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Computer History
This category includes questions and answers about the history of the computer. Ask questions about the first computer and major developments in computing.
5,564 Questions
When was the first computer game Spacewar created and run on what kind of computer?
In 1961, MITstudents Martin Graetz, Steve_Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen created the game http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Spacewar!
Computer, by definition, is a device capable of storing, retrieving and processing data. Therefore, it encompass beyond electronic devices. Take for example: our brain is a super massive computer. However, if you are refering to electronic devices, the first computer was owned and designed by Dr Tommy Flowers. The computer was called "Colossus".
How was the generation of computer classified?
by technology through the first 3 generations, after that there is some disagreement.
What contribution did Ada Bryon make to computing?
Writing the first program codes. However as the machine they were for, Babbage's Analytical Engine, was never built she never got to run them.
The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom which was invented in1801 by Joseph Marie Jacquard. The loom is controlled by cards with punched holes, and creates complex woven textile patterns such as brocade, damask, etc. It was the first machine to use punched cards to control a series of operations and the operator could change the pattern of the weave by changing to different cards. Each hole location on a card corresponds to a hook which can either be raised or lowered depending on whether the hole is punched out left solid. The hook raises or lowers a thread harness, which carries and guides the warp thread so that the weft will either lie above or below it, the sequence of raised and lowered threads creating the pattern. Modern jacquard looms are controlled by computers instead of punched cards, and may have thousands of hooks.
- There are many types of computer systems; however, the top ten (10) are PC (i.e. computers that operate Windows or Mac), desktops (not built for portability), laptops (built for portability), netbooks (smaller and cheaper than laptops), PDAs (small, handheld storage device), a workstation (a more powerful desktop computer), a server (a computer optimized to handle other connections over a network), a mainframe (a large computer used to handle millions or more transactions a day), a supercomputer (multiple computers working in a parallel mainframe to act as one computer), and, finally, a wearable computer (e.g. watches, phones, visors, etc.)
Depends on if you are talking about operating systems versus computer systems. Operating Systems are generalized as Software. Computer Systems are generalized as Hardware. I understand that there are nine types of Computer Systems. 1) Handheld Single User 2) Portable Single User 3) Thin Client Single User 4) Desktop Single User 5) Workstation Single User 6) Embedded Dedicated Task 7) Server - Multi User 8) Mainframe 9) Super Computer
What are three different types of computer related crime?
- Computer Crime, or "Cybercrime" refers to a type of crime in which a computer or a computer network generally played a vital role in the commission of the crime. Cyber-criminals can use the computer to attack other people or computers, or they can simply keep illegal content on their computers. There are many categories of computer-crime, but three categories serve as the bulk of computer crimes that are committed.
- Spamming
- The sending of bulk Emails to a countless number of computers is known as "Spamming" and is considered illegal, depending on the country where the spanning originates from. Because spamming can be perfectly legal depending on the country, spammers are difficult to prosecute.
- Fraud
- Computer Fraud has many forms, including altering computer input and output, altering or deleting stored data, and altering or misusing system tools and software packages for fraudulent purposes. Additionally, computers can be misused to perform various other types of fraud, such as bank fraud or theft (of information).
- Obscene/Offensive Content
- Any illegal content that is stored on a computer is also considered a computer crime. While the kind of content considered "illegal" will vary from country to country,child pornography is considered illegal worldwide, and makes up the majority of this category of computer crime. Many task forces have been created across the country to deal with this specific violation.
What were the two main problems caused by using the valves on the Colossus computer?
Probably rate of burnout and heat. But this was common to all vacuum tube computers, not just Colossus.
What is the name of the first computer built in 1832?
None of Charles Babbage's computers were built. He invented & designed them but failed to build them. You are probably thinking of the Analytical Engine, but as I said it was never built.
What are the different generations of computer networks?
* First Generation (1940-1956) - VACUUM TUBES * Second Generation (1956-1963) - TRANSISTORS * Third Generation (1964-1971) - INTEGRATED CIRCUITS * Fourth Generation (1971-Present) - MICROPROCESSORS
What was the size of the UNIVAC computer?
There have been many UNIVAC computers over the years, from the UNIVAC I to the Sperry UNIVAC 1100 series machines and beyond. Can you be more specific?
