Title: Instructor's Perspective - Module 1
Course: CGS 1560 Microcomputer Operating Systems > Section: Module 1 - Introduction to Virtual Machines

Module 1: Introduction to Virtual Machines

It has actually been almost 40 years since the Altair 8800 was first sold as a kit.  It came with an instruction manual that would probably make most self-proclaimed computer geniuses cringe. The operation manual introduction stated, “Don’t be discouraged if the manual seems too complicated in places. Just remember that a computer does only what its programmer instructs it to do.” If you wanted to use it, you had to do what, program it? The basic system only came with 4k of memory to work with that cost $150.

Contrast that with today where you can buy a 7” tablet with High Definition (HD) video, 16 Gigabytes (GB) of memory and a 1.2 Gigahertz (Ghz) dual-core processor. Are you in need of an application? Simply go to the App Store where you can purchase thousands of apps online. Indeed, computers have become an integral part of our society, culture and daily lives. While you no longer need to learn to write programs to use a computer you should understand the fundamentals of how they work. That knowledge will assist you in solving the issues you encounter with the computer. At some point, you will encounter problems and that’s inevitable!

Attachments

- Mod1_InstructorPerspective.pdf