History of Computing. Learning from the Past : IFIP WG 9.7 International Conference, HC 2010 Held as Part of WCC 2010 Brisbane, Australia, September 20-23, 2010, Proceedings
Abstract
History of Computing: Learning from the Past Why is the history of computing important? Given that the computer, as we now know it, came into existence less than 70 years ago it might seem a little odd to some people that we are concerned with its history. Isn’t history about ‘old things’? Computing, of course, goes back much further than 70 years with many earlier - vices rightly being known as computers, and their history is, of course, important. It is only the history of electronic digital computers that is relatively recent. History is often justified by use of a quote from George Santayana who famously said that: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’. It is arguable whether there are particular mistakes in the history of computing that we should avoid in the future, but there is some circularity in this question, as the only way we will know the answer to this is to study our history. This book contains papers on a wide range of topics relating to the history of c- puting, written both by historians and also by those who were involved in creating this history. The papers are the result of an international conference on the History of Computing that was held as a part of the IFIP World Computer Congress in Brisbane in September 2010.
Chapters (22)
This paper gives an overview of early Australian computing milestones up to about 1970 and demonstrates a mesh of influences.
Wartime radar, initially from Britain, provided basic experience for many computing engineers. UK academic Douglas Hartree
seems to have known all the early developers and he played a significant part in the first Australian computing conference.
John von Neumann’s two pioneering designs directly influenced four of the first Australian machines, and published US designs
were taken up enthusiastically. Influences passed from Australia to the world too. Charles Hamblin’s Reverse Polish Notation influenced English Electric’s KDF9, and succeeding stack architecture computers. Chris Wallace contributed to English Electric, and Murray Allen worked at Control
Data. Of course the Australians influenced each other: Myers, Pearcey, Ovenstone, Bennett and Allen organized conferences,
interacted on projects, and created the Australian Computer Societies. Even horse racing played a role.
KeywordsAustralia-computing-Myers-Pearcey-Ovenstone-Bennett-Allen-Wong-Hamblin-Hartree-Wilkes-CSIRO-CSIRAC-SILLIAC-UTECOM-WREDAC-SNOCOM-CIRRUS-ATROPOS-ARCTURUS
Museum Victoria possesses the only intact first generation electronic stored program computer left in the world. Real things,
like CSIRAC, are entry portals to a past era. Along with contemporary documents and records, they are the closest we can get
to time travel. They complement historical records. Historical records are not substitutes for the real thing, neither are
replicas or facsimiles. We use real objects in combination with historical and contemporary knowledge to develop our understanding
of the past. The presentation answers the question implied by the title ‘Why the real thing is essential for telling our stories’
in two ways. First, it discusses what we and future generations gain by conserving and interpreting the real thing on an on-going
basis. Second, it gives examples from the museological work done with CSIRAC and its archive.
Keywordsfirst-generation-stored-program-electronic-computer-software-CSIRAC-objects-real-thing-facsimiles-replicas-museum-archive
The paper considers some Medieval sources about imagined or actually studied automata, to make a contribution to the reconstruction of the cultural landscape of a period that, from the technological point of view, is commonly regarded as less interesting than others. It will be shown that the idea of an automatic device or system, capable of performing not necessarily simple tasks, of measuring its own state and of taking action based on it, was well established in the Medieval mind, even though sometimes connected with magic.
Andrew Donald Booth (1918-2009) was the leader of a team of computer pioneers at Birkbeck College in the University of London,
UK. Booth worked with limited resources, both human and financial, and concentrated on building smaller machines. This paper
presents an outline of his career in the UK which, the author believes, has not received the attention it deserves in comparison
to a number of his UK contemporaries.
KeywordsAndrew Booth-Kathleen Booth-Norman Kitz-computer pion- eer-Booth multiplier-magnetic drum-natural language translation-desktop computer
Professor Kristen Nygaard (1926-2002) was a multi-talented scientist whose achievements were amply honoured in his later years.
