Computing History Part 1 :

Ancient Computing, and

the Invention of Mainframe Computers,
Operating Systems, High-Level Languages

Dr AG Hamilton-Taylor,
UWI, Mona
material marked with * in slide title
is derived from Georgia Tech

Some of this material has been developed by Georgia Tech HCI faculty, and continues to
evolve. Contributors include Gregory Abowd, Jim Foley, Diane Gromala, Elizabeth Mynatt,
Jeff Pierce, Colin Potts, Chris Shaw, John Stasko, and Bruce Walker. This specific
presentation also borrows from James Landay and Jason Hong at UC Berkeley. Comments
directed to foley@cc.gatech.edu are encouraged. Permission is granted to use with
acknowledgement for non-profit purposes.
1
Why study Computing history?*
• Understanding where you’ve come from
can help a lot in figuring out where you’re
going - repeat positive lessons
▪ “Those who don’t know history are doomed
to repeat it” - avoid negative lessons
• Knowledge of an area implies an
appreciation of its history
• Dr Hamilton-Taylor’s Computing History
Youtube Channel:
▪ http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8n
73H-xKk_YKneNtq0yc73Cj8WBfOIP 2
The Evolution of Computing *
• Series of technological advances
lead to and are sometimes facilitated by a
• Series of paradigm shifts
that in turn are created by a
• Series of key innovative people and
global/national events
• What is a paradigm shift?
▪ A change in thinking that results in a new way of
seeing the world (or science or technology).
– Read Digital Planet Chapter 1, page 18
– https://www.academia.edu/23957621/Digital_Planet_-_Tomo
rrows_Technology_and_You 3
(Some of the) Key
Technological Advances *
• Starting point
▪ Ancient Computing – manual and mechanical, alphabets/writing,
mathematical methods, representation and tables, algorithms
• Mechanical Computing
• Special purpose electronic Computing
• General purpose electronic Computing
• Interactive graphics systems
• GUI/Microcomputers
• Networks, Internet
• Mobile Computing…

4
More Key Technological
Advances *
• The desktop / personal computer
▪ One computer to one person
• Inexpensive, low-power chips
▪ Many computers to one person
• Wireless connectivity

5
Paradigm Shifts – How We Use
Computers *
• Interactive Computing
▪ Interactive software for drawing/engr, communication,
time sharing, games, etc
• GUI or WIMP Interfaces
▪ Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointing
▪ Direct Manipulation
▪ Metaphors
• Hypertext / WWW
• Social Media
• Computers for person-to-person communications –
not just for computing
▪ CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) e.g. Google Docs,
Email, Instant Messaging, social networking 6
 More Paradigm Shifts *
• Mobile computing
▪ smartphones, tablets
• Ubiquitous computing
▪ Computers embedded in devices, e.g. cars, planes,
medical machinery, home appliances, offices
– People don’t think of these ubiquitous devices as computers
▪ Smart Businesses/homes
– Security, lighting, heating/cooling, green energy
• New interface paradigms
▪ e.g. voice, gesture, gaze and thought
▪ AR - Augmented Reality interfaces
▪ Immersive (VR - Virtual Reality) interfaces
7
 Some of the Key People and
Events in Computing History
• Some of the Key People • Some Key Events
▪ + Grace Hopper
▪ Doug Engelbart
▪ Ivan Sutherland
▪ Alan Kay
▪ + Adele Goldberg
▪ Steve Jobs
▪ + Mark Dean
▪ Bill Gates
▪ + Jim Clark and Marc Hannah
▪ Tim Berners-Lee
▪ Larry Page and Sergey Brinn
▪ And many more…
▪ Mainframe,Microcomputers
▪ Founding of Xerox PARC
▪ IBM PC
▪ Lisa / Macintosh
▪ SGI Graphics workstation
▪ Internet
▪ WWW and Browser
▪ Search Engines, Google
▪ Smartphones – iPhone…
▪ Social Media
▪ Deep learning AI 8
Telling the Story *
• Key Technological Advances
• Key Paradigm Shifts
• Key People and Events

• Interleaved in more or less chronological

order

9
Computing Machinery Paradigm Shifts

• Manual Computing (20000BC - 1800AD)

▪ Using tables and algorithms and written records
• Mechanical Computing (1800’s- 1930’s)
▪ Using mechanical machinery, in addition to algorithms
and storage
• Electronic Computing (1930’s to present)
▪ Using electronics, in addition to algorithms and storage
• Future
▪ Biological Computing?
▪ Quantum Computing?
10
Ishango Bone: First Known
Math (& Manual Computing?)
• Bone in found in Congo, Africa, 20000BC approx
• First known tool/table showing multiplication,
division, base arithmetic, prime numbers.
▪ oldest evidence of the practice of arithmetic in history
▪ Watch CNN news report on The Ishango Bone:
▪ https://youtu.be/X3slnefSI0c?t=680
▪ The numbers in the left column are all of the prime
numbers between 10 and 20
• those in the right column consist of 10 + 1, 10 − 1, 20
+ 1 and 20 − 1.
• Belgians have it in museum and are still studying it
▪ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishango_bone (optional) 11
12
 Ancient Egyptian Math Is Identical To
Math Used In Modern Computers
• Video illustrating how the mathematics used by
Ancient Egyptians is identical to that used in
computers today.
▪ The Ancient Egyptians figured out how to do
multiplication without memorizing times tables, and
how to do long division in a simple way. See video at
– https://youtu.be/wciL_yCmZe8 or https://youtu.be/ZovuMVY2WMA

