, X-NEWS: spcvxb alt.folklore.computers: 19484K Relay-Version: VMS News - V6.0-3 14/03/90 VAX/VMS V5.4; site spcvxb.spc.edu E Path: spcvxb.spc.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!newstop!eastapps!pyrite!sgolson " Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers' Subject: Questions from Computer Bowl I ) Message-ID: <10896@eastapps.East.Sun.COM> 0 From: sgolson@pyrite.East.Sun.COM (Steve Golson) Date: 13 Feb 92 21:47:43 GMT- Reply-To: sgolson@east.sun.com (Steve Golson)  Sender: news@East.Sun.COM , Organization: Trilobyte Systems, Carlisle MA
 Lines: 598  K The first Computer Bowl sponsored by The Computer Museum was held in Boston I in October 1988. The questions used are listed below. For a more detailed L report see the January 1989 issue of Communications of the ACM (CACM v32n1).  L [Keep in mind these questions were posed in 1988! Some of the answers may be
 out of date.]   M -----------------------------------------------------------------------------    	ROUND ONE QUESTIONS  G 1. Dick Heiser opened the world's first microcomputer store in West Los M Angeles in 1975. Was it called Computerland, The Itty Bitty Computer Company,  or The Computer Store?  J 2. Only 220 examples of this computer were produced at $666.66 apiece, butH they helped launch a major microcomputer company. What was the computer?  > 3. Who wrote the first book about personal computers in 1974?   E 4. How long would it take to send the Encyclopaedia Britannica over a H 2-gigabit fiber-optic cable? Would it be 2 seconds, 2 minutes, or twenty minutes?  N 5. Here's an early example of a computer accessory that's fairly common today.H What is it? [photo shows a metal device looking roughly like a hand-held electric drill]   E 6. The letters in most software languages form acronyms. Which of the ? following two language names is not an acronym? FORTRAN or ADA?   L 7. We'll name the people, and you name the computer languages they invented: 	a. Kenneth Iverson  	b. John Backus  	c. John McCarthy  	d. Niklaus Wirth   N 8. What hi-tech company determined whether the 18 minute gap in the Nixon tapeC was deliberate? Was it IBM; Bolt, Beranek and Newman; or Tektronix?   E 9. LIFE is the name of a well-known computer game. Who won Scientific J American's Game of LIFE contest by creating the first "glider gun"? Was is Bill Gosper or Donald Knuth?  ? 10. Here's a four-part question, about computers in the movies. G 	a. In what Disney movie do the main characters live inside a computer? G 	b. What was the name of the robot in the film "The Day the Earth Stood , 	   Still?" Was it Robbie, Gort, or Braniac?D 	c. What computer co-starred with Robert Redford in the film, "Three< 	   Days of the Condor": a PDP-11, an Apple II, or a Cray 1?F 	d. What company worked with Disney to supply effects for the animatedG 	   cartoon classic, "Fantasia"? Was it IBM, Hewlett Packard, or Sperry 	 	   Rand?   ? 11. What was the first name of the inventor of Boolean algebra?   J 12. Dartmouth College is famous for many computer firsts. Of the followingI three pioneering events, which did not take place at Dartmouth: the first G remote computer linkup; the first AI workshop; or the first color video 	 terminal?   M 13. Many people believe that ENIAC was the first electronic digital computer, D but a recent article in Scientific American claims this honor shouldL really go to another computer pioneer. Is this person Stibitz, Atanasoff, or Zuse?   3 14. The word "modem" is formed from what two words?   2 15. Is Silicon Valley South or North of Route 128?  F 16. Everybody's heard of Silicon Valley. Tell us the real geographical" locations of the following places: 	a. Silicon Prairie  	b. Silicon Mountain   	c. Silicon Valley North   	d. Silicon Glen    C 17. In what year did the byte become standard? 1950, 1958, or 1964?   > 18. Was the first slide rule developed in 1620, 1750, or 1880?  L 19. A famous computer pioneer was also an opium addict and a gambler. Was it- Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, or Norbert Weiner?   H 20. Ada Lovelace, of course, was the famous friend of nineteenth centuryM computer pioneer Charles Babbage and a software pioneer in her own right. Was J Ada Lovelace in favor of, or against, the idea of artificial intelligence?  K 21. What computer-related fact links Timex, Osborne Computer, and Southwest  Technical Products?   N 22. What computer language inspired the design of the IBM Selectric type ball? FORTRAN, BASIC, or APL?   J 23. "More than iron, more than lead, more than gold, I need electricity. IH need it more than I need lamb or pork or lettuce or cucumber." That's anL excerpt from the first book written by a computer, entitled "The Policeman'sL Beard Is Half Constructed". Who is the author? Is it Eliza, Racter, or Bard?  