DOCUMENT RESUME.

ED 391 752 SO 025 981

AUTHOR Tison, Cindra; Woodside, Mary JoTITLE The Ultimate Collection of Computer Facts & Fun. A

Kid's Guide to Computers.REPORT NO ISBN-0-672-30093-1PUB DATE 91

NOTE 99p.

AVAILABLE FROM SAMS, 11711 N. College Avenue, Carmel, IN 46032($12.95, U.S.; $16.95, Canada).

PUB TYPE Books (010) Guides Classroom Use InstructionalMaterials (For Learner) (051)

EDRS PRICE MFOI/PC04 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Computer Games; Computer Graphics; *Computer

Literacy; Computer Printers; Computer ScienceEducation; Computer Software; Computer Uses inEducation; Databases; Elementary Education;Intermediate Grades; Modems; Programming; ProgrammingLanguages; Science and Society; Social Studies;Spreadsheets; Technology; Word Processing

ABSTRACTThis student book presents information, games, and

activities designed to develop computer literacy and skills. The textis aimed at middle elementary level students but may be adapted foruse with younger or older ...tudents. Topics are presented in sequenceto provide a complete knowledge base. However, each topic ispresented with clarity that allows for information to be presentedout of sequence. The book is organized in 22 sections: (1) "ComputerFacts and Fun"; (2) "Early History of Computers"; (3) "The FirstComputer"; (4) "How Does It Work?"; (5) "Printing"; (6) "Font Fun";

(7) "Modems"; (8) "Computer Programming"; (9) "Do You Speak Binary?";(10) "Computer Languages"; (11) "Software"; (12) "Word ProcessingPrograms"; (13) "Graphics Programs"; (14) "Games Programs"; (15)"Database Programs"; (16) "Spreadsheet Programs"; (17) "ComputerAided Instruction"; (18) "Hidden Items"; (19) "Careers in Computers";(20) "Computers and Imagination"; (21) "Buzzword Glossary"; and (22)"Answers Section," which provides answers to questions and activitiespresented in earlier sections. (MM)

***********************************************************************

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made* from the original document. *

***********************************************************************

At Nook.- firmWitatix.,.

U S DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATIONMos of EduationI1 liefemon and Imptowront

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMAPONCENTER (ERIC)

This documlint has been reproducad asjr recoyed from the parson or organization

originating it

CI Minor changes have bum mad* to

improve reproduction quality

Points of view or opinions stated In thtsdocument do not womanly representofficial OERI position or policy

A

11.

"PERMISSION TO REPROOUCE THISMA RIAL HAS 8 N GRANTED BY

Jeth

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES4 eCNYFR (ERIC)" ,

Ck

The Ultimate Colleetion of

Computer Facts & Fun

4

To our families, for their patience and support, withspecial thanks to Michael and Beau. Without them,this couldn't have happened.

1991 by SAMS

FIRST EDITIONFIRST PRINTING-1991

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical,ph ...ocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission fromthe publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of theinformation contained herein. Although every precaution has been takenin the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume noresponsibility for damages resulting from the use of the informationcontained herein. For information, address SAMS, 11711 N. College Ave.,Carme:, N 46032.

International Standard Book Number: 0-672-30093-1Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 91-66656

Printed in the United States of America

Trademarks

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks havebeen appropriately capitalized. SAMS cannot attest to the accuracy of thisinformation. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affectingthe validity of any trademark or service mark.

This is the first four-color book to be imaged at 2540 dpi on theOptrotech Sprint 110 Imposetter.

5

PublisherRichard K Swadley

Publishing ManagerMarie Butler-Knight

Managing EditorMatjorie Jo Hopper

Acquisitions and Development EditorMary-Terese Cozzola Cagnina

Manuscript EditorBarry Childs-Helton

Technical EditorsDan Derrick and Gregg Bushyeager

Cover DesignTim Amrhein

Cover IllustrationNed Shaw

Designer & ProductionScott Cook, Bob LaRoche

IllustratorsScott Cook, Barry Childs-Helton, Lyn Pusztai, Kevin Spear

Special ConsultantsJessica Butler, Rachel Derrick, TJ. Derrick,

Morgan Phillips, Beau Tison, Michael Woodside

6

r1

29

1528323437404345

"

anNONI1=glisil:"

Computer Facts and Fun

Early History of Computers

The First Computer

How Does It Work?

Printing

Font Fun

Modems

Computer Programming

Do You Speak Binary?

Computer Langu iges

Software

485154

64666872767885

Word Processing Programs

Graphics Programs

Games Programs

Database Programs

Spreadsheet Programs

Computer Aided Instruction

Hidden Items

Careers in Computers

Computers and Imagination

Buzzword Glossary

Answers Section

7

P ERFACTSSTART HERE!

ow many of these things do you think people can do with acomputer?

a) Write a letter e) Play a gameb) Draw a picture f) Lift an elephantc) Do homework g) Launch a rocketd) Call someone at h) Treat an illness

another computer i) Feed cattle

If you said 'All of the above," congratulations! You alreadyknow that computers are wonderful machines.

But do you know all the ways that computers can makeyour life more fun and interesting? That is what this

book is about.

In this book you will find computer factsand stories. You will also find games and

activities to test what you learn.

In the back of the book are answers to all the games, and aglossary to explain important terms. You can also send awayfor an Official Certificate when you complete all the activities!

Maybe you already know how to use computers. Maybe youare just starting to learn about them. No matter what you

know so far, there are always new things to learn. So grab apencil, turn the page, and have mit:

8 Computer Fuels & Fun

Before the FirstComputer

IIhe idea for a computerbegan long ago. Itbegan before there

were televisions, beforethere were typewriters, evenbefore there was paper!

Since the beginning oftime, people have alwaysinvented things to make lifeeasier.

About 50,000 years ago,cavemen learned how tobuild a fire to keep warm.

About 5,000 years ago,someone finally inventedthe wheel to move thingsaround more easily.

And 4,000 years ago, theChinese invented somethingto help them do mathproblems more easily. It wascalled an abacus.

The AbacusThe abacus was made ofbeads that moved back andforth on rods. It helpedpeople add and subtract

Some inventions are ahead of their time.

2 Early History of Computers 9

Sound Buzzwordsout in the Glossary

ab.a.cusAn.alyti.cal En.gineBab.bagecal.cu.la.torda.taJac.quardLeibnitzLove.lacePas.calpro.gram

large numbers. Before itwas invented, people couldonly add and subtract asmany things as they couldremember in their heads.

The abacus could not domost of the things acomputer can do but it didone important thing thatcomputers do. It made mathproblems easier for peopleto solve.

The Leibnitz Calculator.

Pascal's AddingMachine

n the 1600s, a manin France inventedanother machine that

is important in computerhistory His name was BlaisePascal.

Pascal worked for his father,who was a judge. Pascal hadto count all the money thatwas paid to the court. Anytime he made a mistake, hehad to start counting fromthe beginning.

In 1641, Pascal invented anadding machine to speedup his work. His addingmachine could add andsubtract long columns ofnumbers without makinga mistake. He called hismachine the Pascaline.

The LeibnitzCalculatorA few years later, a Germanimproved upon Pascal'sinvention. His name wasGottfried Leibnitz.

Gottfried invented amachine called the LeibnitzCalculator. It could domore than add and subtract.It could also multiply,divide, and find square

roots of numbers. It wasworked by hand.

The JacquardLoom

A lmost two hundredyears later cameanother important

machine. It was anautomatic loom, inventedin 1801 by Joseph-MarieJacquard. This loom usedinformation to help it makecloth.

Jacquard was a Frenchweaver. In the 1800s,weaving was hard work. Aweaver had to use his handsto string threads over andunder other threads,. while

Uq1111L-

The Jacquard Loom.

10Computer Farts at Fun

his feet pumped the loom tokeep it moving. He also hadto choose each piece ofthread as he went along, tomake the cloth the rightcolor and thickness.

Jacquard's new loom wouldstring the threads for himwhile he pumped it. Josephpunched holes in cards, andhooked them together tomake a pattern. The cardsfed the right pieces ofthread into the loom tomake the Aoth. Jacquardmade an amazing piece ofcloth. He made a set ofcards that worked togetherto weave a picture of him!

This invention scared otherweavers. It made cloth fasterand more perfectly thanthey could. They were afraidthe new loom would takeaway their jobs, so theyburned down Jacquard'shouse and his new loom.

But that didn't stopJacquard. He built theautomatic loom again.

Jacquard's invention was thefirst machine that could useinformation to createsomething new. His loomtook information from cardsand used it to weavebeautiful cloth.

The AnalyticalEngine

&Iharles Babbage livedin England during the1800s. He wanted to

build machines that coulddo many kinds of jobs withinformation. Lady AugustaAda Byron, the Countessof Lovelace also lived inEngland. She had her ownideas about machines. Shewas later to invent thecomputer program (theinstructions that tell acomputer what to do).

In 1833, Babbage andLovelace began workingtogether on an invention

SORT IT ALL OUTHere is a list of important inventions in earlyinvented them. Match up one invention with

The machines:Leibnitz Calculator

abacusAnalytical Engine

Jacquard LoomPascaline

computer history, and a list of the people whothe person or people who invented it.

The people:Charles Babbage and Lady LovelaceGottfried LeibnitzBlaise PascalPeople in ChinaJoseph-Marie Jacquard

4 Early History of Computers

1 1

they called an AnalyticalEngine. The wordanalytical means able tofigure something out. Anengine is a machine thatworks on its own, without aperson moving every part.

head of TheirTimeBabbage and Lovelace spentyears planning the Analytical

Engine. They figured outhow to give information tothe machine, how to makeit do something with theinformation, and how tomake it give newinformation back.

By 1839, Babbage wasworking fulltime on smallcomputing machines.Lovelace was completingher theories of how to give

instructions to computers.But no one could build theAnalytical Engine.

To build it, thousands oftiny parts had to be madeperfectly. In the 1800s, notools could make parts sosmall and exact. TheAnalytical Engine was neverfinished.

Computing machines had towait until the 1900s.

EVEN BEFORE THE ABACUS . .Have you ever heard of Stonehenge? Stonehenge is a circle of big rocks on Salisbury Plain inEngland. The rocks were arranged that way thousands of years ago. No one today knowswhy. Many people have opinions about it.

The sun on the circle of rocksmakes a pattern of shadows.The pattern changes slowlyduring the day, and it looks adifferent way for every season.Some people thinkStonehenge was built to telltime. They call it a kind ofcomputer, because it figuresout the time of day and time ofyear. But nobody knows forsure if that was why it wasbuilt.

Computer Facts & Fun

TOLl 011111 ABACUSREAD ALL THE DIRECTIONS BEFORE YOU START!

You will need:A CARDBOARD BOX (a shoebox is fine), ANEXTRA PIECE OF CARDBOARD (the same sizeas the longest side of your box), 5 FEET OF

S7RING, with 28 BEADS 70 STRING ON IT(get 4 colors, 7 beads each), STICKY TAPE,A FLASHLIGHT, A PENCIL, and SCISSORS

(ask first!)

Making the abacus:1. Stand your box on one of its long sides,

so the open side faces you.

2. Cut 4 pieces of string long enough toreach across the box, with some leftover. Put them aside for later.

3. Use the tip of your scissors to punch4 small holes (just big enough for thestring to go through) in the top side ofthe box like this:

4. Shine the flashlight into the boxthrough the first hole. Put an "X" wherethe light touches the bottom side. Dothe same for all the holes.

6 Make Your Own Abacus

5. Punch 4 small holes in the bottom side,in the middle of each "X."

6. Put your extra piece of cardboard in thebox, right against the top side.

7. Push the pencil point through the firsthole in the top side, to make a mark onthe cardboard. Do the same thing forthe last 3 holes. Take the cardboard out,and make an "X" on each of the pencilmarks.

8. Punch a small hole in the cardboard, inthe middle of the first "X." Punch holesin the last 3 "X" marks. Put a stringthrough each hole.

9. Put the cardboard back in the box.Stand it up so it makes a wall between asmaller part and a bigger part of theinside, like this:

10. Tape the cardboard wall in place. Keepthe ends of the strings free.

13

11. Sort your 28 beads into 4 color groups,with 7 beads in each group.

12. String 2 beads of the same color on thefirst string, in the smaller part of thebox. Put this end of the string throughthe nearest hole, and tie a knot in theend of the string.

13. String the last 5 beads of this color onthe free end of this same string, in thebigger part of the box. Put the free endof the string through the nearest hole.

14. Pull the string until it's tight, but not sotight that it bends the box. Tie a knot inthe string's end outside the box, to keepit tight.

15. Use Steps 11, 12, and 13 to finish thelast 3 strings in just the same way. Theyshould look like this:

Use Your Abacus!Lay the abacus on its back. Move all thebeads against the outside walls.

The cardboard wall divides your strings intolong and short strings. The beads in eachrow divide into two different values: ls on

4

the long string, 5s on the short string.

In row 1, beads on the long stririg are ls.Beads on the short string are 5s.

In row 2, beads on the long string are 10s.Beads on the short string are 50s.

In row 3, beads on the long string are 100s.Beads on the short string are 500s.

In row 4, beads on the long string are 1,000s.Beads on the short string are 5,000s.

Move the beads on a row to the inside wallto make numbers. When you are done with acalculation, move all the beads back. First,let's make some simple numbers:

21 (two "10s," one "1")105 (one "100," no "10s," five "ls")2,925 (Try it!)

Now let's add some numbers:8 + 12 = ?

1. Put 8 on the abacus (one "5" bead,three "ls").

2. Now add 12. First, add the 2 (two "1"beads).

3. Now add the 10 (one "10" bead).

4. Now count up the value of your beads:one "10," one "5," and five "ls."Total: 20!

Try adding these on your own:35 + 7 = ?47 + 65 = ?

Computer Facto & Fun

41;5:CE,

I

r V.....24716111.1111517'

-V7

THE FIRSTimhe ideas and plans ofCharles Babbage andCountess Lovelace

were not lost. Lovelace hadtaken careful notes on theirwork, and just fifty years afterBabbage died, those noteshelped someone else tobuild a computer. Thisman's name was HermanHollerith. The computerhe invented was not exactlythe same as Babbage'scomputing machine, but itused many of the same ideas.

