Life in the Fast Lane

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While modern day technologies for computers are a advances that we take for granted in our day to day lives, you may be amazed to know that computer programming know-how dates back decades, and even centuries. The concept of devices that operate following a predefined set of instructions traces back to Greek Mythology — notably Hephaestus, the Greek Blacksmith God, and his mechanical slaves.

Marble sculpture of Hephaestus, created for the French Royal Academy by artist Guillaume Coustou the Younger in 1742. Photo Jastrow

The first computer programmer was actually a woman by the name of Ada Lovelace when she wrote of an algorithm that was cited as the first computer program around 1842. The US Department of Defence named the computer language Ada in her honor.

The first computer game called Spacewar! was developed in 1961 by Steve Russell, which took about 200 hours to build.

Fred Cohen created the first computer virus in 1983 just to prove that it was possible.

[Source: Online PhD Programs]

Computer UNIVAC 1232. Photo Cliff1066

This computer was used from 1967 through 1990 at the U.S. Air Force’s Satellite Control Facility, in Sunnyvale, California. From this facility, over a dozen Sperry 1230-series computers operated in ‘real time’ 24/7 as part of a system that controlled and operated Air Force, NASA, other government, and commercial satellites. It also supported Space Shuttle missions.

The 1232 computer was manufactured by the St. Paul, MN division of Sperry Univac, and was a military version of the UNIVAC 490 general purpose commercial computer. The computer used discrete transistors, was optimized for real-time use, had a 30-bit word length, and initially was supplied with 32,000 words of memory — approximately 123 K Bytes.

The Antikythera mechanism (main fragment). Photo Marsyas

The Antikythera mechanism from ancient Greece was a calculator utilizing gears of various sizes and configuration to determine its operation. Al-Jazari built programmable Automata in 1206.

One system employed in these devices was the use of pegs and cams placed into a wooden drum at specific locations which would sequentially trigger levers that in turn operated percussion instruments. The output of this device was a small drummer playing various rhythms and drum patterns.

The Jacquard Loom, which Joseph Marie Jacquard developed in 1801, uses a series of pasteboard cards with holes punched in them. The hole pattern represented the pattern that the loom had to follow in weaving cloth. The loom could produce entirely different weaves using different sets of cards.

Charles Babbage adopted the use of punched cards around 1830 to control his Analytical Engine. The synthesis of numerical calculation, predetermined operation and output, along with a way to organize and input instructions in a manner relatively easy for humans to conceive and produce, led to the modern development of computer programming.

Data and instructions could be stored on external punched cards, which were
kept in order and arranged in program decks. Photo Arnold Reinhold

In the late 1880′s, Herman Hollerith invented the recording of data on a medium that could then be read by a machine. Prior uses of machine readable media had been for control, not data. After some initial trials with paper tape, he settled on punched cards. To process these punched cards, first known as “Hollerith cards” he invented the tabulator, and the keypunch machines. These 3 inventions were the foundation of the modern information processing industry.

In 1896 he founded the Tabulating Machine Company — which later became the core of IBM. The addition of a control panel (plugboard) to his 1906 Type I Tabulator allowed it to do different jobs without having to be physically rebuilt.

By the late 1940′s there were a variety of plug-board programmable machines, called unit record equipment, to perform data-processing tasks (card reading). Early computer programmers used plug-boards for the variety of complex calculations requested of the newly invented machines.

Wired plug board for an IBM 402 Accounting Machine. Photo Arnold Reinhold

The invention of the von Neumann architecture allowed computer programs to be stored in computer memory. Early programs had to be painstakingly crafted using the instructions (elementary operations) of the particular machine, often in binary notation. Every model of computer would likely use different instructions (machine language) to do the same task.

Later, assembly languages were developed that let the programmer specify each instruction in a text format, entering abbreviations for each operation code instead of a number and specifying addresses in symbolic form (e.g., ADD X, TOTAL). Entering a program in assembly language is usually more convenient, faster, and less prone to human error than using machine language, but because an assembly language is little more than a different notation for a machine language, any two machines with different instruction sets also have different assembly languages.

n 1954, FORTRAN (Formula Translation) was invented — the first high level programming language to have a functional implementation, as opposed to just a design on paper. It allowed programmers to specify calculations by entering a formula directly (e.g. Y = X*2 + 5*X + 9). The program text, or source, is converted into machine instructions using a special program called a compiler, which translates the FORTRAN program into machine language.

Many other languages were developed, including some for commercial programming, such as COBOL. Programs were mostly still entered using punched cards or paper tape. By the late 1960′s, data storage devices and computer terminals became inexpensive enough that programs could be created by typing directly into the computers. Text editors were developed that allowed changes and corrections to be made much more easily than with punched cards. An error in punching a card usually meant that the card had to be discarded and an new one punched to replace it.

Computer console countdown and monitor. Photo Cliff1066

This beast is part of a console, manufactured by the General Dynamics Corporation, used to sequence the launch and control the flight of Atlas intercontinental ballistic missiles, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a trajectory over the Pacific Ocean

Sources: Online MBA and Wikipedia

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