1. Who was Charles Babbage and what was his contribution to computer technology? What did he invent and what was it designed to do? How did the Countess of Lovelace help Charles Babbage and what was her full name? Were there any other machines used before Charles Babbage's invention? Describe some and discuss what they did?
Charles Babbage was the designer of the first mechanical calculating machine. This was the ancestor of the computer. His machine had the four components of input, storage, processing, and output. Ada Byron King (the countess of Lovelace) helped Babbage by being his programmer for his machine. She is considered the mother of computer programming. There were a few machines before Babbage�s Analytical Engine. There was the Abacus, mechanical calculators that could multiply and add, but not subtract (invented in the 1600s), and in 1820, Charles Xavier Thomas de Coleman invented the arithometer that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
2. Define and list 3 examples of the term, input.
The data that is entered into a computer. The act of entering data into a computer. Three examples of input are the keyboard, microphone, and scanner.
3. Define and list 3 examples of the term, output.
The computer generated information that is displayed to the user in some discernible form such as a screen display, printed page, or sound. Three examples of output are the monitor, the speakers, and the printer.
4. Define and list 3 examples of the term, storage.
In computing, any device in which (or on which) information is stored. Three examples of storage are the CD ROM drive, the floppy drive, and the hard drive.
5. Define and list 3 examples of the term, processing.
The manipulation of data by a microprocessor or embedded processor according to instructions given to it by a program or embedded in the chip itself. Three examples of processing are the microprocessor, the embedded processor, and computer chips.
6. Describe information processing as it relates to input in a computer.
Capturing, storing, updating and retrieving data and information. A computer is an information-processing machine. Information processing relates with input in a computer because they both deal with putting information like numbers, letters, words, pictures, music, etc. in.
7. List and describe the 3 kinds of storage used by a computer.
Three kinds of storage used by a computer are Random Access Memory: The memory that is available on a computer for storing data and programs currently being processed. It is automatically erased when the power is turned off. Read Only Memory: Stored permanent systems instructions, which are never changed; it holds its contents even when the power is turned off. Hard Drive: The main device that a computer uses to store information.
8. How do microprocessors differ from other chips? How do they work?
The microprocessor is the main processing unit of a computer or information processing device; the "brains" of the machine carrying out instructions, performing calculations, and interacting with the components used to operate the computer. They differ from other chips because other chips are embedded processors. Embedded processors are designed with a specific set of instructions. Microprocessors are more versatile. You can go from word processing to playing a computer game using the microprocessor.
9. How does software and a microprocessor work together when a computer outputs information?
Software has the programs and data that make computer hardware function. Together with the microprocessor respond and put the information we request on the monitor or out the printer.
10. Which is "smarter," a human brain or a computer?
It depends on how you define smart. Computers have better memory and can work much faster than a human brain, but a human can come up with original ideas and can make decisions that a computer cannot. Personally, I think that humans are smarter because we were the ones that invented technology to help us work faster and be more productive.