• Ethiopians still use it today (in rural areas). Watch

▪ http://youtu.be/OOKp9_sSkZg
• Egyptian mathematicians also wrote textbooks on
algebra over four thousand years ago (optional)
▪ http://books.google.com.jm/books?id=gBbPM0petgEC&pg=PA27 13
Abacus – Manual Computing
• Educating math whiz kids in Japan with Abacus
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZORSQs8hvDU
• How Japanese Soroban Abacus counting works
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGhG6o_8KDU
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soroban (see usage)
• History – origin over 3000 years ago
▪ Area of Origin may be Mesopotamia, Egypt, or India
▪ Various regions have different types
▪ Modern use by merchants most frequent in Japan,
China but also in Russia, Eastern use parts of Africa
– http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Abacus
(optional) 14
Recording Speech and Ideas Using
Symbols: The Origin of Writing
• Computing is about the manipulation and storage
of symbols
• The alphabet is the first system of recording,
storing, and distributing ideas and speech.
▪ Alphabets are first language and speech notational
system form of manual computing
▪ It allows the transmission of language and speech
across distance and across time
– think about it
• Writing on papyrus and tablets led to storage of
writing and symbols on modern media/devices
15
 Development of Early Writing
in Egypt and the Alphabet
• Africa's Great Civilizations series by Prof Louis Henry Gates
of Harvard series overview
▪ Development of Early Writing in Egypt and its significance
– See recorded COMP1220 Lecture video (its not on youtube)
▪ Overview of the series (optional)
– https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTvBcU5fynS4z72Ai2WCyJKlZ-dW31zne
– https://www.pbs.org/show/africas-great-civilizations/

• History of the alphabet starts with the Egyptian hieroglyph

system, which was the ancestor of a family tree of later
alphabets over time, including:
▪ Proto-Sinaic, Phonecian, Hebrew, Greek, Sabean, Ethiopic (Geez),
and Roman
– https://www.worldhistory.org/alphabet/ (optional)
16
• There's nothing at the top of the Giza pyramids today, but originally they
hosted capstones — also called pyramidions — covered in electrum, a
mix of gold and silver. The limestone casing gave the pyramids a smooth,
polished layer that shined bright white under the Egyptian sun - lighting
up the area dramatically at certain hours and celestial times.
17
▪ https://www.livescience.com/how-egyptian-pyramids-originally-looked
 Mechanical Clocks were the
first Mechanical Computers
• Over 2000 years ago, Tesibius (Ctesibius), an Egyptian scholar, invented
the advanced water clock/calendar, which included gears, hydraulics,
robotic animal figures, and musical timekeeping
▪ Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEsc4F4kICE
▪ Tesibius is considered the father of pneumatics
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ctesibius (optional)

• The Royal Institute and Library/Museum of Alexandria was considered

the most advanced institute of higher learning and research in the
world at the time
▪ Library of Alexandria was one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
▪ Tesibius was the Head of the Library/Museum of Alexandria
▪ At age 19, Archimedes the Greek went to study at the Library of Alexandria
▪ Archimedes became a famous mathematician/inventor
▪ He expanded on the work on clocks/calendars of Tesibius
18
 The Antikythera Mechanism (2000 year old
Mechanical Astronomy/Calendar Computer)
• The Antikythera Mechanism is a 2000 year old mechanical
device that could compute the movement of the moon and
planets for dates in the future or in the past
▪ and even predict eclipses
▪ Note: the Antikythera Mechanism was a calendar calculator
– It was not a clock – it did not keep time

• BBC: The ancient 'computer' that simply shouldn't exist

▪ Watch https://youtu.be/qqlJ50zDgeA
▪ It is believed, but unproven, that Archimedes invented it
– Archimedes was killed by a Roman army officer when he refused
to be captured and be used for his math/science

19
More Ancient Computing
• Many Ancient civilisations did remarkable things
▪ China, India, Maya, etc
• that might have made modern computer
inventions easier
▪ If they had been studied these ancient inventions
• (optional) Ancient Computing Technology: From
Abacuses to Water Clocks (book):
▪ http://books.google.com.jm/books?id=gp1DUJ-UVPU
C (optional)

