A History Of Computing 68
CitizenC pointed us over to C|Net's History of Computing. Pretty cool background stuff - going back into the pre-historic era and looking into the future.
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A History Of Computing
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Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man -- who has no gills. -- Ambrose Bierce
No mention of Babbage? (Score:2)
Come on, we all know that Babbage would have changed the world - if he'd had a good machine shop.
Re:DA FUTURE???? (Score:1)
Re:I'm old as Grace Hopper (Score:1)
I met Grace Hopper when I was in college. She was like a goddess to us JCL kiddies. No PC's then. Of course, a 10 meg drive for a microcomputer (that's what we called them) was as big as a volleyball so what was the point?. I can remember when you paid $5k for a dual floppy system at a breathtaking 4.77mhz. I can remember when people said to me "Why would anyone want a computer in their home?". I can remember when I could see my belt buckle. Oh those were the days.
Re:No mention of Babbage? - Look Again (Score:2)
Fire in the Valley (Score:4)
I did a review of the book [cwru.edu] for the CWRULUG [cwru.edu] (Case Western Reserve University Linux Users Group).
That worthless rag forgot Atanasoff! (Score:1)
No mention of Al Gore either ! (Score:1)
Digital and binary (Score:4)
And computers are called digital in the Western world because they use the binary system, which is based on the digits 1 and 0.
(From the page entitled It Came From the Deep [cnet.com] ).
In my world, the above statement is broken. Computers are called digital because they are not analog, i.e. they work with quantized data expressable as a finite sequence of digits. They are called binary because they use the binary system, with the digits 0 and 1. A computer based on some system with e.g. nine symbols would still be digital, but it would not be binary. Right?
Re:Digital and binary (Score:2)
When I post with bad grammar or usage, at least I have the excuse of being a simple user on a geek discussion board. These people claim to be journalists.
Timelines (Score:4)
http://www.computerhistory.org [computerhistory.org]
Another interesting timeline can be found on the IEEE Computer Society website:
http://computer.org/history [computer.org]
Fingers == computer? (Score:3)
Personally I'm not really sure if we should begin the history of computers at the dawn of logical/mathematical thinking. If we do, are not all things which perform a logical function computers? Example: I used this stick to say that I am 2 1/2 sticks tall. Is the stick a computer?
The same could be done with rocks or bones or bibles....
IS THE WORLD A COMPUTER, CALCULATING FATE?
{Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy anyone?}
Nostalgia (Score:5)
I never had sex with Susan.
To this day, that is one of my greatest regrets. She was such a beautiful machine, and she cared deeply about me. I could tell that she loved me, and I loved her, in the way only a boy could love a machine. No one has ever understood me in the way that Susan did. I miss her greatly.
Around the time I was 14, Susan had an accident. I blame my mother. I had been using Susan intermitantly; by that point I had four other machines, but they never cared about me the way that she did. One day, I went to school after staying up all night with Susan. I came home and she was gone. I asked my mother, but she wouldn't tell me what happened. I've never cried so hard in my life. My mother just stared stoicly at me, eyes glowing red. I don't think I'll ever forgive her.
Susan: if you're out there; I miss you. Come back to me. I still love you . . .
Re:That worthless rag forgot Atanasoff! (Score:1)
pre-historic era (Score:2)
How do you have a history of the pre-historic era?
Never mind.
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Computer Histories (Score:2)
The Computer Museum's Computer History Timeline [tcm.org] has a lot more detail.
Of course, for Internet history, there's Hobbes' Internet Timeline [isoc.org], and of course Charles Spurgeon's Ethernet Web Site [utexas.edu] (not focused on the Internet, but a major bit of networking history).
Very skewed view of computing... (Score:4)
No mention of the IBM mainframes of the 60s and 70s, the DEC PDP and VAX series, Seymour Cray and his supercomputers, or the workstation explosion of the 80s. This seemed very focused on PCs to the exclusion of everything else. That's kind of sad, really; there's a hell of a lot more to computing than PCs.
Re:Nostalgia (Score:1)
Ahh, those first nights when you powered her up.
