429 lines
13 KiB
Groff
429 lines
13 KiB
Groff
The second Computer Bowl sponsored by The Computer Museum was held in Boston
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in April 1990. The questions used are listed below. For a more detailed report
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see the August 1990 issue of Communications of the ACM (CACM v33n8).
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[Keep in mind these questions were posed in early 1990! Some of the answers
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may be out of date.]
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ROUND ONE QUESTIONS
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1. The summer of 1977 was a major year for personal computers. In that year
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three famous PC's were introduced. What were they?
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2. Ethernet was named a networking standard in 1980 in a joint public
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announcement by three famous computer companies. What were their names?
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3. According to the Computer Industry Almanac, California has the most
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computer companies in America, with over 38% of the total. Massachusetts is
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number 2. Within plus or minus 5%, what is Massachusetts' share of the
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nation's computer companies?
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4. In 1980, one of the largest public stock offerings of modern times was made
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by a computer company. The size of the offering was the largest since the Ford
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Motor Company's in 1956. What was the computer company?
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5. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are best known for the Apple computer they
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developed. But they also teamed up to design a popular arcade game for Atari.
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What was the name of the game? Was it, Space Invaders, Breakout, Asteroids,
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or Space Wars?
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6. What now defunct computer company used this animal as part of an
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advertising campaign? [photo of a Saint Bernard dog sculpture made out of
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electronic components]
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7. The abacus was one of the earliest counting devices, probably originating
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in Babylonia and spreading to other countries. Of China, Greece, and Japan,
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which received the abacus first?
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8. In the past, the Chinese used the abacus to do their national census. They
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stopped using it and replaced it with a computer. When did the Chinese
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dump the abacus in favor of computers -- was it 1972, 1977, or 1982?
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9. In 1989, 16% of NeXT, Inc. was sold for $100M to what company?
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10. In the comic strip "Doonesbury", Mark learns to program a computer. What
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computer does Mark use in "Doonesbury"?
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11. In the comic strip "Bloom County", the character Oliver Wendall Jones has a
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personal computer. What is the name of that computer?
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12. Again in "Bloom County", before getting his Banana Junior, Oliver Wendall
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Jones owned another computer. What was it?
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13. The National Computer Conference reached its peak as a trade show during
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the 1980s. And in its best year 97,000 people attended. What year was that?
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Was it 1983, 1985, or 1987?
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14. Comdex has become one of the dominant trade shows in the computer
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industry. In what year was the first comdex held? Was it 1978, 1980, or 1982?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ROUND TWO QUESTIONS
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1. During the development of computers in the 1930s and 1940s, what was not
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used for storing computer data: old movie film, aluminum tape, or snake
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scales?
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2. The Cray II supercomputer has a nickname inspired by the froth created in
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its liquid cooling system. What is that nickname?
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3. At least three computer companies were named after their founders but
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these founders no longer work for the companies. Can you name three of those
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companies?
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4. Computer company CEO's are famous for their job hopping. I'll name the
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succession of computer companies worked for -- you name the CEO.
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a. IBM, Shugart, Seagate
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b. Prime, Apollo, Ardent, Stardent
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c. AT&T, Apollo, Honeywell-Bull
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5. One computer company CEO is unlikely to leave his company. According to
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Computer Reseller News, he is the highest paid executive in the computer
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industry. Can you tell us his company and his name?
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6. Compaq Computer Company made the Fortune 500 list in record time. How many
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years did it take Compaq to break into the Fortune 500? Was it two years, four
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years, or six years?
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7. In desktop publishing we often refer to TIFF files. What do the letters in
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TIFF stand for?
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8. What was the first major movie to use computer-aided animation: Soylent
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Green, Futureworld, or Star Wars?
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9. The first use of the phrase "personal computer" was reportedly used to
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describe a computer built at MIT by some hackers. It cost nearly $3 million
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and it filled up one small room. What was the name of that personal computer?
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10. What is the average annual sales volume for one salesperson in a typical
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retail computer store? Is it $172,000, $222,000 or $272,000?