20
The loss of Ancient Computing Knowledge

• Much ancient knowledge was destroyed,

▪ e.g. the Ancient Library/Museum of Alexandria in Egypt
was burned by invading armies, e.g. Julius Caesar of
Rome
• Some of the knowledge of clocks found its way
east to the new empires in Baghdad, Arabia, etc
▪ Then to Europe during the Renaissance when the North
African Moors brought it and conquered Spain (before
the age of Columbus and the conquistadors)

21
The word Algorithm comes
from Al-Khwarithmi

• Al-Khwarizmi (pronounced in classical Arabic as

Al-Khwarithmi) was a Persian mathematician,
astronomer and geographer during the Abbasid
Empire around 800 AD, a scholar in the House
of Wisdom in Baghdad
▪ Why algorithms are called algorithms | BBC Ideas
– Watch https://youtu.be/oRkNaF0QvnI
▪ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu%E1%B8%A5ammad_ibn_M%C
5%ABs%C4%81_al-Khw%C4%81rizm%C4%AB (optional)

22
The Golden Principle of Al-Khwarithmi
(Algorithm Development)
• The Al-Khwarithmi (Al-Khwarizmi) principle states that all complex
problems of science can be solved by five simple steps:
1. Break down each problem into a number of elemental or ‘atomic’
steps, which cannot be simplified any further.
2. Second, arrange all the elements or steps of the problem in an
order or sequence.
3. Next, find a way to solve each of the elements separately.
4. Then solve each element of the problem, either one at a time or
several at a time, but in the correct order.
5. When all steps are solved, the original problem itself has also been
solved.
• Al-Khwarithmi used his own principle to solve many major problems
of Algebra, Geometry, Astronomy, and other fields of science.
• http://kenatica.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/the-golden-principle-of-
al-khwarizmi-algorithm/ (optional) 23
The Golden Principle of Al-Khwarithmi
(Algorithm Development)

• Is similar to the modern software design

methods of
▪ top-down design , or
▪ stepwise refinement, or
▪ functional decomposition

24
More on Al-Khwarithmi
(Al-Khwarizmi)
• His work on the Indian numerals introduced the
decimal positional number system to the Western
world
• Established the basis for innovation in algebra and
trigonometry.
• Devised a systematic solution of linear and
quadratic equations

25
The word Algebra
• The word "Algebra" is derived from al-jabr, one
of the two operations he used to solve quadratic
equations
• The al-ğabr (in Arabic script '‫( )'اﻟﺠﺒﺮ‬
• (forcing " or "restoring") operation is moving a
deficient quantity from one side of the equation
to the other side.
• In an al-Khwarizmi's example (in modern
notation), "x2 = 40x − 4x2" is transformed by al-
ğabr into "5x2 = 40x".
26
 The Beginning of Modern
Computing Machinery
• History Of The Computer – 1820’s to modern
▪ Watch https://youtu.be/q2Wytr8iF64 (to min 37)
▪ Good documentary: However,
– Note that they call it the Thinking Machine, but
computers can’t think!
• Read discussion of this issue in our Reference book:
▪ Digital Planet Chapter 4, pages 106-109
▪ https://www.academia.edu/23957621/Digital_Planet_-_To
morrows_Technology_and_You
• The Machine that Changed the World: Inventing the
Future Watch https://youtu.be/GropWVbj9wA
▪ Start of IBM Corp: https://youtu.be/YBpNzxz1XgU
27
Babbage Mechanical Computers
1800’s: Charles Babbage developed designs and
engineering drawings/specifications for
• Difference Engine #1 and the improved Difference Engine
#2 – similar to scientific calculators
• The Analytical Engine – a general purpose programmable
computer using punch cards for input and storage
▪ Watch https://youtu.be/XSkGY6LchJs
▪ http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/
• Although these design ideas and plans were on target,
these computers were not fully implemented at the time
due to funding and technology constraints.
▪ Difference Engine #2 was implemented by the British Science
Museum over 100 years later, and it works! 28
Ada Lovelace –
Mathematician/Visionary
• Collaborated with Babbage, improved aspects of
his computing machine designs
▪ Wrote the first published software/programs for the
Analytical Engine (virtual machine design)
▪ Wrote the first published academic book on the
Analytical Engine
▪ Her vision was to expand the scope of the Analytical
Engine to include symbol manipulation/representation
– Babbage saw it merely for mathematical computation
• See To Dream Tomorrow: Ada Byron Lovelace (Computer
History Museum) from Min 25 to 31,
▪ https://youtu.be/FrUHkNunkeo?t=1509
▪ and http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/ 29
The First Electronic Computers
• There were a number of early electronic
calculators and computers built from about
1940
▪ http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline
▪ Arguments persist about which was first
• We will look at a few of the significant early
computers
▪ World War II pushed computer research for
decoding and other military computation
30
 Colossus (1944)

