Computer Science Quiz – Printable Version
20 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
Name: ………………………………Score: ……… / 20
- About how many vacuum tubes did the ENIAC contain?
- A. About 1,800
- B. About 180
- C. About 180,000
- D. About 18,000
- What was the name of the first commercial microprocessor, released in 1971?
- A. Intel 4004
- B. Intel 8086
- C. Motorola 6800
- D. Zilog Z80
- Who is credited with inventing the integrated circuit, in 1958?
- A. Steve Wozniak
- B. Bill Gates
- C. Jack Kilby
- D. Alan Turing
- During World War II, what did Alan Turing contribute to at Bletchley Park?
- A. Designing the first radars
- B. Calculating missile trajectories
- C. Creating the first Soviet computer
- D. Breaking the codes of the German Enigma machine
- Which Apple computer, released in 1984, popularized the graphical user interface for the general public?
- A. The Lisa
- B. The iMac
- C. The Macintosh
- D. The Apple II
- Why were Minitel terminals given out for free to French households by the PTT?
- A. To sell video games
- B. To test 4G
- C. To replace the paper phone directory
- D. To promote cable television
- Starting in which decade did electronic pocket calculators become widespread?
- A. The 2000s
- B. The 1990s
- C. The 1950s
- D. The 1970s
- What is considered the first hard disk drive in history, released in 1956?
- A. The IBM 350
- B. The Western Digital WD800
- C. The Seagate ST-506
- D. The Winchester 3340
- Who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web, in 1989-1991?
- A. Tim Berners-Lee
- B. Steve Jobs
- C. Bill Gates
- D. Larry Page
- Which programming language, created in 1957, is one of the oldest still in use today?
- A. Fortran
- B. Java
- C. Python
- D. JavaScript
- Which unit of measurement designates one million bytes in computing?
- A. The megabyte
- B. The kilobyte
- C. The terabyte
- D. The gigabyte
- Which Motorola engineer made the first call from a mobile phone in 1973?
- A. Martin Cooper
- B. Andrew Grove
- C. Ken Olsen
- D. Robert Noyce
- Which menu, opened from a button at the bottom left of the screen, was popularized by Windows 95?
- A. The File menu
- B. The Start menu
- C. The Help menu
- D. The Edit menu
- Which social network, launched in 2006, originally limited messages to 140 characters?
- A. Facebook
- B. Instagram
- C. Twitter
- D. LinkedIn
- Where does the name of the Python programming language, created by Guido van Rossum, come from?
- A. The snake, a symbol of speed
- B. A Greek city
- C. A video game
- D. The comedy group Monty Python
- According to official standards, exactly how many bytes are in a kilobyte (kB)?
- A. 1,000
- B. 1,024
- C. 1,048
- D. 100
- Which object, long gone from our desks, is still used as the icon for the 'Save' button?
- A. The floppy disk
- B. The CD-ROM
- C. The cassette
- D. The ring binder
- On Windows, which keyboard shortcut copies a selected item?
- A. Ctrl + C
- B. Ctrl + V
- C. Ctrl + X
- D. Ctrl + Z
- In computing, what is "the cloud"?
- A. A widespread virus
- B. A wireless network
- C. A type of screen
- D. Storage and services hosted on remote servers, accessed over the internet
- Which IBM engineer created the Ctrl + Alt + Del combination, originally to quickly restart test computers?
- A. Bill Gates
- B. David Bradley
- C. Steve Wozniak
- D. Paul Allen
Answer key — Computer Science Quiz
- D. About 18,000The ENIAC had about 17,468 vacuum tubes, which generated a lot of heat and frequently failed, requiring constant maintenance.
- A. Intel 4004The Intel 4004, launched in 1971, was the first commercially available single-chip microprocessor, originally designed for a Japanese calculator.
- C. Jack KilbyAn engineer at Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby presented the first working integrated circuit in 1958, a major breakthrough recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000.
- D. Breaking the codes of the German Enigma machineAlan Turing led a team of British cryptanalysts who, at Bletchley Park, managed to crack the codes encrypted by the Enigma machine, significantly contributing to the Allied war effort.
- C. The MacintoshThe Macintosh, launched in 1984 with a famously memorable Super Bowl ad, popularized the use of the mouse and icon-based graphical interfaces.
- C. To replace the paper phone directoryBy lending the Minitel terminal for free, the PTT hoped to save money by reducing the massive printing of paper phone directories.
- D. The 1970sWith the miniaturization of integrated circuits, electronic pocket calculators such as those from Texas Instruments or Sharp became widespread in the 1970s, replacing slide rules.
- A. The IBM 350The IBM 350, introduced in 1956, was the size of two refrigerators and had a capacity of just 5 megabytes, compared to several terabytes for a modern hard drive.
- A. Tim Berners-LeeA researcher at CERN, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (the 'Web') between 1989 and 1991, with the first website going live in 1991.
- A. FortranDeveloped by IBM in 1957, Fortran ('Formula Translation') is still used today, particularly in scientific computing and complex simulations.
- A. The megabyteA megabyte (MB) is equal to about one million bytes, 1,000 times more than a kilobyte and 1,000 times less than a gigabyte.
- A. Martin CooperOn April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper called a rival at Bell Labs from a New York street, using a Motorola DynaTAC prototype weighing about 1 kg (2.2 lb).
- B. The Start menuLaunched in August 1995, Windows 95 introduced the Start button and Start menu along with the taskbar, an interface layout that has lasted, with variations, to this day.
- C. TwitterLaunched in 2006, Twitter borrowed the logic of text messages, capped at 160 characters, reserving 20 characters for the username, hence the 140 limit.
- D. The comedy group Monty PythonA fan of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', its creator wanted a short, slightly mysterious name.
- A. 1,000Out of habit, 1,024 bytes (2¹⁰) were long counted. To remove the ambiguity, that value is now called a kibibyte (KiB), and a kilobyte equals 1,000, like a kilometre.
- A. The floppy diskMany young users have never held one, and some even think it is a 3D-printed copy of the 'Save' icon!
- A. Ctrl + CCtrl + V pastes, Ctrl + X cuts and Ctrl + Z undoes. On a Mac, use the Cmd key instead of Ctrl.
- D. Storage and services hosted on remote servers, accessed over the internetYour photos "in the cloud" are actually stored in huge, very real data centres that use a lot of electricity.
- B. David BradleyHe chose three far-apart keys to avoid accidental presses.