Cis Assignment 2
1. This first programmable device was devised in 1805. Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented the first truly programmable device to drive looms with instructions provided by punch cards. The punches control where the metal rods go through to produce certain patterns. "Video – Part 3” 2. During World War II, the British government developed one of the first working computers.
a. The Colossus was the name of this computer used to decode Nazi communications during the war. "Page 22"
b. Colossus computers did not influence the design of later computer models because they were put of the highest secrecy and remained for many years after the War. And for not being widely known it had little direct influence on the development of later computers. "Page 22" 3. Two problems associated with vacuum tubes are that they are very power consuming devices and the size of the vacuum tubes. "Video - Part 3" 4. Transistors were better than the vacuum tube because they were smaller, faster, more reliable, and cheaper to mass produce. But the problem with transistors was they still have to be hand-wired which limits how small transistors could become since a person had to physically connect them. "Page 153-154" 5. The Altair 8800 was the first microcomputer available to the general population via a build-it-yourself kit. A very famous Harvard dropout and his (almost equally) famous roommate designed a BASIC interpreter for this machine.
5a. The microchip used in this machine was the Intel 8080 Microchip. "Page 27"
5b. The roommates who designed BASIC for the Altair 8800 was Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_BASIC"
6. Grace Murray Hopper was the scientist who discovered the first computer bug.The machine was experiencing problems and when they investigated it showed there was a moth trapped between points of Relay #70, in panel F. "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper"
7. Steve Jobs got the idea for the graphical user interface
a. The Colossus was the name of this computer used to decode Nazi communications during the war. "Page 22"
b. Colossus computers did not influence the design of later computer models because they were put of the highest secrecy and remained for many years after the War. And for not being widely known it had little direct influence on the development of later computers. "Page 22" 3. Two problems associated with vacuum tubes are that they are very power consuming devices and the size of the vacuum tubes. "Video - Part 3" 4. Transistors were better than the vacuum tube because they were smaller, faster, more reliable, and cheaper to mass produce. But the problem with transistors was they still have to be hand-wired which limits how small transistors could become since a person had to physically connect them. "Page 153-154" 5. The Altair 8800 was the first microcomputer available to the general population via a build-it-yourself kit. A very famous Harvard dropout and his (almost equally) famous roommate designed a BASIC interpreter for this machine.
5a. The microchip used in this machine was the Intel 8080 Microchip. "Page 27"
5b. The roommates who designed BASIC for the Altair 8800 was Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_BASIC"
6. Grace Murray Hopper was the scientist who discovered the first computer bug.The machine was experiencing problems and when they investigated it showed there was a moth trapped between points of Relay #70, in panel F. "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper"
7. Steve Jobs got the idea for the graphical user interface