For general readers of Computer Science history Nygaard will be recognized as the creator with Professor Ole-Johan Dahl of
the SIMULA programming languages and object-oriented programming. But Nygaard also had a social and political engagement that
over the years brought him from a liberal-democratic to a socialist position where solidarity and empowerment were the major
chords. This paper gives a condensed descriptive tour of the life of this many-sided computer scientist with an emphasis on
how the scientific and political sides of Nygaard worked hand in hand, leading to his active cooperation with the trade unions
and making him a strong advocator of the Scandinavian School of System Development and Participatory Design.
KeywordsKristen Nygaard-computer history-object-oriented programming-operations research-participatory design-The Norwegian Computing Center
IPSJ (Information Processing Society of Japan), which was launched in 1960, formed the Computer History Committee in 1970
in order to record the early history of Japanese computers. The Committee has continued its activities, publishing history
related books, maintaining the Virtual Computer Museum web pages, editing articles about old computers and technologies, etc.
Recently, it started another mission, searching and nominating the Information Processing Technology Heritages. The present
paper surveys the Committee’s long time loci in a concise way.
Keywordsearly computers in Japan-Virtual Computer Museum web page-oral history-Information Processing Technology Heritage
A challenge is presented to the usual account of the development of the Manchester Baby which focuses on the contribution
made to the project by the topologist M.H.A. (Max) Newman and other members of the Dept. of Mathematics. Based on an extensive
re-examination of the primary source material, it is suggested that a very much more significant role was played by mathematicians
than is allowed for in the dominant discourse. It is shown that there was a single computer-building project at Manchester
in the years immediately following World War II and that it was conceived, led, funded, supplied and staffed by Newman who
was supported throughout by his long-time friend P.M.S. (Patrick) Blackett. In the course of the paper three persistent myths,
which lend support to the dominant narrative, are identified and debunked.
KeywordsManchester Baby-SSEM-Max Newman-Patrick Blackett-British Computing-Historiography
The M-3 computer was constructed by members of the Cybernetics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Hung:
Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Kibernetikai KutatóCsoportja, abbr. MTA KKCs) from mid 1957 until the beginning 1959. I was a
member of MTA KKCs until 1967. The Group was established for the sole purpose of constructing the first Hungarian electronic
tube computer, first the B-1, then the M-3, which began the age of computers in Hungary. We received the basic design of the
M-3 computer – mid 1957 - from the Soviet Union, but we received the necessary parts (vaves, cuprox diodes, connectors etc.),
too, we used only resisitors and capacitors from a Hungarian plant REMIX. The whole mechanical and electronical consrtruction
(logical unites, casing, drum etc.) was done by our mechanical engineers and our mechanical and electronical workshop.
KeywordsHungary-MTA KKCs-tube computer-first computer-program in Hungary-first computer music-drum-first Hungarian computer export
Anatoly Ivanovich Kitov (1920-2005) is one of the most outstanding representatives of the first generation of scientists who
had created Russian cybernetics, computer engineering and informatics. Due to political reasons his many-sided scientific
and organizational activities were hushed up. Only recently publications adequately estimating his role appeared. The report
represents biography and summary of main scientific achievements of A.I. Kitov as well as short description of his scientific
school and his collaboration with IFIP and other international organizations.
KeywordsAnatoly Kitov-cybernetics-informatics-programming languages-management information systems-Computer Centre No 1-M-100 computer-Red Book project-computer-aided control systems-TC-4 IFIP-MEDINFO-IMIA
In the late 1960s the US Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) engaged in an unparalleled, real-time computer networking project
to manage all its logistics (location, inventory, maintenance, and transportation of personnel, aircraft, weapons, components,
spare parts, etc.), the Advanced Logistics System (ALS). The $250 million ALS project was substantially larger in size and
cost than earlier real-time computer networking projects (including SAGE programming and SABRE), but it has received virtually
no attention from historians of computing. Ultimately, the ALS project failed. Drawing from an oral history with lead contractor
Control Data’s (CDC) longtime ALS project manager, previously unavailable CDC documents, and documentation and an oral history
from a leading external Air Force advisor on ALS, it shows how the AFLC pushed too far too fast in seeking to be a first-mover
in creating a massive unified database and real-time computer network for highly complex logistics.
