The Great Myths of the History of Computing

The Great Myths of the History of Computing J. A. N. Lee Computer Science Virginia Tech 1

FIRSTS • How to define? • Add enough adjectives and almost anything can be a FIRST – The FIRST computer – The FIRST modern computer – The FIRST analog computer – The FIRST digital computer 2

The Binary Number System • John Napier, Laird of Merchison – The Chessboard Computer - 1617 • India – Many examples of two-character systems before 1000 AD 3

The First Calculator • Abacus (at least three versions) • Napier’s Bones • The Slide Rule (Oughtred) • The Pascalene (Pascal) • Leibniz’ Machine • The Millionaire 4

The First Programmer • Ada Augusta or Charles Babbage • Robert Campbell, Richard Bloch, Grace Murray Hopper, or Howard Aiken 5

What’s ‘er name? • Daughter of Lord Byron, the poet George Gordon Noel – so what is the family name of a “Lord”? • Wife of the Earl of Lovelace – so what is the family name of an “Earl”? • Options – Noel, Byron, Lovelace, King

The First Computer • Charles Babbage • Herman Hollerith • What is a “Computer”? – A person – Standard five part definition (the von Neumann architecture) – The Virginia Crimes Act Definition 6

Virginia Computer Crimes Act 1984 COMPUTER" means an electronic, magnetic, optical, hydraulic or organic device or group of devices which, pursuant to a COMPUTER program, to human instruction, or to permanent instructions contained in the device or group of devices, can automatically perform COMPUTER operations with or on COMPUTER data and can communicate the results to another COMPUTER or to a person. 7

The First Modern Digital Computer • 1930 s: – – – John Vincent Atanasoff — the ABC Konrad Zuse — Z 1, Z 2, Z 3, Z 4 George Stibitz — Complex Calculator Alan Turing — the Universal machine Howard Aiken — Harvard Mark I (ASCC) • 1940 s: – Tom Flowers et al — Colossus – John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert — ENIAC 8

The von Neumann Architecture 9

The “von Neumann” Architecture • Sequential operation • Automatic (without human intervention) • Five elements: – Input – Output – Memory – Arithmetic Unit – Control 10

The “von Neumann” Architecture 10

The Stored Program Concept • Programming the Harvard Mark I was by external paper tape • The ENIAC was “programmed” by rewiring it completely! 11

The Stored Program Concept • The First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC - 1946 • Who were the author(s)? • Whose idea was it? • Was it classified and thus not available for publication? 11

The First Stored Program Computer • The Manchester “baby” - 1947 • The Cambridge EDSAC - 1948 • The BINAC - 1949 12

The First Business Computer • LEO — Lyons Electronic Office — 1950 – Modeled after the EDSAC • UNIVAC — Universal Automatic Computer — 1951 for the Census Bureau – Perhaps the first mass produced machine • ERMA — Electronic Recording Means of Accounting — 1957 for Bank of America 13

The First Bug 14

The First Bug • Which machine? – Harvard Mark I, III? • By whom? – Grace Murray Hopper – Howard Aiken – Bill Burke • The term “bug” – Thomas Edison 15

GRACE MURRAY HOPPER, USN

USS Hopper Aegis Class Destroyer - 1996

COBOL • Grace Murray Hopper – A-1, B-0 – Flowmatic – But NOT COBOL • CODASYL – Short Range Committee – Joe Wegstein and others • The first COBOL compiler 16

The First Computer Society • IEEE Computer Society - 1946 – AIEE and IRE – Large Scale Computing Committee 1946 – IEEE 1953, Computer Society 1957 • Association for Computing Machinery 1947 – Eastern Association for Computing Machinery 1947 17

The First Disk • • RAMAC - IBM 1959 Typewriters - Plastic strips The Floppy - also for typewriters BUT Then - a disk is just a flat drum – Andrew Booth - 1947 – ERA machines - about 1947 – IBM 650 - 1955 18

The First Compiler • The First Compiler – Grace Murray Hopper – John Backus et al • The First Compiler Book – Randall and Russell – J. A. N. Lee – David Gries 19

The First Portable Computer • Mobidic (MOBile Digital Computer) Built by Sylvania for the US Army - 1957 • NASA Mercury Computers — 1962 • IBM 5500 - first “desk top” — mid 1970 s 20

The First E-mail • Dartmouth College – BASIC and DTSS – The “network” – The messages 21

Dartmouth College Smith College

The First Microcomputer for SALE • June 1973: The word “microcomputer” first appears in connection with the French MICRAL • 1973: Scelbi Computer Consulting Company offers the first computer kit • December 1974: Altair 8800 announced in “Popular Electronics” • BUT THEN: July 1974: Jonathon Titus and Peter Rony Virginia Tech - Mark 8 based on 8008 in “Radio Electronics” magazine 22

and now for some modern myths

The Internet • Arpanet was built to provide secure, redundant connections between military machines • Though sponsored by ARPA (now DARPA) it was a university centered experiment • Later the decentralized communications benefits were recognized and retrofitted into the rationale (Rand Corporation report)

Moore’s Law • Chip speed doubles every 18 months while the cost halves • Corollary: – by the time the new chip arrives Microsoft will have developed a fatter, slower, less efficient operating system to offset the improvements

WWW • IS: – interactive – educational • TRULY IS: – a communications system • IT IS: – the webmasters who make it work! – still a work in progress!

SUMMARY • Myths about computing abound • Because people rely on secondary sources • But PRIMARY sources are difficult to find • We did not practice good documentation • Conclusion: – If you want to get credit for your invention – DOCUMENT IT

We live in a world that abounds with MYTHS our life-long task is to find the TRUTH through the primary source

References • Metropolis N. , and J. Worlton. 1980. “A Trilogy of Errors in the History of Computing”, Ann. Hist. Comp. , V 2, N 1, pp. 49 -59. • Randall, B. , and L. J. Russell. 1964. ALGOL 60 Implementation, Academic Press, London. • Lee, J. A. N. 1967. The Anatomy of a Compiler, Reinhold, New York. , 275 pp. • Gries, David. 1971. Compiler Construction for Digital Computers, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 493 pp. • Bird, P. J. 1994. LEO: The First Business Computer, Hasler Pub. , Wokingham UK, 272 pp, 23

References • Von Neumann, John. 1945. “The First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC” , Moore School, Univ. of Pennsylvania, reprinted Ann. Hist. Comp. , V 15, N 4, 1993. • Kidwell, Peggy A. 1998. “Stalking the Elusive Bug”, IEEE Ann. Hist. Comp. , Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 5 -9. 23

• Lee, J. A. N. 1995. Computer Pioneers, IEEE Computer Society Press, 815 pp. • Williams, Michael. 1997. History of Computing Technology, IEEE Computer Society Press, 2 nd Edition, 426 pp. • IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, since 1978, now in Volume 22. • Lee, J. A. N. 1994. “History of Computing”, WWW URL: http: //ei. cs. vt. edu/~history