Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 1

SUBJECT: ICT

CLASS:  SS 1

DATE:

TERM: 1st TERM

 
WEEK THREE

TOPIC: COMPUTING DEVICES 1(Pre- computer age to 19 century)

Reference book: Hiit @ School, Computer Studies for Senior Secondary Education.

CONTENT

The first computers were people. “Computer” was originally a job title: it was used to describe those human beings whose job was to perform the repetitive calculations required to compute such things as navigational tables, tide charts, and plenary positions for astronomical almanacs. Electronic computers and the earlier mechanical computers were given this name because they performed the work that had previously been assigned to people. Man has put every effort to have better methods of calculations.  As a result of man’s search for fast and accurate calculating devices, the computer developed. Essentially, there are three kinds of calculating devices:  manual, mechanical and automatic.

Early Mechanical counting/calculating devices:

1. Abacus
2. Slide rule

Early electro-mechanical counting devices:

1. John Napier bone
2. Blaise Pascal machine
3. Gottfried Leibniz machine
4. Joseph Jacquard loom
5. Charles Babbage analytic machine

Early electronic counting devices:

1. Herman Hollerith punch card
2. John Von Neumann machine 

ABACUS

The first calculating device was probably Abacus. It was an early aid for mathematical computations. Its importance is to aid the memory of the human performing the calculation. A skilled Abacus operator can work on addition and subtraction problems at the speed of a person equipped with a hand calculator. The Abacus is often wrongly attributed to China. In fact, the oldest surviving Abacus was used in 300 B.C. by the Babylonians. The Abacus is still in use today, principally in the Far East. The older Abacus dates from the time when pebbles were used for counting while the modern abacus consists of rings that slide over rods. It is made up of a frame divided into two parts by a horizontal bar and vertical threads.  Each thread contains some beads. To do simple addition and subtraction you shift the beads from one portion to another.

SLIDE RULE

(NASA) engineers of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs which landed men on the moon.

EVALUATION

1. List two pre-computer age to 19th century computing devices.
2. Discuss the components and features of the computing devices mentioned above.

READING ASSIGNMENT: HiiT @ School, Computer Studies for Senior Secondary Education. Chapter Three, pages 5-6.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

OBJECTIVES

1. ___was a job title used to describe human beings who performed repetitive calculation. a)       

  computer b) operator c) analyst

2. The following are early electro-mechanical counting devices except a) John Napier bone
3. b) Blaise Pascal machine c) Abacus
4. Napier invented the slide rule in the year ___.a) 1632 b) 1932   c) 1623
5. ___ was probably the first calculating device a) Abacus b) calculator c) slide rule
6. The following are the early inventors of computing devices except a) James Bond b) John  

    Napier c) Charles Babbage 

THEORY: Write briefly on Abacus and Slide rule.