This document provides definitions for key terms related to the evolution of computers and the digital age. It explains the progression from the agricultural age to the industrial age to the current information age, where most people work with digital information. Important developments that enabled the information age include the integrated circuit, which put many transistors on a single silicon chip, and the Internet, which transformed how the world uses computers by allowing them to communicate globally.
This document provides definitions for key terms related to the evolution of computers and the digital age. It explains the progression from the agricultural age to the industrial age to the current information age, where most people work with digital information. Important developments that enabled the information age include the integrated circuit, which put many transistors on a single silicon chip, and the Internet, which transformed how the world uses computers by allowing them to communicate globally.
Objectives: 1. Evolution of Computers 2. Types of Computers
1. Agricultural agethe time when people lived and
worked on farms, exchanging goods and services in nearby towns. 2. Application program (application)Software that enables a computer to be used for a specific purpose. 3. Desktop computera personal computer designed to be set up on a desk or table and used in a single place for extended periods of time. 4. Digitally native a term recently given to the new generation raised among this pervasive technology environment 5. IT - the application of computing devices to create, store, manipulate and exchange data. 6. Embedded systema special purpose systems dedicated to perform specific tasks. 7. Firmwarea hybrid of hardware and software. 9. Industrial agethe time when the majority of people worked in factories with large machinery. 10. Industrial RevolutionAdvances in machine technology triggered a change in the focus of daily lives. 11. Information agethe time when most people earn their living working with words, numbers, and ideas. 12. Integrated circuit a small silicon chip containing hundreds of transistors and other electronics. 13. Internetthe global network that radically transformed the way the world uses computers. 14. Laptop computer a lightweight computer that is portable. 15. Microprocessora single silicon chip containing all of a computers computational components. 16. Moores lawa prediction by Gordon Moore that the power of a silicon chip would double every 2 years but the cost would remain the same. 17. Networkcomputers that are able to communicate with a central server for processing. 18. Notebook computera lightweight computer that is portable. 19. Peripheralsexternal devices, such as a keyboard or monitor, connected via cables to the system central processing unit. 20. Personal computer (PC)Desktop, laptop, or workstations designed to be used by one person at a time as a tool for enhancing productivity, creativity, or communication. 21. Serverthe brains of a network; the location where processing occurs in a networked environment. It also provides services to other PCs over the network.
3. Internet and Information Technology
4. The Information Age
22. Silicon chipa storage place for many tiny
transistors that are used in an integrated chip. 23. Supercomputerthe fastest, most powerful computer in use today. 24. Transistora device used in early computers to transfer electricity across a tiny transistor. 25. Workstationa high-end desktop computer with massive computing power. 34. World Wide Web (Web)A portion of the Internet that is available to all users.