The Census

/ANN14101044qpilry

,

f:a

BUZ: 0 R

cen.susENIACHollerithinte.grated circuitMark I

silqconTabu.lating Ma.chinetransistorUNIVAC

Every ten years, the government countshow many people live in the United States.This count is called a census. In 1880, thegovernment took a census. But there wereso many people living in the United Statesthat it took eight years to count everyone,and to add information about where theylived and what they did for a living. Eightyears was too long a time, so the

PUTERgovernment had a contestto find a faster way tocount people.

How Did He Do It?Herman Hollerithinvented a machine calleda Tabulating Machine.Tabulating meanscounting. The TabulatingMachine won the contest.The government used it inthe census of 1890.

Herman's machine used cards with holespunched in them. Each hole meant onething. One hole meant the person wasmarried. Another one meant the personwas single.

Electricity passed through the holes, andturned on motors that moved counters.The counters gave out the totals.

In 1890, it only took six weeks to performthe first simple count. A complete countwas finished in only two and a half years.

16 Computer Fowls & Fun

Herman's new Tabulating Machine becamefamous. Copies of it were sold to othercountries to use for their censuses. BuzHerman didn't stop with one invention.He started a company to build morecounting machines. The company wascalled International Business Machines.Today it is the biggest computer companyin the world. Do you recognize the name?IBM!

Figure It OutWhen HermanHollerith let the

government use his Tabulating Machinefor the census, he didn't do it for free. hecharged the government 5 cents for eachperson his machine counted. For the 1890census, the machine counted 62,622,250people. How much money did Hermanearn?

From Tabulating Machinesto Computers

n the early 1900s, people all overthe world invented computers thatworked in ways similar to the way the

Tabulating Machine worked. They didexperiments to figure out how to makecomputers work faster, and how to makethem do more than just count.

One of the first new computers wasthe Mark I. It was invented in 1943at Harvard University. The Mark Icould count faster than theTabulating Machine, and it could domultiplication and division. AfterWorld War II, ENIAC did even more typesof calculations.

Transistors Take OverIiin those days, computers were as bigas a room. Some even had almost800,000 moving parts, and weighed

30,000 tons.

These early computers used up greatamounts of power. Their parts grew so hotwhen they worked that airconditioners had to bebuilt around them.With so many parts,somethingwas alwaysbreaking.

The transistor (left)replaced bulky vacuumtubes (right).

iiThe First Computer17

Quick ClickIn the 1940s, the ENIAC was in a publicdemonstration to show that it could multiply97,367 by 97,367 in one second. Today, thereare computers which can do such calculations amillion times in onesecond. And we don'teven think twiceabout it!

These computers were also very hard touse. You had to be a computer scientist toeven get near one.

In 1948, a group of men who worked atthe Bell Laboratory took the first steptoward a small, easy-to-use computer.They created the transistor. A transistorcontrols the amount of electric power thatflows in and out of a wire.

Computers that used transistors couldwork faster than the older computers,but they were still large and hard to use.

Computers Catch On

1111

he people building these computerswere very excited about them, butnot many other people were

interested. These newer computers coulddo math faster than people, but they werestill hard to use. They were still expensiveto build and take care of. They still brokedown all the time. People who ran

businesses did not want to buy them oruse them.

In 1951, a company called Sperry Univacbuilt a computer called UNIVAC. Sperryfed UNIVAC input about the 1952Presidential election. Before the resultswere announced, UNIVAC predicted thatDwight D. Eisenhower would win theelection. UNIVAC was right!

Suddenly, people began to realize thatcomputers could do important things forthem. Businesses started to buy their owncomputers to solve many types ofproblems.

Thanks for My WalkmanWhen the people at Bell Laboratoriesinvented the transistor, they didn'tjust use it in computers. Transistorswere used to improve radios, toonow they could be smaller. Beforetransistors, a radio was about as bigas a bookcase.(Imagine trying tocarry one ofthose around!)

Computer Facto & nue

Transistors Get Left BehindComputers were improved again in 1958.That is when the integrated circuit wasinvented. Integrated means combined.The integrated circuit combinedin onesmall placeall the parts a computerneeded to run.

This meant the computer could besmaller, and have fewer parts. Informationcould move through it faster. Also, therewere fewer parts to build, fewer parts tobreak, and fewer parts to fit into onemachine. So computers got faster, easierto use, and much smaller.

From the Beach tothe ComputerThe integrated circuit was used incomputers until 1968, when the computerchip was invented. The computer chip wasmade of siliconwhich is made fromsand.

The silicon chip was smaller than a dime,but it could hold allthe information acomputer needed towork. This allowedcomputers to runmuch faster and useless power.

KidstuffToday, you don't have to be a computerscientist to use a computer. Somecomputers are small enough to fit inyour pocket. And you can simply plug acomputer into a wall or use batteries tomake it work. Computers can do morethings with information than peopledreamed of in Herman Hollerith's time.For all these reasons, computers are nowvery popular.

But the history of computers has notstopped yet. People continue to makeimprovements all the time. The idea of acomputing machine is thousands of yearsold, but we are only beginning to see whatthey can doand how much we can dowith them.

12 The First Computer 19

EAR

here are manyimportantevents incomputer

history Can you rememberwhat happened when?

Match up the events in theleft-hand column with thedates in the right-handcolumn.

The Leibnitz Calculator was invented 1890

The silicon chip was invented 1968

Jacquard invented the automatic loom 1948

Tile abacus was invented 1839

The transistor was invented about 4,000 years ago

Pascal invented the Pascaline 1958

Charles Babbage and Lady Lovelace worked middle 1600son the Analytical Engine

1801

Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine was

used in the United States Census 1641

The integrated circuit was invented

Computer Facts & Fun

COMPUTERS

goday computerscome in threemain sizes.

The biggest computers arecalled mainframes. Amainframe can be as big as acar or even a whole room. Itcan handle huge jobslikekeeping track of all thepeople in the country. allthe money in a bank, ormillions of stars in a galaxy.Some mainframes haveterminals connectedkeyboards and monitors formany people tei use at thesame time. A mainframe cando hundreds of jobs atonce. In UNIVAC's time (the1950s), all computers weremainframes.

The in-between-sizecomputers take up lessspace. You could probablyfit one into a large closet.Because these computersare like small mainframes,they are calledminicomputers.

BUZ

a

compat.ibleMac.intosh

main.frame

mi.cro.com.put.er

mini.com.puterperson.ai

Minicomputers can handlejobs that are a little smallerthan mainframe jobs. Theyare good for keeping trackof all the people in acompany, all the students ina school, or all the rainfall ina state.

The smallest computerswere first made to be usedby one person at a time, sothey are called personalcomputers. Personalcomputers are small enoughto sit on a desk. Some caneven fit into a suitcase.Because they are so smallcompared to a mainframe,they are sometimes calledmicrocomputers ("micro"means very small).

They are used for manydifferent personal jobsmath, writing, playinggames, or figuring out onefamily's income tax. Thisbook is mostly aboutpersonal computers,because they are the onesmost people use.

The two main types of personal computers areMacintosh and IBM. They looksimilar, and work in much thesame way, but for many yearsthey were not compatible (theywould not work together). Thatis changing slowly.

14 Computers ilig and Small21

computer isdifferent from otherkinds of machines

because you can do somany things with it.

Most machines only letyou do one or a few thingswith them. You can usea pencil sharpener tosharpen a pencil. You canuse a tape player to playtapes, or to recordtapes. But youcan use acomputer to

inputstore

display

editoutput

write, draw, solve mathproblems, play games, anddo many other activities.

You can do many thingswith a computer becauseit works in a way that issimilar to the way yourbrain works. Thecomputer does not workexactly like your brain butit works like your brain inmany ways.

How Does YourBrain Work?To understand how acomputer works, thinkabout how your brainworks. You do more thingsand have more thoughtsevery day than you cancount. But for all of your

Computer nets & Fun

different thoughts and activities, yourbrain follows the same few steps:

1 Your bxaiflukes in information.

Your bra* remembers information.

3 You can think-about any informationin your brain.

4 When you change your mind, theinformation in your brain changes.

5 You give out information wheneveryou talk, write, or do an action.

Five Simple Steps

A computer works by following thesefive steps, too. There are specialcomputer words for these steps.

1 Step 1. It take ion you putin. The info

computer takes in is c

2 Step 2. It rem rs information soyou can use i . hen the

computer remembe formation, itstores the information.

3 Step 3. It shows you information soyou decide what to do with it. When

the computer shows you information, itdisplays the information.

4 It changes the information when youwant it to. When the computer

changes information, it edits theinformation

5 It gives out informat1 iu canshare it with othe Information

that the computer gives t is calledoutput.

IRour brain and a computer workin a similar way. But they are very

different from each other. Here are a fewof the differences:

Similar but Different

A computer can doover again, withoutand withoutmaking a mistake.

A computer canwork morequickly thanpeople. It'samazing justhow fast itcan work.People whoare VERYgood ataddingnumberscan addthem up in

the same job over andgetting tired or bored,

16 Now Does It Work? 23

a few seconds. A comp dd up thesame riumbersand .time toadd up THOUSANDS mowidripst ONEsecond!

A computer can remernberinformation foryears, without forgetting a-single word ornumber.

Are Computers SmarterThan People?Of course not! Computers can only dothese wonderful things because of us. Wegive them information. We give themcommands. Without information and

commands, a computer cannot think.

But people can think for themselves. Wecan get information and commands fromother people, but we can also think up ourown. This difference is more importantthan all the other differences betweenpeople and computers. We can choose touse a computer or not.

Computers are special machines becausewe can use them in so many differentwaysbut a computer is still just amachine. Yot, can do more things with acomputer elan you can with a toaster. Butif no one is using the computer or thetoaster, neither machine can do anything.

Word SearchEach of the words in this list is hidden inthis jumble of letters. How many of thewords can you find?

INPUT

STORE

DISPIAY

EDIT

OUTPUT

IBM

SILICON

PERSONAL

COMPUTER

TRANSISTOR

T A LANOSREP'BR ETUPMOCATTDERONTFRLUUI I SOSRP

P MTSTC I SMT TBPP I SFOU BTI TLNOCO EDI T I AA IO TOLASRYN

I RNIEROTSO

Computer Facts & Fun -

A computer may look likejust one machine, but it ismade of many differentmachines. There is thecomputer itself, plus allthe parts used with it.Each part by itself is called aperipheral. The computerand peripherals worktogether, but they each dodifferent jobs. When theywork together they arecalled a system. The partsof a system arecomponents.

commands, and createsoutput. The CPU alsoremembers information.

The circuit boardis connected to

everything else in the CPU.

Electricity travels along thecircuit board from thepower supply to the siliconchips. The silicon chipsprocess and storeinformation.

El You use a keyboardto type letters and

numbers into the computer,and to move to differentparts of the screen.

lel You use a mouse topoint to different parts

of the screen. It works fasterthan the keyboard for this.You can also draw with it!

ElThe centralprocessing unit

(CPU) puts informationthrough a process. It stores,input, carries out

UThe monitor showsyou output on a

screen.

6The modem is a sortof telephone for the

computer. This one isoutside the computer. Mostmodems go inside theCPU's case. The modem is

attached to aphone line, andcarries bothinput andoutput.

161 The printer printsoutput onto paper.

8The hard disk storesall the information

you save on your computer.The information you savestays on the hard disk evenafter you turn off thecomputer. You can usethe information again,whenever you want.

These are floppydisks, also known as

diskettes. They can be putin and taken out of the CPU.Floppy disks do not holdnearly as much informationas the hard disk, but youcan use as many of them asyou want.

10The disk drive holdsfloppy disks. When a

floppy disk is in the diskdrive, the disk drive can

take input off thedisk, or put outputon it.

2 6

QWERTY?

WHAT'S THAT?Qwerty is the name forthe way the alphabetappears on a keyboard.The letters of thealphabet are placed inthe same order on everycomputer keyboard.This makes it easy toremember where theyare when you type. Tosee where the name"qwerty" comes from,look at the alphabet keysin the upper left-handcorner of the keyboard.What do theyspell?

central processingunit

disk drivediskrAtekeyboardmodemmonitormouseperipheralsilicon chipsystem

0 '

Computer Facts & Fun 19

Zie

MIZE

Different Kinds ofMemory

ou have learned thatmemory stores allinstructions and

information for thecomputer. But did youknow that there are threedifferent kinds of memory?

If you think about all thedifferent kinds of things theCPU has to remember, itmakes sense.

1. It has to rememberhow to follow eachstep in the processingpath.

2. It has to rememberinstructions andinformation you putinto it.

II 1k

3. It has to rememberinstructions andinf6rmation you savein it.

ROM, RAMand StorageThe three kinds of memorya computer has are calledRandom-Access Memory,Read-Only Memory, andStorage.

Read-OnlyMemoryrememberswhat order the

computer should work in.The control unit in the CPUkeeps information movingfrom step to step. It usesRead-Only Memory to keepthe steps in the right order.

Without Read-Only Memory,the computer would notknow that it should takeinformation in before itdisplays it on the screen. Itwould not know how tosend output to the printer.Things would be a mess.

But you can depend onRead-Only Memory It neverforgets the right orderthings should work in.People who know aboutRead-Only Memory like tocall it ROM for short.

Random-AccessMemoryremembers

instructions and

file

flopp.y diskhard diskmaw net.ic diskRandom-Access

MentoryRead-On.ly Mem.o.ryStorage

Computer Facts & Fun

information you put intothe computer. While thecomputer is on it usesinformation andinstructions from Random-Access Memory to obey yourcommands. When you turnoff the computer, Random-Access Memory forgetseverything. When you turnthe computer on again,

it will not rememberthe information andinstructions you gave itlast time. Random-AccessMemory is called RAMfor short.