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11. The first university to ever have a computer science department
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celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. Was that university: Stanford,
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Carnegie-Mellon, the University of North Carolina, or MIT?
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12. How much is the decimal number 27 expressed in hexadecimal?
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13. Speaking of numbers, what is the ASCII decimal equivalent for the Escape
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key?
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14. During World War II, the U.S. Army funded the development of the ENIAC
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computer. What did the Army want to do with the computer? Was it to calculate
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ballistic paths, decode secret messages, or design radar?
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15. Hewlett-Packard calculators became famous for the unique approach they used
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to perform operations on numbers. The system was called RPN. What does RPN
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stand for?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ROUND THREE QUESTIONS
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1. In 1968, the New York Stock Exchange listed its first computer software
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company. What was the name of that company?
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2. According to The Illustrated Handbook of Desktop Publishing, what is the
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opposite of "letterspacing"?
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3. The Mayans were pretty good mathematicians. They developed their own
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numbering system but it was not a base ten system. What was their numbering
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system based on -- was it 5, 12, or 20?
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4. According to Electronic Learning magazine, as of 1988, which of the
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following states required public school children to take at least one computer
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course before graduating from high school? Texas, Massachusetts, or
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California?
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5. In 1971, the first home video game console was marketed using a patent
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originally granted to Sanders Associates. The company that sold the game was
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Magnavox. What was the name of the game?
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6. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, the Westinghouse pavilion featured a
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robot that could do housework. What was the name of the robot?
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7. Texas Instruments developed the first popular microcomputer-based toy. What
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was it called?
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8. Immediately after the introduction of the IBM PC, the president of Apple
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Computer and the head of IBM's PC division met for the first time. Where did
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they meet?
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9. If you were to hook up a MIDI interface, you would use a MIDI plug. How
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many pins are in a MIDI plug?
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10. MIDI has become a standard for the interface between a computer and a
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musical instrument. What do the letters in MIDI stand for?
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11. The Commodore PET computer was not named PET because it was thought of as
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something to keep around the house. PET was an acronym. What do the letters
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stand for?
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12. When using a computer you might use a spooler. The word SPOOL is also an
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acronym. What do the letters stand for?
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13. In 1989, the Softletter newsletter ranked the top ten software companies
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by revenue. The top five were Microsoft, Lotus, Ashton Tate, Wordperfect, and
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Autodesk. Can you the name at least four of the other five companies on the
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list?
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14. The computer language Ada was named after a person. Who was it named
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after?
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15. The first issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal was devoted entirely to a single
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computer language. What was it?
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16. What was the predecessor of DBASE II called?
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17. What famous computer pioneer designed the punch card machines used in the
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1890 U.S. Census? Was it Babbage, Hollerith, or Lord Kelvin?
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18. At least three software companies have renamed themselves after the names
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of their leading products. Can you name up to three of the companies, giving
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old names and new?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ROUND FOUR QUESTIONS
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Some computers have become so famous in computer history that many people
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even know where they were developed. I'll give you the name of the location,
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you tell me what computer was developed there:
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1. The place is Harvard.
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2. The place is Iowa State College.
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3. The place was the Moore School in Philadelphia.
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4. The place was Bletchley Park in England.
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5. And finally, the place was the University of Illinois.
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6. Who was quoted as saying the following in Byte magazine in 1983: "I wasn't
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thrilled with the placement of those keys. But every place you pick to put
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them is not a good place for somebody. The left-hand shift key is where it is
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because we wanted to have the character-typing keys inside the control keys."
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Was it Steve Jobs, Don Estridge, or Rod Canion?
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7. Who wrote "The Mythical Man-Month", a famous book about IBM's OS/360?
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Many successful computers have had somewhat less successful predecessors.
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I'll name the successful computer, you name its predecessor:
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8. The Apple Macintosh.
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9. The DEC PDP-8.
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10. The IBM 360/90.
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11. The term "desktop publishing" is now commonly used to describe the
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creation of high quality print documents on a desktop computer. Who first
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coined the phrase? Was it Jean Louis Gassee, Paul Brainerd, Bill Atkinson, or
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John Warnock?
