CS100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Action Potential, Floppy Disk, Device Driver

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Computer Science
• Course: CS100
• Professor: Dave Tompkins

Document Summary

In this module we introduce what a computer is and how computers are organized. There are two main sections in this module: computer hardware, computer software & operating systems. The history of computation is rich and centuries-old. The understanding of what a computer is has changed considerably over that time. A computer from the 1960s looks a lot different than the computers available today. The internet is full of old black & white photos with people in outdated fashion standing beside large computers that fill up a room. What you consider a computer may depend on your personal perspective and your age. Today"s smart phones are computers even in the traditional sense and they are more powerful than the apollo mission computers that got the astronauts to the moon. It may seem hard to believe, but 50 years from now someone will look at a photo with you and your smart phone and think your device looks comically outdated.