Testout 1.1 The Information Age

Byte

Formed by eight bits together. The value of a single byte can range from 0 (eight 0s) to 255 (eight 1s). Because a single byte can't store much information, we usually talk about them in groups.

1977 - The Personal Computer Revolution

In 1977, three successful personal computers were released to the public: The Apple II, the TRS-80 Model 1, and the Commodore Pet 2001. These three computers became known as the "1977 trinity." 1977 also saw the release of the Atari 2600, the first popular home video game console. For the first time, computers were marketed to the general public, rather than just businesses and hobbyists. Four years later, IBM followed up with the IBM PC, giving birth to the PC/Apple rivalry that still exists today.

Personal Responsibility

reinforces your adherence to your values and principles

Human Dignity

respecting the privacy and dignity of other human beings

Principles

the fundamental truths or rules that support your personal values

Run Length Encoding

A compression algorithm that represents an image in terms of the length of runs of identical pixels

1890 - Hollerith's Tabulating Machine

At the end of the 19th century, the population of the United States was rapidly growing. Because there were so many people, the 1880 census took seven years to compile, and it was predicted that the 1890 census would take nearly twice as long. To solve this problem, the government hired Herman Hollerith to devise a solution. Hollerith created an electromechanical tabulating machine to process the census data. It worked by punching data into paper cards, then inserting them into the machine. Inside the machine, small metal pins would pass through the holes into a vial of mercury, completing an electrical circuit. This in turn powered an electric motor, which turned the appropriate gear in the machine to keep track of the count. Using this machine, the entire census was compiled in two and a half years.

1944 - Harvard Mark 1

Completed Working together, engineers from Harvard University and IBM created the Harvard Mark 1, which at the time was the most powerful computing machine ever built. It was fifty feet long, weighed five tons, and was built from about 750,000 individual mechanical parts. The Mark 1 was used by the Allies during World War II, and assisted in creating simulations for the Manhattan Project. It could perform three additions or subtractions every second, and one multiplication every six seconds.

1947 - First Transistor Developed

Early computers sent signals via mechanical relays. Relays were metal switches that would physically move to make and break electrical circuits, representing 1s and 0s. Because the parts had to physically move, they were slow and tended to wear down over time. In 1947, scientists at Bell Laboratories invented the transistor. Transistors contain silicon, a semiconductor that can be made to sometimes conduct electricity and sometimes not. Because they didn't have any moving parts, silicon transistors were smaller, faster, cheaper, and more durable than mechanical relays.

Compression Artifact

Noticeable distortion of images, audio, or video due to problems decompressing the media.

1994 - The World Wide Web

Personal computer ownership began to skyrocket in the mid-nineties with the advent and rise of the World Wide Web, which began in 1991. In 1994, the web became public, and the world got a lot smaller. With new technology like email and chatrooms, computers became a viable way of communicating with other people, and thus became more popular. In the early 2000s, social media sites like MySpace and Facebook were launched.

Bit

The smallest unit of digital information. Each individual one and zero in a binary sequence is a bit.

2007 - Smart Phones

Through the mid 2000s, Internet access was mostly limited to computers and laptops. Then, in 2007, Apple unveiled the iPhone, the world's first smartphone. Now, people could access the Internet anywhere. Smartphones are now extremely common in the developed world, almost completely replacing other kinds of personal telephones.

1959 - Invention of the Microchip

Throughout the 1950s, computers were large and expensive. Most computers were owned by governments, universities, and businesses - they had no place in the typical home. Then, in 1959, researchers at Texas Industries deveoped an integrated circuit, or microchip. This new technology allowed an entire computer to be built into a single board, rather than needing large modules for each part of the computer. Microchips paved the way for personal computer ownership.

Lossy Compression

a process of reducing a file's size by altering and/or eliminating some pixels

code of ethics

a set of rules or standards you adopt that dictate how you act

Lossless Compression

allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data

Vector Images

digital pictures

Software

encompasses all of the programs running on the system to perform specific computing tasks. Several different types of software must be present on a computer for it to work properly, including the operating system (such as Microsoft Windows) and applications (such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Chrome).

Raster Images

images created using thousands of pixels which cannot be easily resized without diminished quality.

Computer Tower

includes the physical components of the system that store and process data, including the power supply, processor and memory chips, and internal storage devices such as the hard drive. Input and and output devices are connected to the computer tower through cables and connectors.

Legal Compliance

involves obeying laws that regulate how computers are used

Monitor

is a device that is used to display visual output from the computer tower. It requires a separate power source and is connected to the tower by a cable.

Keyboard

is covered with buttons called keys that you can use to type text and send commands to the computer through a USB cable.

Resolution

measure of how many pixels wide and tall each frame of a digital video is.

Color Depth

measure of how much memory the computer uses to display colors.

Mouse

moves the onscreen cursor and lets you interact with elements displayed on the monitor screen. The mouse communicates with the computer tower either through wireless signals or through a USB cable.

Civility

observing rules of "netiquette" that promote online civility

Ethics

personal behaviors that build responsibility and trust

Speakers

play audio output from the computer. Headphones are actually small speakers.

Confidentiality

protecting confidential data and information

Values

provide the basis for your code of ethics

RGB Display

refers to a system for representing the colors to be used on a computer display.

Property Rights

refusing to violate the intellectual property rights of others