Crash Course Computer Science #22 - Keyboards & CLIs

What is this episode about?

• input and output devices

• human-computer interactions

• graphics

• cybersecurity

Early computers used mechanical controls for inputs and outputs, like...

• gears

• knobs

• switches

• screens

By the ​ (a)   , mechanical inputs were rendered ​ (b)   by programs and data stored entirely on mediums like punch cards and ​ (c)   .

• 1950s
• obsolete
• magnetic tape

This era of computer ​ (a)   was meant to be simple for ​ (b)   . Human ​ (c)   were a secondary concern.

• computers
• users
• input
• output

Early computers (pre-1950s)...

• did not interact with humans

• only required users to supply initial programs and input before operating on its own

• were too simple to use

• were too complicated to run independently

As computers got smaller, cheaper, and faster, they needed a way for humans to interact more. This lead the way to...

• keyboards

• screens

• flashing lights

• printers

Christopher Sholes invented the modern typewriter in 1868. It used

• an unusual keyboard layout, called QWERTY

• an alphabetically arranged key setup

• interchangeable keys for custom layouts

• ink-less printing, way ahead of its time

This is what ​ (a)   would call a switching ​ (b)   or switching cost. And it's for this very basic human reason that we still use ​ (c)   keyboards almost a century and a half later!

• economists
• barrier
• QWERTY
• programmers
• explaination

Sholes didn't think that typing would be faster than handwriting. Instead, typewriters were used mainly for

• legibility

• convenience

• standardization

• cost

Which two people helped pave the way for standardize 10-finger typing, like we use today?

• Elizabeth Longley

• Frank Edward McGurrin

• Stanley John Watson

• Henrietta Smith