Introduction to Computing and Modern Computing

A complete list of vocabulary flashcards covering key historical figures, early mathematical developments, and modern computing concepts from the lecture transcript.

Computing

Any activity that utilizes computers to manage, process, and communicate critical information.

Babylonians

An early civilization in Mesopotamia (Iraq) active from about $2000\text{ BC}$ to $500\text{ BC}$ that used clay cuneiform tablets, a counting board, and a two-symbol numerical system consisting of $1$ and $10$.

Rhind Papyrus

A famous Egyptian writing surface similar to paper that includes practical examples of arithmetic and geometric problems.

Pythagoras

A Greek philosopher and mathematician credited with establishing the foundation of the Pythagorean theorem.

Thales' Theorem

A theorem in Euclidean geometry stating that if $A$, $B$, and $C$ are points on a circle where line $AC$ is the circle's diameter, then angle $\angle ABC$ is a right angle.

Roman Numerals

A numeral system using letters ($I=1$, $V=5$, $X=10$, $L=50$, $C=100$, $D=500$, $M=1000$) that was difficult to compute with, often requiring an abacus.

Wilhelm Gottfried Leibniz

A German philosopher and mathematician who developed the binary number system and designed the Step Reckoner mechanical calculator.

Step Reckoner

A mechanical calculator designed by Wilhelm Gottfried Leibniz capable of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and extraction of roots.

Charles Babbage

Considered one of the grandfathers of computing, who designed the Difference Engine in $1821$ to compute polynomial, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions.

Difference Engine

A computing machine designed by Charles Babbage in $1821$ to precisely compute mathematical functions; its first working version was built in $1853$ by George and Edward Schuetz.

Ada Lovelace

An early computing pioneer considered by many to be the "first computer programmer."

George Boole

A grandfather of computing who introduced the quantities $0$ and $1$ and developed Boolean algebra as the mathematical foundation for modern computing.

Boolean Algebra

A system of symbolic logic developed by George Boole that serves as the mathematical model required for switching theory, digital circuit design, and modern computing.

Grace Brewster Murray Hopper

A computer pioneer and naval officer with a graduate degree from Yale who developed the COBOL programming language in $1959$.

COBOL

Common Business-oriented Language, developed by Grace Brewster Murray Hopper in $1959$, which became the most extensively used computer language by the $1970\text{s}$.

Katherine Johnson

A NASA mathematician and human computer who studied geometry to calculate paths for spacecraft orbiting Earth and landing on the moon.

Gladys Mae West

A mathematician who created a detailed geodetic model of the Earth and programmed the computer calculating Earth's geoid, enabling GPS development.

Cloud Computing

The delivery of readily available, on-demand, and measured computing services and data storage over the Internet.

Virtualization

A technology that simulates hardware functions by creating multiple virtual machines on a physical server, converting physical devices into logical files or folders.

Internet of Things (IoT)

A network of physical objects that automatically share data over the Internet using technologies like RFID, sensors, and embedded systems.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

A key IoT technology utilizing electronic tags and smart cards to automatically identify and track objects.

Embedded Systems

Integrated hardware and software systems designed to provide specific functions, found in devices such as ATMs, digital cameras, and calculators.

Big Data

Massive and complex datasets characterized by high volume, high variety of data types, and high velocity.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Technology enabling machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs, and perform human-like activities.

Fog Computing

An expansion of cloud computing proposed by Cisco where data and application sets are stored in edge devices and servers are placed near end-users.

Edge Computing

Decentralized and distributed cloud computing where infrastructure is located close to data sources to analyze raw data locally.

Sophia the Robot

A physical computerized robot created by Hanson Robotics, first activated in February $2016$, recognized for human-like communication and expression abilities.