Key facts

  • Charles Babbage designed the Analytical Engine in the 1830s; its separate store, mill, input and output ideas became the standard way to explain moder...
  • Herman Hollerith used punched-card tabulating machines for the 1890 United States census;
  • IBM introduced the Selectric typewriter in 1961; its keyboard layout and electric typing mechanism influenced later computer input terminals.
  • Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrated the computer mouse, hypertext and interactive computing in 1968;
  • The QWERTY keyboard layout was patented by Christopher Latham Sholes in 1878; it remains the common layout for English computer keyboards.

Key Points at a Glance

  1. 1

    Charles Babbage designed the Analytical Engine in the 1830s; its separate store, mill, input and output ideas became the standard way to explain modern computer hardware.

  2. 2

    Herman Hollerith used punched-card tabulating machines for the 1890 United States census; this is a high-yield landmark for early input, storage and machine-readable data processing.

  3. 3

    IBM introduced the Selectric typewriter in 1961; its keyboard layout and electric typing mechanism influenced later computer input terminals.

  4. 4

    Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrated the computer mouse, hypertext and interactive computing in 1968; the event is remembered as the "Mother of All Demos".

  5. 5

    The QWERTY keyboard layout was patented by Christopher Latham Sholes in 1878; it remains the common layout for English computer keyboards.

  6. 6

    The Universal Serial Bus standard was introduced in 1996; USB became the common interface for keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, storage drives and many other peripherals.

  7. 7

    The Bluetooth 1.0 specification appeared in 1999; it is important for short-range wireless input and output devices such as keyboards, mice, speakers and headsets.

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Input devices and source data entry

An input device converts human action, physical marks, sound, light or movement into machine-readable data. In objective exams, the key distinction is between manual input and direct data entry. Manual input uses a human operator, as in typing on a keyboard or selecting an icon with a mouse. Direct data entry captures data close to its source, reducing retyping and human error. Scanners, Optical Mark Recognition sheets, barcode readers and magnetic card readers are common examples.

A keyboard is the standard alphanumeric input device. It contains typing keys, numeric keys, function keys, control keys and navigation keys. Common keys such as Enter, Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Backspace, Delete, Home, End, Page Up and Page Down are tested because they are used in office software and classroom computer labs. A pointing device controls the pointer on a graphical user interface. A mouse uses click, double-click, drag, scroll and right-click actions. A touchpad performs the same role on laptops, while a touchscreen combines input and display output in one unit.

Remember the exam rule: input means data enters the computer; output means processed information leaves it for the user.

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