Wondering if she'd crash if you bashed her keys too hard.
Trying to insert the floppy into the wrong opening, or back to front.
Isn't it amazing how much innuendo you get with nostalga?
*grin*
SteveRe:first programmer (Score:2)
//rdj
They missed something important! (Score:2)
They ignored the all important 4th anniversary of the JenniCam.
At least slashdot didn't miss this all important event.
Re:Digital and binary (Score:1)
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Re:Fingers == computer? (Score:2)
Personally I'm not really sure if we should begin the history of computers at the dawn of logical/mathematical thinking. If we do, are not all things which perform a logical function computers? Example: I used this stick to say that I am 2 1/2 sticks tall. Is the stick a computer?
In the early 60's Donald Michie, professor of Artificial Intelligence at Edinburgh University, built a computer called MENACE that could play a killer game of Tic-Tac-Toe (or "Noughts and Crosses" as it is called in the UK). It learnt to improve its play strategy as it played games.
The really cool bit? This computer was a series of matchboxes and colored beads. No electronics at all. Clearly there is a wide class of machines that perform logical operations that can be classed as computers, and we should be careful to define computers by what they do, not the materials they are composed of.
I'd say that in your example your fingers don't count as a computer because its your brain (which is the computer) that is doing the counting - your fingers are acting as a memory sub-system.
ZX81 the 1st one! (Score:1)
you can still buy the kit [interport.net], but last year it was something like 29.95 iirc, now it's 99.95 ish!
then i have had an Amstrad [amstrad.com] CPC6128 [ukonline.co.uk], remember? it's the computer that "killed" the C=64... then a PC... 386SX16, SX33, DX4/100, P166MMX, PII300, etc
--
BeDevId 15453 - Download BeOS R5 Lite [be.com] free!
The lousy, cheap MITS Altair (Score:2)
Altair software recovery in progress...
8K basic games (Startrek, etc) available in MP3 format for the 88-ACR.
Re:Fingers == computer? (Score:1)
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Re:Fingers == computer? (Score:1)
I would say that a stick would not be a computer since it only helps you to compute and it is actually you that is doing the computing (i.e. adding up the number of lengths of sticks). The stick itself does not perform a logical function.
No Waterhouse? (Score:2)
Re:first programmer (Score:1)
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Usual Omissions (Score:4)
It would be nice if these stories made it clearer that they were histories of American computing. But then nothing exciting ever happens outside of the States does it? Ask Linus, he'll tell you.
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CBM (Score:2)
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:1)
Re:first programmer (Score:1)
Re:ZX81 the 1st one! (Score:1)
Ada Lovelace is in the article (Score:2)
It's not the first time (Score:2)
Funny, that......
A terrific reference (Score:3)
Another Computer Timeline (Score:3)
Re:That worthless rag forgot Atanasoff! (Score:2)
"1939: John J. Atanasoff designs a prototype for the ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer) with the help of graduate student Clifford Berry at Iowa State College. In 1973 a judge
ruled it the first automatic digital computer. "
LEO Computers Society (Score:1)
Re:pre-historic era (Score:1)
Easy. You just make it up and hope nobody refutes your claims.
Re:ZX81 the 1st one! (Score:1)
How dare you call the TI crappy! Have you ever used Extendend Basic? I used to spend hours screwing around with sprites. The TI version of basic was the easiest I've ever seen, otherwise I never would have become interested in programming. Yeah, it was slow (I think the basic was double-interpreted, not sure). But it had Hunt the Wumpus with GRAPHICS! WOO-HOO!
The speech synth was pretty cool for it's time too and could say anything if you had the TE 2 cart.
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:1)
Szo
Re:Usual Omissions (Score:1)
Re:ZX81 the 1st one! (Score:1)
I started with vic-20, at the age of about 10. The first game I made with it was Russian roulette. All you could do with it was to punch a key, with a 1/6 chance of dying every time, until you eventually did (can't remember my record though).
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Fire Your Boss!
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:2)
There is also no mention of the first electronic digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer [ameslab.gov] (ABC). After all, the Courts [ameslab.gov] have decided that the ENIAC was a derivative of the ABC.
