The Great Computing Skills Quiz
quiz_icon Try these 10 multiple-choice questions ...

A copy of your results on this test will be e-mailed to your e-mail address, on condition that you provide a correct e-mail address. [Here at HSH er adresses of the form ING03abc@studpost.hsh.no].

Once you have received the system's reply, you should upload the document onto the ClassFronter server. The file belongs into the folder Datakunnskaper under Innlevering.

Please provide your own first-name, surname and e-mail address before answering the questions:

... first-name
... surname
... e-mail

Q1.OK, First question: What is a computer?
(a) A wonderful thing that solves all my problems
(b) A tool like a hammer or a saw. You can do great things with it, but you have to know how. The more experience you have, the better
(c) Something dangerous that will destroy society. It's also bad for the environment

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q2.Perhaps too easy for you! What about this: What kind of different computers are there?
(a) Lots. Many cars and machines are controlled by small on-board computers. Then you have the PC, prototype of multi-purpose computer. If you need more power you need what's called a workstation. Banks, airlines etc. use superlarge multi-user computers (mainframes)
(b) PC, PC, and only PC
(c) There are no computers, it's all an illusion

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q3.Well! Is your litte pocket calculator also a computer?
(a) No, because there is no mouse attached to it and also no CD-ROM in it
(b) The distinction is largely a matter of taste. For me, the question is: can you program the thing, and thus adjust to your needs? If yes, it is a computer
(c) I said already, it's just an illusion!

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q4.OK let's assume you sit in front of your PC. How do you switch it on?
(a) I call the support hotline
(b) I move the mouse rapidly back and forward and say three times "HSH!"
(c) I use the 'On' button, about right in the middle of the front panel

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q5.Nothing happens! What can be the reason?
(a) The computer has a bad day
(b) The computer doesn't like me
(c) Without electric power it won't work for sure. If a green LED lights up then we know that there is power. But is the screen switched on?

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q6.What is the computer actually doing while starting up? Why does this take so long?
(a) The computer needs to read the program code for its operating system from the disk. It is the most important program. The boss.
(b) The computer needs to polish the harddisk
(c) The computer needs to process the processor

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q7.What kind of operating system is most popular on PC's?
(a) UNIX -- this operating system has been around since the 70'ies and it is rock-solid
(b) DOS -- this is what all PC's had in the 80'ies
(c) Windows -- it's the name of the system we are using. As the name says, it is graphics-oriented so that you use the mouse all the time. It's a monster program but you can't buy a PC today without buying it as well

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q8.How did Windows become so popular?
(a) You need to run Windows if you want to use MS Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. These three programs are very good. Besides, everybody else uses them, so you need to use them as well if you want to exchange data
(b) Bill Gates bought IBM
(c) It's a mystery

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q9.Congratulations! You made it to the penultimate question (the most difficult one): Are computers stupid?
(a) Yes (can count only to 2)
(b) Yes (can count only to 3)
(c) No

Check one of (a) to (c).

Q10.How comes then you can do so complicated things with them?
(a) It's a miracle
(b) I can't do anything with computers
(c) Even if the computer knows only two states, it can in practice count to very large numbers; just as I learned to count to 10 and now can count much higher. Programs are just sequences of numbers that are interpreted as instructions for computations. Text processing for instance is then possible if you code all characters as numbers

Check one of (a) to (c).

Quiz devised by Gisle Kleppe, e-mail gisle.kleppe@hsh.no.
Generated by WebTools script McQ.pl on 9 August 2002 at 16:49