Pioneers of Computing
Pioneers of Computing
When I was an undergraduate (and yes, Virginia, that was back in the dim, dark ages) one of our lecturers used the phrase "time flies like an arrow" to demonstrate how the same words could have different meanings.
One meaning was that time seems to move swiftly, as fast as an arrow in flight.
But another meaning could be that there's a species of fly called a time fly and, amongst their other endearing qualities is a love of arrows.
I asked ChatGPT4 to create an image of a time fly and, using DALL-E, it didn't hesitate to come up with:
which I thought was pretty cool.
Where Is This Headed?
When I first got into IT (and yes, Virginia, that was back in the dim, dark ages as well) we were much taken with the pioneers of computing, the people who made the modern computer possible, first by imagining it and then by designing and building one. They were:
Charles Babbage (1791 - 1871)
Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852)
Alan Turing (1912 - 1954)
John von Neumann (1903 - 1957)
Grace Hopper (1906 - 1992)
One of the things they all taught was precision of expression.
There's no room for ambiguity in software programming.
And the same applies to your website content.
The clearer you are in your intentions and your choice of relevant keywords, the more your visitors will trust and respect you.
Recent Comments
69
A nice little post Phil.
Alan Turing - a brilliant mind - and we mistreated him in the worst possible way.
My maths tutor, back in black and white days before AI, actually built a copy of Babbages difference engine. It took him about 10 years or more, I suppose part time between working for money.
There are some great minds out there - where do they even start with something that doesn't already exist. Amazing.
Bux
Totally agree, Bux. Many of us in the early days built our own Turing machines.
As you say, the British government treated Alan Turing shamefully. He saved thousands of Allied lives, but it was all Top Secret.
Grace Hopper was a contemporary of mine.
Yes of course, I remember her name now from COBOL days. Wasn't she a navy admiral or something.
I can still recall the old dot matrix printers with green fan-fold paper, before we had screens to look at. We had to book a slot at University and our time was restricted to just one hour. The "good"old days eh.
How did you know her. I just love it when history comes alive.
Bux
She was Commander Grace Hopper. I didn't know her personally but was programming in Cobol at the same time as she was driving development of the language.
The first mainframe I programmed was an IBM 1410. We programmed in Assembler and patched in machine language. It wasn't water-cooled but it had its own isolated air conditioning system and was entered via a corridor with a door at each end, effectively forming an airlock.
Pretty cool image, Phil.
I just love how far advance that technology has become and is still growing.
Myra <3
Yes, Myra. They were all brilliant people who would be amazed at how far their vision had been fulfilled.
Hi Phil
Excellent image! 👍👍
Alan Turing Is one of my favorites. Check out the movie “The Imitation Game,” if you haven’t seen it! 😎
Frank 🎸
Yes, I've seen the movie thanks, Frank. What the British government did to Turing after the war was disgraceful. He saved thousands of Allied lives, but no one knew about it at the time because it was all secret.
I suppose that is theatrical licence. I still enjoyed it.
The guy should have got a medal, not tablets.
There are still countries that treat their gay community abominably. So much of it is driven by religious intolerance. Yes, Turing should have been celebrated as a hero.
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And, back in the late 50s, IBM introduced the RPG high-level programming language for its 14XX systems.
I qualified as a Programmer/Analyst in 1984 starting with RPG II and moving on to COBOL.
I enjoyed working with those languages and think RPG IV is still being used today.
We studied the contributions of Babbage, Turing and Hopper.
Fantastic minds!
A great share, Phil.
Thank you.
Cassi
Thanks for that, Cassi. RPG was created originally as a parameter driven language for creating reports without having to code the same common procedures over and over again. RPG in fact stands for Report Program Generator. And COBOL for Common Business Oriented Language.
That's right, Phil.
I enjoyed the simplicity of RPG.
COBOL took me a wee little longer to grasp.
Both are great programming languages.
Cassi
I programmed an entire suite of applications for a particular vertical market in COBOL. The company I founded achieved great success selling it. Many years ago, of course.
One of my granddaughters is learning Python. I'm tempted to do so as well. It would be a great touch point.
I would not mind learning Python, Phil.
Programming and coding, like puzzles and crosswords, keep the brain well-oiled.
Hhhmmm . . . maybe.
Cassi
I've looked at its structure and like it better than other OOP languages.
I will check it out also, Phil.