• Colossus was an early (special purpose) electronic

mainframe computer
▪ It was built by Britain for one purpose:
– to decode Hitler’s encrypted war communiques in World War II.
– First, they broke the Enigma code. The Germans then made the
Lorenz machine, which was even more complex than the Enigma
▪ Watch Colossus: Breaking the Code
https://youtu.be/7cDeG3hyraA
• See BBC article on Colossus/ watch video:
Lifting the lid on a Colossal secret
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26015436
31
The First Electronic Computers

• These were special purpose machines

▪ did a limited set of tasks, like giant calculators
▪ not general-purpose programmable computers
▪ Hollerith and the punched card machines
– the Census Tabulating Machine
– The improved tabulating machines for the Railroads
– Later the company was formed to create IBM, which made
punch card tabulating machines into an industry
▪ ENIAC – did computations for WWII ballistics tables,
built by Eckert and Mauchly at Univ of Pennsylvania
• Watch (to min 34) History of Computers/Thinking Machines
▪ https://youtu.be/q2Wytr8iF64?t=718 (History Channel/A&E)
▪ The women programmers of ENIAC https://vimeo.com/107667129 32
Harvard Mark I (1945)

• Harvard Mark I Jason Hong / James Landay,

UC Berkeley, Picture from
• 55 feet long, 8 feet high, 5 tons http://piano.dsi.uminho.pt/m
useuv/indexmark.htm

• (Read: Digital Planet Chap 1 p.6) 33

 Computing in 1945 using
mechanical relay switches

• Ballistics calculations for

World War II
• Physical switches
(relays) (before transistors,
microprocessor)
• Paper tape
• Simple arithmetic &
fixed calculations (before
programs)
Jason Hong / James Landay, UC
Berkeley, Picture from
• 3 seconds to multiply
http://www.gmcc.ab.ca/~supy/
34
 Computing in 1945 *

• First computer bug

• Got stuck in a switch in the Harvard Mark II
mainframe, crashing the computer
▪ * Grace Hopper coined the term

Jason Hong / James

Landay, UC Berkeley 35
UNIVAC: first successful
commercial mainframe (1951)
• The Eckert and Mauchly Computer company
was launched in 1946 to build the first
commercial computers.
▪ After funding and technical challenges, the
company was bought by Remington Rand
• UNIVAC was completed in 1951
▪ Built to satisfy demand for a machine that could
commercial record keeping, census, accounting
▪ Used magnetic tapes for storage, which stored
more and occupied less space than punch cards 36
The Machine that Changed the
World: Inventing the Future
• The Machine that Changed the World:
Inventing the Future (PBS documentary)
▪ Watch https://youtu.be/GropWVbj9wA
▪ Describes
– The development of UNIVAC
– The role of IBM
– The impact of automation
– The impact of the invention of the transistor
– The invention of microprocessors and role in the
space race/NASA
37
IBM Enters Electronic
Computer Market
• IBM was the leader in the data processing
(DP) market
▪ Used punch cards for data input and storage of
records, but these took up lots of space
• IBM followed and quickly dominated the
market
▪ Their computers allowed companies to use their
old DP equipment along with the new computers
• Automation - Mainframes began to change
industry and jobs in business, manufacturing38
The Software Crisis of the
1950’s
• After the first commercial mainframes became
available, a new problem arose: the programmers
could not write the software fast enough, using
machine code and assembly language
▪ The machine language was different for almost every
new mainframe model, so the code was not portable
between computers
• The invention of high-level languages allowed
programmers to write software faster
▪ And it was portable between computers

39
 Invention of High-Level
Programming Languages
• Adm. Grace Murray Hopper proposed that
computers could be programmed using English
keywords (instead of machine code),
▪ but the Rand company management considered the
idea unfeasible.
• In 1955, she and her team wrote a specification
for the FLOW-MATIC programming language and
implemented a prototype on the UNIVAC
▪ This was refined and developed into COBOL (Common
Business-Oriented Language) in 1959
– Millions of lines of COBOL programs are still in use today
– (Read: Digital Planet Chap 14, pp.509-510 and p.517) 40
 Invention of High-Level
Programming Languages
• Adm. Grace Murray Hopper
▪ Cobol was the first commercial
high-level computer language
▪ It is English-like, e.g.
ADD YEARS TO AGE.
IF SALARY > 9001 OR SUPERVISOR-SALARY
OR = PREV-SALARY.
▪ Prior to this, all programs were written
in machine code and assembly language
Watch mini-bio https://youtu.be/meeCAFacrG0
and https://youtu.be/1LR6NPpFxw4 (short
interview)
41
Software and High-level
Programming languages
• What is Software? The Art of Writing
Software https://youtu.be/QdVFvsCWXrA
• Who Invented the High-level programming
language?
▪ 1955: Flow-Matic by Grace Hopper at Rand
▪ 1957: Fortran by John Backus at IBM
– FORTRAN = FORmula TRANslation
– Used for Math/Scientific applications (even now!)
– First publicly released high-level language
▪ 1959: COBOL by Grace Hopper and team 42
Batch Processing *

