Computers and the history of technology, make for extremely interesting yet challenging trivia questions. Understanding the history and make up of computers can provide a lot of insight around the world we currently live in. If you love computers and technology like I do, you will love these 165 computer and technology trivia questions with answers.
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Use these 165 computer trivia questions to improve your knowledge of computers, test yourself, or challenge your friends. This is a challenging, but highly interesting topic for your trivia night.
1. What is a collection of instructions that can be executed by a computer to perform a specific task called?
A Computer Program
2. What does “PCB” stand for?
Printed Circuit Board
3. What is a computer program that translates computer code from one programming language into another called?
A Compiler
4. How many bytes are in 1 Kilobyte?
1000 Bytes
5. What is the specific class ofcomputer softwarethat provides the low-level control for a device’s specifichardware called?
Firmware
6. What does “ALU” stand for?
Arithmetic Logic Unit
7. What kind of program creates object code by translating combinations of mnemonics and syntax for operations and addressing modes into their numerical equivalents?
An Assembler Program
8. What is the basic unit of information in computing, that represents a logical state of two possible values, such as 1 or 0, true or false, yes or no, or on or off?
A Bit
9. What is the name of a group of computers that use a set of common communication protocols over digital interconnects to share resources located on network nodes?
A Computer Network
10. What does “LAN” stand for?
Local Area Network
11. What is a collection of resources, such as documentation, message templates, or pre-written code, used by computer programs for software development called?
A Library
12. What is a computer program that directly executes instructions written in programming or scripting languages, without requiring to have been compiled into a machine language program called?
An Interpreter
13. What is the two digit numeric system, that only uses 0 and 1, that computers operate using?
Binary
14. What does “CPU” stand for?
Central Processing Unit
15. What is the specialized electronic circuit that is designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer for the output on a display device called?
A Graphics Processing Unit
16. What does “WWW” stand for?
World Wide Web
17. What is thefirmwareused to performhardware initialization during thepower-on startup, that provides runtime services foroperating systemsand programs called?
BIOS or Basic Input/Output System
18. What was the first electronic programmable computer built in the U.S.?
The ENIAC or the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
19. What is the main PCB used in general purpose computers that holds and allows communication between most of the crucial electronic components of the system called?
The Motherboard
20. What are the parts of the computer which do not have a material form, but are part of a computer system that consists of encoded information for computer instructions called?
Software
21. What does “DOS” stand for?
Disk Operating System
22. What is an auxiliary device or hardware component, that is attached to a computer, and is used to put information into and get information out of, but is not part of the core components called?
A Peripheral Device
23. What is a programming language for special run-time environments that automatically executes certain tasks called?
A Scripting or Script Language
24. What was the first wide-areapacket-switchingnetwork with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement theTCP/IPprotocol suite, which became the foundational technology of the internet?
ARPANET or the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
25. What does “HTML” stand for?
Hypertext Markup Language
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26. What is the quickly accessible location available to a computer’sprocessor, that usually consists of a small amount of faststorage?
AProcessor Register
27. What primarily implements portions of an execution model?
A Runtime System or Runtime Environment
28. What does “IC” stand for?
Integrated Circuit
29. What is the electronic circuitry within a computer that executes instructions that make up a computer program?
The Central Processing Unit
30. 1000 kilobytes is equal to 1 what?
Megabyte
31. What is the term for a cyber-attackin which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intendedusersby temporarily or indefinitely disruptingservicesof ahostconnected to theInternet?
A Denial of Service Attack or DoS Attack
32. Who was the first person to develop acompilerfor programming language?
Grace Hopper
33. What does “FLOPS” stand for?
Floating-pointOperations Per Second
34. What is theunit of digital informationthat is usually made up of eightbits?
A Byte
35. What does “OS” stand for?
Operating System
36. What kind of code consists of a low level programming language that controls a computer’s CPU?
Machine Code
37. What is the name of an idealizedmodel of computationor physicalelectronicdevice implementing aBoolean function, which performs a logical operation on one or morebinaryinputs that produces a single binary output?
