History of Personal Computers

History of the Personal Computer Introduction: The history of the personal computer is vast and complex. As computers continue to develop, each development brings greater opportunities and challenges to the world of computing. ————————————————- Learn how it all started and where it has led to in today’s world. Quiz 1. The first accurate mechanical calculator was invented in 1642 by __________. a. Charles Babbage b. Blaise Pascal c. Joseph Marie Jacquard d. Herman Hollerith 2. In 1993, the invention of which browser allowed Internet users to view multimedia files? e. Netscape Navigator . Internet Explorer g. Opera h. Mosaic 3. In 1975, Popular Electronics magazine advertised the __________ as the first computer available for personal use. i. Altair j. Apple Lisa k. IBM l. ENIAC 4. The principal features of the graphical user interface were developed by __________. m. Apple n. Microsoft o. Lotus p. Xerox 5. The __________, which can alter its electric state between on and off, is the basic building block for computer circuitry. q. Processor r. Circuit s. Transistor t. Microprocessor 6. Released in 1979, the first word processing application for personal computers was __________. . Word v. WordAssistant w. WordPerfect x. WordStar 7. Built in 1939, the __________ computer was the first to use vacuum tubes instead of mechanical switches to store binary data. y. ENIAC z. Altair {. Atanasoff-Berry |. IBM 8. Which computer was the first to use magnetic storage tape instead of punched cards? }. UNIVAC ~. ENIAC . Altair . ADA 9. The __________ is considered to be the first successful high-speed electronic digital computer. . Hollerith tabulating machine . Jacquard loom . ENIAC . Pascaline calculator 10. Who is considered the first computer programmer? Charles Babbage . Herman Hollerith . Grace Hopper . Ada Lovelace Projects Interviews Task: Interview people of varying ages to find out how computers were used when they were in their childhood. Assignment: Interview four people of varying age ranges to find out how computers were used when they were in their childhood. Write a summary of how computers were used during their childhood. History of the Computer Task: View the history of the computer. Assignment: Visit www. pbs. org/nerds/timeline and view the history of the computer.
Write a short description of the events during each of the following phases. 1. Prehistory 2. Electronics 3. Mini 4. Micro 5. Network The 1952 Presidential Election Task: We trust our lives to computers. They control planes in flight, calculate our payrolls, and monitor vital hospital equipment. It was not always this way, though. Let’s look at a computer’s role in predicting the 1952 presidential election. Assignment: Visit www. wired. com/science/discoveries/news/2008/11/dayintech_1104 to see what trust was placed in an early computer. 1. What computer was used to predict the 1952 election? 2.
Which network used the computer during a live broadcast of the election results? 3. Although the broadcast was from New York City, where was the computer located? 4. Who was predicted by preelection polls to be the winner? 5. Who did the computer predict the winner to be? 6. What were the numbers of electoral votes predicted to be? 7. What were the odds that this candidate would have even the minimum 266 electoral votes to win? 8. How did the news department respond to this information? 9. What were the final electoral vote counts, and what was the percentage of error from the initial prediction?