IT 0122: EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is the simplest definition of a computer you can come up with?
2. What defines a modern computer?
3. What was the first computer?
4. What was the biggest advance that led to modern computers?
a) Electricity
b) Transistor
c) Microchip
d) Data storage
5. Which evolved from the other, which was an entirely new creation
a) vacuum tube
b) integrated circuit
c) transistor
d) microchip
6. If you were around when third-generation computers were invented, you
would have been listening to what type of popular music?
a) Grateful Dead
b) Beatles
c) Elvis
d) Aerosmith
7. A(n) _________ calculator is a device that assists in the process of numeric
calculations, but requires a human operator to keep track of the algorithm.
8. A(n) _________ consists of beads mounted on rods within a rectangular
frame.
9. True/False: Slide rules were used through the 1960s.
10.Discuss the calculating power and costs of early calculators versus those
today.
11.Mechanical calculators were developed as early as ________.
12.What was the first mass-produced calculator?
13.True/False: The Analytical Engine was completed in 1834.
14.The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) was the first to use ________,
instead of mechanical switches for processing circuitry.
15.True/False: The ABC is often considered the first electronic digital
computer.
16.List the defining characteristics of each computer generation.
17.Transistors regulate current or voltage flow and act as a(n) _________ for
electronic signals.
18.True/False: First-generation computers can be characterized by their use of
vacuum tubes.
19.True/False: Microprocessors are a characteristic of third-generation
computers.
20.True/False: The Altair was a computer for the hobbyist.
21.The IBM PC used an operating system called _________.