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Наступление персональных компьютеров

B 70-е годы появляются персональные компьютеры. Прежде всего, Аррlе. Компьютер пришел к человеку. И хотя мощность первых Аррlе была несравнимо меньше, чем y IBM, компьютер стал ближе и понятнее. Кстати, именно тогда были реализованы основные принципы многооконного интерфейса, которые позднее будут восприняты оболочкой Windows. Компьютер стал "думать" o человеке, o его удобствах, a не только o том, как бы быстреепроизвести расчёт. От последовательности, когда человек готовит задание, a компьютер задание выполняет, был совершен переход к параллельной работе человека и компьютера.

Фирма IBM, как и любая другая огромная империя, оказалась очень неповоротлива: поначалу она даже не обратила внимание на персонaльный компьютер. Но когда объемы продаж Аррlе стали обвально нарастать, в IBM постепенно поняли, что упускают совершенно новый сегмент рынка. Последовал "огромный неуклюжий скрипучий поворот руля", и вместе c Microsoft IВМ выбросила на рынок миллион компьютеров РС. Это произошло в 1981 году. Тогда и началась современная компьютерная эра. В этот некруглый год компьютер вошел в офисы и дома и расположился там, наверное, навсегда.

Это период резвого младенчества персональных компьютеров. Операционные системы возникают десятками. Чуть ли не каждая компания, производившая компьютеры, считала долгом чести создaть свою. Основным языком программирования стал Бейсик – язык очень простой и доступный. Любой человек, посвятивший пару месяцев его изучению, мог считать себя умудренным и многоопытным "гуру". Тогда же были созданы электронные таблицы и текстовые редакторы – весьма удобные, по-настоящему персональные инструменты. Никакого общего стандарта не было, и еще не просвечивала сквозь каждое приложение лукавая улыбка Билла Гейтса.

Появились компьютерные игры, и самая знаменитая из них – "Тетрис". Однако, как только сделалось понятно, что персональный компьютер не только игрушка, что он может реально работать, потребовался стандарт и взаимная совместимость программ, процессоров, систем хранения информации, резко возросли требования к квалификации программиста и надежности "железа", многие фирмы разорились, другие ушли в тень мощных конкурентов. Ситуация стабилизировалась, и компьютерный мир приобрел вполне оформленные очертания.

Enjoy yourself

Task I. Quiz-game "Do you know more about computers"? (Divide into two groups and give answers to even (1 gr.) and odd (2 gr.) question numbers.)

PART 1

  1. What is a computer?

  2. What is the computer's main function?

  3. What is hardware?

  4. What is software?

  5. What are the main functional units of a digital computer?

  6. What is a binary number system?

  7. What is the function of the CPU?

  8. What two functional units does the CPU consist of?

  9. What components does control unit include?

  10. What is the ALU function?

  11. What is the function of CU?

  12. What storage devices do you know?

  13. What is the purpose of input / output devices?

  14. Name devices used for inputting / outputting information.

  15. What is a scanner used for?

  16. What types of printers do you know?

  17. What is modem and what is it used for?

  18. What is the difference between PC and large computer systems?

  19. What are the main spheres of PC applications?

  20. What professions are in great need of computers?

  21. What does "a computer-literate" person mean?

PART 2

  1. What was the very first calculating device?

  2. Who invented the first calculating machine?

  3. How was the first calculating machine called?

  4. What was the first means of coding data?

  5. When and where was the transistor invented?

  6. What advantages did the transistor have over the vacuum tube?

  7. When was the integrated circuit invented?

  8. What scales of integration are known to you?

  9. What corporation was the first to produce computers?

  10. In what fields were the first computers used?

  11. What was the name of the first digital computer?

  12. Who built the first digital computer?

  13. What is ENIAC? Decode it.

  14. Who contributed the idea of storing data and instructions in binary code?

  15. When did the first personal computer appear?

  16. What were computers of the first generation based on?

  17. What invention contributed to the appearance of the second generation computers?

  18. What was the essence of the third computer generation?

  19. What is the basis of the fourth computer generation?

PART 3

  1. How old were you when you learnt about the computer?

  2. What are the reasons for buying home computers?

  3. Do you like playing on the computer?

  4. What are your favorite video games (shoot'em-up, walk-through, role-playing games, or intellectual games)?

  5. How often do you work with the computer?

  6. Does good knowledge of English help to operate you the computer better?

  7. Do you agree that English is a lifetime study and may serve a variety of purposes? What are they?

  8. Who can be called a computer wizard? Do you attribute his/her success to hard work or talent?

  9. Are you a computer wizard or a "dummy"? Prove it.

  10. Why do you think you'll be good for a computer work?

Task II. What do these abbreviations and acronyms stand for? Decode them.

PC; CU; ALU; CPU; IBM; DOS; CRT; ROM; RAM; IC; LSI; VLSI; CD-ROM; I/O; CAI; CAD; CAM; DVD; GUI; MB; GB; LCD; LAN; IT; DTP; OS; VCR; WWW; HDD; BIOS.

Task III. Quiz: Computers and the Net.

