CS101 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH
COMPLETE SOLUTIONS GRADED A++ LATEST UPDATE
2025/2026
Generations of computing technology
generation 0 (1642-1945, mechanical devices [gears, relays])
generation 1 (1945-1954, vacuum tubes)
generation 2 (1954-1963, transistors)
generation 3 (1963-1973, integrated circuits)
generation 4 (1973-1985, very large scale integration)
generation 5 (1985-?, parallel processing and networking)
Generation 0: Mechanical Computers
1642: Pascal built a mechanical calculating machine which used mechanical
gears, a hand crank, dials and knobs. other similar machines followed.
1805: Jacquard's loom, the first programmable device (it used punch cards,
which represented the pattern and were fed into the loom. This allowed for
the mass production of tapestries
mid 1800's: Babbages "analytical engine", its design expands on mechanical
calculators and was programmable via punch cards like Jacquard's loom. His
design was beyond the technology of his day, but he described the general
layout of modern computers
,1930's: computers built with relays. MARK I followed the basic design of
Baggage, limited capabilities by modern standards: could store only 72
numbers, required 1/10 sec to add, 6 sec to multiply but was still much
faster than previous technology
generation 0: relays
an electromagnetic relay is a switch which can be opened or closed via
electric current
they were used extensively in early telephones
Generation 1: Vacuum Tubes
-mid 1940s: vacuum tubes replaces relays.
a vacuum tube is a light bulb containing a partial vacuum to speed electron
flow. they could control the flow of electricity faster than relays since they
had no moving parts.
-1940's: hybrid computers using vacuum tubes and relays were built
-COLOSSUS 1943: first "electronic computer", built by the British govt.
(based on designs by Alan Turing) used to decode Nazi information during
the second world war
-ENIAC 1946: first publicly-acknowledged "electronic computer", built by
Eckert & Mauchly (UPenn), used vacuum tubes and relays
-COLOSSUS and ENIAC were not general purpose computers, they could only
do one kind of computation
-Von Neumann Arcitecture
Von Neumann Architecture
,-Stored-program computers
-has three parts, memory, CPU, and I/O
-memory stores both data and programs
-Central Processing Unit (CPU) executes by loading program instructions
from memory and executing them in sequence
-Input/Output devices allow for interaction with the user
-virtually all machines follow this architecture
-programming was difficult and tedious because each machine had its own
machine language, 0's & 1's corresponding to the settings of physical
components. But, this was made easier because in 1950's, assembly
languages replaced 0's & 1's with mnemonic names
Generation 2: Transistors
-mid 1950's- transistors begin to replace vacuum tubes
-prompted by the space race
-transistors were cheaper to produce than switches, so as prices dropped,
computers became commercialized
-with computer commercialization, high level languages popped up to make
programming more natural
-a computer industry and business grew (IBM in 1960's)
transistors
-a transistor is a piece of silicon whose conductivity can be turned on and off
using an electric current
-solid state, no moving parts and not easily breakable
, -they performed the same switching function of vacuum tubes, but were
smaller, faster, more reliable, and cheaper to mass produce
-some historians claim the transistor was the most important invention of the
20th century
early "calculators"
were women!
Katherine Johnson worked at NACA (and then NASA as a mathematician
doing complex calculations by hand. It was a common job in math- heavy
industries like aerospace, insurance, and the government
Generation 3: Integrated Circuits
-mid 1960's: integrated circuits (IC) were produced (a way to package
transistors and circuitry on a silicon chip.) this advance was made possible
by miniaturization & improved manufacturing and allowed for the mass
production of circuitry
-1971-Intel marketed the first microprocessor, the 4004, a chip
with all the circuitry for a calculator
-1960's saw the rise of operating systems
-as computers became affordable to small businesses, specialized
programming languages were developed (pascal and C)
integrated circuit
A group of tiny transistors and electric wires built on a silicon wafer, or chip.