Storage hold'sinformation,andinstructions

you give the computer tosave. Magnetic Disks(which work much likecassette tapes) are one formof storage. There are twotypes: hard disks andfloppy disks. The hard diskinside the computer stores alot of information andinstructions. It is a greatplace to store programs,

1.11,9p2 SEARCHFind these hidden words:

MODEM

COMPUTER

COMPONENT

CPU

ABACUS

TERMINAL

PROCESSOR

PATH

MAGNETIC

ENIAC

FLOPPY

KEYBOARD

P LAARGHEWGRFFMHRNCXDO LOPT IOIORCONWAMUTRAE PUCPULEFOS PAURF I NUBS YTLNOOGGYO ESUCABAFERAIKMEDOM)IKO FLAN IMRETTNENOPM0CL

22 Down Memory Lane29

which are sets ofinstructions for differentactivities. It is a good placeto store information youwork with often.

Floppy disks storeinformation too. They areuseful because you canuse them to exchangeinformation with otherpeople and in othercomputers. When you storesomething on a floppy diskinstead of on a hard disk,you save storage space inthe hard disk. This isimportant if you havelots of programs andinformation you want tostore there.

Files ofInformationWhen you tell the computerto save some informationyou are working on, the

ChipsRead-Only Memory and Random-Access

Memory come in chips. The chips are attachedto the circuit board of thecomputer.

information is put into itsown file. The file ofinformation is saved on adisk. All information that issaved, is saved in a file.

A file is kind of like a folder.Let's say you are writing ona report for school. Halfwaythrough writing, you decideto stop for a while. To keepthe report and all yournotes safe, you put them allin a folder. Then you putthe folder in adrawer.

But with thecomputer, you do have tosave your information in afile, and you have to put thefile on a disk.

After all, you could alwayshunt through the house foryour paper report. But howwould you hunt through acomputer?

There isanimportantdifferencebetween paperfiles andcomputer files.When you work onpaper, you do nothave to put yourreport and notes into afolder. You do not have toput the folder in a drawer.

30

Only two ofthese dksks

can go intodisk

drives!

Computer Facts & Fun

WRAPPIN

ALICESSING PAUBUZpath

processor

Control Unit

Memory

Arithmetic LogicU.nit

When you give informationand instructions to yourcomputer, they go inthrough an input device.Then your input follows apath through the computer.

This is the path your inputfollows:

From your input device, theinput travels into the CPU,and goes to the processorinside it.

The processor ismade of silicon

24 The Processing

chips. It has three mainparts: the Control Unit,Memory, and theArithmetic Logic Unit.

The Control Unit movesyour information from onestep to the next. First itstores your input inRandom-Access.

Next, the Control Unit takesinstructions from storageMemory and sends them tothe Arithmetic Logic Unit.

The ArithmeticLogic Unitfollows theinstructionsand createssome newinformation.

The Arithmetic Logic Unitsends the new informationback to Memory

Memory stores the newinformation.

The Control Unit turns thenew information intooutput.

The output comes to youthrough a peripheral like amonitor or printer.

INS\------iffiAr-1111

r----; 61;1.

_!!!!!!or

z4t,tiharadricar.tfufiarI ri MI r'efr iri- Jait'°'5.15ti(..,ce,r r rd:r ..-; .,i 17

_ ---

31

PERSONAL COMPUTERS AND

lilarly mainframes costmillions of dollarsto build only

governments andbusinesses could afford-them. Governments usedcomputers for planninghow to respond to worldevents. By 1970, forexample, the Pentagon wasusing IBM mainframes tofigure out how to fight warsin space. By the 1990s,world events could reachright into the home througha personal computer!

Passing the WordIn August 1991, when theSoviet army took over

=111141

Moscow, it also tried to takeover communication. Butpeople in the United Statescould still get word aboutevents in Moscow, becausethey were linked to peopleoverseas by a system ofpersonal computers,modems, and electronicbulletin boards. They couldask these other computerusers whether they knewanyone who might haveinformation about what washappening. Soon there weremany other people on thelookout for the information.The Soviet army could notprevent it from gettingout. That helped stop thetakeover.

Imagine you are the president of a French company thatmakes computer games. One day, one of your workers rushesinto your office with a newspaper. The front page shows a riotin Washington, D.C., with National Guard tanks in the streets,and the headline: "Revolution in America?" Your workertells you she knows about a computergame invented by an American wholives in Paris. The game is called "Crisisin the Capitol," about the NationalGuard taking over Washington, D.C.Your company can put it on themarket right away. What do you do?

Causing a StirAt the same time, apublisher of computergames was almost ready topublish a new game by aSoviet immigrant living inthe United States. His namewas Vladimir Baculyn, andhis game was called "Crisisin the Kremlin." It wasabout the Soviet armytaking over Moscow! NowBaculyn's publisher wasrushing to put the gameon the market. In a TVinterview, Baculyn said he'dthought up the game longbefore the takeover. He hadmade his game realistic, soit could show the Americanpublic how difficult Russia'sproblems were. But gamesare also fun and whenthey are about real events,they can make fun ofsomeone else's suffering,without meaning to. Whatdo you think?

Computer Facts at Fun 1\0

iihese letters disappear right out of myhead! Can YOU remember them forme?"

You'll need: A PENCIL, 4 SHEETS OF PAPER,A SHEET OF CARDBOARD, A CLOCK ORWATCH, AND A FRIEND 70 BE YOUR TEST

SUBJECT.

People have a short-term memory that worksa lot like RAM. This experiment will showyou how short-term memory works. All youhave to do is follow the directions. All yourfriend has to do is to remember the letterson the Professor's two blackboards, andwrite them down. But that may be harderthan it looks!

The Snap Test:1. Put your sheet of cardboard over the

Professor's blackboards, so they can't be

26 The "Disappearing Memory" Experiment

seen, and give your friend a blank sheetof paper and the pencil.

2. Tell your friend, "I'm not going to speak.during this test. PH show you someletters for a few seconds, then I'll coverthem. Wait until I snap my fingers. Thenwrite down the letters you saw. Write asmany as you can remember. I'll snapagain when it's time to stop."

3. Move the cardboard so your friend cansee the letters on Blackboard 1. In fiveseconds, cover the letters again. (Don'tspeak yet.)

4. Wait 10 seconds, then snap your fingers.(Don't speak now!) It's time for yourfriend to start writing.

33

5. Wait for 30 seconds while your friend iswriting, and snap your fingers when the30 seconds are up.

6. When your friend puts down the pencil,it's time to do the Sonic Word Test.

The Sonic Word Test:1. Ask your friend to turn over the first

sheet of paper, and take out a new sheetof blank paper to write on.

2. Tell your friend, "This test will be thesame as the last one. But this time,instead of making a noise, I'll say whento begin writing and when to stop."

3. Move the cardboard and show yourfriend the letters on Blackboard 2. Waitfive seconds, then cover the lettersagain. (Don't speak yet.)

4. Wait 10 seconds. (Just like last timeSsshh!) When 10 seconds are up, say toyour friend, "Go ahead and write downthe letters you remember."

5. Wait for 30 seconds while your friendis writing. (Don't talk yet!) When 30seconds are up, say, "Time's up now"

6. When your friend puts down the pencil,you're ready to compare your results.

Compare Your Results:1. Have your friend turn over the sheet

of paper that has the letters fromBlackboard 1 on it (Snap Test answer).How many letters are in the Snap Testanswer?

34

2. Now have your friend turn overthe paper that has the letters fromBlackboard 2 on it (Sonic Word Testanswer). How many letters are in theSonic Word Test answer?

3. Which answer has more letters? Writedown how many letters were in each ofyour friend's answers.

Check Your Results:1. Now let your friend test you!

2. How did you do? Which test let youremember more letters?

"DISAPPEARING MEMORY" EXPERIMENTANSWER: The Snap Test usually shows moreletters remembered. The Sonic Word Testusually shows fewer letters remembered.Here's why. Your brain has short-termmemory and long-term memory, just likeyour computer. (Short-term memoryremembers things that happened recentlybut nothing else. Long-term memoryremembers things that happened a long timeago.) When you showed you friend theblackboards, your friend's Atrt-termmemory "recorded" the letters. The soundof snapping your fingers didn't bother this"recording." But when you TOLD your friendto stop writing, instead of snapping yourfingers, your words "erased" some of theletters stored in your friend's short-termmemory. Thenthere weren't asmany letters leftin there to writedown!

Computer Farts & Fun

rinters are a popuiar output device.They turn electronic signals from theCPU into a form we can share with

others. The output you get from a printer iscalled a printout .

The two main types of printers are laserprinters and dot-matrix printers.

The Laser PrinterLaser printers make the highest qualityprintouts. They work fasterthan any other printer. Theonly problem is, they are veryexpensive.

How It WorksA laser printer works much likea copy machine. It usesinformation from the CPUinstead of a picture we feed in.

The computer uses a laser todraw a magnetic picture on ametal drum inside the printer.As the drum turns around, it

28 Printing

passes throughblack powdercalled toner.The tonersticks to themagnetizedpicture on thedrum. Next thedrum rolls overpaper, and the

continuous-feed paperdot-matrix printerla. ser print. er

platenprint head

toner is rolled on the paper. Finally thepaper is heated up and the toner melts ontoit like ink.

Magnetic Picture

LaserMetal Drum

35

Continuous-FeedPaper

Platen

Dot-Matrix PrintHead Inside

Controls

r.aur ' %

Dot-Matrix PrintersThe Dot-Matrix Printer is the most populartype of printer. It is easy to use and not tooexpensive. On most dot-matrix printers, thepaper goes in the back, gets pulled downunder a roller called the platen, and ends upin the front. It's a lot like putting paper in atypewriter. This paper can either be a singlesheet, as with a typewriter, or continuous-feed paper. Continuous-feed paper is likeone long sheet that feeds through theprinter. It comes apart into seperate sheetswhen the printing is done.

How It Worksdot-matrix printer has a ribbon like atypewriter. It makes a printout by usingsmall pins inside the print head. The

computer sends the printer signals that tellwhich pins should push against the ribbonand touch the paper with ink.

When the pins receive thesignals from the computer,they push against thepaper quickly. The pinsleave a trail of dots as theymove across the paper.The dots, which are setclose together, form theletters and pictures.

When the pins pushagainst the ribbon andpaper, they are acting as amatrix. A matrix issomething that forms

something else inside of it. In this case, theletter A is formed out of the dots (as you cansee in the picture). This is how the printergot the name dot matrix.

ComputerSignals

LJism Print Head

Pins

Inked Ribbon

Printing "A" with a dot-matrix pi inter.

3 6 Computer Filets & Fun

JilA good example of a dot matrixis the electronic scoreboard atbasketball games. Notice thateach score shows up as a patternof dots. The windows that showthe scores are set up like dot-matrix print heads, but insteadof pins, they have lights. Thelights are arranged in eightcolumns. In the scoreboardshown it takes four columns toshow the number two.

Mission Possible

MOMS

There is a message hidden in the empty dots.Your mission is to find out what it is. You'llhave to "print" like a dot-matrix printer tofigure out the message. The numberedinstructions will tell you which dots to fill.These instructions are like the instructionsthe CPU gives to the printer.

For a real challenge, time yourself. Writedown your time when you have finished. Youwill need it to figure out your speed.

Example: Column 1 - fill A (The "N' dot incolumn 1 is filled in.)

0 Jump Shot ou the Dot

th

VISITORS

READY TO START? GO!

Column 2 Fill BColumn 3 Fill CColumn 4 Fill D,E,F,G,H,IColumn 5 Fill CColumn 6 Fill BColumn 7 Fill AColumn 8 Fill C,D,E,F,GColumn 9 Fill B,HColumn 10 Fill A,I

Column 11 Fill A,I

Column 12 Fill B,HColumn 13 Fill C,D,E,F,GColumn 14 Leave BlankColumn 15 Fill A,B,C,D,E,F,GColumn 16 Fill H

7

Column 17 Fill I Column 33 Fill B,HColumn 18 Fill I Column 34 Fill C,D,E,F,G,Column 19 Fill H Column 35 Leave BlankColumn 20 Fill A,B,C,D,E,F,G Column 36 Leave BlankColumn 21 Leave Blank Column 37 Leave BlankColumn 22 Fill all the dots Column 38 Fill all the dotsColumn 23 Fill A,I Column 39 Leave BlankColumn 24 Fill A,I Column 40 Fill AColumn 25 Fill B,H Column 41 Fill AColumn 26 Fill C,D,E,F,G Column 42 Fill all the dotsColumn 27 Leave Blank Column 43 Fill AColumn 28 Fill all the dots Column 44 Fill AColumn 29 Leave Blank Column 45 Leave BlankColumn 30 Fill all the dots Column 46 Leave BlankColumn 31 Fill A,I Column 47 Fill A,B,C,D,E,F,G,IColumn 32 Fill A,I

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

A 00 00 00000 00 00000000 0000 00 00 00000000 0000 00 00 00 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

How did you do?Write down your time in the purplebox below

Now divide it by 9.

Write the result in the blank space below.

I "printed" characters per minute.

Quick ClickA dot-matrix printer is so fast wc countits speed in characters per second.The slowest dot-matrix prints about80 characters in a second. Printing thismessage wouldtake a slowprinter less thana second.

38 Computer Farts at Fun

Ilk

A font is a name for onecomplete set of letters,numbers, and symbols thatare all the same style. A fontis also called a typeface.

The word typeface comesfrom the days when all printwas typed with metal molds.The style of aletterwas itsface.

--...amildif

4a

You can use different fonts to express the mood youare in.

Feeling JAZZY? This isBodini Poster font.Or maybe you want to be fancyUse thisZapf Chancery font.

S2LLJ r...daliapial J11-11§J11 .gi JJ1iiiiiiisJ

_Wail aLiiiilaLelailill Th...J.ii 11-_111Jal

Els_LIJI?isial_risil lialaLtli

Sometimes you can get even kpokier by changing fonts

in the middle of a sentence and then backagain.

32 Font Fun

9gard, 0144e unitea,"tem pal

3 9

MAI TIE

ow are your powers ofdetection? Can youfigure out what this

message is saying? Themessage was typed using aplain old everyday keyboard.But the font used to type itwas no ordinary font. Thisfont makes one symbol foreach letter of the alphabet.For example, when you type

"A" on your keyboard theCPU tells the printer to printa "i" in its place. When youtype a "B," the CPU tells theprinter to print an "

Can you break the code?Here are some clues to helpyou:

8=E--;a-z= I

ti=SA=R

=c

--=NVB-37 = F

TFV. -G

*IP

.^. a

^Iv414,6 tIlIFlIQI

J %DV a Ea S

8

22__A Eta

Computer Warts Os Fun

ow would you like totalk, play games, andlearn new things from

people you've never met,all while sitting at yourcomputer? How about doingresearch for a school reportwithout leaving the house?Or leaving a message onyour best friend's computerwithout going into hishouse? You can do all this

Your push-button phone can bean input device!

