New Perspectives Classic Labs

The Computer History Hypermedia Lab is an example of a multimedia hypertext, or hypermedia that contains text, pictures, and recordings that trace the origins of computers. This Lab provides you with two benefits: first, you learn how to use hypermedia links, and second, you learn about some of the events that took place as the computer age dawned.  

1.  Click the Steps button to learn how to use the Computer History Hypermedia Lab. As you proceed through the Steps, answer all the Quick Check questions that appear. After you complete the Steps, you will see a Quick Check Summary Report. Follow the instructions on the screen to print this report.  

 Click the Explore button. Find the name and date for each of the following:

 a. First automatic adding machine.  

 b. First electronic computer.  

 c. First fully electronic stored-program computer.  

 d. First widely used high-level programming language.  

 e. First microprocessor.  

  f. First microcomputer.  

 g. First word-processing program.  

 h. First spreadsheet program.  

2.  Select one of the following computer pioneers and write a one-page paper about that person's contribution to the computer industry: Grace Hopper, Charles Babbage, Augusta Ada, Jack Kilby, Thomas Watson, or J. Presper Eckert.  

3.  Use this Lab to research the history of the computer. Based on your research, write a paper explaining how you would respond to the question, "Who invented the computer?"