Unit One Beginnings

Everyone agrees that the computer is one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century. However, no one can agree on who made the first computer. The first computers really were just big counting machines. In fact, that's one thing they have in common with today's computers. Even the fastest computer today is really just a very, very fast counting machine.

In 1943, Howard H. Aiken and a team at Harvard University built a machine that many people call the first computer. The "ASCC Mark I" was 17 meters long and weighed 4,545 kg. It read its programs from punched paper tape or punched cards. Some people don't think of it as the first computer because it used some mechanical parts to do its counting.

The "ENIAC" was a machine much like the Mark I, but it was completely electronic. ENIAC stands for "Electronic Numerator, Integrator, Analyzer, and Computer." It was built by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert in 1945 at the University of Pennsylvania. The ENIAC weighed 27,273 kilograms and covered 111 square meters. It was 1000 times faster than the Mark I.

Even though computers today are still basically counting machines, they are different in almost every way. A modern portable computer can weigh as little as two or three kilograms. Tasks that might have taken ENIAC hours to complete can be done in less than a second.

Questions

1. Everyone thinks of the ENIAC as the first computer.
   select answer true false
   
   
   The ENIAC weighed more than the Mark 1.
   select answer true false
   

   Mauchly and Aiken built the ENIAC.
   select answer true false
   

   The Mark 1 was only slightly faster than the ENIAC
   select answer true false
   

   Why don't some people consider the Mark 1 a computer?
   select answer It was too slow. It had no monitor. It used some mechanical parts. It couldn't count.
   

   What do the early computers and those of today have in common?
   select answer They are big machines. They are counting machines. They take up a lot of space. They are very fast.
   

   Which of the following is NOT true?
   select answer Computers are just fast counting machines. ENIAC was several thousand times faster than the Mark 1. The Mark 1 read its instructions from punched cards. Computers can weigh as little as 2 kg.
   

   Can you find the words in the story that mean almost the same thing as think alike.
   select answer agree consider programs different
   

   Can you find the words in the story that mean almost the same thing as 100%.
   select answer electronic mechanical basically completely
   

   Can you find the words in the story that mean almost the same thing as with holes.
   select answer punched mechanical electronic weighed