472 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
472 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
The third Computer Bowl sponsored by The Computer Museum was held in San Jose
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at the San Jose Convention Center on April 26, 1991. The questions used are
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listed below.
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[Keep in mind these questions were posed in early 1991! Some of the answers
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may be out of date.]
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ROUND ONE QUESTIONS
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1. The last two letters in the names of many early computers were "AC", as in
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ILLIAC or ENIAC. What did the letters "AC" stand for?
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2. How many data bits are there in the S-100 bus?
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3. A computer language is named after a famous 17th century French
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mathematician. What was his first or given name?
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4. Almost 10 years ago, in October 1981, Steve Jobs appeared on the cover of
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"Inc. Magazine". In that photo, was Jobs wearing a tee shirt, a bathing suit,
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or a shirt and jacket?
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5. In the 1959 movie "Desk Set", Katherine Hepburn and her staff are worried
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they might be replaced by a computer being installed by Spencer Tracy. What
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was the name of that computer? Was it EMORAC, Calla Lilly One, or UNIVAC?
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6. In the 1950s a computer company was the sponsor of a TV quiz show. Was that
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computer company IBM, RCA, Burroughs, or Remington Rand?
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7. The quiz show was a well-known TV program at the time. Was it called "I've
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Got A Secret", "What's My Line", or "Beat The Clock"?
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8. In the mid 1970s, one of the first real personal computers was introduced.
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The computer was named after a destination visited by the space ship
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Enterprise on the program "Star Trek". What was the name of that destination,
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and that computer? Was it IMSAI, SOL, Altair 8800, or Apple Two?
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9. Who was the recipient of the first Turing Award? Was it John McCarthy,
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Donald Knuth, Edgstra Dijkstra, or Alan Perlis?
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10. What does the term "BITNET" stand for?
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11. Punch cards were initially developed in 1801 by a textile mill owner to
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automate the patterns woven into cloth by his textile loom. What was the name
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of the individual who first developed this application?
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12. There are mainly two layouts for a computer keyboard -- the QWERTY
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keyboard and the Dvorak keyboard. However, several of the letters appear in
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the same position on both keyboards. How many of the alphabetic keys appear in
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the same place on both layouts? Is it two, four, six, or eight?
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13. Can you tell me which are the two letters that are the same on both
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keyboards?
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14. The mouse has become a standard computer input device. Who invented the
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mouse?
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ROUND TWO QUESTIONS
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1. Who composed the Chinese room problem in an attempt to prove that computers
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can't think?
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2. Some computer scientists are a bit odd -- one famous computer pioneer had a
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hatred for street musicians. Was this Pascal, Leibnitz, or Babbage?
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3. "High Sierra" is the name of a CD-ROM standard. What is the origin of that
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name? Was it named after the chief designer's dog, a communications code word,
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or a hotel?
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4. What was the first machine with an Ethernet interface?
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5. There is a computer company whos name is AST Research. The name of the
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company came from the first initials of each of its three founders. Can you
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give me their names?
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6. It's almost a cliche that many Silicon Valley companies started out in a
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garage. Of the following companies, which one did not start in a garage --
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Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Televideo, or Sun?
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7. One company that did start in a garage was Hewlett-Packard. The garage was
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on a street in Palo Alto. The two men were Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. What
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was the name of the street?
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8. Digital Research Incorporated is often referred to as DRI. But in fact,
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when it was first formed it was called IDR. What did the letters stand for?
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9. Which of the following was named after a person -- heap sort, quick sort,
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shell sort, or bubble sort?
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10. What do the letters BCD stand for?
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11. Before Seymour Cray cofounded Control Data, he was a computer engineer at
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what company -- Sperry Rand, IBM, or Honeywell?
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12. What was the first encyclopedia to appear in CD-ROM form?
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13. Three computer companies have the word "Packard" in their names. Can you
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name those three companies?
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14. Ada Lovelace is often referred to as the first programmer. But her
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father's occupation had nothing to do with computers or math. What did Ada
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Lovelace's father do for a living?
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15. A book entitled "Who Got Einstein's Office?" is about an institution where
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a lot of early computer research was done. What is the institution?
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16. What book containing a bird's name is about illegal break-ins on computer
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networks?
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17. The Book of the Month Club recently offered a new novel based on a
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computer theme. What was the name of the book -- was it "Goodbye Mr. Mips",
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"The Open Window Version 3.0", or "The Difference Engine"?
