I have some ICT homework, and the question is
‘Define what an integrated circuit is and its relevance to the development of the computer’.
I have managed to define it, but I’m not sure why it’s relevant?
I just wanted to say I had never heard of an IC until Friday, which is when I got the homework, so I don’t want to sound like I an idiot.
I’m just not that good with computers.
Yeah I go to Franklin 
I had ICT this morning actually.
It’s a piece of (usually) silicon, on which is etched millions of components, transistors, resistors and capacitors.
The reason it’s relevant is that computers are made of integrated circuits. The CPU is one. RAM is a few on a card.
Without integrated circuits, you have a computer about as powerful as a credit card calculator that looks like http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.piercefuller.com/collect/ibm709w.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.piercefuller.com/collect/main.html&h=482&w=720&sz=63&tbnid=QVr-8CBEsBMu_M:&tbnh=94&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dibm%2B709&zoom=1&q=ibm+709&usg=__NqV1QiocVUVB2ibtvED-bEt8org=&sa=X&ei=DhuNTJH9JYL58AamzNmtDA&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAg (and that’s a tiny part of the computer).
Home computers would be impossible without integrated circuits. Cellphones would be pure fantasy (there’s a computer in every cellphone). Imagine carrying around a computer weighing a few tons, needing many kilowatts of power and a big air conditioning plant to keep it from melting. That’s a computer with no integrated circuits. (It would – and did – use vacuum tubes ["valves" in Merrie Olde].)
Well duh, the whole explosion in computer technology was because IC’s had the ability to do more powerful tasks and were progressively smaller. So technology could do more, could be more accessible and used in more every day activities.
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Without integrated circuits computers would still be as big as a room.
Integrated Circuits can operate at much higher speeds than discrete electronics.
Integrated Circuits consume less energy than discrete electronics.
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It’s a piece of (usually) silicon, on which is etched millions of components, transistors, resistors and capacitors.
The reason it’s relevant is that computers are made of integrated circuits. The CPU is one. RAM is a few on a card.
Without integrated circuits, you have a computer about as powerful as a credit card calculator that looks like http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.piercefuller.com/collect/ibm709w.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.piercefuller.com/collect/main.html&h=482&w=720&sz=63&tbnid=QVr-8CBEsBMu_M:&tbnh=94&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dibm%2B709&zoom=1&q=ibm+709&usg=__NqV1QiocVUVB2ibtvED-bEt8org=&sa=X&ei=DhuNTJH9JYL58AamzNmtDA&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAg (and that’s a tiny part of the computer).
Home computers would be impossible without integrated circuits. Cellphones would be pure fantasy (there’s a computer in every cellphone). Imagine carrying around a computer weighing a few tons, needing many kilowatts of power and a big air conditioning plant to keep it from melting. That’s a computer with no integrated circuits. (It would – and did – use vacuum tubes ["valves" in Merrie Olde].)
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Haha do you go to Franklin College? I have the exact same homework x
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