History of Information Technology Lesson 1 & 2

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Questions and Answers

What was the earliest age of Information Technology?

Electronic Age

Electromechanical Age

Mechanical Age

Pre-mechanical Age (correct)

Who is considered the Father of Computers?

Blaise Pascal

Guglielmo Marconi

Alexander Graham Bell

Charles Babbage (correct)

What was invented by Samuel Morse in 1835?

Telegraph

Morse Code (correct)

Telephone

Radio

What was the first high-speed digital computer capable of being reprogrammed?

ENIAC Signup and view all the answers

What was developed in Babylonia in 3000 BC?

Abacus Signup and view all the answers

When was the number 0 invented?

875 AD Signup and view all the answers

What was the main characteristic of the Mechanical Age?

Connections between current technology and its ancestors Signup and view all the answers

When did the Electronic Age of Information Technology begin?

1940 AD Signup and view all the answers

What was the main component used in ENIAC, built in 1946?

Vacuum tubes Signup and view all the answers

What was Ada Lovelace known for?

Writing programs for the Analytical Engine Signup and view all the answers

What was Herman Hollerith's contribution to computing?

Inventing the Tabulating Machine for the 1890 Census Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe solving a computer problem?

Debugging Signup and view all the answers

What are the four specific activities that a computer carries out, according to John von Neumann's 'First Draft'?

Input, store, process, and output Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'computer' originate from?

Latin 'computus' and 'computare' Signup and view all the answers

What was used as secondary memory/storage in the 1st generation of computers?

Punched cards Signup and view all the answers

Who developed the transistor?

William Shockley, Walter Brattain, and John Bardeen Signup and view all the answers

What is the speed of operations in the 3rd generation of computers?

Nanoseconds Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of the 5th generation of computers?

Uses artificial intelligence Signup and view all the answers

In which generation of computers were COBOL, Fortran, and Symbolic programming languages introduced?

2nd generation Signup and view all the answers

What is the speed of operations in the 4th generation of computers?

Picoseconds Signup and view all the answers

What was replaced by transistors in the 2nd generation of computers?

Vacuum tubes Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of the 3rd generation of computers?

Smaller and powerful Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Ages of Information Technology

Pre-mechanical Age (3000 BC - 1450 AD)
- Earliest age of Information Technology
- Communicating through Language or Petroglyphs
- Developed the Phoenician alphabet
- Invention of numbers: 1-9 by Indians in 100 AD, and 0 in 875 AD
- Abacus, invented in Babylonia in 3000 BC
Mechanical Age (1450-1840)
- Connections between our current technology and its ancestors
- Invention of the Printing Press
- Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline, the first mechanical adding machine
- Charles Babbage, known as the Father of Computers, invented the Difference Engine and Analytical Engine
  - 5 characteristics of modern computers:
    - Input device – punch cards
    - Processor – mill
    - Control Unit
    - Storage Facility – store
    - Output device
Electromechanical Age (early 1840-1940)
- Beginnings of telecommunications
- Invention of the Telegraph
- Morse Code was created by Samuel Morse in 1835
- Telephone was created by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876
- The first radio was developed by Guglielmo Marconi in 1894
Electronic Age (1940 to present)
- ENIAC – the first high-speed digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems
- Vacuum tubes - an electronic device that controls the flow of electrons in a vacuum
- Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer
- Herman Hollerith invented the Tabulating Machine for the 1890 Census
- Alan Turing worked on Colossus computer in 1943, used for cracking German codes during World War II
- John von Neumann's "First Draft" concept initiated the modern computer era
  - 4 specific activities:
    - Input data
    - Store data
    - Process data
    - Output data/results

Generations of Computers

1st Generation (1940-1956) - Vacuum Tubes
- Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)
- Punched cards for secondary memory/storage
- Speed – Milliseconds (thousands of operations per second)
2nd Generation (1957-1963) - Transistor
- Replaced vacuum tubes as electronic circuits in computers
- Magnetic tape for secondary memory/storage
- Speed – Microseconds (millions of operations per second)
- Programming languages: COBOL, Fortran, Symbolic
3rd Generation (1964-1970) - Integrated Circuits
- Smaller and more powerful computers
- IBM introduced the Personal Computer
- Magnetic tape for secondary memory/storage
- Speed – Nanoseconds (billions of operations per second)
- Silicon Chip
4th Generation (1971-Present) - Microprocessors
- Incorporates the functions of a CPU
- Single chip
- Magnetic disk for secondary memory/storage
- Speed – picoseconds (trillions of operations per second)
5th Generation (Future) - Artificial Intelligence
- Artificial Intelligence - Computer learns from itself
- Natural Language - Communicate with computer using everyday language
- Parallel Processing - Ability to process millions of instructions simultaneously
- Speed – gigaseconds (quadrillions of operations per second)

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Description

This quiz covers the ancient and modern information and communication technology, including the ages of information technology, generations of computers, and evolution of computers.