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18. Kurt Vonnegut once wrote a short story about a computer that wrote poetry
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and then eventually committed suicide. What was the name of that computer --
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was it called EPICAC, MYCIN, or Dresden?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ROUND THREE QUESTIONS
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1. [holding up comptometer] This is a comptometer from The Computer Museum.
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The question is -- who developed the adding system for this machine? Was it
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Pascal, Leibniz, or Babbage?
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2. The bit is a very common and important computer term. Who first used the
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word bit? Was it John Tukey, Donald Knuth, or John McCarthy?
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3. LOGO has been a popular educational language for children. Who created
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LOGO?
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4. Atari is the name of a personal computer company, but it is also a word in
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the Japanese language. What does Atari mean?
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5. Among the early machines in the history on computers were the ENIAC, the
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ILLIAC, and the MANIAC. MANIAC was an acronym for mechanical and numerical
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integrator and computer. The question is -- where was the MANIAC built? Los
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Alamos, Livermore, or Cambridge, Mass.?
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6. The word Sun in the company name Sun Microsystems is an acronym. What do
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the letters SUN stand for?
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7. For years, BASIC was one of the most commonly used programming languages
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for personal computers. The word BASIC is an acronym. What do the letters
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stand for?
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8. PLATO is the name of an educational software environment. PLATO is an
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acronym. What does it stand for?
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9. In August 1981, nearly 10 years ago, a major new personal computer was
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introduced. What was the computer?
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10. If you wanted to square all the integers from 1 to 10,000 -- which
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computer would you pick to get the job done most quickly? The TRS-80 Model I
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or the ENIAC?
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11. While today we talk about the 80386 and the 80486 Intel processors, one of
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the earliest Intel chips was the lowly 4004. What was the first commercial
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application of the 4004? Was it used in an early personal computer, a factory
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process controller, a Japanese calculator, or a frequency modulator?
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12. What do you call a local area network method that routes messages through
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each workstation on the network in turn?
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13. 3COM is a well-known name in the local area network field. The company
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name is short form three separate words, each of which begin with the prefix
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"COM". What are those three words?
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14. The database program DBASE IV is an upgrade of DBASE III, which is an
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upgrade of DBASE II. For what operating system was DBASE II originally
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written?
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15. Deep Thought is now considered to be one of the world's best chess-playing
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computers. But way back in 1967, a computer, for the first time, beat a
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serious chess player during a state chess tournament in Massachusetts. The
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computer's designer was Richard Greenblatt. What was the name of the computer?
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Was it BORIS, Matemaster, Mac Hack IV, or EN PASSANT?
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16. In 1679 a famous mathematician perfected the binary system of notation.
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Who was that mathematician?
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17. Arcade-style video games are often thought of as male oriented. Yet a
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woman named Dona Bailey designed one of the most successful video games. Which
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game was it -- Centipede, Tempest, or Ms. Pac-Man?
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18. According to an article in IEEE Spectrum magazine, what was the first
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video game to become popular with women players as well as men?
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19. Computer Space, Pong, Spacewar, and Space Race are all names of computer
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video games. Which of these, in 1970, became the first commercial video arcade
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game?
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20. A byte is usually defined as eight bits. What is the term for four bits?
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21. The haloid process describes a process in which of the following
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activities: manufacturing ICs, soldering components, or photocopying?
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22. What color is the stripe painted on the raised floor of the machine room
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in the AI Lab at MIT?
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23. While working at Xerox, Gary Starkweather is credited with inventing the
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laser printer. When did that happen? Was it 1969, 1973, or 1977?
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24. I'll give you two names. You tell me in what field they do research:
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Berliner and Schank.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ROUND FOUR QUESTIONS
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1. One piece of technology that has never quite made it is the picture phone.
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When and where was the picture phone first displayed? Was it the 1939 New York
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World's Fair, the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, or the 1964 New York World's
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Fair?
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2. Which of the following machines is not a binary machine? Atanasoff Machine,
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Bell Labs One, UNIVAC, or CDC 1604?
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3. How many jobs can an IBM S/360 computer execute at once?
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4. John von Neumann is a well-known pioneer in the computer field. In what
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area did he get his first college degree? Was it chemical engineering,
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electrical engineering, or mechanical engineering?
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5. What do the following three things have in common? BORIS, SHRDLU, MYCIN?
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6. Roger Penrose wrote a book about artificial intelligence. What was its
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title?
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7. There are several expert systems which have been developed for a variety of
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application areas. I'll name the expert system, you name the author.
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a. Hearsay
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b. MYCIN
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c. Dendral
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8. What was the name of the first artificial intelligence program? Was it
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called The Logical Theorist, Logician, or QWERTYUIOP?