34 Modems

MIL

111/ VVV IPF

and more using a computermodem.

A modem lets you shareinformation, pictures, andeven computer programswith computers all over theworld.

How Does It Work?A modem is a telephone foryour computer. It is attachedto your computer and alsohooked up to a telephoneline. To connect with anothercomputer, your modemhas to dail the telephonenumber of the other modem.Once the conection is made,you communicate by typingmessages.

When youtype amessage intothe computer,

BUZanswer modem

o.rigq.nate mo.dem

the modem turns the inputinto tiny sound signals. Thesound signals go out overthe telephone wires as easilyas your voice does.

If you could hear what wasgoing through the wire, itwouldn't sound much like ahuman voice. Modem signalssound more like radio static.

Your message appears on theother computer's screen.When they reply, theirmessage appears on yourscreen.

41

BUZ 0

7

Bul.letin Board Servicee lec. ic but. let. in

boardonline ser.vice

ulletin boards aregreat places forsharing information.

You probably see schoolbulletin boards coveredwith lunch menus,homework assignments,lost and found items,birthday notices, andspecial awards.

There are services that canbring information likethisand morerightto your computer. Thistype of service is calledan online service.CompuServe, PC-Link,and PRODIGY are onlineservices. One of the

features they offer is anelectronic bulletinboard. It's also known as aBulletin Board Service(BBS for short).

A BBS works much like thereal bulletin boards you'veseenmany people puttheir information in thesame place, so it can beshared. An electronicbulletin board holdsa huge amount ofinformation, however.All the computers that areconnected to it can use it.

Some electronic bulletinboards provide games,activities, discussions andelectronic mail.

Others give informationabout just one subject,like sports, cooking, orscience. One BBS, forexample, is devotedentirely to earthquakes.It's called the Earthquake

Information Center andthis BBS contains data onearthquakes all over theworld.

Ask a parent to help youchoose a bulletin boardand always get permissionbefore you join any BBS.You will want to considerthe cost of using the BBS,any long-distance costs forthe modem's phone line,and the kinds of servicesthe BBS provides.CompuServe, PC-Link andPRODIGY each has a BBSjust for kids. One of themmay be a good place tostart.

0 \Computer Farts & Fun 41.

A modem is a veryunusual peripheral. Ithandles both input andoutput.

Help! A computer in the United States wants to sendinformation by modem to a computer in Australia. Thereis only one way to connect them. Can you find it?

38 Modems43

COMPUTER

PROGRAMMINGlile tell computers whatto do by giving themcommands. For

example, you might be usinga computer to write a letter.If you want to check thespelling of the letter, youmight use your mouse toclick on a command thatsays "Check Spelling." Howdoes the computer knowwhat you are asking for?That is what computerprogramming is all about.

Computers don't understandEnglish, but there are peoplewho understand computerlanguage. These peopleare called computerprogrammers. Programmerswrite instructions thatteach computers how tounderstand and obeycommands from people.Each set of instructions is acomputer program.

The program has to hold allthe different steps you might

want to follow. There aresteps for writing and printinga letter. There are other stepsfor playing a video game.There are different steps fordoing math homework. Theprogram has to tell thecomputer which steps tofollow.

Each program also hasinstructions for you.When you buy a program,the instructions areincluded. They tell youhow to use the program,and what commands togive it.

If there were nocomputer programs, youwould have to write everyinstruction for the computeryourself. Youwouldhave to

write the instructions incomputer languageandyou would have to writethe instructions out VERYcarefully. If you made evenone mistake, or forgotsomething, the program

would notwork.

4Computer Facts & Fun

..

WRITING A

CO U111

111

earning a computer language is notexactly like learning a spokenlanguage such as English or

Spanish. Once you learn enough Spanishwords, and how to make sentences out ofthem, you can speak Spanish. But with acomputer language, you have to learnhow to put your sentences togetherperfectly.

Before you start giving commands to thecomputer, you have to think throughevery step of what youwant it to do. If youmiss any steps, theprogram willnot work.

.4110111.16.,

Let's say you have a robot. You want thisrobot to throw out the garbage for you.

Here is one possible program you couldwrite for the robot:

1. Carry this garbage to the garbagecan.

2. The garbage cans are beside thegarage.

3. Put the garbage in a garbage can.

Will that work? No way! How will therobot get out of the house? What if thereis something in be veen the house andthe garbage cans? And how about the

cans? Where exactly ARE the cans?Beside the garage? Which side of the

garage? How many sidesdoes the garage have? What

should the robot do whenit is finished?

OMR I IlII MO

4. .

4

..411.11----illIP PIC ir11111. , II barlillaMe

11r--

11..A

31 Compitor Programming

Let's try again:

45

1. Take the garbage bag to the backdoor.

2. Open the back door.

3. Go down three stair steps.

4. Walk straight, fifteen steps.

5. TUrn right.

6. Walk straight, five steps.

7. 11.1rn right.

8. Reach down.

9. Take off the garbage can's lid.

10. Put the garbage bag insidethe garbage can.

11. Turn left.

12. Walk straight, five steps.

13. Turn left.

14. Walk straight, fifteen steps.

15. Go up three stair steps.

16. Open the back door.

17. Enter the house.

18. Close the door.

Did we miss anything?

46 Computer nets & Fun 3113--

DO YOt SPEAK BINARY?he informationwe feed into thecomputer turns into

electronic pulses. Thepulses are its language.

We can use thousands ofwords to communicate.But an electronic pulsedoesn't have manychoices. It is either onor off. That's it. Thecomputer has to use thosetwo choices, on or off, tohandle all the informationwe give to it. The languagebuilt around those two

40 Do You Speak Binary?

choices is called binarycode.

Let's look at how thosetwo simple choices let uscommunicate with acomputer.

Inside the CPU, electronicpulses move through thecircuit board to thecomputer chips. Eachcomputer chip hasmillions of tiny switches,arranged in sets. Each ofthese sets has sevenswitches to use for

4 7

communicating. When anelectronic pulse reaches aset, it turns t:ie switcheson and off, in an exactorder.

BUZ

ASCII

binary

We use a "1" to mean theswitch is on, and a "0" tomean the switch is off.Each letter of our alphabethas its own pattern of"ons" and "offs". Look atthese examples.

G = 1000111. This meansthe first switch is ON, thenext three are OFF, andthe last three switchesare ON.

0 = 1001111. This meansthe first switch is ON, thenext two are OFF, and thelast four are ON.

When you type "GO" onyour keyboard, here iswhat the computer turns itinto:

10001111000111

Now the computer knowswhich switches to turn on,and which to turn off.Now it can obey yourcommand.

But that's a lot of numbersto read, process, and turnback into English. It looks

To a computer, 1 means "on" and 0 means "off."

like this would take a longtime, doesn't it?

It wouldif a person hadto do it. Computers arefaster because they useelectricity to moveinformation. Millions ofelectronic pulses passthrough a computer chipevery second. Thecomputer can translateyour input, string thecombinations together,process them, and turnthem back into Englishbefore you can blink.

Binary code by itselfis impossible forprogrammers to use,but maybe you have aknack for it. Are you readyfor a challenge?

Computer Fuels & Fun

SIisted below is a sample of a real binary code: the American Standard Code forInformation Interchange (ASCII, pronounced 'ASk-ee," for short). Under eachletter is a column of l's and O's. That column is what the computer reads

(remember, a computer reads faster than a human being can).

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1 1 1 1 11111111111111 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000011111111111000101011111111000000001110 00 11110000 111100 0011110000110011001100110.011001100110101010101010101010101010

Now test your skill. Below is a message written in ASCII binary code. Can you solve it?

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1111110 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 00 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 01 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1

1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1

(Write your answer here)

42 Do You Speak Binary?4 9

high-level language

operating system

sesquence

IIn the 1950sprogrammers got tiredof struggling with

binary code. They beganinventing languages that thecomputer could translateinto binary code for itself.After the computer translatesthe language, it can obey it.

We think of these languagesas a "step up" from writingin binary code. That is whythey are called high-levellanguages.

Programmers use differenthigh-level languages to writedifferent types of programs.

Here are some of the mostpopular high-level languages.Some of them were namedafter famous people.

FORTRAN: This languageis used to write scientificprograms, such as the onesfor predicting the weather.

COBOL: This language isused to write manybusiness programs,such as the ones forsending out bills andcalculating paychecks.

PASCAL: Thislanguage is oftenused to teachpeople how toprogram. (Namedafter BlaisePascal!)

BASIC: (Beginners All-Purpose SymbolicInstructional Code) This is

0 1 1 0 0 1 0

olvt of theeasiest

computerlanguages tolearn. It uses

many Englishwords. People

who are justbeginning to

program oftenchoose to learnBASIC first.

5 U Computer Facts & Fun 430

ADA: This language wasdeveloped for the U.S.Department of Defense. Itis used to write programsfor secret defense andaerospace projects.(Named after CountessLovelace!)

C: This language is used towrite common programsthat do many differenttasks. Some of theprograms it writes areword processors, ,,;raphics,and operating systems.Operating systems areprograms that tell thecomputer how to runother programs.

'May, programs arewritten in these and manyother computer languages.But to use a program, youdo not have to knowanything about thelanguage it is written in.You just have to knowwhat you want to use it for.

That can be harder than itsounds. There are morecomputer programs in theworld than anyone coulduse in a lifetime. How doyou decide which Ones arcright for you?

44 Computer Languages

You can start by asking theright questions. Here arefour:

1. What am Iinterested in?

2. What do I need to doabout my interests?

3. How could acomputer help me?

4. Is there any softwarethat will.do what Iwant my computerto do?

DON'T ASCII ME!!ille can't speak to the computer in its "nativelanguage," because that "language" is electricity!Programming languages were invented to

"translate" our commands into electricity.When we give the computer a command, theprogramming language changes the words andnumbers we use into a sequence of electric pulses(that means they come oneafter another). These pulsesset the parts of thecomputer in motion. That ishow it obeys our commands.We know the computer hasunderstood us when it gives usoutput in our own language. It cangive us this output because theprogramming language has changedthe °computer's electric pulses back intowords and numbers. Binary code is justthe way we keep track of what's goingon inside the computer.It's nearly impossible for people to usebinary code to talk to each other. (Try it!)But almost any computer canunderstand ASCII binary code.

.....- -alas

L

A computer is made ofhardwarethekeyboard, monitor,

CPU, cable, and all theother solid parts. Thesemany kinds of parts arewhat make a computerable to work. "Hardware"is a good word to usewhen you are talkingabout all of the parts atonce.

Programs are nothardware. They are sets ofinstructions that tell thecomputer what to do.This makes them just asimportant as hardware.Software is a good wordto use when you aretalking about programs ofall kinds.

Categoriesand TypesThere are manycategories ofsoftware, and manydifferent types

within each category. Tounderstand the differencebetween categories andtypes, think about fruit.

The categories of fruitare apples, oranges,strawberries, bananas,and so on. Within eachcategory, there are manytypes. In the applecategory, for instance,there are many types tochoose from. You mightwant a Granny Smithapple, a Red Delicious, aMacintosh apple, or someother type of apple.

There are many categoriesof software, like games,word processors, graphics,and so on. Within eachcategory, there are manytypes. In the "games"category of software, you

BUZ1.4w Ron

cop.y.righthard.warein.stallpub.lic do.mainpub.lish.ersoft.ware

could choose a mysterygame, strategy game, or .

another type of game.

How Does itWork?

A program is recordedon floppy disks,which only a

computer can read. Youhave to install the disks inyour computer. Installingmeans putting theprogram information intoyour computer's memory.

After you install a piece ofsoftware, the informationis still on the floppy disk.

Computer Fuels di Fun 450

Installing just copies theinformation. It doesn'ttake anything away fromthe floppy disk. The diskkeeps the informion incase your computerbreaks, or you get a newcomputer. Then you haveto install the softwareagain.

SoftwarePublishers

iif a programmerwrites a programthat many people

may want to buy, there areother people who will getthe new program readyto sell. They work incompanies which makecopies of the software tosell. These companies aresoftware publishers.

First, the publisher looksfor any mistakes or placesthat the program couldbe better. Once thesemistakes are fixed.thousands of copies ofthe program are made.

Directions for using thesoftware are written, andpackages to hold theprogram are made. Finally,copies of the program aresold to stores and throughthe mail.

True CrimeLet's say your mom buysyou a great new program.You install it on yourcomputer and ask yourfriend over to see it. Yourfriend loves the program.She wants a copy for hercomputer. But her momwill not let her buy one.

46 Software 53

GrammarCheck

he word"software" isused just the

way hardware is. It isalways used in theplural. You do not buya hardware, and youdo not buy a software.You might buy a pieceof hardware, like aprinter, and youmight buy a piece ofsoftware, like a game.

Your friend asks you to lether "borrow" the program.You know she will give thedisks right back after sheinstalls them. You wantyour friend to enjoy theprogram too. Do you lether install the program?

If you do, you arecommitting a crime.Installing software that isnot yours is stealing. If youlet someone else installyour software on theircomputer, you are helpingthat person to steal.

Most software is protectedby copyright laws.Copyright means that thesoftware must not becopied without gettingpermission first from thepeople who made thesoftware. Copyright lawsalso protect books,records, and movies.

But software is so easy toinstall that many peopleforget about the copyright.

People who would neverthink of stealing a carmight not think it's wrongto install someone else'ssoftware on their owncomputer. After all, whodoes it hurt?

It hurts the people whowrite, publish, and sellsoftware to make a living.Programmers work hardto write good programs.Software companieswork hard to make anddistribute the software.Stores work hard to sell it.Each of these people getspaid a little bit for everycopy of the program thatis sold. If you install aprogram without payingfor it, you are taking awaysome of the money each of

You can help stop softwat crime. You can promisenot to install any program that is not yours, and not

to lend your copier out. You canexplain to other people why it

is wrong to install softwarethat is not theirs.