A Logic Gate
38. What does “I/O” stand for?
Input/Output
39. What is the part of aCPU’scontrol unit,that stores the CPU’smicroprogram?
A Control Store
40. What is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses TCP/IP to communicate between networks and devices called?
The Internet
41. What is the type of computer processor, where the control and the data processing logic are included in a small number or single integrated circuit?
A Microprocessor
42. What does KB stand for?
Kilobyte
43. What does “WAN” stand for?
Wide-Area Network
44. Whatis the standardmarkup languagefor documents designed to be displayed in aweb browser called?
Hypertext Markup Languageor HTML
45. What was the firstrandom-access digital storage device used successfully in several early computers?
The Williams Tube or theWilliams–Kilburn Tube
46. What is the style sheet language used for describing thepresentationof a document written in amarkup languagesuch asHTML called?
Cascading Style Sheets or CSS
47. What does “FDD” stand for in regards to computer storage?
Floppy Disk Drive
48. What generates the addresses used to step through themicroprogramof acontrol store and is used as a part of thecontrol unitof aCPU?
Sequencer or Microsequencer
49. What does “IP” stand for?
Internet Protocol
50. What does the multinational technology company name “IBM” stand for?
International Business Machines
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51. What is an error, flaw orfaultin acomputer programorsystem,that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways called?
A Bug
52. What does “DSL” stand for in regards to the internet?
Digital Subscriber Line
53. What is any low-level programming language, where there is a very strong correspondence between the instructions in the language and the architect’s machine code instruction, where the language is designed for exactly one specific computer architecture called?
An Assembly or Assembler Language
54. What is the name of the device that is used to store information for immediate use in a computer called?
Memory
55. What does “GPU” stand for?
Graphics Processing Unit
56. What is the internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals for and from a computer through a computer program called?
The Sound or Audio Card
57. What is the order in which individualstatements,instructionsorfunction callsof animperativeprogram,areexecutedor evaluated called?
Control Flowor Flow of Control
58. 1000 megabytes is equal to 1 what?
A Gigabyte
59. What does “WP” stand for in regards to creating and editing documents?
Word Processor
60. What is the name of thelogic gate,that produces an output which is false, only if all its inputs are true?
NAND gate or NOT-AND
61. What does “CU” stand for in regards to a computer’s central processing unit?
Control Unit
62. What was the U.S. military system that was the first large scale example oflarge computersand associatednetworking equipment, that coordinated data from manyradarsites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area called?
SAGE or the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment
63. What do you call the physical parts of a computer, such as the monitor, mouse, sound card, and motherboard?
Hardware
64. What does “ODD” stand for in regards to computing?
Optical Disk Drive
65. What is the communication system that transfersdata between components inside acomputer, or between computers called?
A Bus
66. What was the world’s first stored-program computer called?
The “Manchester Baby” or the Small-Scale Experimental Machine(SSEM)
67. What does “BIOS” stand for?
Basic Input/Output System
68. What is acomputer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, or office building called?
A Local Area Network or LAN
69. What isthe system softwarethat managescomputer hardware,softwareresources, and provides commonservicesforcomputer programs called?
AnOperating Systemor OS
70. What does “HTTP” stand for?
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
71. What is the family ofwireless networkprotocols, based on theIEEE 802.11family of standards, which are commonly used forlocal area networkingof devices andInternetaccess called?
Wi-Fi
72. What is thehigh-level, oftenjust-in-time compiled programming language, that usescurly-bracket syntax,and is one of the core technologies of theWorld Wide Web, along with HTML and CSS?
JavaScript
73. What does “USB” stand for?
Universal Serial Bus
74. Whatis the process of starting acomputer called?
Booting
75. What does the multinational information technology name “HP” stand for?
Hewlett-Packard
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76. What isthe type of computer memorythat requires power to maintain stored information called?