A thin slice of silicon that contains many solid-state components.
operating system
COMPLETE SOLUTIONS GRADED A++ LATEST UPDATE
2025/2026
Generations of computing technology
generation 0 (1642-1945, mechanical devices [gears, relays])
generation 1 (1945-1954, vacuum tubes)
generation 2 (1954-1963, transistors)
generation 3 (1963-1973, integrated circuits)
generation 4 (1973-1985, very large scale integration)
generation 5 (1985-?, parallel processing and networking)
Generation 0: Mechanical Computers
1642: Pascal built a mechanical calculating machine which used mechanical
gears, a hand crank, dials and knobs. other similar machines followed.
1805: Jacquard's loom, the first programmable device (it used punch cards,
which represented the pattern and were fed into the loom. This allowed for
the mass production of tapestries
mid 1800's: Babbages "analytical engine", its design expands on mechanical
calculators and was programmable via punch cards like Jacquard's loom. His
design was beyond the technology of his day, but he described the general
layout of modern computers
,1930's: computers built with relays. MARK I followed the basic design of
Baggage, limited capabilities by modern standards: could store only 72
numbers, required 1/10 sec to add, 6 sec to multiply but was still much
faster than previous technology
generation 0: relays
an electromagnetic relay is a switch which can be opened or closed via
electric current
they were used extensively in early telephones
Generation 1: Vacuum Tubes
-mid 1940s: vacuum tubes replaces relays.
a vacuum tube is a light bulb containing a partial vacuum to speed electron
flow. they could control the flow of electricity faster than relays since they
had no moving parts.
-1940's: hybrid computers using vacuum tubes and relays were built
-COLOSSUS 1943: first "electronic computer", built by the British govt.
(based on designs by Alan Turing) used to decode Nazi information during
the second world war
-ENIAC 1946: first publicly-acknowledged "electronic computer", built by
Eckert & Mauchly (UPenn), used vacuum tubes and relays
-COLOSSUS and ENIAC were not general purpose computers, they could only
do one kind of computation
-Von Neumann Arcitecture
Von Neumann Architecture
,-Stored-program computers
-has three parts, memory, CPU, and I/O
-memory stores both data and programs
-Central Processing Unit (CPU) executes by loading program instructions
from memory and executing them in sequence
-Input/Output devices allow for interaction with the user
-virtually all machines follow this architecture
-programming was difficult and tedious because each machine had its own
machine language, 0's & 1's corresponding to the settings of physical
components. But, this was made easier because in 1950's, assembly
languages replaced 0's & 1's with mnemonic names
Generation 2: Transistors
-mid 1950's- transistors begin to replace vacuum tubes
-prompted by the space race
-transistors were cheaper to produce than switches, so as prices dropped,
computers became commercialized
-with computer commercialization, high level languages popped up to make
programming more natural
-a computer industry and business grew (IBM in 1960's)
transistors
-a transistor is a piece of silicon whose conductivity can be turned on and off
using an electric current
-solid state, no moving parts and not easily breakable
, -they performed the same switching function of vacuum tubes, but were
smaller, faster, more reliable, and cheaper to mass produce
-some historians claim the transistor was the most important invention of the
20th century
early "calculators"
were women!
Katherine Johnson worked at NACA (and then NASA as a mathematician
doing complex calculations by hand. It was a common job in math- heavy
industries like aerospace, insurance, and the government
Generation 3: Integrated Circuits
-mid 1960's: integrated circuits (IC) were produced (a way to package
transistors and circuitry on a silicon chip.) this advance was made possible
by miniaturization & improved manufacturing and allowed for the mass
production of circuitry
-1971-Intel marketed the first microprocessor, the 4004, a chip
with all the circuitry for a calculator
-1960's saw the rise of operating systems
-as computers became affordable to small businesses, specialized
programming languages were developed (pascal and C)
integrated circuit
A group of tiny transistors and electric wires built on a silicon wafer, or chip.
A thin slice of silicon that contains many solid-state components.
operating system