Can you think of other waysto help?

54

these people earnedwhether you mean to ornot.

Installing someone else'ssoftware hurts us, too.Many software publishershave to raise the price ofsoftware to make up forall the software that isinstalled illegally.

Free To ThePublic!Somesoftware isfree to beused byanyone. rhis -411.10111

software is called publicdomain software. Thatmeans anyone can use orcopy it. Public domainsoftware is not protectedby copyright laws. It is theonly kind of software thatyou can legally copy forother peopleexcept, ofcourse, any programs youwrite yourself!

Slat.

0Computer Farb; a Fun 11

DON'T JUST WRITE YOUR WORDS

PROCESS THEM!ord processorsare very popularcomputer programs.

Using a word processor iskind of like having yourown teacher inside thecomputer who helps youwith your work as you goalong. The only differenceis, you don't have to keeprewriting your work!Instead, you type in thechanges

you want, and print outa new copy that looksexactly the way you wantit to.

Important TermsBefore you canunderstand wordprocessing, you haveto know someimportant terms:

characterClIrsordoc.u.mentedit.ingsave

thesaurusword pro.cess.or

File% avi

clommetxt tkval.

Ica save 'ID. ovs

INOS4 VtOMSOT.

48 Word Processing55

How It WorksFirst, you type into thekeyboard just as if youwere using a typewriter.

You use special functionkeys to erase words, movesentences around, and addnew sentences. Thesesteps are called editing.

Some word processingprograms check forspelling mistakes, andhave a thesaurus. Athesaurus helps you think

of other words to use.Some can even correct thegrammar you have used.

When you are ready, youcan press a button to printyour work and a copy rollsout of the printer.

After you read it, youdecide that the first andthe second paragraphshould be moved around.Do you make this change?Well, if you had to writeout this work again byhand, you'd probably

never do ityou'd justleave it the way it was. Butwith a word processor youcan go back into the work,make your changes, andprint it out again.

Like other programs youcan save your, wordprocessing work. If youstart something and don'twant to finish it right away,you can just save it in afile, and come back to itanother day.

6 110Computer Fnets & Fun 40,

THE GREAT KEYBOARD SPECIAL KEY himNote: To do this activity, you should be using a word processing program.

This game has two challenges: First find each of the keys listed in column oneon a computer keyboard. Then match up the key name with the descriptions incolumn two.

I. Start with column one. Find the key listed on your keyboard.

2. When you have found the key, find out what it does.

3. Then match the name of the key with the definition in the right-hand column.

Home Moves cursor up a whole screen.

Shift Moves cursor to the end of a word, line, or document.

Insert Turns every character you type into a capital letter.

Page Up Turns every character you type into a capital letter whenyou hold it down.

End Lets you type new characters in between other characters.

Caps Lock Moves cursor to the beginning of a word, line, or document.

Esc Moves cursor down a whole screen.

Page Down Lets you leave what you are doing.

If you can locate these keys and tell what they do in yourword processing program, you can be an'Editing Champ.But BEWARE: If anyone finds out, they will come to YOUfor help with word processing!

tp/1111111/A/111111111KAAR

50 Word Processing

IM11C

GRAPRICS ARE MAWhat AreGraphics?Your computer can puttwo kinds of informationon the screen. Thealphanumeric kind ismade up of letters andnumbers. Just aboutanything else is calledgraphics.

Graphics can be pictures,lines, boxes, graphs,borders, patternsalmostanything you want to useto decorate your work.

Graphics programs are aspecial type of software,one which helps you drawmore easily. The softwarewill also help you changethe pictures you havedrawn with it.

There are many graphicsprograms such asBannermania and PrintShop. You can use them tomake greeting cards,calendars, and posters.You can make signs foryour lemonade stand,

flyers to advertise yourlawn-mowing service,or paper banners for

your baseball team. Howabout your own personalnote paper, with yourname and address, and apicture of something youreally like? Or how about

5 6

al. pha nu mer icclip artgraphicspaint and drawpixels

your own magazinecomplete with drawings?

Graphics programs comewith their own pictures(clip art). You can usethese pictures in your owndesigns. If you have acolor printer, the clip artwill even print in color.

Paint and DrawPrograms

ome of the newergraphics programswill let you draw

your own artwork and

WA 1 0Computer Fuels & Fun VI

save it in your computer.Imagineno mess, nopaint to spill, and all thecolor you can use!

These graphics programsare called paint and drawprograms, because that iswhat you do with themin your computer. You useyour mouse to draw apicture on the screen, andthe graphics program givesyou colors and patternsyou can use to make yourpicture look just the wayyou want it to.

Paint and draw programshave other small programsin them called tools. Just

9Graphics

like real tools, they arethere to help you makethings. Here are some ofthe tools you will find in apaint and draw program:

FillThis tool helps youcolor a picture withoutgoing outside the lines.

Spray This tool workslike a can of spray paint. Itleaves a fine mist of colorwherever you aim it.

MagnifyThistool is also called

Zoom. It works likea magnifying glass,

making a part of yourpicture so large that it

59

looks like a groupof little dots. Thesedots are calledpixels.

EraseThis tool

wipes out parts ofyour picture whenyou tell it towithout tearing orsmearing, becauseit isn't on paperyet!

Line DrawThistool will help you

draw a straight line withyour mousewithout aruler.

A TextWould youlike to write

something on your design?Text is the tool for typingwords on the screen.

Square This onewill draw a perfect

square or rectangleeverytime you tell it to. It'sgreat for drawing housesor buildings.

Circle This oneworks just like the

square tool, only it makescircles and egg shapes.

Super GraphicProjects YouCan Do

1. Colorful banners forbirthdays, holidays,special events, orschool activitiesbigenough to hangacross a wall.

2. One-of-a-kind holidaycards, birthdaygreetings, Get Wellcards, or Thank-younotes.

3. Job flyers. Have youstarted a businessbabysitting, lawnmowing, orwalking dogs?

Spread the word!

4. Posters for lost-and-found items, schoolactivities (dances,elections, sportsevents)or your ownpictures to put up inyour MOM.

5. School assignments.Try making a coverpage for a bookreport, or a chart foryour science project.

6. Gifts. How aboutmaking somestationery as a gift fora friend? All you haveto do is make up onepage and print it out.Then take it to a copyshop. The copy

6u

shop can make copiesand put them in atablet.

7. Certificates. Are you amember of a team orgroup? You can makecertificates for all themembers. Just makeone up and have itcopied.

For WritersOnly

f you want to dosome fancythings with

words and pictures,graphic writingprograms will helpyou do it. You cancreate pictures ofdinosaurs, aliens,houses, carsand astory to go with thepictures. (Did you everwant to write yourown comic strip? Try itwith one of theseprograms!)

ti 0Computer Farts & Fun Ut/

L1114111

J.; gigAry

ded.icateded.u.ca.tion.aIfan.ta.syjorstickrole-playsing

simulationsound card

ou have a busy dayahead. After school,you are going to

cruise the Amazon lookingfor a jewel thief. Thatshouldn't take more thanan hour. Then you willhave to do a quick changeso you can take on theWorld Tae Kwan DoChampion. If you hurry,there might be time beforedinner to help a poorspaceship janitor save theuniverse. What are youdoing? Playing computergames!

54 Computer Games

Computer games areprograms that do the "job"of playing a game. Theytell the computer how tomake the pictures andsounds of the game.Computer games can beabout sports, adventures,orfantasy (make-believeand magic). You can playcomputer games byyourself, with a partner, Orin teams.

Would you like to travelthrough an adventure thatyou helped to make up?Then role-playing gamesare for you. A role is amake-believe person youcan pretendto be. In arole-playinggame, thecomputershows youwhat it lookslike when youpretend.

Educationalgames are fullof facts you

411114111111.

can use in school. Theycan help you find fun inalmost any subject. In oneeducational game, you cantravel around the worldand through timechasing a criminal namedCarmen Sandiego. You willneed to learn a lot abouthistory and geography ifyou are going to catch her!

Do you like sports? Thereare computer sportsgames for football,baseball, hockey, andmore! You have to use allyour knowledge of thesport to beat youropponent.

Swamp Gas, from inline Design.

61

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandie o?

Deper t

-new

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, from Broderbund

Did you ever wish youcould fly a plane? Insimulation games, youcan pretend to do excitingthings like flying a planeor a spaceship. You learnabout all the controls, geta mission, and the rest isup to you! (Some flightsimulation games look soreal, pilots use them forpractice.)

Play and LearnA great thing aboutcomputer games is thatwhile you play, you alsolearn. Practice makes youreyes and hands work

together. You can practiceyour thinking skills as youlearn to "outwit" thegame. And of course, yourcomputer skills keepgetting better!

Joysticks

A joystick is an inputdevice that is shapedlike a handle, or a

pistol grip with no pistolattached. You may haveused one at a video gamearcade. There are joysticksthat work the same wayfor personal computers.They help you to shootwhen you play targetgames. They make it easyto steer when you playflying or driving games.

The arrow keys on yourkeyboard will let you steer,so you don't really need ajoystick for computergames. They are just fun touse!

English/French I 2 08 2

Mash Cart& ir`.Flemoue

the noise

,

Find Stan le

graq .746,

le bruit

EDE

QuitIntroHelp

Options

47 \c`c.

nanniciunancirmm=ne3 F -*-1"-1LNIinLI

Vocabut.earn/ce, from Penton

311.0

Computer Facts & Fun MP

Nintendo, Move OverHere Come the Personal Computers!

he Nintendo GameSystem is a famousmachine that is

made only for playinggames. It is a dedicatedcomputer. (Dedicatedmeans a computer is madeto do just one thing, andnothing else.)

Dedicated computeis usedto be best for playinggaMes. But personalcomputers are gettingbetter. Here are somereasons why.

If your CPU has aspecial circuit called asound card, yourcomputer can soundas good as a stereo.

If you have a colormonitor, yourcomputer games willbe in color. Some ofthem look better thantelevision pictures.

You can store andsave games on apersonal computer.(You can't do that ona dedicated gamecomputer.)

56 Computer Games

In many computergames, you can typeinstructions for thepeople in the game tofollow. This can makeyour games muchmore fun.(A dedicated gamecomputer can'ttake any newinstructions.)

You can use apersonal computer torun many different

programs fromgraphics to math. Adedicated computercan run gameprograms.

Some new personalcomputers can run gamesjust as well as dedicatedgame computers, andmaybe even better.Explore what yourcomputer can do!

63

ere 'd Compiler Games ComeIIike computersthemselves,computer games

have a history. They havebeen around for longerthan you might think!

Pong. This wasthe first knowncomputer game.

It looked like a simplepicture of ping pong. Adot bounced back andforth between two shortlines that worked likepaddles. A researcher atBrookhaven NationalLibrary made up the game.It was made to show offthe Library's computers tovisitors.

Space War. Thiswas the firstspace game. It

was made up (and played

first) at Harvard University.In the 1960s, people whoused computers for workbegan to make up morespace games for fun. Butthere were no personalcomputers yet.

Computer Space.Integratedcircuits were

brand new. Thiscomplicated space gameused them. It was one ofthe first arcade games.You could fly yourspaceship with a joystick,jump to hyper-space,shoot at other ships, ororbit around a starevenchange the star so itpushed you away orpulled you in! This gamewas too fancy for mostpeople. Not very manyplayed it.

Quick ClickThe first computer games were played on mainframes.These computers were thesize of a room, and they costabout 8 million dollars each!

64

BUZ

arcade game

enter.tainment

portable

researcher

version

Pong. This wasanother earlyarcade game. It

was an improved versionof the first Pong, and itused knobs to move thepaddles.

Odyssey (early1970s). This was

`N, Pong played on ahome television screen.Video games were startingto catch on, but they werevery simple, and they hadto have their own inputdevices. There were still

Computer Farts & Fun

no personal computersyet.

Death Race. Thisgame started acontroversy

people argued aboutwhether it was good orbad. The arcade game hada steering wheel. Thewheel steered a little videopicture of a car. You had todrive through a place thatlooked like a graveyard,and hit moving creaturesthat were shaped likepeople. When you hit acreature, it turned into agravestone, and then you

would have to steeraround the stone. Themore creatures you hit,the higher your score was.In 1975, arcade gameswere still new, butthousands of people wereplaying them. Some of theplayers thought DeathRace was fun. Otherplayers thought it waswrong to make a game outof running over creatureswho looked like people.

1958/Space Invaders.This arcade gamewas also a fight

with creatures, but it took

IIhe idea for the Death Race game came from amovie called "Death Race 2000." It was about afuture world where people used cars to kill other

people as a sport.The National Traffic Safety Council teaches

people to drive safely. The Councilsaid the Death Race game wasteaching people to drivebadly, and teaching them notto care if they hurt otherpeople. The makers of thegame said the game wasonly fun and make-believe.What do you think?

z

58 Computer Games 6 5

place on the moonandthe creatures wereshooting back. Created inJapan, Space Invadersbecame an instant hit.Many more Japanesearcade games followed.

Asteroids. This/1 was another

shoot-'em-up-in-space game. You had toblast the asteroids (bigspace rocks) and keepyour ship away from them.In the early versions of thegame, the asteroids werevery simple graphics inblack and whitebut theymoved around quickly.

Pac Man. PacMan was a fullcolor arcade

game. It combined a mazewith a haunted house. PacMan was a yellow ball witha mouth. He ate up astring of dots in the maze,while keeping away fromcolorful ghosts. This gamewas a super hit.

Back toComputers hi the1980s.

iihe silicon chip cameinto use in the1980s, and three

things happened tocomputer games:

1. As computers gotsmaller, more peoplebought them andtook them home.Games for personalcomputers started tocatch on, becausemore people hadsomething to playthem on.

2. Computer toysstarted to appear in

Quick ClickArcade games are dedicatedcomputers.

stores. The Atariand Coleco gamesystemswhich youplayed through a TVsetwere two earlycomputer toys. Later,as chips got smaller,portable computergames came out. By1988, they would fitin a wrist watch.Today many othertoys use computerchips.