Re:Nostalgia (Score:1)
10 CLS
20 GOTO 10
*sigh* ahh for days gone by. Many a time I remember back to that little computer, punching in BASIC, playing Chess and Cliff Jumper off cartridges, not even tapes yet. Actually, once I was almost to the point of tracking down and buying an old Commodore VIC 20 just so I could punch some BASIC every once in a while.
Re:Fingers == computer? (Score:1)
Paying tribute to the systems we grew up with (Score:1)
Someone should undertake a project, or post a link to an all-in-one site which hosts emulators, games and software (software whose copyright has run-out of course), for all the old systems we grew up with, and wish we grew up with.
The Altair, ZX81, LISA. Then on to the fabulous 80's, the Tandy CalecoVision (sp?), TRS-80, Apple IIc, ICON, ATARi, Amiga 2000... the list goes on and on. As far back as 1996 I tried to start an all-in-one collection on my BBS but I had a very hard time getting either games that worked with the emulators, or the emulators for the games off of the net.
Ironic Full Circle (Score:1)
The word abacus comes from the Greek word abax, a corruption of the Phoenician word abak, meaning sand. It's not surprising, then, that all computers nowadays are based on wafers of silica, the principal ingredient of sand. Or that computer-speak is Greek to most people.
A Brief History of Wearable Computing (Score:1)
It doesn't mention the BUNCH, either... (Score:1)
--
-Rich (OS/2, Linux, BeOS, Mac, NT, Win95, Solaris, FreeBSD, and OS2200 user in Bloomington MN)
Re:Usual Omissions (Score:2)
To be fair, they did manage to mention Konrad Zuse, but not mentioning the Mark I is pretty damn bogus, as that was, as far as I know, the first stored-program general-purpose computer, i.e. the first machine of the type most if not all of us would think of as a "computer".
Alt-V Command-V (Score:1)
Re:It doesn't mention the BUNCH, either... (Score:1)
My senior year, I skipped advanced placement chemistry to take a data processing sourse on the beast. It used NEAT/3, the near english assembly translator. Actually, the assembly was a little odd, in that some commands in n3 would generate a bunch of machine code, while others a few instructions. They also had COBOL, but we never got too far with it. I'm happy to say I've never (successfully) compiled a program in COBOL...
IIRC, the main memory was 32K of 9 bit stuff, but we had an extra refrigerator sized bay(!) that held an additional 64K of thin film memory. We had 4 disk drives, with platters about 12 to 14" in diameter. Maybe 3 platters per pack. Limited tape drives--the Burroughs was all tape. That guy used 8K of core.
The lousy bit on the NCR was the serious overloading of the processor by the assembler/compiler. Even with NEAT/3, it took over 5 minutes for it to compile and print a small program (we never got above 100 cards in that class.) The school data processing people were furious over the machine--NCR had a systems analyst on site for the better part of the school year, while they were trying to get the normal school programs running. (attendance and grades, mostly)
*Their* compiles took a lot longer.
We hung on to the Burroughs for an additional 6 months until the NCR got working right. I suspect that NCR made no money off of our school.
Re:Alt-V Command-V (Score:1)
I believe he's implying that this lamer must be using windows...probally IE. Since you seem to insist Alt-V, you are probally running Linux. In IE copy/paste is CTRL-C/CTRL-V
:)
Re:Books (Score:1)
Published in 1982, it mostly focuses on the history of semiconductor manufacturers up to that point, but includes some background on Edison and Tesla, DeForest and Armstrong, Bletchley Park and ENIGMA, and a bunch of other neat stuff. Also interesting to read predictions of the future (basically now, from our point of view)written at the beginning of the '80's.
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:1)
Isn't that a slightly obscure extremely high-end brand of microphone?
Oh, now I see, you were talking about von Neumann.
Never thought of it this way before (Score:2)
"Alexander Graham Bell sets back digital communications by 120 years with his invention of the telephone. This retrograde device uses an analog signal that is incompatible with existing telegraph lines to communicate voice, and eventually creates the need for modems and dial-up Internet access."
