Info Tech

7/7/2011

Digital Planet:

Tomorrow’s Technology

and You

Digital Planet:

Tomorrow’s Technology and You

George Beekman •Ben Beekman

Chapter 1

Tenth Edition

Exploring Our Digital Planet

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Chapter 1 Objectives

Objectives (cont.)

! Describe digital technology’s critical role in our lives

! Explain how our information age differs from any

time that came before

! Discuss several key trends in the evolution of

computers and digital technology

! Discuss the social and ethical impact of information

technology on our society

! Describe the major types of computers and their

principal uses

! Explain how the growth and evolution of the Internet

is changing our lives

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

3

Living in a Nondigital World

4

Computers in Perspective

! Computers have been with us for a short time but

are built on centuries of insight and effort.

• Computers are

everywhere.

• Our lives are directly

affected when they do

not operate.

• Computers have

infiltrated our lives so

we do not know how to

function without them.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

! Early humans counted with fingers or rocks.

! The abacus was used by Babylonians and Chinese for

thousands of years.

! By early 19th century, the need for more accurate

calculating tools became evident.

! Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace imagined the

construction of the Analytical Engine.

5

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

6

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Computers in Perspective (cont.)

Computers in Perspective (cont.)

! Brief history of computers

!Computer hardware

• Early computers used vacuum

tubes.

• Tubes were...