3. As personalcomputers got better,computer games got

oday's home computersgive the gameprogrammers a

chance to go all out.Some games have stereomusic, and color graphicsas sharp as a TV picture.What would the inventorof Pong think of themnow?

66

complicatedagain. But this timepeople were readyfor themmaybebecause it wasmore fun to playcomplicated games athome. Each year thegames became mot*interesting to play,and more challengingto win.

ComputerGames Today

oday, computers arean important form ofentertainment

there are many ways tohave fun with them. Youcan still find arcade gamesin shopping malls. You canplay with dedicated gamesystems and other "smart"toys. Or you can try gamesthat are as complkated asflight simulators, right onyour personal computer.

-

Computer Facts & Fun Op I_

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH

oar Aka. mmwmr-,

iir database is acollection of data, orinformation.

You use databases all thetime, but you might noteven know it. If youlooked at the sports pagethis morning to find thescores, you were lookingat a kind of database. Ifyou looked up a numberin a phone book, youused another database.Dictionaries, cookbooks,and address books aredatabases. Any collectionof information is adatabase if it is organized,and if it is updated. Youupdate a database whenyou take out any outdatedinformation and putin new, "up-to-date"information.

A database program is justa computer version of thesame thing. But becausecomputers work so fast,they can make theinformation easy to find

BUZSound them out inthe Glossary

da.ta.basefield

recordsearch

update

and update.

If you want to keep trackof a lot of things orpeopleor ideas of yourowna database programcan help you do it!

How It Workssiet's say you haveused your computerto create a database

of your baseball cards,how many you have, whenyou got them, how muchyou paid for each one, and

11111 hettifig Organized vs ith Databases 67

what condition each one isin. Your database will haveplaces to put every factabout the players, such asname, team, and battingaverage. Then there willbe information about thecards themselves.

Each fact is a piece ofinformation called a'field. All the informationfrom one card is called arecord. The program cansort this informationrapidly.

Let's say you want to knowwhat you paid for yourKen Griffey, Jr. cards

because you ay..: gettingready to trade two of themto your friend. Instead oflooking through each cardand searching for notes onwhat you paid for them,you would just typein a command to thecomputer. Out comes areport telling you whatyou need to know. And allin less than a second!

Database Ideas

10ou could make adatabase of thevideocassette movies

your family has. Thatmight make it easier foreveryone to choose whichones to watch.

A database of your videogaines might be usefulyou could tell which onesyou have lent out, andwho may have borrowedthem. You could also keeptrack of your top score,and the top scores of yourfriends.

You might have a databaseof all the phone numbersof the kids in your class.That might make it easier

to send out birthday partyinvitations.

How areDatabases Used?Databases are used in lotsof ways.

Schools may keep reportcards or attendancerecords on the computer.

The library uses a databaseto see who has taken outwhat books and when.

Airlines use databases tokeep track of who is flying,when, where, how muchthe tickets costand if anyseats are available.

-

Wherewould

YOUexpect to

find databases?(Think about whomight need a LOT of.informationfast!)

Computer Fuels & Fun 61

You Be the Databaseillhis activity will helpyou understand Ihata database can do

for you. Remember, adatabase managesinformation. It lets youask the computer forjust the facts you want.Then the computer goesto the database andsearches through all theinformation there. Once

the searching is done, theoutput will tell you whatyou want to know. Thisoutput is usually called areport.

This chart shows what areport might look like.Each name, address, andnumber is in a separatefield. The computer goesthrough all the fields in

the database, and thenputs them in the orderyou have asked it for.

To see what a databasedoes, you will be workinglike the CPU in thecomputercreatingoutput from the list. Justfollow the instructions inReport 1, and do the samefor the rest of the reports.

IN THIS ACTIVITY, YOU TAKE THE PLACE OF THE COMPUTER.

For each report, sort through the databaseto find the answers.

Report 1: How many boys are signed upfor the Computer Club? 8

Report 2: How many girls are signed upfor the Computer Club?

Report 3: How many members are in the5th grade?

Report 4: How many members are in the6th grade?

62 You Be the Database

Report 5: How many members are in the7th grade?

Report 6: How many members live onMeridian Street?

63

PARTICIPAUS IN THE COMPUTER CLUB

Name Sex Address Telephone Grade LevelAdams, Michael M 4623 Everglade 555-3294 5

Brown, Greg M 1234 Bonita 555-2908 6De Camp, Carol F Q5012 Park 555-5012 6Ferris, Mark M 909 E. 67th 555-7520 7Graham, Amber F 4670 Illinois 555-6921 5

Hill, Bob M 5789 Meridian 555-2692 6Jacobs, Tara F 6544 College 555-7824 5

Kelly, Maureen F 201 Waldron 555-9388 6Monroe, John M 1716 Thompson 555-7302 7Newman, Nancy F 5858 Crittenden 555-3402 6Potter, Bill M 7520 Illinois 555-3710 5

Resnick, Megan F 4327 Everglade 555-9875TUrner, Joe M 4678 College 555-8967 5

Vitz, Annie F 5697 Meridian 555-7313 6Woodson, Jack M 7515 Holly 555-3456 5

111IX 'Ell UP!All these words are a little mixed up. Witha little help from you, we can get thesecomputer terms in correct order. Good luck!

RCEMPOTU SRNTOISRAT

NTOF CRSGHPIA

DMOME PYOPFL KDS1

SLPIREHPREA RNOTMOI

PHC1 TRPIERN

DRASPETHESE DBROAYEK

7u 0Computer Facts & Fun 63.

BUDGET YOUR MONEY WITH

SPREADSHEETDoes it seem like moneyjust disappears from yourpockets?

Do you feel like you neverknow just where youspent your allowance?Does it seem like you cannever save enough moneyto buy that special pair ofshoes or new CD?

Maybe you need a budget.A budget is a way to helpyou show how muchmoney you have, how youplan to save it or spend it,and how much you mayhave left over.

Many people andbusinesses usespreadsheet programs. Aspreadsheet can help youkeep track of the moneyyou have, the money you

mumBANIAINGET

STORE

64 Budget Your Money with Spreadsheets71

budgetcell

spreadsheet

spend, and the money youhave left. Once you knowall that, you've set up abudget.

How It Works

A spreadsheet sets uprows and columns ofinformation. For a

budget, each row descibesa different thing you mightspend your money onbooks, gifts, candy, etc.

The spreadsheet also hascolumns that go up anddown the screen. Thesecolumns are for measuringtime. They can tell youwhere your money goes

from day to day, week toweek, month to month oryear to year.

Each box that is formed byrows and columns is calleda cell. You write namesand numbers in the cells,and when the computercalculates a math problem,it puts the answer in a cell.

Why Use aSpreadsheet?You could do this onpaper, but a computerspreadsheet makes iteasier. Let's say you arekeeping track of yourallowance or your savings.If the amount is changed,you can tell the program

what the new amount is.The program will changethe amounts in the cellsfor you. Then it will tellyou how much money youhave left over.

Now all you need is aprogram to tell you how toget a bigger allowance!

,- g oComputer Fuels & Fun VIP

gar

IT'S SPECIAL SOFTWARE YOU SHOULD KNOW AB

The computer can be usedas a great learning tool.Computer programs thatare made just for learningare called Computer-Aided Instructionprograms. This type ofsoftware is called CAI forshort.

ImproveYour skills

here are hundreds ofprograms that havebeen written to help

kids and students learn.They are on almost anysubject.

One of these types ofprograms is called a drilland practice. You mayhave used drill andpractice programs inmath class, to practicemultiplication, addition,and subtraction. Theseprograms are like usingflash cards to practice yourskills, but they are a lotmore fun.

Improve YourImaginationAnother kind of CAIprogram is a simulation.

66 Computer-Aided Instruction 73

A simulation makespretending more like reallife. A simulation programmight take you on apretend trip to the moonin a rocket, or across theWest in a covered wagon.It shows you pictures,gives you facts and asksyou questions as if the tripwere really happening.You get to choose thethings you will take alongand the way you will go,and make sure that you

don't run out of foodthen you get to watch thesimulation and see if youmade good choices!Simulations can help yousee how people use thethings they know. Thismight help you withscience, history, and othersubjects.

When you are ready tofinish high school, thereare CAI programs that tellyou all about different jobsand colleges, and help youdecide which is best for

Oregon TraH

ConditionsJuly18,1848

HotWennCold,firThe OiregonTrair

Rations

f44.1.4

0 ,TG-300

Mountains

124er

: Trailyrs

LandfarFort

DistanceTo Landmark 21 adTraveled: 911 mi.

No veer.July 15,1848

No grass for the oxenJuly 16,1848

Beth has a broken ann.July 18,1848

You had a vagon axle break but vere able to fix

Oregon Trail, from MECC.

you. In the meantime, ifyou need help at school,ask your teacher if your

WagonSteady

Meager691 lbs.

Fair

Pacenations.Food LeftHealth'

Wagon Moving

( Time Out

school has CAI programsyou can use.

ma TM UP!All these words are also a little mixed up!With a little help from you, we can getthcse computer terms in correct order.Good luck!

TUROCUIACL

TROLHELHI

EGNARTIDET ICCl

WIDRACA

SOROSREPC

IRACTII-IEMT CLOGI NTUI

ROUPTNIT

ELRAS

YANIBR

GOPTICRYH

SLEIXP

TASMUINILSO

MOComputer Farts & Fun VI

HIDDEN COMPUTERS

Iraomputers are all around usand not just on our desks!

Many of today's machines have dedicatedcomputers inside them. As you know,dedicated computers are programmed todo one job. You cannot program them forany purpose other than the job they weremade for.

There are 10 things with dedicatedcomputers hidden in this picture. Howmany can you find?

Hint: One of the hidden computers is aremote control for a television.

4 111011111111l

:777,77117/11111;! ./ 111

morn11111 ., I MI

UHidden Computers

.? ISM is to um et a ;NV40 Vi'lliliir 1110,41..1r5A 11111CII fr/ OF"of

1011./.41,111.4 Wel. irir Melo ildrii7.4111r4*--;7:- n12,1/I OF!ralib IA" , -7.11111mi ip,

x. I= 7,1* PO Iiilf 4/1116im........, lam" me r,ilia: . lad.... - Art rims

75

THE

HIDDEN COMPUTER?

71;

VIS110108

0 00 * **''es+ POL

We've all seen them in every professional football and basketball arenagiant televisionscoreboards. Remember? The boards usually declare the last play as...

,..AWESOME...AWESOME...AWESOME!The scoreboard does more than display the score and time left in the game. Sometimes it4,ows art athlete's face or replays a big catch. Sometimes the scoreboard encourages thecrowd to do the WAVE. Don't you wonder who is running that computer? Because that'swhat it isa dedicated computer, with the scoreboard for an output device!

Computer Facts & Fun 8SA

CROSSWORD CHALLENGETest your computer knowledge!

ACROSS2. Name given to a collection of computer data that is stored.

4. Category of computer program used to create a budget.

5. Category of computer program used when you have lots of information tokeep track of.

6. matrixprinter.

7. Output device that has ascreen.

1

G. Output device that prints on paper.

DOWN1. Sometimes called a

floppy, it stores computerdata.

3. Input device that youtype at.

5. Holds the diskette in theCPU

70 Hidden Databases

ith all the hiddencomputers around,there surely must be

hidden databases, too.Think about it. Any timeyou use a credit card, orsee your grades on acomputer form, or see thepizza parlor entering yourfamily's name into theircomputer, don't youwonder why thatinformation is beingsaved?

The database may be usedto help that place serve it'scustomers better. It mightbe serving other purposestoo.

Sometimes the databaseyour family's name is on issold to other companies.This can be a good thing,if the company is sellingsomething you need. Butoften they just want tosend you "junkmail."

Some countriesuse bigdatabases to

keep track of their citizens.This can help them decidehow to run the country,and control crime.

Let's look at some of thethings they might knowright here in the UnitedStates:

Facts about you when youwere born. When a childis born, the hospitalcomputer records theparents' names, the place,the date, and the time, andmedical information aboutthe baby.

Your Social Securitynumber.

Where you go to school.Your name and SocialSecurity number areentered into a database atschool. Then they are sent

io another database inyour state capital.

These are only afew of the facts the

government knows.

78

NIhe next timeyou seeinformation

about you entered ina computer, askyourself, "What willthis information beused for?"

Luckily, there are strictlaws about how thisinformation can be used.Your family has a rightto keep importantinformation private. Butthere are also people(such as doctors) whomight really need thatinformation in case theyneed to help you.

People have differentfeelings about whatshould be done withthe information in bigdatabases. What doyou think?

Computer Facts & Fun

EESI NESWanted: A GoodComputer Operator

It used to be that anybodywho worked withcomputers had to be agenius. They had job titleslike:

Nuclear PhysicistAnalytical EngineerSystems ProgrammerComputer Technician

Today people who workwith computers can becalled:

WriterCashierSales ClerkReservationistDoctorMechanicAthlete

When you choose a career,you will have morechoices if you arecomfortable aroundcomputers. Almost everyjob today can use acomputer in some way.

72 Careers in Computers

Here are a few ways thatcomputers are used injobs. Is there one youwould like to work in?

Computers inthe News

he next timeyou watch thenews on TV,

watch whathappens as theshow b ;ins.Letteis ; dear fromnowhere, and gotogether to makewords on the TVscreen. Sometimesthere are movingpatterns behind

the words Sometimes aworld globe seems to floatin midair.

When the newscaster13-!....; is a story a picture ora film may seem to appearon the wall behind thenewscaster. The picturesand films are not reallyshowing on the wall.How is it done? Theseinteresting sights arecalled special effects,and many of them aremade using a computer.Someone has the job ofusing a computer to turnthe pictures into part of

79

nom

the signal that goes out toyour television set.

Most of these fancy effectsare set up before the showbegins. The computers areprogrammed to show thepictures and films at justthe right time. They caneven make the cloudsswirl on the weather map.

These days, televisionstations could almost becalled computer stations!

Computers InBaseballMany baseball teams nowuse computers to improvetheir game!

Some teams use theBaseball InformationSystem. This is a databasemade by IBM. It hasinformation about manyplayershow well theyplay, how much moneythey make, and when theirteams are playing. Someteams use databases to

keep track of howeach playerperforms in everygame.