• Computer had one task,

performed sequentially
• No “interaction” between
operator and computer after
starting the run
• Punch cards, tapes for input
▪ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_card
(optional)

• Serial operations

43
Punch Card with FORTRAN code *

44
Punch Card Machine *

45
The Space Race starts
• The USSR (Russia) launches the first
man-made satellite in 1957
▪ Watch Sputnik Terrified Americans
– https://youtu.be/xSQpBUkwyPo
▪ Mighty Sparrow - Russian Satellite - listen
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZOLAoOskk
▪ In Jamaica, the first ever Ska band was called
the Skatalites. Ska was the forerunner of
Reggae.
– Skatalites backed the Wailers first hit – Simmer Down
• https://youtu.be/ec6O2M8SW-U (optional) 46
The Cold War and
the Cuban Missile Crisis
• In October 1962, the United States and the
Soviet Union faced off at sea when it was
discovered that the Soviets were
constructing nuclear missile bases in Cuba.
The tense standoff for 13 days was known
as the Cuban Missile Crisis
▪ Watch first 2 mins of
– BBC History File: Cuban Missile Crisis
– https://youtu.be/dC4XhIjBPEQ
▪ Watch https://youtu.be/H5ZzL9KsyPY 47
Context - Computing in 1960s *

• Transistor (1948)
• ARPA (1958)
• Timesharing (1950s)
• Terminals and keyboards

• Computers were still primarily Vacuum Tube

for scientists and engineers and large
companies
48
 Transistors allowed Computers
to become Reliable and Smaller
• Vacuum tubes
▪ burn out after a time like light bulbs, and use
much more power
– Are about 100 times larger than transistors
• Transistors (of the 1950’s onwards)
▪ smaller, much more reliable, energy efficient
▪ Made portable battery powered radios etc possible
▪ But the denser circuit boards led to lots of
interconnecting wires, which limited
implementation of very complex circuitry
49
Integrated Circuits (IC’s)
▪ Allow a designer to put a combination of
transistors, resistors and capacitors on one
piece of silicon
▪ Allowed a whole circuit to be printed on a chip
rather than bring wired by hand
– Like printing a book rather than hand writing
▪ IC’s manufacturing improved, and became more
and more dense.
▪ By the mid-1970’s it was possible to put a whole
CPU (processor) on an IC
– The Microprocessor was born 50
 Katherine Johnson: NASA
Pioneer and human "Computer“
• Katherine Johnson co-authored the first textbook on
space, and wrote academic papers such as
▪ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700031427.pdf
(optional)

• She was one of the African-American women at NASA

that were finally recognised decades later
• Along with Mary Jackson (space engineer), and
Dorothy Vaughn (mathematician and computer
scientist), she was featured in the Hidden Figures
book and film – watch summary
▪ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8n73H-xKk-gXsoE
C6w_STlEEu6kPFvO
• Watch interview with Katherine Johnson
▪ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8gJqKyIGhE 51
 Katherine Johnson: NASA
Pioneer and human "Computer“
• Starting in the 1950’s, Katherine Johnson:
• Worked on mathematical and physical formulas and
did the computations/calculations to
▪ Put the first unmanned US rockets into orbit around earth
▪ Put the first manned US spaceships into orbit around the
earth, and return them to earth
▪ Propel the first unmanned US space capsules into orbit
around the moon, and to land on the moon
▪ Propel the first manned space capsules into orbit around the
moon and to send landing units to and from the lunar
surface and back to earth safely, from 1969 onwards
▪ Worked on the space shuttle and other projects until 1986 52
Katherine Johnson Biography
Documentary
• Katherine Johnson: The Woman Behind Project
Mercury – great documentary showing her math
▪ Watch https://youtu.be/SvsHjWVgqcY?t=96
▪ Her initial work at NACA improved airplane safety by
proving how wind turbulence from one plane can affect
planes flying close behind
– https://youtu.be/SvsHjWVgqcY?t=1158
– The math that human computers did:
• https://youtu.be/SvsHjWVgqcY?t=898
▪ See her work on the moon landings and space shuttle
and on her research papers that were fundamental to
modern space flight
– https://youtu.be/SvsHjWVgqcY?t=2245 to end of documentary 53
Professor Dr W.W.S. Claytor
• Katherine Johnson’s College Professor Dr W.W.S.
Claytor was the third African-American to be
awarded a Ph.D. in mathematics and the first to
have a research paper published
▪ He taught her all of the Math course in the catalog, and
encouraged her to become a Math researcher
▪ https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Clayt
or/
▪ And https://youtu.be/SvsHjWVgqcY?t=359

