29 November 2011 Last updated at 19:25 ET

7 questions on computer programs

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Computer lessons in schools need to be improved, say computing firms in a new report. Too often classes focus on how to use software rather than on how to write it, they say. So how much do you know about computer programming?

1.) Multiple Choice Question

Joseph Marie Jacquard (pictured, left, with Napoleon) was a forerunner of computer programming when he invented a machine controlled by punch-cards in 1801. What did his "programmable" contraption do?

1. Thresh corn
   
2. Weave fabrics
   
3. Clean chimneys
   

2.) Multiple Choice Question

American Grace Hopper was one of the pioneers of computing, playing a key role in the development of Cobol, one of the first programming languages, in 1959. What was her nickname?

1. Amazing Grace
   
2. Divine Grace
   
3. Grace Under Fire
   

3.) Multiple Choice Question

Computer programming language "C" was developed between 1969 and 1972 by a mathematician at which company?

1. Bell Telephone Laboratories
   
2. Commodore
   
3. Wireless Specialty Apparatus Company
   

4.) Multiple Choice Question

Which of the following is NOT a computer language?

1. Feta
   
2. Ruby
   
3. Pizza
   
4. Python
   

5.) Multiple Choice Question

The following Hollywood figures starred in films featuring computer programmers - but which did not play the computer whizz?

1. Jeff Bridges
   
2. John Travolta
   
3. Richard Pryor
   

6.) Multiple Choice Question

Acronyms and abbreviations are popular within the computing community. Which of the following is an abbreviation for a programming language?

1. GNU
   
2. PCF
   
3. WYSIWYG
   

7.) Multiple Choice Question

What is the correct HTML 4 for inserting an image?

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. image.gif
   

Answers

1. It's weave fabrics. After they became widely adopted by manufacturers, Jacquard looms were smashed by weavers who feared they would be put out of work.
2. It's Amazing Grace. She was also known as the Grand Lady of Software and Grandma Cobol.
3. It's the Bell Telephone Laboratories, also referred to as Bell Laboratories and Bell Labs. It was formerly known as AT&T Bell Laboratories. Language "C" and its descendants are the most widely used programming languages in the world, according to the company.
4. Some computer programs have truly bizarre names - but feta isn't one of them.
5. It's John Travolta. There was a computer programmer in the film Swordfish, which Travolta starred in, but he was played by Hugh Jackman. Bridges played one in Tron in 1982 and Pryor in Superman III in 1983.
6. It's PCF - Programming Computable Functions. WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get - describes software in which content displayed on screen is close in appearance to what is printed. GNU - Gnu's Not Unix - is the name for an operating system.
7. It's the third option, according to W3C - the main international standards organisation for the web.

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