Computersin Medicine

omputers areeverywhere inmedicine.

When you go to get youreyes checked, a computertakes pictures of youreyes. Other computerstake measurements ofyour eyes, and help tomake the lenses for yourglasses.

In the hospital, computersare just as busy. They helpgive medicine to patients.They keep track of peoplewho are very sick or badlyhurt. They help thedoctors and nurses decidewhat to do.

Some people have tinydedicated computersplanted inside theirbodies to help them.

U

A doctor might put onecalled a pacemaker insidea person's heart to makeit work better.

Doctors are finding moreways to use computers allthe time. If you become adoctor or nurse someday,you will also be workingwith computers.

/90 '

Computer Fuels & Fun

CROSSWORD CHALLENGETest your computer mastery!

ACROSSIEEE

2. Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instructional Code.

4. Main ingredient in a computer chip.

5. Computer-Aided Instruction.

6. A program that makes pretending more like real life.

7. The blinking light on a computer screen that tells where the next keystroke will go.

8. Englishman who designed the Analytical Engine with help from the Countess of Lovelace.

10. Random-Access Memory.

14. Computer typeface.

15. processing.

DOWN1. Path that electricity follows 6 12

inside the computer.

2. To move your cursor back onekeystroke. 14

3. Central Processing Unit.

6. Ready-made programs. 15

8. Binary Digit.

9. Read-Only Memory. io

11. Name of the key used to typea capital letter instead of alowercase letter.

12. Computer language used by the military, it was named for the Countess of Lovelace.

13. Sets of instructions that tell a computer what to do.

74 Crnmanord Challenge

13

WHO'S WHO IN COMPUTERS

HOLLYWOOD STYLE!omputers have beenin movies for a longtime. Fri the 1957

movie Desk Set, amainframe almost takesover a TV station! In amovie made in 1970,

a mainframe namedC'olossus takes over theworld. Most of the movieTron (1982) takes placeinside a computer!

There have been manyfamous computers androbots in movies and TVshows. See if you canmatch the computer orrobot on this list with themovie or TV shows theyappeared in.

The robots andcomputers:

Commander Data

HAL-9000

Cylons

R2D2

Robby the Robot

C3PO

JOSHUA

SAL-9000

VINCENT

Rosie

Number 5

VALCOM 17485

Dot Matrix

The shows:Heartbeeps

The Empire Strikes Back

Forbidden PlanetSpaceballsStar Trek: The NextGenerationWargames

The Black Hole

Battlestar GalacticaShort CircuitStar Wars

TbeJetsons

2001: A Space Odyssey

Knight Rider

2010: Thel@ar We MakeContact

Computer Fuels & Fun

CAN COMPUTERS TAKEOVER THE WORLD?

Et

.111

.441116... 44%44

411W

Well, they have. Lots of times. Butonly on TV and in movies!

AC2" In real life, eventhe most

powerfulcomputer

can onlyfollow

frinstructions.Even though it

works fast, peoplehave to tell it what to do. Here'san example.

Let's say you're using acomputer to keep track ofyour baseball cards, and you

ask it for a printout of ALL thestats on EVERY player who

played for the Chicago Cubs from1985 to 1992. The machine can

sort through thousands of factsalmost instantlyand decide which of

the players belong on the printout. But it canonly do this because a person has given it instructions on how to do every singlestep in the process. Computer "monsters" are fun to imagine, but not real.

76 Computers aad Imagination 83

COMPUTERS AComputers have come along way since the days ofUNIVAC. But that was onlyabout 40 years ago(a short time whenyou compare it toall of history).

If we tried to useUNIVAC, we might laughbecause it seems so bigand clumsy. But thepeople who built UNIVACcould not know whatcomputers would be liketoday. If you could goback in time and tellthem about personalcomputers, THEY wouldlaugh at such a "crazy"idea. To them, it wouldmean that everybody inthe 1990s must be amillionaire!

Computers have changedso much, it is hard tobelieve they will go onchanging. But people willkeep finding new things todo with them. There willbe new hardware and newsoftware. Maybe somedayyou will have a tiny

computer that fits in apencilor .1 pocketterminal that can talk to agiant mainframe, and tellyou anything you want toknow. What changes do

you think would makecomputers better?Someone may be workingon that improvement rightnow!

51rite a story or draw a picture about a timetraveler from the year 2099 who comes to visityour class. She laughs because . :le thinks

personal computers are too big and clumsy. She tellsyou about the computers they havein 2099. How big are they?Where are they used? Whatare they used for? Whathappens when they breakdown? What new thingscan the software do? Howare they different fromtoday's computers? Arethey better or worse?

Computer Facto & Pun

v:ii.._AOSS. _MYabacus (AB-a-kuss): ancient Chinesedevice for adding and subtractingnumbers.

alphanumeric (AL-fa-noo-MAIR-ick):letters and numbers.

arcade game (ar-KADF. game): adedicated computer that runs a coin-operated game.

Arithmetic Logic Unit (air-ith-MET-ic.LOJ-ick YOO-nit): the part of the processorthat handles the calculation of numbers.

ASCII (ASK-ee): American Standard Codefor Information Interchanwt, a commonbinary code.

Babbage, Charles (BAB-age): an Englishmathematician and inventor who livedfrom 1792 to 1871. He helped found theRoyal Astronomical Society, and (with LadyAda Lovelace) designed a mechanicalcomputer called the Analytical Engine(an-a-LIT-ih-kal EN-jin).

binary code (BY-nair-ee code): datawritten as l's and O's, which representelectric pulses.

bit (bit): the smallest piece of data acomputer can use.

18 Glossary

budget (BUDJ-et): a plan for saving andspending money.

BBS: abbreviadon for Bulletin BoardSystem (BUL-let-in board SIS-tem), andanother name for electronic bulletinboard (ee-lek-TRON-ick BUL-let-in board).This feature of an online service letscustomers trade information by modem.

byte (bite): eight bits of data. Memory ismeasured in kilobytes (KIL-o-bytes) orthousands of bits, and in megabytes(MEG-uh-bytes) or millions of bits.

calculator (KAL-kyu-late-or): a machinefor doing math problems.

category (KAT-uh-gor-ee): a collection ofthings that all have the same importantfeature in conimon.

central processing unit (SEN-tral PROS-ess-ing YU-nit): the computer's "brain,"which carries out commands for workingwith data. Abbreviated CPU.

cells: the places in the display shown by aspreadsheet where you put numbers in.

character (KARE-ak-ter): a letter, number.punctuation mark, or symbol. CharactersPer Second (abbreviated CPS) means howfast a printer can write.

85

chip (chip): a single integrated circuit inthe CPU.

circuitaS1R-kit): a path that electricityfollows.

clip art graphic images that are part ofgraphics software.

compatible (kom-PAT-ih-bul): able to useprograms that were made to be run onanother type of computer. Most systemsmade by IBM and Apple Computer before1992 were not compatible with each other.

component (kom-POH-nent): a part of amachine that is needed in order for it towork, or a machine that is part of a system.Peripherals such as the monitor arecomponents.

computer (kom-PUTE-er): a machine thatcomputes (works with data in the form ofnumbers).

Computer-Aided Instruction(kom-PUTE-er AM-ed in- STRUK-shun):using computers especially witheducational programs such assimulations or drill and practiceto help with school work and tests.Abbreviated CAI.

computer language (kom-PUTE-erIANG-wij): one of many special languagesused for telling the computer what to do.'RV() types are high-level language andprogramming language.

continuous-feed (kon-TIN-yu-us FEED):computer paper that feeds automaticallythrough a printer as one long sheet.

Control Unit (kon-TROI. YOO-nit): thepart of the processor that moves yourinformation from one step to the next.

copyrighted (KOP-ee-rite-ed): not tobe copied without permission from themaker. Most books, records, and softwareproducts are protected by copyright laws.

cursor (KUR-sor): a dot of light on themonitor screen that tells you where thenext character will go.

data (DAY-tuh): building blocks forinformation. Facts are data. Information isan organized set of facts.

database (DAY-tuh-base): a collection oforganized data. Database programs putdata into a database and get it out.

dedicated (DED-ih-cate-ed): a computerthat is built to do only one job. Bank tellermachines are dedicated computers.

digital (DIJ-ih-tal): turned into numbers(digits). You can use a computer to createinformation from digital data.

disk drive (DISK drive): a computer'splace for magnetic disks. It is a slot forfloppy disks, or a sealed hard disk unit.

86 0Computer Furls & Fun 79

display (dih-SPLAY): the informationshown by a computer on the monitorscreen.

document (DOK-yu-ment): an organizedbody of information that is small enoughto work on. Anything you write using yourword processor is a document. When adatabase searches for information andshows it to you, that information is also adocument.

dot-matrix printer (dot MAY-trix PRINT-er): a type ofprinter that uses pins tomake ink dots that form letters.

drill and practice (drill and PRAK-tiss): atype of sqftware used for Computer-AidedInstruction.

edit (ED-it): to change written work youhave already done.

electronic (ee-lek-TRON-ick): a type ofdevice that works by shooting dectricparticles called electrons through avacuum tube, transistor, or integratedcircuit.

ENIAC (EE-nee-ak): name of a successfulmainframe built during World War II. Itsname stands for Electronic NumericalIntegrator And Calculator.

field: a place on the screen to put datainto a database. All the fields in onedatabasefik are a record.

80 Glossary

file (file): the place on a magnetic diskwhere you store the data you have beenworking with

floppy disk (FLOP-py disk): a removablemagnetic disk which holds lessinformatbn than a bard disk. It fits intoits own disk drive, and is used to loadsoftware and data into the computer. Alsocalled a diskette.

font (fahn't): a complete set of lettersand numbers that look like they belongtogether (also called a typeface).

graphic (GRAF-ick): made up of pictures.

hard disk (hard disk): a magnetic diskwith a large amount of memory, sealedin its own container and built into thecomputer.

hardware (HARD-ware): the devices thatmake up a computer system.

high-level language (hi LEV-el LANG-wij):High-level computer languages are usedfor creating software and other programs.ADA is a high-level language.

Hollerith. Herman (HOL-ler-ith): theAmerican inventor of the TabulatingMachine (TAB-yu-late-ing ma-SHEEN),and founder of IBM. He lived from 1860to 1929.

87

IBM (eye-bee-EM): abbreviation forInternational Business Machines (IN-ter-NA-shun-al BIZ-ness ma-sheens), the firstmaker of mainframe computers.

input (IN-put): data going into acomputer.

install (in-STAHL): to put a program onthe computer's hard disk, or tell theprogram what kind of computer it'srunning on.

integrated circuit (IN-tih-grate-edSIR-kit): a 1958 invention that put all thecircuits a computer needs in one place.The integrated circuit is the basis of thecomputer chip.

Jacquard. Joseph-Marie (shak-KAR): aFrench weaver and inventor who livedfrom 1752 to 1834.

Jacquard Loom (shak-KAR loom): anautomatic loom invented in 1801 byJoseph-Marie Jacquard. It usedinstructions from punched cards to weavecloth.

joystick (JOY-stick): an input device oftenused for simulation games. Joysticks canbe shaped like an airplane's control stick,a pistol grip without pistol, or a handleon a pivot.

keybeard (KEY-board): a peripheral thatlooks like a typewriter with extra keys. Youuse a keyboard to type input into thecomputer.

88

laser printer (LAZE-er PRINT-er): aprinter that uses data from the CPU and alaser create characters with toner.

Leibnitz, Gottfried (LIBE-nitz): a Germanmathematician and inventor who livedfrom 1646 to 1716. He invented a hand-held mechanical calculator.

Lovelace, Lady Ada Augusta Byron,Countess of Lovelace (LOVE-lace):the English mathematician who inventedprograms. She lived from 1815 to 1852,and was the daughter of a famous poet.The high-level computer language ADA(used to create aerospace and militaryprograms) is named after her.

Macintosh (MACK-in-tosh): a brand ofpersonal computer introduced in 198 byApple Computer, Inc.

magnetic disk (mag-NET-ick disk): a diskthat stores information as a pattern ofmagnetic particles on its surface. There aretwo types:floppy disks and hard disks.

mainframe (MAIN-frame): the largest andearliest type of electronic computer.Modern mainframes can handle hugenumbers, and many people can use themat once.

Mark I: mainframe built to help withcalculations for the atomic bomb projectin World War II.

Computer Facts di Fun itC?

memory (MEM-o-ree): the part of theprocessor where the computer storesdata. There are two types: RAM and ROM.

microcomputer (MY-kro-kom-PUTE-er): apersonal computer, which is very small("micro") compared to a mainframe.

minicomputer (M1N-ee-kom-PUTE-er): asmall ("mini") mainframe which hasterminals so several people can use it atonce.

modem (MOH-dem): a device thatconnects a computer to a telephoneline. Its name stands for MOdulator/DEModulator. The answer modem ison the receiving end of a telephone call.The originate modem (oh-RIJ-ih-nateMOH-dem) makes the call.

monitor (MON-ih-tor): a TV-like device fordisplaying output.

mouse (mouse): a hand-sized inputdevice that moves a pointer on themonitor screen.

online service (on-line SER-viss): a servicefor computer users that can have featuressuch as a BBS and a database.

operating system (OP-er-ate-ing SIS-tem):a program that tells the computer how torun other programs.

output (OUT-put): information comingout of a computer.

82 Glorffiary

paint and draw (paint and draw): a typeof program that lets you make graphicimages on your computer screen.

Pascal, Blaise, (pas-KAL): a Frenchscientist, mathematician, and inventorwho lived from 1623-1662.

Pascaline (pas-ka-LEEN): an addingmachine invented by Blaise Pascal.

path (path): the route your data followsthrough the computer.

peripheral (puh-R1F-er-u1): a device that isconnected to a computer to give it inputor to take its output.

personal computer (PER-sa-nulkom-PUTE-er): another name for amicrocomputer made to be used by justone person.

pixels (P1CKS-ells): dots that make up animage on a screen.

platen (PLATE-en): the roller for paperin a printer.

portable (PORT-a-bul): easy to carryaround. Some personal computers areportable.

printer (PR1NT-er): a peripheral thatprints output on paper. 'IWo types are clot-matrix and laser printers.

a

processor (PROSS-ess-or): the part of theCPU that handles the flow of data.

program (PROH-gram): a set ofinstructions, written in computerlanguage, that tells the computer what todo and how to do it. Programmers are thepeople who write these instructions, andprogramming is the name for whatthey do.

programming language (PROH-gram-ingLANG-wij): a computer language thatchanges words and numbers into electricpulses (so the computer can respond toour commands), and changes the electricpulses back into words and numbers (sowe can understand what the computer hasdone).

publisher (PUB-lish-er): a company thatmakes software to sell.

public domain (PUB-lick doh-MAIN): freeto be used by anyone.

