CS 1401 Spring 2013
Shirley Moore and Kay Roy, Instructors
January 22-31, 2013
Name ______________________________________
History of Computing
Learning Outcomes: After completing this lesson, students will be able to
 List and describe major events and people in the development of the first electronic
general-purpose computers
 List generations of computing technology, along with identifying features of each
generation
 Discuss how historical events influenced the development of computers
 Argue how the history of computing might have gone differently if different
decisions had been made
Preparation: Consider the following scenario. Imagine that you work for a capital
investment company and that your job involves matching entrepreneurial startups with
investors and customers. Suppose that you have set up a business agreement between a
startup company developing a computer system for data-intensive applications that makes
use of new memory technologies and a second company that is the first customer of the new
system. The agreement specifies the price of the system, its capabilities and performance,
and the delivery date. The startup company has recently contacted you and told you that
since the agreement was signed, they have discovered a new technological approach that
they believe will lead to a more capable and efficient system for the same price. The
problem is that they need to extend the delivery date of the product an entire year to
incorporate the new technology. Your response to their inquiry is
a. You tell them that since the agreement has already been signed, they need to
deliver the product with the original design by the specified delivery date.
b. You cancel the contract because of the startup company’s indecisiveness and look
for another startup that can satisfy the requirements.
c. You request more information so that you can evaluate the new proposal and
consider approaching the customer about the change.
d. Other (please describe):
Please explain your reasoning for choosing your answer.
Class activity:
List reasons on the board for why we study history.
Class activity:
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Watch Part 1 of The Machine That Changed the World. This documentary can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcR74y61xZk
Pre/post quiz for the documentary:
________ 1. The term computer
a. was invented in the 1940s when the first electronic computers were
developed
b. historically meant a human who performed calculations, but the
meaning changed in the 1935-1945 timeframe to mean a machine that
performed calculations
c. historically referred to calculating aids such as adding machines and
slide rules, but the meaning changed in the 1970s to refer to a
general-purpose information processing machine when the first
personal computers were developed
_________ 2. The first electronic computer, the ENIAC, which was completed at the
University of Pennsylvania in 1946, was programmed by
a. reading in a program represented on punch cards into the computer’s
memory
b. retyping the program at the control terminal every time it was to be
run
c. reading the program represented by holes in recycled movie film into
the computer’s memory
d. rewiring the computer’s connections manually which sometimes took
weeks
_________ 3. The first use of the ENIAC was to
a. compute artillery firing tables
b. run computations for the hydrogen bomb
c. crack German codes
d. calculate  to a higher number of digits than had previously been possible
_________ 4. The first computer pioneer(s) to conceive of the idea of a program stored
in the computer’s memory was (were)
a. Charles Babbage
b. Konrad Zuse
c. Eckert and Mauchly
d. John von Neumann
_________ 5. Who is (are) considered to be the first computer programmer(s)?
a. the women who programmed the ENIAC
b. Alan Turing
c. Ada Lovelace
d. Konrad Zuse
6. In what ways did World War II influence the development of digital computers?
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7. Who first conceived of the idea of using the binary number system to represent data in a
computer and why was this a good idea?
8. What do you think was Alan Turing’s greatest contribution to computer science? Please
explain your answer.
9. Give two examples of how a different decision made by people with power or authority
could have changed the history of the first digital computers.
10. Given an example of a special-purpose machine and of a general-purpose machine.
Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the two.
Follow-up (due beginning of class on January 24/28): Revisit the scenario described in the
preparation. Does your answer change after viewing the documentary? Explain why or why
not.
Homework: Graphic timeline of computer generations
The history of computers is often viewed as a sequence of generations, generally four to six
generations depending on your source of information. Your assignment is to
1) find several sources of information on computer generations
2) list and describe features and characteristics of each generation, including both hardware
and software
3) describe advances and improvements from one generation to the next
4) select a few illustrative examples of hardware, software, companies, etc. for each
generation
5) construct a graphic timeline using the material you have collected that illustrates the
computer generations
Due beginning of class on January 24/28: 1, 2, and 3 above to discuss in class
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Due before class on January 29/31: graphic timeline in electronic form (turn in on
Blackboard)
Reading assignment (due January 24/28): Read Chapter 1, sections 1.1-1.4.
1) Summarize the main points of each section. Write down any questions you have about
the section.
Section 1:
Section 2:
Section 3:
Section 4:
2) Answer the checkpoint questions at the end of each section. You do not need to write
down your answers but make sure you could answer the questions in class or on a test.
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