Volatile Memory
77. What does “HDD” stand for in regards to computer storage?
Hard Disk Drive
78. What is asoftware application, usedfor accessing information on the internet, by requesting a web page from a website called?
A Web Browser or Browser
79. What does “MB” stand for?
Megabyte
80. What does “ALU” stand for?
Arithmetic Logic Unit
81. In which 1613 book, was the first use of the term “computer” used, according to the Oxford English Dictionary?
The Yong Mans Gleanings
82. 1000 gigabytes is equal to 1 what?
A Terabyte
83. What is a family of wiredcomputer networking technologies commonly used inlocal area networks,metropolitan area networks, andwide area networks called?
Ethernet
84. What were early personal computers generally called?
Microcomputers
85. What does “RAM” stand for?
Random Access Memory
86. What is the term for when a computer program such as asoftware applicationor anoperating system stops functioning properly andexits?
A Crash or System Crash
87. Which multinational technology company invented both the hard disk drive and the floppy disk drive?
IBM
88. What is thenon-volatileelectronic computer memorystorage mediumthat can be electrically erased and reprogrammed called?
Flash Memory
89. 1000 petabytes is equal to 1 what?
Exabyte
90. What is the process of finding and resolvingdefects or problems that prevent correct operation withincomputer programs,software, orsystems called?
Debugging
91. What is the type ofdisk storage,composed of a thin and flexible disk of amagnetic storagemedium, in a square enclosure, lined with a fabric that removes dust particles from the spinning disk called?
A Floppy Disk
92. Who developed the first web browser?
Tim Berners-Lee
93. What type ofsoftware is designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a computer, and is used to support the computerinfrastructure?
Utility Software
94. What does “SSD” stand for in regards to computer storage?
Solid State Drive
95. What is the name of Apple’s general-purpose programming language, that was developed as a replacement language for Objective-C?
Swift
96. Who invented the first working hybrid integrated circuits?
Jack Kilby
97. What machine is credited as being the first computer, invented in 1936?
The Turing Machine
98. What does “VoIP” stand for?
Voice Over Internet Protocol
99. What does “FET” stand for in regards to computers?
Field-Effect Transistor
100. What is widely accepted as the first single chip microprocessor?
The Intel 4004
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101. What is the type ofdisc drive that useslaserlight or electromagnetic waves within or near the visiblelight spectrumas part of the process of reading or writing data to or fromoptical discs?
An Optical Disc Drive
102. Who is known as the founder of recursion theory, which helped provide the foundation for theoretical computer science?
Stephen Kleene
103. What does “PB” stand for in regards to computers?
A Petabyte
104. What is the form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, mostly used to store machine code and working data?
RAM or Random Access Memory
105. Microsoft derives its name from what two words?
Microcomputer and Software
106. What does “IEEE” stand for?
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
107. What is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting and output of text, often with some additional features, called?
A Word Processor
108. Who is the Japanese computer scientist andsoftware programmerbest known as the chief designer of theRubyprogramming language?
Yukihiro Matsumoto
109. What is a sequence ofprogram instructionsthat performs a specific task, packaged as a unit to be used in programs wherever that particulartaskshould be performed, called?
A Subroutine
110. What is the name of the Dutch programmer, who is best known as the creator of Python?
Guido van Rossum
111. What does “ZB” stand for?
Zettabyte
112. What is thesystem of one or morecomputers or server software, dedicated to running this software, that can satisfyclient HTTPrequests on the publicWorld Wide Web called?
AWeb Server
113. Who was the English mechanical engineer, that first developed the idea of a programmable computer?
Charles Babbage
114. What does “NVM” stand for in regards to computers?
Non-Volatile Memory
115. What is the name of the hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface, and is typically translated in a pointer motion on a display?
A Computer Mouse
116. What was the Turing machine originally called by Alan Turing?
The “A-Machine” or the “Automatic Machine”
117. What is the study of computeralgorithms that improve automatically through experience, and are a part of artificial intelligence called?