RAM (ram): abbreviation for Random-Access Memory (RAN-dom AK-sess MEM-o-ree): the part of the memory that iserased when you shut the computer off. Itholds the program the computer is using.

ROM (rahm): abbreviation for Read-OnlyMemory (read ON-ly MEM-o-ree), the partof the memory that is not erased whenyou turn the computer off. It gets thecomputer ready to use programs.

save: to store data in a file or in memory.

sequence (SEE-kwenss): eventshappening one after another. Computerssee data as a sequence of electric pulses.

software (SOFT-ware): ready-madeprograms for the computer. Software iswhat runs on the hardware. Software thathas had the newest features of its programput in by the publishs,r is called a version(VER-zhun).

silicon (SIL-ih-kon): a mineral that isfound in sand. Computer chips are madeof silicon.

simulation (sim-yu-LAY-shun): using acomputer to practice or show activitiesthat are similar to real activities.

spreadsheet (SPRED-sheet): a programthat works like at automatic calculator forkeeping track of money and makingbudgets.

store (store): to put information in a fileon a magnetic disk, or in a computer'smemory, so it can be used later.

system (SIS-tem): several devices that areconnected, or made to work together. Acomputer and its peripherals are one typeof system. Several connected computersthat are used for networking are anothertype of system.

OoComputer Filets Fun

terminal (TUR-mih-nul): a combinationkeyboard and monitor that is connectedto a mainframe or minicomputer.

thesaurus (the-SAUR-us): the partof a --,ord processor that helps youfind synonyms.

toner (TONE-er): a black powder thatturns into ink when a laser printerheats it.

transistor (tran-ZISS-tor): an electricaldevice invented in 1948. It replacedvacuum tubes, making computers smaller.

update: to replace old data.

84 Glossary

UNWAC (YU-nih-vak): the first successfulmainframe made to be sold as a product.It was built by the Sperry-UNIVACcompany. Its name stands for UN1VersalAutomatic Computer.

vacuum tube (VAK-yoo-um tube): acomponent of early electronic devices likeradios, TVs, and computers. Its wires weremounted in a glass tube with no air inside.

word processor (WORD PROSS-ess-or): aprogram for writing documents on thecomputer screen.

91

ANSWER SECTION!1111*---.111111111111W

ilihis section is where you will find the answers to the puzzles and quizzes!There are also some hints and questions to help you find out moreabout computers.

You won't find "Think About It" answers here, because the answers you think up are ALLYOURS. Compare them with your friends' "Think About It" answers!

Sort It All Out: Early History

(page 4)

Leibnitz CalculatorGottfried Leibnitz

abacuspeople in China

Analytical EngineCharles Babbage and LadyLovelace

Jacquard LoomJoseph Marie Jacquard

PascalineBlaise Pascal

HINT: Did you notice how inventors' namesoften become part of their inventions' names?

Practice with Your Abacus

(page 7):

35 + 7 = 4247 + 65 = 112

HINT: If you're having trouble, remember thatthe beads in the smaller section of the abacusare worth 5 each. On the string for the Is, oneof these beads is worth 5. On the string for the10s, one of these beads is worth 50. Try itagain using the "worth 5" beads!

2

Figure It Out: How much did

Herman earn? (page 10)

Herman's machine came up with a total of62,622,250 people in the U.S. population. Hecharged the government 65 cents per 1000people he counted. First, find out how manytimes 1000 will go into Herman's total, andround it off to the nearest whole number. Thequickest way to do this is to think of a decimalpoint at the end of the number, and move it tothe left three spaces (one for each zero in"1000"). Then round off your answer to thenearest whole number. Here's what you get:

62,622,250 / 1000 = about 62,622

Now you have the number of times Hermancharged the government 65 cents (which canbe written $.65). Multiply your first answer by$.65 to get your final answer in dollars andcents:

62,622 x S.65 = $40,704.46

Round it off to the nearest dollar, and you get:

$40,704

In 1890, that was quite a lot of money.

HINT: Ask your teacher to tell you aboutdecimal points, rounding off numbers, andchanging numbers into dollars and cents.

Computer Fuels Full

(LAN1MR ET)

What Happened When? (page 13)

The Leibnitz Calculator was invented in themiddle 1600s.

The silicon chip was invented in 1968.

Jacquard invented the automatic loom in 1801.

The abacus was invented about 4000 yearsago.

The transistor was invented in 1948.

Charles Babbage and Lady Lovelace worked onthe Analytical Engine in 1839.

Pascal invented the Pascaline in 1641.

Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine wasused in the United States Census in 1890.

The integrated circuit was invented in 1958.

QUESTION: New inventions often start bytrying to make old inventions work better.Which inventions in the quiz did this?

Word Search (page 17)

T A (L A N 0 S E P)BGETUPM0C)AT( TF R

SR PS M

O C

0 TOI RNIE RO s)

86 Answer Section

Find the Computer Parts!

(page 20)The central processing unit is hidden in shelfabove the refrigerator.

The monitor is hidden in the oven door.

The keyboard is hidden in the refrigerator.

The mouse is hidden in the fruit bowl.

The printer is hidden on the stovetop.

QUESTION: Have you noticed how somemachines look like other machines, but dovery different jobs?

Word Search Number 2 (page 22)

e-

0

L AA RGe-NF FM NCL O P 0 -1 0 1

O N TA0P U1.4110L E

P Li-FINY,T NOOG

OF

A

/""

A

0

(IN ENOPM-DL

03

Mission Possible (page 30)

A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

00 0 00 00001110 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 001)00E1410000 011001100000 0110 01100.0 0 0000.0000000 0 0006000 0 0000 0 00000000000 0 0 0 011)000 0 0 0E100 0 00110 0 00011000110 0 00 0 00111000 Oso 0 0.000 0.0. 0000110.0 0 0 0110.0 000 000 00 0000000000.000.000000.00 00.0.000.0.0 000.000.0 00000000000 00 00(100 0000* 00 00 0 0 0 0110E10E10 000 0 00E10 0 0 0 0 000000.00 0.00 CIO 00110UO000.000 *0 lb 0.0 0 0110 00.000.00 0 111000011000 00000000e 0000C:410011100 011000000 0 000000 000 000 00 00000E1000 0 00190 0 0 0 111.0 0000 0 0 0 0000 0000 0 0 OSO

Fonts: Break the Code (page 33)The message reads:

TI-HS IS A PERFECT FONT FOR SENDINGMESSAGES TO MY BEST FRIEND.

QUESTIONS: Hieroglyphics (hy-ro-GLIFF-icks)are a kind of writing made up of pictures.The people of Egypt don't use hieroglyphicsanymore. Why do you think they changed theirwriting? Are there other languages that usepictures in their writing? You may want to askyour English teacher about this.

A-MAZE-ING POWERS! (page 36)

84

Writing a Computer Program

(page 38)

We forgot to tell the robot to put the lid backon the garbage can. We'd better rewrite thatprogram before something starts to stink!

Break the Code! (page 42)The message reads:

CONGRATULATIONS

The Great Keyboard Special Key

Hunt (page 50)

Home takes you to the beginning of a word,line, or document.

Shift makes lowercase letters into capitalletters.

Insert lets you put a new word in betweenother words.

Page Up moves the cursor up the screen.

End takes you to the end of a word, line, ordocument.

Caps Lock makes every letter you type acapital letter.

Computer Fuetn Fun

Esc lets you leave what you are doing.

Page Down moves the cursor down the page.

QUESTIONS: Do you know which of thesekeys can be found on a typewriter? Do youknow which key the Enter key used to be?

You Be the Database (page 62)

Report 2: There are 7 girls signed up for theComputer Club.

Report 3: There are 5 members who are in the5th grade.

Report 4: There are 6 members who are in the6th grade.

Report 5: There are 4 members who are in the7th grade.

Report 6: There are 2 members who live onMeridian Street.

QUESTION: How long did it take you to findthe data? It would take a computer less than asecond to find the data for each report.

Mix 'Em Up (page 63)

NTOF = FONT

DRASPETHESE = SPREADSHEET

DMOME = MODEM

SLPIREHPREA = PERIPHERALS

PHCI = CHIP

SRNTOISRAT = TRANSISTOR

CRSGHPIA = GRAPHICS

PYOPFL KDSI = FLOPPY DISK

RNOTMOI = MONITOR

TRPIERN = PRINMR

DBROAYEK = KEYBOARD

a

88 Answer Section

More Mix `Em Up (page 67)

TUROCULACL = CALCULATION

TROLHELHI = HOLLERITH

EGNARTIDET TRUICCI = INTEGRATEDCIRCUIT

QUJDRACA =JACQUARD

SOROSREPC = PROCESSOR

IRACTIHEMT CLOGI NTUI = ARITHMETICLOGIC UNIT

ROUPTNIT = PRINTOUT

ELRAS = LASER

YANIBR = BINARY

GOPTICRYH = COPYRIGHT

SLEIXP = PIXEIS

TASMUINILSO = SIMULATION

Hidden Computers (page 68)

Dedicated computers are hidden inside of:digital watcheselectrical thermometer (pictured)toy car with remote controldigital scale

electric keyboardmicrowave oven (pictured)

price gunelectric drum set (pictured)television with remote

security camera

Crossword Challenge (page 70)

Across: 2.

5.6.7.8.

95

FILESPREADSHEETDATABASEDOTMON ITORPRI NTER

Down. 1. DISKETTE3. KEYBOARD5. DISKDRIVE

Crossword Challenge (page 74)

Across: 2.4.5.6.7.8.

10.14.15.

Down: 1.

2.3.6.8.9.

11.12.13.

BASICSILICONCAISIMULATIONCURSORBABBAGERAM

FONTWORD

CIRCUITBACKSPACECPUSOFTWAREBITROMSHIFTADAPROGRAM

Who's Who in Computers

Hollywood Style (page 75)Commander Data is the robot crew member inStar Trek: The Next Generation (1V).

HAL-9000 is the mainframe aboard thespaceship in 2001: A Space Odyssey (movie).

Cy lons are enemy robots from space inBattlestar Galactica (TV series and movie).

R2D2 is the small robot in Star Wars (movie).(R2D2 and C3PO appcar in all three Star Warsmovies.)

SAL-9000 is the intelligent computer who stayson earth in 2010: The Year We Make Contact(movie).

urr is the car with a computer fbr a brain inKnight Rider (1V).

Robby the Robot helps the space travelers inForbidden Planet (movie).

C3PO is the tall gold robot in The EmpireStrikes Back (movie). (C3PO and R2D2 appearin all three Star Wars movies.)

JOSHUA is the mainframe in charge of nuclearweapons in Wargames (movie).

VINCENT is a brave robot in the space crew inThe Black Hole (movie).

Rosie is the robot who cleans house in TheJetsons (TV series and movie).

Number 5 is the Army's robot weapon whobecomes friendly in Short Circuit (movie).

VALCOM 17485 is a servant robot inHeartbeeps (movie).

Dot Matrix is the female robot who helps theprincess in Spaceballs (movie).

QUESTIONS: Here are some questions to thinkabout and talk about.

96

Hbw many of these shows tell stories aboutspace travel? How does NASA use computers?

How many of the shows tell stories about war?How do the armed forces use computers?

How many of the shows have robots that actlike servants? Why would people have robotservants?

Flow many of the robots and computers havegirls' names? What is the difference between arobot and a computer?

Computer Farts & Fun 81 I

Are You An UltimateCollector of Computer Factsand Fun?

If you have completed the games and activities in thisbook, we'll send you proof of your computer smartsan Official Certificate!

To receive your free certificate, follow these steps:

iiAnswer the questions on the other side of this form.

16 Have a parent or guardian check your work and sign below.

#Send the form, along with a self-addressed, stamped, business-sized envelope, to:

SAMSAttention: Ultimate

11711 N. College AvenueSuite 141

Carmel, Indiana 46032

In 4-6 weeks, you will receive your Certificate in the mail.

Signature of Parent or Guardian

I certify that has completedthe games and activities in this book.

Signature Date

9 7

QuestionsWe want to continue to bring you books about computers. Your answers will help us tolearn more about what you like to read.

Do you use a computer at school?

Do you use a computer at home?

How often do you use a computer to play games?Every day Almost every day Once a week Less than once a week Never

How often do you use a computer to do homework?Every day Almost every day Once a week Less than once a week Never

How often do you use a computer to do word processing?Every day Almost eVery day Once a week Less than once a week Never

How often do you use a computer to do graphics?Every day Almost every day Once a week Less than once a week Never

What is your favorite computer activity?Word processing Games Graphics Other

What computer activity do you like the least?Word processing Games Graphics Other

How old are you?

Additional Comments

Thank you for answering these questions!

,

Who invented thecomputer?

What's an Apple?

What does a disk drivedo?

How do you makecomputer chips?

How does information travelthrough a computer?

What's a modemand whatcan it do for you?

Can an electronic bulletin boardshock you?

How real are movie monsters? .

a

I0

A

The answers are all herein this radical, fun-filled,and fact-packed book!With The UltimateCollection of ComputerFacts and Fun: A Kid'sGuide to Computers youcan:

Make homework abreezeSpot hidden computers(they're everywhere!)See how a computerthinksUnlock the secrets ofcomputer memoryLearn how computerprograms workDare to explorecomputergames

hid A

I

Ad

This book is jammed fullwith puules, diagrams,fun activities, and lotsmore so you can getcomputer smartfast!

So, put on your fresh,waxin' shades, tune in,and turn on yourcomputer knowledge withThe Ultimate Collection ofComputer Facts and Fun:A Kid's Guide toComputers! Aigh

i- ;

'Af-c;