54
NASA and (later) MIT Worked
Together on the Moon Mission
• NASA Engineers, Mathematicians and Human
Computers, and Programmers worked on many
missions before the moon mission
▪ They developed the launch and trajectory formulas for
the missions
▪ They developed software for NASA mainframes
▪ The ‘Hidden Figures’ played an important role here
• MIT Draper lab developed the Apollo Guidance
(Micro)Computer hardware and its software for the
Apollo 11 mission of 1969 and onwards
▪ It was tested in some earlier Apollo missions
▪ Made use of some of the work of the ‘Hidden Figures’ 55
William Mallary, Test Engineer NASA
Apollo Guidance System AGC-4 1962

56
African- American Inventors
• Have made many contributions to science and
technology that have benefitted the world, and the
USA financially in particular.
▪ Many of them have not been recognized yet
– e.g. I have not found any details about William Mallary (on the
previous slide)
• One resource that lists many of their contributions
is https://blackinventor.com (optional)
• Technology contributions by underrepresented
minorities | James West (inventor of the modern
microphone)
▪ https://youtu.be/FHSTU1zLFJA (optional) 57
Inventions Done at/for NASA
• The Space program required the invention of
▪ the first Microcomputer
▪ the First Flight Simulator
▪ Computer-based Flight Control
▪ Advances in Software Engineering, Operating Systems
▪ And more...
• Watch the Design of the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC)
▪ https://youtu.be/F1-KBKaCiMM
▪ And first 3min of https://youtu.be/xc1SzgGhMKc
• These advances then propelled the US industries in
computing, electronics, aerospace, and digital engineering
in general
58
 The Appolo Guidance Control
Computer (AGC)
• The Guidance Control computer had to monitor and
control over 150 devices and systems on the
spacecraft,
• It had to allow control of the rockets by the
astronauts and by the mission control on Earth
It had to keep computing the position etc of the spacecraft
• And it had to be very reliable (with 72 Kb of memory)
• Despite what everyone says about the power of
modern devices, they’re nowhere near as capable
as the landmark early NASA system.
▪https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/underappreciated-power-apollo-co
mputer/594121/ (optional) 59
Margaret Hamilton on Software Engineering for
the NASA AGC space mission computer and
the Girl who saved the Moon Landing Computer

Watch https://youtu.be/UOUNjytHhNI and

https://youtu.be/kYCZPXSVvOQ (animation of her
work)

60
Margaret Hamiliton, NASA/MIT
• Margaret Hamilton, renowned
mathematician and computer science
pioneer, is credited with having coined the
term software engineering while developing
the guidance and navigation system for the
Apollo spacecraft as head of the Software
Engineering Division of the MIT
Instrumentation Laboratory.

61
Margaret Hamiliton, NASA/MIT

62
The term Software Engineering
• Hamilton explains why she chose to call it software
engineering:
• “I fought to bring the software legitimacy so that
it—and those building it—would be given its due
respect and thus I began to use the term ‘software
engineering’ to distinguish it from hardware and
other kinds of engineering…”
▪ https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/events/what-to-know-about-the-
scientist-who-invented-the-term-software-engineering
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTn56jJW4zY (optional)

63
Invention of the ARPANET
(which evolved into the Internet)
• Historical Context:
▪ The Russian launch of the first space satellite
(Sputnik, 1957) scared the US Govt under
President Eisenhower into creating a big research
agency called ARPA/DARPA, run by the Pentagon
– (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
• Problem:
▪ Robert (Bob) Taylor, head of DARPA, found that he
had to use one fixed terminal in his Pentagon
office to access the mainframe at MIT, another
terminal to access the mainframe at UCLA, a third
terminal to access…etc etc 64
Invention of the Arpanet
(which evolved into the Internet)
• Arpanet – the origin of the Internet
▪ Sputnik scares US Govt to fund (1) Space Race
via NASA and (2) the US Army DARPA
– (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
▪ DARPA funds ARPANET for research and
defense, and packet switching
– Watch http://youtu.be/W580t5niF9M
▪ The ARPANET is launched, then email, wireless
networking (watch first 3 minutes)
– http://youtu.be/QxoLntQAzMQ
▪ And 'Lo!' - How the internet was born
– https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49842681 65
Invention of the ARPANET
(which evolved into the Internet)
• The Solution:
▪ Bob Taylor wanted one terminal to access all
of the computers he needed to use
▪ The ARPANET started in 1970, and later
became known as the internet
• Key objectives of the ARPANET
▪ It had to be able to work, even if parts of the
network were down
– To withstand breakdown, heavy traffic load, or
attack during war
66
Invention of the Arpanet
(which evolved into the Internet)
• Objections to the ARPANET:
▪ The universities did not want the ARPANET,
but had to accept it because they were
getting funding from ARPA
▪ IBM, the largest computer company, was not
interested in the contract to build the
ARPANET
▪ AT&T, the only telephone company in the US
at that time, thought packet switching was
unfeasible, and they were not interested in
the contract to build the ARPANET 67
Invention of the
ARPANET/Internet
• Only universities, research centers,
governments, and the US/European military
(non-communist) had access to the internet
in the 1970’s and 1980’s
▪ There was NO commercial use of the internet
until the invention of the WWW and the
browser, which made the internet so popular
that the US govt allowed the internet to go
commercial in 1993
– This allowed the creation of .com websites etc
68
Invention of the
ARPANET/Internet
• The ARPANET was very hard to use because
there was no easy user interface to use it
▪ It was used primarily for email and file transfer
from the 1970’s….
▪ Until the invention of the WWW around 1990,
followed by the invention of the web browser…