The first web browser was called?
Mosaic was first, then Netscape (made by the team that made Mosaic), followed by Internet Explorer (Microsoft), then Opera. After that came Safari for the Mac, and most recently, Chrome (by Google).
Safari is the only one I have not used, since it is for the Mac, but from the rest, Opera is the one I find the easiest to use by far.
The 2nd class lever reduces the mass of an object, thus it reduces the amount of effort required to lift it.
Eg: A wheelbarrow is a 2nd class lever, you are able to move a heavy object with it that you otherwise wouldn't be able to move by yourself.
What is the role of computer in the world?
One of the uses of a computer regards automation of processes. Other computer uses include communication, entertainment, and educational purposes.
Who first discovered that computers need a CPU?
The computer was invented, not discovered. Discovery implies that it already existed before we became aware of it.
There is no single inventor of the computer, various people invented various calculating machines at various times until the equivalent of a "critical mass" was achieved and all the right pieces started coming together.
Also the answer to your question depends on your definition of "computer".
As of 2014, the ENIAC is in different pieces and those pieces are at different locations. For example, some pieces are at the Smithsonian Institution, and some are at the Science Museum in London.
When was the first IMB Home Computer invented?
The IBM 701 vacuum tube computer was announced May 21, 1952. It had 2K words 36 bits long (~9K bytes) of Williams Tube CRT DRAM.
When was the 8 bit CPU invented?
Hard to say.
- The Colossus (1944) built to break German High Command teletype cyphers processed 8 bits of the code stream at a time. But only 5 of the 8 were encrypted character data.
- Many 1950s business computers operated on characters instead of words, but these were usually 6 bit characters not 8 bit characters.
- The IBM 7030 Stretch (1961) defined a byte a a variable length of 1 to 8 bits.
- The IBM System 360 (1964) defined a byte as 8 bits. The 360 was also the first computer to address memory at the byte/character level, regardless of the size or type of data being accessed. The 360/20 and 360/30 implementations used microcoded 8 bit processors to interpret the System 360 instruction set, but other versions of the 360 used processors with larger word size (both microcoded and hardwired logic implementations).
- During the minicomputer era CPUs were frequently either 12 bit (e.g. DEC PDP-8) or 16 bit (e.g. DEC PDP-11, Data General Nova) but there may have been some 8 bit CPUs in this period.
- Intel's 8008 (1972) was the first 8 bit microprocessor CPU.
What was Bill Gates early vision of computing?
Bill Gates early vision of computing was that there would be a computer on every desk and in every home. He also felt that computers should not be only for scientists and the like, but that they could be useful to anyone and everyone.
Why is it that Data Processing is the most important function of the computer?
That's what computers were designed to do...process data...make our live simpler.
Computers are used for many purposes in homes. They can be used to store family recipes, family photos, or to help keep track of the budget.
What were the first calculating machines?
Possibly the abacus, a board with wood rods, and wood beads on the rods. It is thousands of years old.
The first electronic computer, I think, was Univac. It used vacuum tubes instead of solid state devices to do its computing.
Where were the 4 original Arpanet computers located?
The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) initially connected four computer network nodes. These initial computers were located at the University of California, Los Angeles; the Stanford Research Institute; U.C. Santa Barbara; and the University of Utah.
When did Tommy Flowers invent Colossus the world's first electronic digital programmable computer?
He did not entirely invent the Colossus computer. Bletchley Park had already produced a counting machine dubbed "Heath Robinson" (British equivalent of the American "Rube Goldberg Machine"), but it was highly unreliable due to the need to synchronize two paper tapes at high speeds. The key improvement to the existing "Heath Robinson" design that Tommy Flowers made was to replace the "encryption key" tape with high speed electronics that could be programmed to generate the key in real time as the "encrypted message" tape was being read. That completely eliminated the problems with synchronizing of paper tapes. But the logical principals used to break the cipher were identical in both the "Heath Robinson" and the Colossus.
Once initial problems with the prototype Colossus Mark I had been resolved and it was reliably working on messages at 5000 characters per second Tommy Flowers added a five level deep pipeline, providing parallel processing in the finished Colossus Mark II permitting it to work on messages at 25000 characters per second.