KeywordsAir Force Materiel Command (AFMC)-Control Data Corporation (CDC)-Advanced Logistics System (ALS)-supply management-technological failure-real-time computing-computer networking
The first microcomputers were developed in the late 1970s and soon a wide variety of these machines were available for school
and home use. This presented both a marvellous opportunity to improve school education and a significant problem for education
authorities in how to provide support for the range of available computers. Several countries, including Australia, attempted
to solve this problem by designing and building their own educational computer systems. This paper briefly describes how New
Zealand, the UK and Canada designed and built computers for use in schools, and looks in more detail at how Australia started
down this path and designed, but did not ultimately proceed to build an educational computer.
KeywordsHistory of educational computing-purpose-built school computers-Poly-Icon-Acorn-Microbee-Australian Commonwealth Schools Commission-National Computer Education Program
This paper is concerned with some limited aspects of the history of two programming languages purpose-designed for students
learning to program digital computers: Basic and Logo. The focus is the very different educational aims and philosophies of
the originators of these languages. They are compared and their early use in schools sketched. While the reasons for teaching
students to write programs were initially based on experience in programming digital computers for non-educational use, despite
extensive research and publications, it would seem that the teacher of today is not in a much better position to justify teaching
programming than the original pioneers.
KeywordsComputer education-introductory programming languages-history of computing
This paper seeks to apply the techniques of ecology, used in a wide range of fields, to analyse a series of events in the
history of computing. The case analysed here is the history of development of computer studies curriculum at the senior level
in high schools in the Australian state of Victoria. Although theoretically directed by a central body, development of the
curriculum for the final high school year in computing shows a history containing many anomalies. Applying an ecological method
to the historical narrative shows that seemingly illogical changes can be explained by the interaction of organisms and the
environment in which the history has taken place. From this example we will show that ecological principles can also be useful
in analysing an historical event.
KeywordsComputer Science-Information Technology-computer studies curriculum-history-senior secondary school curriculum-ecological methods
The European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) began as a project which set out to define the computer skills required by the
ordinary citizen to take advantage of the new end user technology. The project started in 1995 and since that time ECDL has
become the leading digital literacy certification in the world with almost 10 million candidates enrolled in the programme.
The core ECDL consists of seven modules, defined by a syllabus which is agreed by an international panel of users and experts
and certifies that the holder has the competencies required to perform basic tasks using a personal computer, can use a computer
in practice and understands the basic concepts of information technology [1]. This paper describes the creation of the ECDL,
together with the unique organizational structure which enabled the wide implementation of ECDL, initially in Europe and later
throughout the world as the International Computer Driving License (ICDL).
KeywordsDigital Literacy-Certification-IFIP-CEPIS-Basic ICT Skills
Mainstream Information Technology professionals have misunderstood the Pick environment for many years. The Pick environment
has been conceived, designed and built with business solutions as its key driver. At its heyday there were over 3,000 business
applications available across a very wide range of hardware platforms supporting from 1 to thousands of real time users. The
tentative economic recovery of the 90’s and the Y2K fears created cautious and conservative corporate decision-making. During
those tumultuous years there were startling leaps in information and communications technology rewarding those who invested
in the future and in themselves. The Pick community at the time were fragmented and somewhat narrow-minded in their view of
the future and were unable to collectively invest in developing new technologies. Corporate executive peer group pressure
to adopt “vanilla” relational technologies and the desire for homogeneity is creating even more pressure on the Pick community.
KeywordsPick-Universe-Unidata-Prime-Revelation-jBase-Reality-Multivalue-Correlative-D3
This history of computers in education covers two continents. By analysing the experiences of two people a set of turning
points in history is identified. These turning points are in the experienced history and so indicate the impact of changes
on the citizens of two countries.
