 1000?

Answer 62

Kibi

Question 63

IEC prefix for a million?

Answer 63

Mebi

Question 64

Which is smaller, DRAM or SRAM?

Answer 64

DRAM

Question 65

Commercial computing began to increase the size of what?

Answer 65

Memory Capacity