Cumulative Computer Quiz #1

[starlifter]

I just noticed your HAL reply, ainwood... I'm not sure that there is 100% consensus on what HAL really stood for, but many say it meant "one step above the IBM, because I-->H B-->A M-->L (the next letter "up" in the alphabet). I've never seen it definitively printed as an actual acronym, and my gut feel is that they wanted something pronounceable in the film. But the makers used so much deliberate symbology, that I'm surprised no one has ferreted out the root of the name 100%....

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Well the HAL 9000 computer was built in the H.A.L. Laboratories in January 1992. That's when he learned his first song.

 

[Lucky]

Hmm, who is going to do the new question now?
Me??

Well, I´ll just do that now.

Where was IRC first used? What was the first IRC network? What happened to that more or less only IRC network in the early ´90s? And what are the 4 main IRC networks today? And which is the leading one in number of users?

Lot´s of question, but they are one topic, so I asked them together.
Let´s see if someone knows this all from memory, shouldn´t be too hard.

 

[starlifter]

hmmm.... I've used a program called mIRC a long time ago, briefly. I recall EFnet, DALnet, IRCnet and something else. I have no idea about the development of IRC. My guess is the IRCnet is the biggest, as it makes sense from the name. When I logged on, it was to connect to a gamesnet server. I was never an IRC person, so someone else can fill in the details .

 

[Lucky]

Hmm, you mentioned 3 of the 4 biggest networks, but all other assumptions are wrong.

Anyone else?

 

[Serutan]

Originally posted by starlifter
I just noticed your HAL reply, ainwood... I'm not sure that there is 100% consensus on what HAL really stood for {snip}

Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the novel version of 2001,
has always been adamant that HAL stood for
"Heuristic ALgorithmic".

 

[starlifter]

Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the novel version of 2001,
has always been adamant that HAL stood for "Heuristic ALgorithmic".

I guess Arthur C. Clark is good enough for me! I'll remember that .

 

[Lucky]

Come on people, this isn´t so hard!
There must be IRC chatters among us.

 

[Lucky]

Ok, here are the answers:

Where was IRC first used? - Developed and first used at the Finish university of Oulu by Jarkko Oikarinen.

What was the first IRC network? - IRC (), later called EFnet

What happened to that more or less only IRC network in the early ´90s? - In 1995/6 the original IRC network split up into EFnet and IRCnet. A bit later, Undernet and DALnet were also founded.

And what are the 4 main IRC networks today? And which is the leading one in number of users? -
EFnet, IRCnet, DALnet, Undernet -- DALnet is the current leader in number of users, with over 100,000 users online at the same time.

That´s it.

Ok, new question, some acronyms for you to decipher. They are of a somewhat more technical nature, though. All play a major part in a fully functioning PC of today.

• DRAM
  EEPROM
  INT
  IRQ
  NMI
  PPI (*)
  PIC (*)
  PIT (*)
  SRAM
  UART (*)
  USART (*)

Decipher and try to give a few words of explanation!
For those marked with a (*), try to name the chip (usually Intel) used in the standard IBM PC! (bonus)

All acronyms are hardware related, nothing about software (so INT is not integer).

 

[starlifter]

I guess we didn't have any IRC people, Lucky! It's probably just not too popular these days. I hardly ever used it even in the "old days". I'm guessing from people's posts that they like ICQ, AOL, Trillian, etc.

Hmmm.... Well, I'll wait a day or so to see if anyone gets them; I'll then answer whatever is leftover, since I should know them .

 

[ainwood]

Can I just copy / paste from GC

 

[starlifter]

I was ruined on this question yesterday when I went to GC, since I saw this list there too. I would have missed the PIT, however (I was going to say the I stood for Interrupt), and would not have listed the Chip types that Lucky did at GC. So I'll now recuse myself and not answer these...

 

[Lucky]

Well, no!

Sorry, last time I took away the answers at GC. But nobody had all correct answers there, so I thought it would be better to list them, maybe someone learns something.
Anyway, only a small few of you go to GC, but there are many others. So start trying!

 

[Lucky]

Hmm, didn´t think this to be too hard, probably no one is interested, though.
Anyway:

• DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory (standard RAM chip, needs to be refreshed)
  EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (program memory, often used for storing the BIOS, also referred to as flash memory)
  INT - hardware INTerrupt (from interrupt controller to CPU)
  IRQ - Interrupt ReQuest (peripheral interrupt line to interrupt controller, maskable (gives different priorities))
  NMI - Non Maskable Interrupt (interrupt which immediatly stops the CPU process, e.g. power OFF)
  PPI - Programmable Peripheral Interface (parallel port of the comp (LPT), e.g. PPI 8255)
  PIC - Programmable Interrupt Controller (stores the vectors that point to the specific interrupt service routine of the periphery and gives different priorities to the different IRQs, e.g. PIC 8259)
  PIT - Programmable Interval Timer (for setting different clock speeds, e.g. setting a baud rate for the mouse or other serial periphery, e.g. PIT 8253)
  SRAM - Static RAM (no refresh -> faster access times, but less capacity and much more expensive, e.g. CACHE memory)
  UART - Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter (serial port (COM), e.g. UART 8250 (not Intel))
  USART - Universal Synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter (also a serial port but with extra clock for synchronous mode, e.g. USART 8251)

Much more info than I wanted, so the answers weren´t really that hard for anyone who ever took a closer look at a computer mainboard!

 

[Lucky]

So, before I leave, here´s the next question.

Name at least 5 different object oriented languages and sort by year of creation!

An easy one.

 

[ainwood]

C++
Java
Visual Basic
Foxpro
Visual Basic for Applications

(not completely sure about the chronollogy though).

 

[Serutan]

Just in case:

1. Ada
2. C++
3. Eiffel
4. Java.
5. C#

Off topic: Lucky, I saw Deutsche Welle's latest report
on their English TV service about the flooding last night. Hope those levees hold up in Madgeburg.

 

[Lucky]

They did! We are one of the few cities to have "survived".

Both answers are right, as far as I know, but I´m not completely sure about Ada. At least it wasn´t OO from the beginning.
The first OO language was Smalltalk, btw.

Anyone of both may continue, it should be ainwoods, since he was first.

 

[Serutan]

Since it looks like Ainwood is either unavailable or drawing
a blank:

What is the accuracy (in bits) of

IEEE-754 single precision floating point?

IEEE-754 double precision floating point?

 

[ainwood]

I might be mis-interpreting the question, but a single precision floating point takes 4 bytes of memory, and the double takes 8 bytes.

The "accuracy" actually depends on whether the number is negative or positive. A single is approximately ±1e-46, and a double is approximately ±1e-300-ish.