E 24. What is the purpose of the bench around the Cray 1 supercomputer?    25. What is a FLOP?   I 26. Here's some real trivia. We'll name the time period. You tell us what 8 computer industry trade show is held during that period: 	a. January and June   	b. Mid-August     	c. Late April or early May   M -----------------------------------------------------------------------------    	ROUND TWO QUESTIONS  N 1. What was the first home computer to sell a million units? The Apple II, the  Commodore VIC-20, or the TRS-80?  F 2. Name two computer software languages developed by industry and user committees.   E 3. The Pizza Time Restaurant chain was started by Atari founder Nolan 8 Bushnell. What was the name of Pizza Time's mouse robot?  L 4. Is Rocky's Boots a program to teach children logic, a walking robot, or a PC bootstrap program?   J 5. During World War II the allies used computers to decode secret messagesN written by the Nazis on machines like this. Was this machine called the Ultra,L the Ace, or the Enigma? [photo shows a wooden box with keys, lights, wheels, plug cords]   N 6. During World War II, Churchill received advanced word from a decoded EnigmaL message that the Germans planned to bomb a major British city. He was forcedH to let the attack happen to keep his knowledge of enemy communications aC secret. What was the British city? Manchester, London, or Coventry?   M 7. The Bombe and Colossus are names of two computing devices developed during K World War II. Were they used for designing the A-bomb; for cryptography; or  for designing radar?  M 8. What was the first software company to go public on the NY Stock Exchange?   M 9. Which of the following did Bill Gates not do: drop out of Harvard; program > the PDP-10; or have a one thousand-person 25th birthday party?  2 10. Who cofounded Microsoft along with Bill Gates?  ? 11. Are computers mentioned anywhere in George Orwell's "1984"?   K 12. In 1888 William Burroughs was granted a patent. Was it for the printing ; adding machine, the difference engine, or the punched card?   N 13. How far can electricty travel in a nanosecond: 1.8 inches, 10.8 inches, or 108 inches?   L 14. Is CADUCEUS a high level language, a Data General Computer, or a medical diagnosis program?  3 15. What book about computers won a Pulitzer prize?   * 16. Tell us who wrote the following books:% 	a. "The Art of Computer Programming"  	b. "The Third Apple" $ 	c. "The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise"  E 17. What was the first tune generated by a computer, and where was it 
 generated?  C 18. A rectifier changes AC current to DC. What does an inverter do?   K 19. Was the Model 33 a tape drive, a teletype machine, or a video terminal?   N 20. Ivan Sutherland described the first interactive graphics program. What was
 it called?   21. What is SABRE?  J 22. What US corporation bought the first industrial robot? General Motors, Dupont, or Martin Marietta?    23. Where is Research Triangle?   2 24. What company marketed the first digital watch?  J 25. This four-part question is about people in the microcomputer industry.> 	a. Did Ella Fitzgerald sing at Steve Jobs' 30th birthday, NCC, 	   Pioneer's Day, or ENIAC's 40th birthday?1 	b. Name a PC entrepreneur who has been knighted. C 	c. What foreign-born computer pioneer was honored at the Statue of  	   Liberty Ceremonies? D 	d. What member of the Homebrew Computer Club had a dog named Rocky?  J 26. Is the divorce rate higher in Santa Clara county or Boston's Middlesex County?/  E 27. How much did Charles Tandy pay for Radio Shack in 1963? $500,000,s $20 million, or nothing?  L 28. In what year did a computer begin playing checkers? 1940, 1950, or 1960?  K 29. Most government-sponsored computer projects are funded by the military. M What pioneering computer was funded by the Department of Agriculture?. Was itt( the Atanasoff machine, ENIAC, or UNIVAC?  J 30. According to John Backus, during the 1950s did it cost more to program: computers, to rent them, or were the costs about the same?  = 31. In Boolean algebra, what is the value of 1 "ORed" with 1?d Is it 0, 1, or 10?  M -----------------------------------------------------------------------------n   	ROUND THREE QUESTIONS  9 1. What is the most widely installed PC operating system?-  B 2. Of the following three terms, which does not describe a type of$ microprocessor: CISC, RISC, or WISC?  I 3. At what trade show was Visicalc first introduced? Comdex, the Nationaln6 Computer Conference, or the West Coast Computer Faire?  M 4. What was the first computer John Von Neumann used? The MARK I or the Pilote ACE?  > 5. The following question is about IBM. There are three parts.