COMPINTRO: 1.1 - Computer System Fundamentals

Computer

This refers to a programmable electronic machine designed to automatically accept raw data as input, store and manipulate that data through sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computations), and process it to produce a desired output.

Abacus, dated to be 1100 BCE

This refers to the earliest known calculating device used to perform arithmetic calculations.

Analytic Engine

This refers to the first mechanical computer in the 1830s created by Charles Babbage during the Victorian Era.

Ada Lovelace / Augusta Ada Byron

The world’s first computer programmer in 1843. They wrote the first algorithm for the Analytical Engine.

Using punch cards for programming

How did the Analytical Engine process data?

John Bardeen

Walter Brattain

William Shockley

The transistors back in 1947 were invited by which three people?

Transistors

This refers to a tiny device that significantly increases processing power while simultaneously reducing size and cost.

Intel 4004

The first microprocessor released in 1971; a silicon chip with shrunk down logic circuits tightly packed together.

Alan Turing

Regarded as the “Father of Computer Science,” this person was a British WW2 hero, mathematician, cryptographer, and computer scientist.

Turing Test

This test is used to determine whether a computer can imitate human intelligence well enough to be mistaken for a human during a conversation.

Successive division

This is the method used to convert a decimal number into its binary equivalent.

Harvard Mark II

Where was the first computer bug found?

The Bombe

This device created by British cryptologists was used to decipher German secret messages encrypted by the Enigma machine.