The History of Computing

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. Before the development of mainframe computers, data processing was done with cards. They were sorted, merged, and run through tabulating machines to create reports. What was a person called who worked in this field? Card Processor Tab Operator Data Input Clerk Programmer

2. Punch cards were commonly called IBM cards, except by employees of Univac. They were invented by Herman Hollerith and measured 7 3/8" by 3 1/4". Why was this size chosen? The paper he had could be cut evenly into 3 cards. 1000 cards occupied one square foot. It was the standard size of banknotes. They would fit into his file cabinets.

3. Each punch card had 80 columns and each column contained one or more punches to represent letters, numbers, and special characters. Many companies continued to use round holes after IBM developed the rectangular hole since IBM held the patent. True False

4. In the early 1960s the IBM 1620 was introduced and used in many colleges. I was able to play with the one at UCLA. It was unique for the following reason. It had to be programmed in machine language. It could only add and subtract by using a table The only input and output was a punched tape. The only controls were push buttons and dials.

5. If you saw the statement "add pay to total" what computer language would you be looking at? Pascal Basic Cobol Assembler

6. A high level language could usually be run on any computer while a low level was designed for a specific computer. Which of the following is a low level language? Assembly Cobol Fortran Algol

7. The Tabulating Machine Company became which of the following companies? Univac Xerox Data General IBM

8. The IBM 360-67 was a virtual computer. What did that mean it was capable of doing? All of these Users phone in to be connected to the computer. It could run its own operating system as a separate virtual computer. It could be time shared as multiple computers.

9. A computer tape needed a ring to be inserted into its reel in order to use it. True False

10. You are looking at a cobol program and see "pic x(10)". What does that mean? It is describing the format of a field as 10 alphanumeric characters. The value of pic is being raised to the 10th power. A 10 pixel picture is to be inserted at this point. The programmer made a mistake as this is not valid code.