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12. Most of us have heard the story of why we call something that interferes
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with the proper operation of a computer a bug. Can you tell us what computer
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pioneer discovered that bug?
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13. Can you tell us what kind of bug it was?
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14. In what computer did she find the bug?
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15. What company owns Compuserve?
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16. The "Kansas City Standard" was developed as a standard for what storage
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medium?
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17. An interlaced raster scan display monitor creates a picture by interlacing
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odd lines and then even lines. If the full interlaced picture is called a
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raster, what do you call one half of those lines?
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18. Which of the following was not the name of a computer during the 1950s:
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Leprechaun, Mobidic, Babbage, or MANIAC?
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19. What do the letters in the word "EPROM" stand for?
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20. Many computer companies were founded by two people, for example, Bill
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Gates and Paul Allen at Microsoft. We will name the first partner; you name
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the second. Digital Equipment Corporation: Ken Olsen and who?
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21. Computer pioneer Charles Babbage was a close friend of a famous British
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author who allegedly patterned a character in one of his novels after Babbage.
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was the author Sir Walter Scott, John Galsworthy, or Charles Dickens?
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22. Was the 68000 instruction set modeled after that of the IBM 360, the Data
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General Nova, or the DEC PDP-11?
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23. The original computer game "Adventure," featured a colossal cave and a
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maze of twisty little passages. These and other memorable locations in the
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game were inspired by actual cave formations in what state? Was it California,
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Tennessee, or Alaska?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Answers are next!
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ANSWERS TO ROUND ONE
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1. TRS-80, Commodore PET, Apple II
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2. Intel, Xerox, DEC
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3. 9.8%
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4. Apple Computer
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5. Breakout
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6. Honeywell
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7. Greece. It only came to China in 1200 AD.
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8. 1982
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9. Canon
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10. PDP 11/70
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11. The Banana Junior
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12. IBM 6000
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13. 1983
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14. 1978
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ANSWERS TO ROUND TWO
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1. Snake scales
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2. Bubbles
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3. Shugart, Amdahl, Cray
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4a. Al Shugart
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b. Bill Poduska
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c. Roland Pampell
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5. John Sculley, Apple, $2.5 million
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6. Four years
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7. Tagged Image File Format
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8. Futureworld, in 1976
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9. TX-0. It wasn't really "built by hackers", though.
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10. $372,000
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11. The answer they were looking for was North Carolina, but that is
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incorrect! The oldest computer science department in the US (and possibly the
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world) is at Purdue University, founded in 1962.
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12. 1B
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13. 27
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14. Calculate ballistic paths
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15. Reverse Polish Notation
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ANSWERS TO ROUND THREE
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1. Computer Sciences Corporation
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2. Kerning
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3. 20
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4. Texas
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5. Odyssey
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6. Electro
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7. Speak and Spell
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8. The Boston Computer Society
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9. Five
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10. Musical Instrument Digital Interface
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11. Personal Electronic Transactor
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12. Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On Line
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13. Borland, Adobe, Aldus, Logitech, Software Publishing
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14. Ada Lovelace, assistant to Charles Babbage
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15. Tiny BASIC
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16. Vulcan -- there never was a DBASE I
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17. Herman Hollerith
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18. SSI -> Wordperfect; Micropro -> Wordstar; Relational Technology -> Ingres
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ANSWERS TO ROUND FOUR
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1. Mark I
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2. Atanasoff-Berry Computer
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3. ENIAC
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4. Colossus
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5. ILLIAC
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6. Don Estridge of IBM (referring to IBM PC keyboard layout in Byte, 11/83)
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7. Fred Brooks
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8. Lisa
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9. The PDP-5
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10. The IBM Stretch
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11. Paul Brainerd
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12. Grace Hopper. Actually this use of "bug" considerably predates computing.
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13. A moth
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14. Harvard Mark II
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15. H&R Block
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16. Cassette tape
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17. A field
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18. Babbage
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19. Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory
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20. Harlan Anderson
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21. Charles Dickens
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22. PDP-11
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23. Tennessee
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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