After completing the reading assignment, the first thing I thought of was "Got Acronyms?" ENIAC, EDVAC, EDSAC, UNIVAC, IBM, RAM, EPROM, ROM.....
I don't think I've ever seen so many in one reading. They can be seen as a symbol of the industry itself, always trying to fit an enormous amount of information in a small space.
While being directed through the history of ingenious technological inventions, I found myself frustrated that I could not even imagine what most of the mechanisms looked like. Google images, one of the great offspring of computer technology, helped with vintage photos of Napier's Bones, the slide rule, a pascaline, and analytical engine, etc.
It was intriguing to read about the transformation from mechanical calculating to electronic and digital and from vacuum tubes to transistors to microchips. Facts, such as the Qwerty keyboard being developed to slow the typist down in order to allow the computer to process, and that Atanasoff originally coined the term "jogging", what is now "refresh", successfully connected the past and present in my mind.
Another piece of history that stands out is how decoding during WWII, the Cold War, and NASA's space program, had propelled the computer industry to such an extent that it has completely changed how we function in our culture today. Would the industry have developed at such a rapid pace with only the drive of consumerism and profit? And what is the main reason for development today? Is it the military, the consumers, or both?
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