* 	a. Who wrote "IBM's Billion Dollar Baby"?G 	b. How many horizontal lines make up the IBM logo on computer screens?o 	   Is it 8, 13, or both?yG 	c. Finally, here's an vital question: Where is IBM's golf country clubs; 	   located: Poughkeepsie, Endicott, or Fishkill, New York?e  J 6. Where did An Wang get his seed capital to start Wang Labs? From General+ Electric, IBM, or the Chase Manhattan Bank?h  J 7. Who raised $500 to start a company by selling a version of the SpaceWar computer game ?   N 8. Was the US Festival Rock Concert sponsored by Stewart Brand, Steve Wozniak, or St. Silicon?   L 9. Some say the personal computer era began when a microcomputer appeared onN the cover of the January, 1975 issue of Popular Electronics. Was that computer2 the IMSAI, the Altair, the Scelbi, or the Apple I?  9 10. This three-part question is about computer magazines.kC 	a. Six months before the famous Popular Electronics cover, anothernG 	   computer appeared on a magazine cover. The computer was the Mark 8.eD 	   Was the magazine Scientific American, EDN, or Radio Electronics?/ 	b. What microprocessor was used in the Mark 8?nG 	c. Finally, what was the first computer magazine: was it Computers andh- 	   Automation, Datamation, or ComputerWorld?a  = 11. What computer company made the W2 form a reality in 1943?   < 12. What is the term for software permanently stored in ROM?  K 13. Is there a way to read a magnetic tape if you don't have a tape reader?m  L 14. Are IBM's headquarters on Madison Avenue, in Poughkeepsie, or in Armonk?  M 15. We know of a least two high-level computer languages whose names read thet- same way backward and forward. What are they?a  L 16. What was the only personal computer to be named after the state in which it was produced?  K 17. Was the Whetstone, a measure of computing performance, developed in thek USA, the UK, or France?;  J 18. Computer pioneer Alan Turing contributed to the design of one computer/ that was built.  Was it ENIAC or the Pilot ACE?   : 19. Here's a three-part question, also about Alan Turing. G 	a. Who received a Tony nomination for best actor for portraying TuringfH 	   on Broadway this year? Was it Sir Lawrence Olivier, Ian McKellan, or 	   Derek Jacoby ?# 	b. What was the name of the play ?v; 	c. Where did Turing do his research during his stay in thec 	   United States?  M -----------------------------------------------------------------------------l   	ROUND FOUR QUESTIONSl  J 1. APL is a high-level software language. What do the letters in APL stand for?  6 2. What arcade game started the computer arcade craze?  M 3. What is the name of the government-funded computer network linking defense / researchers? Is it Telenet, Comnet, or Arpanet?   ( 4. What computer language uses turtles?   ' 5. Here are three questions about CP/M.e 	a. What does CP/M stand for?r 	b. Who wrote it? - 	c. What company did he work for at the time?n  M 6. What company did Kentucky Fried Computers eventually become? Was it Apple,T# Northstar Computers, or Actavision?   9 7. What was the name of Coleco's ill-fated home computer?   L 8. The miniature circuits that make up today's computers are manufactured inK so-called clean rooms to avoid contamination. Which is cleaner, a Class 100o$ clean room or a Class 10 clean room?  L 9. Here are five questions with no redeeming social merit whatsoever.  We'llL name the street address, and you tell us what the computer company is that's located there: 	a. 590 Madison Avenue 	b. 1700 Green Hills Roadn 	c. 20555 FM-149 	d. 100 Throckmorton 	e. 16011 Northeast 36th Way  M 10. In 1921, Karl Capek used the Czech word for "worker" in his play, RUR. Inr5 the process, he coined a new word. What was the word?u  I 11. Is the largest employer in Silicon Valley the Air Force, Lockheed, or- Apple Computer?-  J 12. Prior to their use in computers, punch cards were used in which of theM following machines: silk weaving machines, calculators, or drilling machines?   7 13. This four-part question is all about punched cards.gE 	a. How many columns does an IBM standard computer punched card have? B 	b. What shape are the holes in standard computer-readable punched
 	   cards?C 	c. When punched cards first became popular in the 1890's, they hada: 	   something in common with the dollar bill. What was it?F 	d. What is the name used for the tiny round piece of paper created by5 	   punching paper tape?  Is it pulp, chad, or fluff?   K 14. DIP switches are small switches found inside computers. Does the "P" ine. "DIP" stand for peripheral, package, or pixel?   15. What is the S100?   8 16. Is a picosecond shorter or longer than a nanosecond?  G 17. During the 1960s and 1970s, the eight major computer companies wereoI referred to jokingly as "IBM and the seven dwarfs." How many of the sevenr dwarfs can you name?  G 18. On what machine did Digital Equipment's CEO Ken Olsen get his first  computer experience?  = 19. What is the more common name for the IEEE 802.3 standard?g  L ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Answers are next!a tL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   	ANSWERS TO ROUND ONEH   1. The Computer Store-   2. The Apple I computerp  ? 3. Ted Nelson (The title was "Computer Lib and Dream Machines")h   4. Two seconds  % 5. A light pen, for the SAGE computerr   6. ADA (actually, Ada)	    7a. APLl  b. FORTRAN   c. LISP