KeywordsComputers-education-history
Author's version at http://individual.utoronto.ca/fofound/RevisedExistEss1.pdf
The emergence of electronic stored-program computers in contain the 1940s marks a break with past developments in machine
calculation. Drawing on the work of various historians, I attempt to define the essence of that break and therefore of the
modern computer. I conclude that the generally used distinction between computers and precursor machines in terms of the stored-program
concept and von Neumann architecture rests not only on differences in hardware but also in the programming and use of machines.
Next I discuss the derived definition in terms of machines from the 1940s and 50s to elucidate the definition’s implications
for the history of computing.
KeywordsStored-program-von Neumann architecture-computer history-computer architecture-history of software-IBM SSEC
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was founded in 1957 by two MIT engineers. By 1988 it had grown to be the world’s second
largest computer corporation. From this heady height it took a mere 10 years for the company to disappear completely. This
paper looks at DEC both in relation to the S-curve of technology and how it conformed to this model in the first thirty years
but missed out on the disruptive technology of PCs and workstations in the late 1980s.Also how they did not see the wave in
the late 1990s and missed the opportunity to lead the market once again.
KeywordsS-curve-Digital Equipment Corporation-DEC-recession-exemplar
Since computers were first introduced in the late 1960’s there has been continued debate on the impact of technology, organisations
and staff within those organisations. Enid Mumford was one of the key researchers who looked at the Socio-Technical implications
through the decades, and as part of her research she developed the ETHICS method to help improve the integration of technology
in organisations and society.
KeywordsEnid Mumford-ETHICS-participation-systems design
The BBC microcomputer was one of several nationally produced which were superseded by the International Business Machines
(IBM) Personal Computer (PC). This reflected the results of both an international market competition and rivalry between different
US processor manufacturers. Along with the hardware, valuable software and supporting educational ideologies were discarded.
As we make choices about technological innovation, to what degree are we selecting potential efficacy or responding to marketing
hype?
KeywordsBBC microcomputer-IBM Personal Computer-Apple II-computer hardware-operating systems
This paper traces the history of the development of information systems degrees in one of the largest Australian universities.
A synthesis of documents and transcripts of interviews with the participants shows that information systems grew from an amalgam
of existing business courses. The shape of the degrees was initially forged by politics and personality, with a stable and
robust curriculum in place after a number of years. This historical narrative shows that university curriculum reflected the
significant impact of information technologies in business.
Keywordsinformation systems curriculum-information systems history- information systems
The Monash Museum of Computing History was established at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia in 2001. This university
museum has a growing collection of early computer equipment and a permanent exhibition tracing the development of computing
technology within an Australian context and particularly related to computing at Monash University. The Museum has been evolving
since its inception with greater definition of its collection policy, defined collection management and its role as a repository
for computing history and the dissemination of its research. This paper gives an overview of the origins of the Museum, current
activities and future directions.
Keywordshistory of computing-computing museum
Computer history tours are a new way to educate people about our discipline and its history. We describe the introduction of such tours and their use in curriculum enrichment, outreach, and academic community-building. These tours give historical and social context to the development of topics in the curriculum, and demonstrate to students the universality of some of the principles they learn. The city of Melbourne, Australia, serves as an illustration, but computer history tours can be run in many cities of various sizes, and we give advice on how to do this.
Existence Precedes Essence-Meaning of the Stored-Program Concept
- Bill Davey
- Kevin R Parker
Bill Davey and Kevin R. Parker
Existence Precedes Essence-Meaning of the Stored-Program
Concept........................................................ 169
Allan Olley
Recession, S-Curves and Digital Equipment Corporation.............. 179
The Past, Present and Future of Socio-Technical Systems Design
- T David
- Roger G Goodwin
- Ethics........................................................ Johnson
David T. Goodwin and Roger G. Johnson
ETHICS: The Past, Present and Future of Socio-Technical Systems
Design.......................................................... 189
Shona Leitch and Matthew J. Warren
Lessons from Discarded Computer Architectures..................... 198