69
Paradigm Shift – Artificial
Intelligence *
• First release of a significant Artificial
Intelligence language
▪ LISP (LISt Processing), 1962
▪ Done at MIT, work started some 7 years earlier
– The Scheme language is an offshoot of LISP
– Python is heavily influenced by LISP

70
Technological Advance:
Interactive Graphics *
• More suitable medium than paper - picture worth
a thousand words
• PhD research project by Ivan Sutherland’s
SketchPad as landmark system
▪ Start of Direct Manipulation
▪ Computers used for visualizing and manipulating data
▪ * See video:
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=495nCzxM9PI

71
Innovator: Ivan Sutherland
• SketchPad - 1963 PhD thesis at MIT
▪ Hierarchy - pictures & subpictures
▪ Master picture with instances (ie, OOP)
▪ Constraints
– E.g. Drawings can straighten themselves according to
rules, e.g. make parallel
▪ Icons
▪ Copying
▪ Light pen input device
▪ Recursive operations
72
Engelbart demo popularly called
‘Mother of All Demos’
• Dec 1968 – SRI (Stanford Research Institute)
▪ The public debut of the computer mouse.
▪ Many innovations demonstrated that day,
including hypertext, as well as shared-screen
collaboration.
▪ Watch excerpts from Engelbart’s Demo
– And the thinking that led up to it
– Navigating Knowledge: Hypertext Pioneers
https://youtu.be/hUHsmnWmI3k (first 4 min)
▪ Engelbart Website:
– http://www.dougengelbart.org/firsts/dougs-1968-demo.
html (optional)
73
Innovator: Douglas Englebart *
• Landmark system/demo:
▪ Hierarchical hypertext, multimedia, mouse,
high-res display, windows, shared files,
electronic messaging,
CSCW,
teleconferencing, ...

▪ Invented the mouse

74
Augmenting Human Intellect *

• 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference (SF)

• Video of NLS (oNLine System)
• All this took place before
▪ Unix and C (1970s)
http://sloan.stanford.edu/
▪ ARPAnet (1969) & later Internet MouseSite/MouseSitePg1.h
tml

75
About Doug Engelbart *

• Graduate of Berkeley (EE '55)

▪ "bi-stable gaseous plasma digital devices"
• Stanford Research Institute (SRI)
▪ Augmentation Research Center
• 1962 Paper "Conceptual Model for
Augmenting Human Intellect"
▪ Complexity of problems increasing
▪ Need better ways of solving problems

Picture from
www.bootstrap.org

76
 Chorded Keyboard *

• Advantages of
chorded keyboards?
• Disadvantages?

Jason Hong / James Landay, UC Berkeley,

http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/Mouse
SitePg1.html
77
Invention of the Mouse *

“At SRI in the 1960s we did some experimenting with a

foot mouse. I found that it was workable, but my control
wasn't very fine and my leg tended to cramp from the
unusual posture and task.”
http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/MouseSitePg1.html
78
Augmenting Human Intellect *
Early
Chorde 3-butto
d n
Keyboar mouse
d

79
Augmenting Human Intellect *
• Discussion, if you watched the video
• What did we just see?
▪ Interaction devices
▪ Interaction styles
▪ Applications

• Note that chorded keyboard allows user to type

without taking hand off the mouse
▪ Regular and chorded keyboard can be used together

80
Augmenting Human Intellect *

• First mouse ● First groupware

• First hypertext (shared screen
• First word processing teleconferencing)
• First 2D editing and ● First
windows context-sensitive
help
• First document version
control ● First distributed
client-server
● Many, many more!81
 Augmentation vs Automation *
Two different philosophies/visions of computing that
continue to be debated until today:
Augmentation means giving people advanced computer
tools to enhance (augment) their skills and make them
more productive - versus replacing them with computers
(Automation)