  1. Make sure you ___ your computer before you leave the office.

a) close b) shut down c) restart d) lock up

  1. How long are you going to be ___ the Internet? I need to phone.

a) at b) in c) to d) on

  1. Oh no! This stupid computer has ___ again!

a) crashed b) broken down c) had an accident d) failed

  1. There is a ___ in the computer program somewhere.

a) glitch b) bug c) error d) mistake

  1. I can spend the whole weekend just ___ the Net.

a) sailing b) swimming c) surfing d) windsurfing

  1. Now we have broadband, we're ___ to the Internet 24 hours a day.

a) joined b) infected c) connected d) attached

  1. Web-browser is the software that allows you to ___.

a) explore the Net b) eavesdrop c) send a fax d) save a file

  1. To open a file, just ___ on it with the mouse.

a) press b) cluck c) hit d) click

  1. Virus is a ___ .

a) flaw b) poison c) bug d) digital infection

  1. The emoticon ;–) means ___ .

a) I'm flirting b) I didn't like it c) I'm being ironic d) I'm a programmer

  1. In the film Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise enters a high-security area with the help of a computer ___.

a) monitor b) programmer c) cracker d) burglar

  1. Shareware means ___

a) hand-me-down clothing b) free hardware c) server d) trial software

LEXICAL GAMES

Fill in the squares with nouns upon the models.

CROSSWORD 1

Horizontally: 1. A more favourable position; gain or benefit. 2. The following one thing after another. 3. Examination, experiment or trial. 4. The process opposite to multiplication. 5. A type of computer virus that can make copies of itself and destroy information on computers that are connected to each other. 6. The science dealing with microcircuits. 7. To find the size, length, or amount of something, using standard units such as inches, metres, etc. 8. Application. 9. Someone who has written a book. 10. To write information down or store it in a computer or on film so that it can be looked at in the future. 11. Goal, target. 12. Memory. 13. Loading the program (the operating system) that makes a computer ready to be used. 14. The organ inside your head that controls how you think, feel and move. 15. Method or manner of doing something. 16. A person who is very clever in some specified field; expert. 17. A tiny wafer of silicon that has a set of complicated electrical connections on it and is used to store and process information in computers.

Vertically: 1. Information. 2. Help. 3. Reply, answer or reaction. 4. A group of similar elements or things that belong together or are related in some way. 5. A unit keeping information. 6. Often used, widespread. 7. An electronic device that allows information from one computer to be sent along telephone wires to another computer. 8. A lot of things of the same type that are different from each other in some way. Syn: diversity. 9. A mistake. 10. A switch. 11. A fitting together of parts to make a whole. 12. To run the program. 13. A very small computer that you can hold in your hand. 14. A system of symbols used for entering data into the computer. 15. Knowledge about the world, especially based on examining, testing, and proving facts. 16. An attempt; a hard try. 17. To stop using a computer program; to quit; to escape. 18. One of the possible choices you can make when using computer software.

CROSSWORD 2

Horizontally: 1. Discovery; producing smth. new. 2. To detect and remove the mistakes in a computer program. 3. Someone that uses a product, service, etc. 4. A flexible disk on which you can record computer information. 5. A computer program that is written and designed for a specific need or purpose. 6. One of the elementary arithmetic actions. 7. What is the English for Проектирование И Изготовление? Write the acronym. 8. To watch a television program, film or to look through web pages. 9. The process of preparing a set of coded instructions, enabling the computer to solve specific problems. 10. An ... jet printer. 11. Very large, enormous, vast. 12. Gain or benefit; a favorable position, superiority. 13. To modify a computer file or a document by, for example, deleting, inserting, moving, or copying text. 14. A computer program that translates a low-level programming language into machine language. 15. The physical equipment used in a computer system, such as the central processing unit, peripheral devices, and memory. 16. The amount of money that you have to pay in order to buy, do, or produce something. 17. The smallest unit of information that a computer uses. 18. A cylinder used in printers for paper feed. 19. Information resulting from computer processing that is delivered to a user; one of the main units of a computer. 20. One of the devices used for storing information. 21. Means of interacting between two systems or between a user and a computer. 22. What is the English for ЛВС? 23. The process of gradually becoming bigger, better, stronger, or more advanced.Syn: progress, evolution.

Vertically: 1. Something that is slightly different from the usual form of something; version. 2. The tools, machines, devices, etc. that you need to do a particular job. 3. A device, block, element. 4. A predetermined set of instructions for solving a specific problem in a manner of steps. 5. Velocity, quick motion. 6. Syn: introduction, presentation. 7. Cellular phone is a convenient means of … . 8. Operated or done by hand or without the help of electricity, computers, etc. 9. Counter-Strike is a popular video … . 10. A list of options displayed on a screen from which the operator selects an action to be carried out. 11. A thin metal thread used for carrying electrical currents or signals. 12. A movable indicator on a computer screen. 13. A character, sign, letter, number. 14. An instruction to write information from the memory onto a tape of disk. 15. A counting board, a frame with beads on wires for doing or teaching arithmetics. 16. An imitation or reproduction of an original. 17. An occasion when a computer or computer system suddenly stops working. 18. A container; a screened window. 19. To keep, to hold. 20. English acronym for Автоматизированное Производство.

RE A D A N D S M I L E

(1) WHAT IS 2 х 2?

An assemblage of the most gifted minds in the world were all posedthe following question: "What is 2 x 2?"

The engineer whips out his slide rule (so it's old) and shuffles it back and forth, and finally announces 3.99.

The physicist consults his technical references, sets up the problem on his computer, and announces, "It lies between 3.98 and 4.02''

The mathematician cogitates for a while, oblivious to the rest of the world, then announces, "I don't know what the answer is, but I tell you, an answer exists!"

Philosopher, "But what do you mean by 2 x 2?"

Logician: "Please define 2 x 2 more precisely."

Accountant closes all the doors and windows, looks around carefully, then asks, "What do you want the answer to be?"

Elementary school teacher from Columbus, Georgia, USA: 4.