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9. When the original Macintosh computer first came out, how much RAM did it
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have?
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10. Where is the Charles Babbage Institute located? Is it in London,
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Washington D.C., or Minneapolis?
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11. Here are three words -- MILLIAC, DILLIAC, and SILLIAC. One of those words
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was the name of a computer. Which one?
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12. The computer magazine "ANTIC" is devoted to coverage of computers made by
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what manufacturer?
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13. There is a famous vignette in which a well-known computer pioneer says
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"Let me show you a nanosecond" and the person holds up a short length of wire.
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Who is that computer pioneer?
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14. In 1936, a paper that was perhaps the most important in the history of
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computer science was published. It was titled "On Computable Numbers". Who was
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the author?
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15. The names of the people who worked on the development of a famous personal
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computer were etched on the inside of its case. What was the computer?
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16. If you were using Lotus 1-2-3 and you wanted to center a label, what label
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prefix would you use? Would it be -- a caret, a quote, an apostrophe, or a
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back slash?
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17. If you were using WordPerfect and the letters "POS" are blinking on the
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screen, what does that tell you?
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18. What are the three operating modes of Windows 3.0?
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19. We all know the term DOS, short for disk operating system. But there was
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also an operating system called SOS. What did the letters "SOS" stand for?
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20. On what microcomputer was SOS used?
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21. If I were configuring a peripheral and I entered the following input:
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"1200 N 8 1" -- what kind of peripheral would I be configuring?
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22. On an external modem there are usually several LED indicators to provide
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you with feedback on what the modem is doing. Can you tell me what these
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indicators stand for: CD, OH, AA?
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23. Computer pioneer Charles Babbage was interested in many different kinds of
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inventions. According to the book "Digital Deli", Babbage tried to invent
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which one of the following gadgets: a portable steam engine, a cotton candy
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machine, or shoes for walking on water?
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Answers are next!
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ANSWERS TO ROUND ONE
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1. Automatic Computer
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2. Eight
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3. Blaise -- his last name was Pascal
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4. Shirt and jacket
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5. EMORAC
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6. Remington Rand
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7. What's My Line
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8. Altair 8800
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9. Alan Perlis, 1966
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10. Because It's Time Network
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11. Joseph Marie Jacquard
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12. Two
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13. A and M
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14. Doug Engelbart
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ANSWERS TO ROUND TWO
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1. John Searle
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2. Babbage
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3. Hotel -- Del Webb's High Sierra Hotel and Casino
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4. The Alto
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5. Albert Wong, Safi Qureshey, Tom Yuen
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6. Sun
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7. Addison Street
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8. Intergalactic Digital Research
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9. Shell sort
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10. Binary coded decimal
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11. Sperry Rand
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12. Grolier's
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13. Hewlett-Packard, Packard-Bell, Ferranti-Packard
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14. He was a poet -- Lord Byron
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15. Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton
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16. "The Cuckoo's Egg"
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17. "The Difference Engine"
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18. EPICAC
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ANSWERS TO ROUND THREE
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1. Pascal
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2. John Tukey
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3. Seymour Papert
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4. It means warning or check, from the game of Go
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5. Los Alamos
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6. Stanford University Network
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7. Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
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8. Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations
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9. IBM PC
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10. TRS-80 Mode I in 0.66 seconds vs 6.00 seconds
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11. Japanese calculator
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12. Ring network
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13. Communications, computers, compatibility
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14. CP/M
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15. Mac Hack IV
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16. Gottfried Willhelm Leibnitz
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17. Centipede, for Atari
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18. Pac-Man
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19. Computer Space
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20. A nibble
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21. Photocopying
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22. Yellow
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23. 1969
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24. Artificial intelligence
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ANSWERS TO ROUND FOUR
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1. 1964 New York World's Fair
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2. UNIVAC
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3. One
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4. Chemical engineering
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5. They are all AI programs
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6. "The Emperor's New Mind"
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7. Hearsay -- Raj Reddy
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MYCIN -- Edward Shortlife
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DENDRAL -- Edward Feigenbaum
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8. Logical Theorist
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9. 128k
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10. Minneapolis
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11. SILLIAC
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12. Atari
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13. Grace Murray Hopper
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14. Alan Turing
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15. Macintosh
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16. Caret
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17. Num lock is on
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18. Standard, Real, Enhanced (or 386 Enhanced)
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19. Sophisticated Operating System
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20. Apple II
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21. A modem -- 1200 bps, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit
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22. Carrier detect, off hook, auto answer
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23. Shoes for walking on water
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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