  d. Pascal   8. Bolt, Beranek and Newmang   9. Bill Gosper at MITe   10a. "TRON"u	   b. Gort    c. PDP-11a   d. Hewlett-Packard   11. George Boole  " 12. The first color video terminal  
 13. AtanasoffC   14. Modulator and demodulator   	 15. Southt   16a. Dallas, Texas   b. Colorado Springs, Coloradob   c. Portland, Oregoni
   d. Scotland   E 17. 1964. The 8-bit byte became a standard with the IBM 360 computer.r    18. In 1620, by William Oughtred   19. Ada Lovelace   20. Against   ; 21. They have all dropped out of the microcomputer businesse   22. APLe  
 23. Racter  F 24. The answer desired was "For cooling", but actually the bench seats'     are a cover for the power supplies.   6 25. It stands for FLoating point OPerations per second  # 26a. Consumer Electronic Show (CES)o   b. MacWorld Boston   c. Spring COMDEX  L ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   	ANSWERS TO ROUND TWOa   1. The Commodore VIC-20s   2. Ada and COBOL   3. Chuck E. Cheese  $ 4. A program to teach children logic  
 5. The Enigmao  K 6. The answer desired was "Coventry", but there is evidence that this neveraO    actually happened, so this should more properly be called a Computer Legend.b   7. For cryptographyr   8. Cullinet Software in 1978  1 9. Have a one thousand-person 25th birthday partyt   10. Paul Allen   11. No   12. The Printing Adding Machineb   13. 10.8 inchesa   14. Medical diagnosis programe  , 15. "Soul of A New Machine", by Tracy Kidder   16a. Donald Knuthn   b. Jean-Louis Gassee   c. Charles Babbage  > 17. "A Bicycle Built for Two" (or "Daisy, Daisy") at Bell Labs   18. Changes DC to AC  E 19. A teletype machine (used as a computer terminal in the seventies)p  
 20. Sketchpadp  = 21. American Airlines' computerized ticket reservation systems  % 22. General Motors bought a UNIMATE 1.  ' 23. In North Carolina, near Chapel HillU   24. Hewlett-Packard    25a. Steve Jobs' 30th birthday   b. Sir Clive Sinclairm   c. An Wang   d. Steve Wozniak   26. Santa Clara county  O 27. Nothing. The company was virtually bankrupt and he agreed to pay the bills.1  , 28. 1950. The machine was Manchester's MADM.  N 29. The Atanasoff machine. The Department of Agriculture provided $500 for the project during the 1940s.r   30. About the same   31. 1l  L ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   	ANSWERS TO ROUND THREEa   1. DOS or MS-DOS  M 2. WISC. (CISC is a "complex instruction set computer" and RISC is a "reducedC instruction set computer")  ( 3. The West Coast Computer Faire in 1979  > 4. The Harvard Mark I, which he used in his work at Los Alamos  ' 5a. Portia Isaacson of Future Computingt+  b. Both -- there are two official versionsh  c. Endicott   6. From IBMB  4 7. Nolan Bushnell. He used the money to start Atari.   8. Steve Wozniak  
 9. The Altairo   10a. Radio Electronics   b. The Intel 4004eI   c. Computers and Automation, first published by Edmund Berkeley in 1950g  L 11. IBM, by supplying the government with the equipment to track withholding payh   12. Firmware  4 13. Yes, by using a special magnetic powder or fluid   14. Armonk, NY  
 15. Ada and C    16. Ohio Scientific Challenger  
 17. The UK   18. The Pilot ACEt   19a. Derek JacobyS   b. "Breaking the Code"2   c. The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton  L ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   	ANSWERS TO ROUND FOUR   1. A Programming Languagep   2. Pong0  
 3. Arpanet   4. LOGOn  & 5a. Control Program for Microcomputers  b. Gary Kildall  c. Digital Research   6. Northstar Computers   7. The Adam    8. Class 10o   9a. IBM in Manhattan(  b. Borland in Scotts Valley, California  c. Compaq in Houston, Texas*  d. Tandy-Radio Shack in Fort Worth, Texas$  e. Microsoft in Redmond, Washington  	 10. Robotp   11. Lockheed   12. Silk weaving machineso   13a. Eighty columnsC   b. RectangularJ   c. They were the same size. The card was designed to use files built for      storing dollars. 	   d. Chad    14. Package   4 15. A data bus commonly used in early microcomputers  : 16. Shorter -- a trillionth versus a billionth of a second  K 17. Sperry Rand, Control Data (CDC), Honeywell, RCA, NCR, GE, and Burroughse  K 18. He worked on the Memory Test Computer for core memory for the Whirlwind    19. Ethernet  L ----------------------------------------------------------------------------