Amazon: "The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff" by Jane Smiley
I don’t see the idea of claiming that any one person invented the computer itself. The man who invented modern computing more or less was Herman Goldstyne.
That book got trashed big time in the Amazon.com reviews. I’ll pass.
I thought AlGore invented the computer.
I thought AlGore invented the computer.
As a hardware type I hate to admit that it is software that is the driving force in computer development.
Now high level compiling languages are getting so simple that regular schmoes like me can write with them.
Labview is such an example.
The above is a pretty good synopsis of the early history of computing.
An excerpt:
The earliest comparable use of vacuum tubes in the U.S. seems to have been by John Atanasoff at what was then Iowa State College (now University). During the period 1937–1942 Atanasoff developed techniques for using vacuum tubes to perform numerical calculations digitally. In 1939, with the assistance of his student Clifford Berry, Atanasoff began building what is sometimes called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, or ABC, a small-scale special-purpose electronic digital machine for the solution of systems of linear algebraic equations. The machine contained approximately 300 vacuum tubes. Although the electronic part of the machine functioned successfully, the computer as a whole never worked reliably, errors being introduced by the unsatisfactory binary card-reader. Work was discontinued in 1942 when Atanasoff left Iowa State.
...
The first fully functioning electronic digital computer was Colossus, used by the Bletchley Park cryptanalysts from February 1944.
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The first electronic stored-program digital computer to be proposed in the U.S. was the EDVAC (see below). The ‘First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC’ (May 1945), composed by von Neumann
I’ve known about John Atanasoff and the ABC since I was 12 years old. I think this means that the lamestream media is intellectually incurious, and don’t read the right books. /sarc
bookmark
John Atanasoff deserve his place in history. I don’t question that, nor do I question the author’s interest in his particular contribution. Many before Atanasoff and after him in mathematics, physics, and engineering have contributed to where we are today.
The Lady Lovelace was arguably the worlds first programmer as she wrote programs for the AE. An analytical engine emulator written in Java script is available at http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/contents.html
Looks like Pascal was in the hunt as well (1600s). There is truly nothing new under the sun.
Regards,
GtG
On second thought, better not.
With things like this:
When I read Lawrence O'Donnell's post calling John Edwards a "loser" and threatening a lifetime of infamy if he doesn't get out of the race, I immediately went to O'Donnell's bio to see his party affiliation. I was sure it would say "R" — but it didn't. It didn't say anything.
However, I am fairly sure in my own mind that Karl Rove paid him to write that post.
and this:
Every time I think of William Ayers, I also think of John McCain, because they are of the same era, and they both believed in the efficacy of violence.
and this:
The world would be a better place if the American right wing had never existed. Thousands of Americans and Iraqis would still be alive, tens of thousands or Iraqis would still be living in their own homes. The American economy would not have hopped from bubble to bubble if the right wing had not put all of their faith in deregulation, and American jobs would not have been sent abroad. Our tax dollars would not have flowed upward into the coffers of the rich, and the war machine would not comprise such a large part of our economy. We would have retained the respect of other nations, and not aroused the absolute hatred of those we have attempted to bomb into submission.
there's enough to keep the thread going for years.