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About This Quiz
Computers are so much a part of our daily lives that it's sometimes hard to believe that only 60 years ago, they were rare, massive machines that required 10 men to run. How much do you know about the history of computing?
George Stibitz invented a machine called the CNC and performed the first remote-access computing demonstration on it in 1940. What does CNC stand for?
common number computer
complex number calculator
CNC stands for "complex number calculator." Stibitz designed it for Bell Telephone Laboratories.
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In 1943, computer engineers at MIT embarked on an eight-year project to design a flight simulator for the U.S. Navy. What was the project called?
Soaring Eagle
Whirlwind
Project Whirlwind was completed in 1951, but the Navy never really used the simulator -- the Air Force ended up taking it over.
Flying Aces
Tornado
Storm King
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The Whirlwind debuted on this TV show hosted by Edward R. Murrow.
Nova
See it Now
Murrow interviewed developer Jay Forrester on 'See It Now' in 1951. The computer screen read 'Hello Mr. Murrow.'
That's Incredible!
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How much floor space did the ENIAC computer, unveiled in 1946, take up?
500 square feet
1,000 square feet
The ENIAC was 1,000 times faster than its competitors and covered 1,000 square feet.
5,000 square feet
10,000 square feet
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What was the first commercially produced computer?
Zuse Z3
ERA 1101
The U.S. Navy was the first customer for the ERA 1101, which was introduced in 1950.
ENIAC
Harvard Mark I
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This computer, which was used at the U.S. Census Bureau, was the first well-known commercial computer.
UNIVAC I
The UNIVAC I, manufactured by Remington Rand in the early '50s, cost about $1 million a pop.
Sinclair VX80
American Supercomputer
FORTRAN II
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CBS News used a UNIVAC computer on Nov. 4, 1952, to predict the outcome of this presidential race.
Franklin D. Roosevelt v. Wendell Willkie
Dwight D. Eisenhower v. Adlai Stevenson
Opinion polls had Stevenson winning in a landslide, but the UNIVAC correctly predicted an Eisenhower victory in 1952.
Harry S. Truman v. Thomas E. Dewey
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Which of the games below made its debut first?
Galaga
SpaceWar!
A group of MIT students developed SpaceWar! for the DEC PDP-1 computer in the early 1960s.
Pong
Paperboy
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Two professors at this college developed the BASIC programming language in 1964.
Stanford
Iowa State
MIT
Dartmouth
Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny worked at Dartmouth.
Harvard
Northwestern
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In what year was the first e-mail sent?
1965
1971
In 1971, programmer Ray Tomlinson sent out the first test e-mail over ARPANET. He claims it was 'something like 'QWERTYUIOP.'
1982
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Who designed the Apple I?
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs
Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak was the primary designer on the Apple I, which debuted to much fanfare in 1976.
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What video game did the Apple II come with?
Zork
Pitfall
Space Invaders
Pac-man
Donkey Kong
Breakout
Wozniak had designed Breakout for Atari, so he adapted it for the Apple II.
Pong
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What was the first portable computer?
Irving II
Sanders I
Parker II
Osborne I
The Osborne I, released in 1981, weighed 24 pounds and sold for $1,795. It had a 5-inch screen.
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What's the best-selling computer model of all time?
Apple I
Apple II
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 was in production from 1982 to 1993 -- according to CNN.com, more than 17 million units were sold.
Apple Macintosh
Radio Shack TRS-80
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This computer language, which controlled a mechanical 'turtle,' was developed for children.
Linux
LOGO
LOGO was originally a drawing program designed for kids.
Java
Pascal
C++
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Microsoft distributed 450,000 disks of this new product in the November 1983 issue of 'PC World' magazine.
PowerPoint
Excel
Word
Microsoft really went all-out with its marketing of Word in 1983.
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What was the first computer with graphical user interface?
Commodore PET
Amstrad CPC 464
Apple Lisa
The Apple Lisa, introduced in 1983, had a hefty price tag ($10,000) and was ultimately a big dud.
Tandy Color Computer 3
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Who designed the Linux operating system?
Liam Nuxhall
Linus Stromberg
Linus Torvalds
Finnish student Linus Torvalds released the open-source Linux system to some Usenet news groups in 1991.
Lionel Robards
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This groundbreaking ultraviolent computer game was released in 1993.
Doom
Doom, with its innovative 3-D graphics and first-person shooting, helped spawn an enormous gaming subculture.
Halo
Counter-Strike
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What was the original name of Yahoo when the company was founded in 1994?
All You Need to Know about the Web
Find it Now!
Search This
Hello!
Jerry'sGuide to the World Wide Web
Founders Jerry Yang and David Filo called it 'Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web.' Not so catchy.
Go Get It
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You Got:
/20
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