Evolution of Computing and Computer Architecture

Fill-in-the-blank practice cards covering the history, pioneers, key technological milestones, and architecture of computers.

In 1801, French weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard automated the weaving loom by feeding it a series of __________ to instruct the woven pattern design.

cards

On a 1970s IBM punched card, each specific character in a line of code corresponds to a unique series of square holes in a particular __________.

column

Charles Babbage designed the Difference Engine in 1820 as a calculator that could only perform __________.

addition

The Babbage Analytical Engine, conceptualized in 1837 as a general programmable computing machine, belongs to a class of mechanical computing devices known as __________ Computers.

Analogue

In 1842, __________ wrote code for the Analytical Engine and collaborated with Babbage, becoming the world's first programmer.

Lady Lovelace (Ada Augusta Byron, Countess of Lovelace)

Published on January 1, 1843, Ada Lovelace's Note G presented a diagram for the computation of __________ numbers by the Analytical Engine.

Bernoulli

In the Babbage Computing Model, the component responsible for performing simple mathematical operations is known as the __________.

Mill (CPU)

In 1854, English Mathematics Professor George Boole published 'An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on Which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of __________'.

Logic and Probabilities

The fundamental electronic computing components of modern digital computers perform Boolean operations implemented by electronic circuits called __________.

Gates

George Boole's concept of processing binary logic was resurrected in 1937 by engineer __________ in light of advances in electronics.

Claude Shannon

Electromechanical tabulating machines designed for the 1890 U.S. Census were manufactured by the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation, which later became __________.

IBM

The first operational computer in May 1941, Zuse Z3 (Germany), was program-controlled by __________.

punched film stock

The Harvard Mark I – IBM ASCC (1944) was program-controlled by 24-channel punched paper tape, but lacked a __________ branch.

conditional

The ENIAC computer consumed $160\,kW$ of electrical power, weighed $30\text{ tons}$, and contained __________ vacuum tubes.

$$17,468$$

In one second of operation, the ENIAC could perform $5,000$ additions, $357$ multiplications, or __________ divisions.

$$38$$

John von Neumann designed the IAS computer at Princeton, introducing the concept of the __________, where both data and programs are stored identically in memory.

Stored Program

The processing speed constraint caused by storing instructions and data in the same memory is known as the __________ bottleneck.

von Neumann

The Nazi Enigma machine used for encrypted military communication had $10^{20}$ code combinations, representing __________ combinations for the encryption key.

$$150\text{ million, million, million}$$

Alan Turing and his team designed the __________ machine at Bletchley Park to crack the Nazi Enigma code.

Bombe

The Manchester Mark 1 (1949) computer weighed $3\text{ tonnes}$, consumed $10\,kW$ of power, and had a memory capacity of __________.

$$5\,K\text{ bytes}$$

A major operational disadvantage of vacuum tubes was that they were prone to failure after just several __________ hours of operation.

$$100$$

Microchip transistors feature energy consumption of less than __________ and a size of $3 \times 10^{-9}\,m$ in length.

$$3 \times 10^{-9}\,W$$

The transistor was invented at Bell Laboratories in 1947 by Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley at the instigation of director __________.

Mervin Kelly

In digital computers, transistors are used as __________ (On/Off devices) to build basic logic gates.

switches

The first commercially successful transistor was produced in 1954 by __________.

Texas Instruments

In 1958, the first Integrated Circuit (IC) was produced by __________ at Texas Instruments.

Jack Kilby