Autor: Severo M. Ornstein
Titel: Computing in the Middle Ages - A View from the Trenches 1955-1983
Verlag: 1st Books Library
Sprache: englisch
Jahr: 2002
ISBN:
1-4003-1517-5
260 Seiten.
Was steht drin:
Dies ist die Biographie eines Computeringenieurs, der zwischen 1955 und 1983 an vielen historisch wichtigen Projekten mitgearbeitet hat: Das beginnt am Lincoln Laboratory, wo er für die LINC das Bandgerät "LINC-tape" entwickelt (der Vorläufer von DECtape), er erlebt die Gründung von DEC, baut mit am ersten Arpanet-Router (IMP), arbeitet später am XEROX PARC, und wird schliesslich Friedensaktivist.
Warum soll man es lesen:
Das Buch ist leicht zu lesen, sympatisch, unterhaltsam und humorvoll. Man bekommt aus erster Hand einen guten Eindruck, wie es damals im Brennpunkt der amerikanischen Computerrevolution zuging.
Inhalt:
- Chapter 1: In which I meet some early computers, write my first programs, learn a little history, and switch professions
- Chapter 2: In which I arrive at Lincoln Lab, am introduced to the wonders of air defense, security, and other matters, and worry about my children's future.
- Chapter 3: In which I make some comparisons and mark some contrasts between "back then " and "now."
- Chapter 4: Enter Sputnik and ARPA, I'm nearly arrested, and a briefcase blows away. MITRE arises, I switch jobs again, and encounter various missile problems. A computer is murdered
- Chapter 5: A piano enters the lab and comes up against TX-2. DEC is formed and there is an error on Page 217. Fourier is proven sound and we land on an aircraft carrier.
- Chapter 6: A moment of skepticism
- Chapter 7: In which I join the TX-2 group and encounter a different culture and some memorable characters. I simulate another machine, avoid a fire, and start to dip into hardware
- Chapter 8: The Big Dealers vs. the Little Dealers. We poise for a leap
- Chapter 9: The birth of the LINC. I become a midwife and leave Lincoln
- Chapter 10: We move to Kendall Square where we accomplish the impossible
- Chapter 11: Tragedies overtake us; the prime number drop; we move to St. Louis where we design some new building blocks and encounter the evil synchronizer bug. I assist in brain surgery
- Chapter 12: Charlie to the rescue; we take a LINC to Chile and climb down an elevator shaft. Water juice
- Chapter 13: Macromodules work; St. Louis is hot; we build the Chasm, and I depart for Boston
- Chapter 14: I join BBN; some comments on ARPA; Encounters with TENEX; some coffee-tables, and a teletype through the wall. The ARPANET is born
- Chapter 15: The Aloha Network precedes Ethernet; the first microprocessor appears; we design a true multiprocessor
- Chapter 16: China!
- Chapter 17: Pluribus struts its stuff
- Chapter 18: Chile revisited; changes at BBN; I head for PARC
- Chapter 19: A place of character(s); I love my Alto; the imprint of Engelbart; Thacker's decision; the importance of tools; an unfortunate erasure; Bob Taylor—missionary; el Dorado
- Chapter 20: Music, music, music; bright students; Mockingbird
- Chapter 21: The beginning of the end; CPSR and nuclear wars; clerical errors and the end of an era
- Chapter 22: A review of the bidding