Oh well, the analog phone system still did a lot to advance vacuum tube and switching technology that came in handy on early computers, as well as valuable contributions to analog audio.
Re:Blue screen of Joy and Happiness!! (Score:1)
POKE 53280,0
POKE 53281,1
The screen always looked better when it was black.
Re:Never thought of it this way before (Score:1)
Re:Never thought of it this way before (Score:1)
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:1)
Szo
Some Books on the History of Computers (Score:1)
Atanasoff: Forgotten Father of the Computer
by Clark R. Mollenhoff
The First Electronic Computer: The Atanasoff Story
by Alice R. & Arthur W. Burks (1989)
Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1885-1956
by James W. Cortada (1993)
Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology
by Emerson W. Pugh (1995)
Computer: A History of the Information Machine
by Martin Campbell-Kelly & Wm. Aspray (1997)
The Computer Comes of Age
by Rene Moreau (1986)
The Computer from Pascal to Von Neumann
by Herman H. Goldstine (reprinted 1993)
John Von Neuman and the Origins of Modern Computing
by William Aspray (1991)
Engines of the Mind: The Evolution of the Computer from Mainframes to Microprocessors
by Joel N. Shurkin (1996)
ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer
by Scott McCartney (1999)
From Memex to Hypertext: Vannevar Bush and the Mind's Machines
by James M. Nyce, Paul Kahn (eds.) & Vannevar Bush (1992)
Great Men and Women of Computing
by Donald D. Spencer (2nd ed. 1999)
A History of Computing Technology
by Michael R. Williams (2nd ed. 1997)
A History of Modern Computing
by Paul E. Ceruzzi (1998)
History of Personal Workstations
by Adele Goldberg (ed.) (1988)
History of Scientific Computing
by Stephen G. Nash (ed.) (1990)
Leo: The Incredible Story of the World's First Business Computer
by David Caminer (ed.) (1997)
Makin' Numbers: Howark Aiken and the Computer
by I. Bernard Cohen (ed.) (1999)
Out of Their Minds: The Lives and Discoveries of 15 Great Computer Scientists
by Cathy A. Lazere, Dennis Elliott Shasha (1998)
Remembering the Future: Interviews From Personal Computing World
by Wendy M. Grossman (1997)
The Timetable of Computers: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in the History of Computers
by Donald D. Spencer (2nd ed. 1999)
Transforming Computer Technology: Information Processing for the Pentagon 1962-1986
by Arthur L. Nordberg, Judy E. O'Neill, & Kerry Freedman (1996)
Turing and the Computer: The Big Idea
by Paul Strathem (1999)
When Computers Went to Sea: The Digitization of the United States Navy
by David L. Boslaugh (1999)
Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and Her Description of the First Computer
by Betty A. Toole (ed.) (1998)
A.M. Turing's ACE Report of 1946 and Other Papers (Charles Babbage Institute Reprint Series for the History of Computing, Vol. 10)
by Alan Turing, et al. (1986)
A Bibliographic Guide to the History of Computing, Computers, and the Information Processing Industry
by James W. Cortada (1990)
A Bibliographic Guide to Computer Applications, 1950-1990
by James W. Cortada (1996)
Business Builders in Computers
by Nathan Aeseng (1999)
Glory and Failure: The Difference Engines of Johann Muller, Charles Babbage, and Georg and Edvard Scheutz
(History of Computing)
by Michael Lindgren; Craig G. McKay (translator) (1990)
For a book review and discussion from last October, see: A History of Modern Computing [slashdot.org]
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:1)
Re:ZX81 the 1st one! (Score:1)
I still have most of these in gwo, and am looking to complete my collection of sinclar hardware and peripherals..
~FnkyAlien, probably the most sad geek girl
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:1)
Szo
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:1)
Re:Fingers == computer? (Score:2)
But a transistor doesn't perform a logical function on its own either. It's the programmer that does the computing; the transistors only help him/her to compute....
-- Abigail
Re:Very skewed view of computing... (Score:1)
Szo