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Chapter 1
Computer History
52
Other
Undergraduate 1
09/27/2006

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Term
Abacus
Definition
tabulation device, 1000-5000 BC on sand; Napier Bones's created in 1600 AD
Term
Blaise Pascal
Definition
1640- made the first mechanical "Arithmetic Machine"
Term
Joseph Marie-Jacquard
Definition
1800s- used punched cards to program weaving looms
Term
Charles Babbage
Definition
1820s- "Difference Engine" did various mathematical calculations; Control- governed calculations, Mill- did the atithmetic; Store- memory; also developed the "Analytical Engine"
Term
George Boole
Definition
1854- building blocks of copmuter circuitry design
Term
Herman Hollerith
Definition
1880- developed a machine that would read punched cards containing individual data in order to make the 1890 census easier to count; 1896- Tabulating Machine Compnay later became IBM
Term
Thomas Edison
Definition
"Edison Effect" led to the turning radio waves into electricity through the development of the light bulb
Term
John Ambrose Fleming
Definition
used the Edison Effect to develop the tube electronic component, or diode
Term
Vannevar Bush
Definition
1930- "Differential Analyzer" was used to create ballistic tables; still analog
Term
Harvard Mark I
Definition
1944- first digital computer, used by the military, weighed five tons
Term
Colussus
Definition
1943- aided in cracking Hitler's secret code, secret until 1970s
Term
ENIAC
Definition
1946- first general purpose electronic computer; faster than the Harvard Mark I, used for ballistics
Term
EDSAC
Definition
1949- England, first stored-program computer; coded with symbols, not machine language
Term
UNIVAC
Definition
1951- first commercially available computer, $1,000,000 each, predicted Eisenhower's election
Term
transistor
Definition
1947- smaller and cooler than vacuum tubes, miniaturized computers; motivated by space race
Term
Microprocessors
Definition
1960s- demand for desktop calculators increases; Intel 4004 was the first
Term
COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, ALGOL 60
Definition
1960s- early forms of code
Term
B
Definition
1970- code created by Bell Labs; developed with UNIX
Term
C
Definition
1973- Dennis Ritchie improved upon B; still used today
Term
C++
Definition
1980- Bjarne Stroutstrup enhanced C language,
Term
Java
Definition
1995- programming language very similar to C++ but more user friendly,
Term
MITS Altair 8800
Definition
1975- first consumer priced PC at $500; no monitor or keyboard, used an Intel 8080 chip
Term
Apple I
Definition
1976- Jobs and Wozniak; just a circuit board with inputs
Term
Apple II
Definition
1977- first computer to support a color monitor
Term
VisiCalc
Definition
1979- Developed by Dan Bricklin; first "killer" application; precursor to Excel
Term
IBM PC
Definition
1981- first with open architecture (could support third party devices)
Term
Compaq
Definition
cloned the IBM PC
Term
Commodore 64
Definition
1983- first PC to sell millions of units
Term
Apple Macintosh
Definition
1984- introduced the first GUI (graphical User Interface); Superbowl commercial;
Term
mainframe
Definition
supports thousands of users
Term
supercomputer
Definition
performs one function very well
Term
minicomputer
Definition
supports hundreds of users
Term
microcomputer
Definition
provide access to a mainframe computer; "dummy"
Term
personal computer
Definition
self-contained computing device for one user
Term
workstation
Definition
powerful, single-user computer
Term
bit (b)
Definition
1 or 0
Term
byte (B)
Definition
eight bits: e.g. 01101000
Term
nibble
Definition
four bits; e.g. 1001
Term
word
Definition
longer string of bits; e.g. 2 bytes constitute a 16-bit word
Term
ASCII
Definition
American Standard Code for Information Interchange; associated with an English character: 0 to 127
Term
serial
Definition
transmits data one bit at a time
Term
parallel
Definition
transmits multiple bits at a time
Term
motherboard
Definition
main circuit board of a PC
Term
CPU
Definition
central processing unit; interprets and executes the instructions of a command or program
Term
chipset
Definition
group of integrated circuits on the motherboard
Term
ROM
Definition
read only memory; prerecorded data
Term
RAM
Definition
random access memory
Term
expansion card
Definition
includes video, graphics accelerator, sound, and network cards
Term
ISA
Definition
Industry Standard Architecture; 16-bit structures; now obsolete
Term
PCI
Definition
Peripheral Component Interconnect; 32- bit structures
Term
Accelerated Graphics Port
Definition
AGP; bypass the PCI bus, used for 3D graphics
Term
bus
Definition
collection of wires through which data is transmitted from one location to another
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