Machine Learning
118. What was Apple’s first hard drive called?
TheApple ProFile
119. What is the term for when either aprocess or system ceases to respond toinputs?
Hang or Freeze
120. What does GB stand for?
Gigabyte
121. What was Microsoft’s first programming language?
BASIC
122. What is atelecommunications networkthat extends over a large geographic area for the primary purpose ofcomputer networking called?
Wide Area Networkor WAN
123. Who initially designed the domain-specific programming language Elm?
Evan Czaplicki
124. What does “SoCs” stand for in regards to computers?
System on a Chip
125. What is thename of the general-purpose programming language that provides support for bothobject-oriented programming andfunctional programming, designed to be concise, and aimed to addressthe criticisms and perceived shortcomings of Java?
Scala
126. What does the “D” in “DRAM” stand for?
Dynamic
127. 1000 exabytes equals 1 what?
Zettabyte
128. What is an electro-mechanicaldata storage devicethat stores and retrievesdigital datausingmagnetic storageand one or more rigid rapidly rotatingplatterscoated with magnetic material called?
A Hard Disk Drive or HDD
129. What does TB stand for in regards to computer storage?
Terabyte
130. What is a piece ofcomputer hardware or software, that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called?
A Server
131. What does “URL” stand for?
Uniform Resource Locator
132. What type of softwareis designed to provide a platform for other software?
System Software
133. What was the first commercially available portable computer?
The IBM 5100
134. What type of processing, is the running of jobs that can be scheduled to run as resources permit, or without end user interaction?
Batch Processing
135. What company developed C# as part of its.NETinitiative?
Microsoft
136. What does “MOS” stand for in MOSFET?
Medal-Oxide-Silicon or Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor
137. Who first patented the field-effect transistor?
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld
138. 1000 zettabytes is equal to 1 what?
Yottabyte
139. Who is credited by many, to have invented the “mouse”?
Douglas Engelbart
140. What does “ROM” stand for?
Read Only Memory
141. What does the consumer electronic company name “HTC” stand for?
High Tech Company
142. What does “EB” stand for in regards to computer storage?
Exabyte
143. What two words does the free software community “Mozilla” derive its name from?
Mosaic and Godzilla
144. What does the digital appliance, “PDA” stand for?
Personal Digital Assistant
145. Who invented the “trackball”, the early predecessor to the “mouse”?
Ralph Benjamin
146. At what free software company was the programming language Rust designed by Graydon Hoare?
Mozilla
147. What was the first laptop-sized notebook computer?
TheEpson HX-20
148. What does “YB” stand for in regards to computer storage?
Yottabyte
149. What is a piece ofsoftware, a chunk of data, or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of abugorvulnerabilityto cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or something electronic called?
An Exploit
150. What was Apple’s first pre-assembled computer called?
The Apple-1
151. What does “PROM” stand for in regards to computers?
Programmable Read-Only Memory
152. What does “GUI” stand for?
Graphical User Interface
153. What was the first publicly available microcomputer?
The Altair 8800
154. What was the name of the first Web Browser?
WorldWideWeb
155. What is the type ofnon-volatile memory used incomputers, where stored data cannot be electronically modified after the manufacture of thememory device?
Read-only memoryor ROM
156. What mythological greek creature did the name “Asus” come from?
The Pegasus
157. What is the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path in computing called?
Bandwidth
158. What does the “S” in “SRAM” stand for?
Static
159. What is the type ofcomputer memorythat can retain stored information even after power is removed?
Non-Volatile Memory(NVM) orNon-Volatile Storage
160. What is the hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster called?
A Cache
161. What was Javascript originally called?
Mocha
162. What is the name of thestatically typed,compiled programming language designed atGoogle byRobert Griesemer,Rob Pike, andKen Thompson?
Go
163. What does “EPROM” stand for?
Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
164. 1000 terabytes is equal to 1 what?
A Petabyte
165. What type of software is aprogramor group of programs designed for end-users?
Application Software