2.2 - Introduction to Computers

Information that a user physically enters into a computer by pressing a key on a keyboard, clicking a mouse, tapping a touch screen, pushing a button on a game controller, speaking into a microphone, etc.

• Input

• Processing

• Output

• Storage

The operations performed by a computer to retrieve, transform, or classify information.

• Processing

• Output

• Storage

• Transistor

Information that a computer returns to a user such as images on a screen, sounds from speakers, and printed pages.

• Output

• Storage

• Microchip

• Input

The saving of information on memory chips, discs, or other storage media by a computer for later use.

• Processing

• Storage

• Smartphone

• Supercomputers

An early computing machine that used punched cards and metal pins. It was used to compile the 1890 US census.

• World Wide Web

• Smartphone

• Supercomputers

• Hollerith's Tabulating Machine

A smaller, faster, cheaper, and more durable electronic device that replaced mechanical relays, which were slow and tended to wear down over time.

• Transistor

• Microchip

• Input

• Output

An electronic device that allowed entire computers to be built into a single board, replacing modules for each part of the computer. Microchips paved the way for personal computer ownership.

• Transistor

• Microchip

• World Wide Web

• Smartphone

A system for making digital resources publicly available over the internet using a web browser that paved the way for email, chatrooms, and social media sites

• World Wide Web

• Supercomputers

• Dark Web

• Human-computer Interaction

A mobile phone that functions as a computer and allows users to access the internet.

• Processing

• Output

• Smartphone

• Supercomputers

The fastest, most powerful computers that exist at a given time. These computers have processing capabilities designed to solve problems that are too complex for regular computers.

• Smartphone

• Supercomputers

• Human-computer Interaction

• Transistor