CCE 101L - History of Information Technology

Flashcards in fill-in-the-blank style covering key IT history concepts, devices, and basic concepts from the lecture notes.

The abacus is considered the earliest known calculator, in use since at least __ BCE.

1100 BCE

John Napier invented __ which use lookup tables to find the solution to otherwise tedious and error-prone mathematical calculations.

logarithms

The popular calculating tool designed by Napier is known as __.

Napier's bones

The first calculator was created in __ by Wilhelm Schickard.

1623

Calculators such as the Arithmometer remained a fascination after 1820; the tool associated with the Jacquard Loom is the __.

Arithmometer

The __ Engine was invented by Charles Babbage.

Difference Engine

The machine enabling general-purpose computation is the __.

Analytical Engine

In 1930, MIT engineer Vannevar Bush developed the first modern analog computer called the __.

Differential Analyzer

The theoretical computing device proposed by Alan Turing is the __.

Turing Machine

The first special-purpose electronic computer may have been invented by John Vincent __.

Atanasoff

The wartime code-breaking project funded to crack German ciphers and the Enigma is called __.

Ultra

ENIAC was designed for computing values for __ range tables.

artillery

The ENIAC used __ to program instructions.

plugboards

Computers can be used as an aid to __ to assist in solving business problems.

management

In __, branches are equipped with terminals giving online accounting facilities for current balances, deposits, overdrafts and interest charges.

Banking

In __, production may be planned, coordinated and controlled with the aid of a computer.

industry

In __ design, computers help calculate that all parts of a proposed design are satisfactory.

engineering

In __, data is recorded at different levels of atmosphere at different places, using remote sensors carried on a satellite.

meteorology

In __, small computers are installed as a part of the plane's equipment.

air travel

In __, computers assist with the control of traffic lights.

road traffic control

In __, computerized telephone exchanges handle an ever-increasing volume of calls very efficiently.

telephones

In __, computers are widely used in hospitals for tasks such as maintaining drugs, surgical equipment and linen, payroll and checkups and treatment of diseases.

medicine

The work can be done in very __ time.

less

More information can be stored in __ space.

small

Positive impacts include multitasking and __ capabilities of data.

multiprocessing

Data is easy to __.

access

Positive impact: data is free of bias or __.

impartiality

Documents can be kept __.

secret

Results can be __.

error-free

Computers can be used for __ purposes.

various

Negative impact: computers are __.

highly expensive

Negative impact includes risk of __.

accidents

Negative impact includes risk of __.

data piracy

Computers contain many electric, electronic, and mechanical components known as __.

hardware

A collection of related instructions organized for a common purpose is referred to as __.

software

A __ is a computer that can perform all of its input, processing, output, and storage activities by itself and is intended to be used by one person at a time.

personal computer

A __ computer is portable, designed to be carried from place to place.

mobile

A __ is anyone who interacts with a computer or mobile device or utilizes the information it generates.

user

A laptop, also called a notebook computer, is a __ mobile computer with a screen in its lid and a keyboard in its base.

thin, lightweight

A popular style of tablet is the __, which does not contain a physical keyboard.

slate

All-in-one is a type of desktop that does not contain a tower and uses the same case to house the display and processing circuitry; this is the __.

All-in-one

A __ is a computer dedicated to providing one or more services to other computers or devices on a network.

server

A __ is a computer, usually with limited processing power, that enables users to send data to and/or receive information from a server or host computer.

terminal

A __ is the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive computer; it can process many trillions of instructions per second.

supercomputer

Cloud computing refers to an environment that provides resources and services accessed via the Internet; the domain is often described as __ computing.

cloud computing

An embedded computer is a special-purpose computer that functions as a component in a larger product; the following list identifies a variety of everyday products that contain embedded __.

computers