Englebart: "I tell people: look, you can spend all you want on building
smart agents and smart tools…"
"I'd bet that if you then give those to twenty people with no special
training, and if you let me take twenty people and really condition and
train them especially to learn how to harness the tools…"
"The people with the training will always outdo the people for whom the
computers were supposed to do the work." 82
Augmenting Human Intellect *
• Example 1: Invention of Writing and Giving
people pen and paper enhances knowledge
▪ Example 2: Roman Numerals vs Arabic/Hindu
– What is XCI + III?
– Now what is XCI x III?
– What is 91 * 3? (which is easier?)
▪ New kinds of artifacts, languages,
methodologies, and training can enable us to
do things we couldn't do before or simplify
what we already do
83
Technological Advance / Paradigm Shift:
Time Sharing *
• (Mid 1960s)
• Command line - teletypes, then “glass teletypes”
• Computers still too expensive for individuals
timesharing
▪ increased accessibility
▪ interactive systems, not jobs Need
▪ text processing, editing for
▪ email, shared file system HCI*

* There was an unrecognized need for Human Computer Interaction

(HCI)/User Interfaces in the design of programming languages

84
The Teletype Terminal
(before CRT’s) *

• ASR: Automatic Send /

Receive
• Save programs on
punched paper tape
• The first direct
human-computer
interface experience for
many in the 1960s
• About 10 characters
per second - 110 bps
• These wasted a lot of
paper!

85
The CRT Terminal *
• Terminal for
timesharing
• No CPU, not a
computer
• 24 x 80
characters
• Up to 19,200
bits/sec to
central
computer
▪ (Wow - was
Source: http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/vt100.html
fast stuff!)
PDP minicomputer series
• PDP (1957 – 1990)
▪ line of successful commercial minicomputers,
from DEC corporation
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_Data_Proce
ssor (optional)
▪ UNIX and C were developed on it
▪ Supported interactive timesharing
▪ PDP CPU architecture influenced the design of
microprocessors

87
88
 UNIX operating system and its
modern descendants
• Developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees
at Bell Labs for internal use in their lab
▪ Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others
▪ was not supported by the company initially
▪ Watch https://youtu.be/7FjX7r5icV8
• Unix versions include
▪ SUN OS, NextOS, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, others
• Unix at 50: How the OS that powered smartphones
started from failure
▪ Read from section Unix team: Assemble! to the end
– https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/08/unix-at-50-it-starts-with-a-mai
nframe-a-gator-and-three-dedicated-researchers/
89
 The C language and its
Influence
• The C language was developed by Ritchie and
Thompson in 1973 for programming UNIX,
▪ C is now used to write systems software, other
languages, other operating systems
▪ It influenced C++, Java, JavaScript, Objective-C, C#,…

90
 Dr James E. West
• Ninety percent of microphones used today are based on the
ingenuity of James Edward West, an African-American inventor.
• Dr. James E. West and a colleague, Gerhard Sessler, developed the
mic (officially known as the Electroacoustic Transducer Electret
Microphone) while with Bell Laboratories, and they received a
patent for it in 1964.
▪ Earlier carbon microphone was invented by Granville Woods – African-American
• It is now the standard in cell phones, computers, hearing aids, and
audio recording equipment.
• It improved hearing aids, allowing those wearing them to take a
walk without painful vibrations.
• The technology has also been used to aid with blood pressure
readings and in the U.S. space program.
• James E. West holds 47 US patents, more than 200 foreign patents
▪ https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/west-james-edwar
d-maceo-1931 91
More Innovation
• Jos/GraiL – first tablet, first visual programming
system, first handwriting recognition system, 1968
▪ Alan Kay Video (min 3:50 to 5:30)
– https://youtu.be/A6h-zDOggYQ?t=227
• PLATO, 1960 – 1970’s
▪ First large Computer-Based Education System
▪ First Touchscreen
▪ First Email, online forum/social media…. Watch
▪ http://youtu.be/rf5_ivobNb4
▪ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system) (optional)

92
The “Mother of Chinese
Computing”...Xia Peisu
• Xia’s 107 model was the first computer that
China developed in 1960 –
▪ Xia continued a balance of research and
development in high processing speed
computers and training new computer scientists
and engineers...
– The Chinese now design the fastest supercomputers
▪ The computer pioneer who built modern
China – Feb 2020
– https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200219-xia-pei
su-the-computer-pioneer-who-built-modern-china 93
The 1950’s Produced
▪ Key inventions in computing hardware
– The first commercial mainframes,
– Storage on tapes, then drives
– First terminals
– Computers in business and industrial automation
– Transistors
▪ Key inventions in software design
– The first high-level languages
– Early operating systems
▪ By the end of the 1950’s, there was a thriving
mainframe computer industry 94
The 1960’s Produced
▪ Key inventions in computing hardware
– Mini-computers using (primarily) transistors
– Integrated circuits, NASA’s microcomputer using IC’s
– Early interactive graphics displays and
– Early interactive input hardware - the mouse, etc
▪ Key inventions in networking
– The ARPANET – the foundation of the Internet
▪ Key inventions in software design
– In graphics, operating systems, time-sharing,
hypertext, AI, educational computing, etc
▪ This laid the foundation for the microcomputer age of
the 1970’s 95
End of Part 1

96