A Clip Show of Computing History 50 minutes of nerds at their best

1. INFO100 and CSE100 Fluency with Information Technology A Clip Show of Computing History50 minutes of nerds at their best Katherine Deibel Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

2. Why History? • Computing and IT are two of the youngest fields in STEM • Many of our founders are still alive or recently passed on • I've personally conversed with at least three Turing award winners (basically the Nobel prize in computing) • Still, the history goes back farther than you may think Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

3. What is a computer? • Several definitions for first computers • Computation tool: abacus • Mechanical: astrolabe and Antikytheramechanism • Programmable: Babbage Analytical Engine • First binary computer: Zuse Z3 • First electronic general purpose: ENIAC • First commercial computer: Ferranti Mark 1 • First single chip microprocessor: Intel 4004 Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

4. Abacus • One of our earliest computation tools • Predecessor was the stick/tablet with crossed out counting marks • Arrangement of strings and stones allowed for development of fast counting methods (algorithms) • Also introduced roundoff error Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

5. Clip: Abacus Speed • Source:Documentary: The Story of Onewith Terry Jones (Monty Python fame) • Setting:A mathematician challenges an modern abacus user • Play info: (start at 46:00) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umyhZu6gXmQ Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

6. Antikythera mechanism • Early 1st century BCE Greek mechanical computer • Calculates position of Sun, Moon, and several planets on different dates • Such mechanisms not seen again until the 14th century Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

7. Computer Hardware History • Been around a lot longer than one normally would guess • Historical movement from gears to vacuum tubes to transistors to integrated circuits • But what about the software Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

8. Ada Lovelace • Augusta Ada King, • Countess of Lovelace • Daughter of Lord Byron • Translated and extended Menabrea’s article on Babbage’s Analytical Engine • Predicted computers could be used for music and graphics • Wrote the first algorithm— how to compute Bernoulli numbers • Developed notions of looping and subroutines Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

9. Garbage In, Garbage Out The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths. — Ada Lovelace, Note G Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

10. On her genius and insight If you are as fastidious about the acts of your friendship as you are about those of your pen, I much fear I shall equally lose your friendship and your Notes. I am very reluctant to return your admirable & philosophic 'Note A.' Pray do not alter it… All this was impossible for you to know by intuition and the more I read your notes the more surprised I am at them and regret not having earlier explored so rich a vein of the noblest metal. — Charles Babbage Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

11. Science and Victorian Ladies • Some journals accepted and supported science papers from women authors. • Periodical like the Edinburgh Review and Ladies Diary also provided opportunities for publishing amateur scholarly works. Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

12. Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

13. Human Computers • Manual calculation of differential equations for generating tables to be used in the field • Supported through use of mechanical calculators • A few specialized in the use of single-purpose hardware (e.g., differential analyzer) • Women more prominent as computers • Alternative to a career teaching mathematics • Large pool of potential employees (both college and high school graduates) • Cheaper than hiring men Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

14. The Women of ENIAC • Six “computers” hired to be the first programmers for the ENIAC project (1945) • Women comprised a large percentage of later programmers for ENIAC, including • Homé McAllister, Willa Wyatt Sigmund, and Marie Bierstein Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

15. Working on the ENIAC • Learned the system through its blueprints and conversations with its designers • Worked in pairs on subprojects: • Calculating and testing test trajectories: • Marlyn Meltzer and Ruth Teitelbaum • Developing and streamlining the programs: • Frances Spence and Kathleen Antonelli • Coordinating the Master Programmer unit: • Jean Bartik and Betty Holberton • Only group to program ENIAC at the machine level Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

16. After ENIAC • Ruth Teitelbaum • Stayed with ENIAC project the longest • Trained second generation of ENIAC programmers • Jean Bartik • Conversion of ENIAC to a stored-program computer • Worked on BINAC and UNIVAC I • Kathleen Antonelli • Married John Mauchly (1948) • Software design for the BINAC and UNIVAC I • Betty Holberton • Suggest grey as the color for UNIVAC I • Developed C-10 mnemonic instruction set for BINAC Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

17. Dustbin of history? • For 50 years, their involvement was mostly forgotten and ignored: • Hardware more the focus than the software • Names misspelled in official Army history • Some programmers married ENIAC engineers • Programmers originally not invited to 50th anniversary of ENIAC • All six programmers inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame (1997) Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

18. Why the focus on women? • Yes, there were plenty of men who also worked in computing • We will cover them more in other chapters • This is a clip show of interesting points in computing and IT history Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

19. An Amazing Photo Philadelphia Inquirer, "Your Neighbors" article, 8/13/1957 Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

20. Grace Hopper (1 of 3) • Education • Vasser: B.S. in Mathematics and Physics • Yale: M.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematics • Naval Career • Joined Naval Reserves (1943) • Assigned to work with Howard Aiken • Harvard • First person to write a program for the Mark I (arctangent calculations) • Member of the Mark II and III development teams Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

21. The Infamous Bug • While working on the Mark II, Hopper discovered a moth stuck in a relay. • Originated the term “debugging” Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

22. Grace Hopper (2 of 3) • UNIVAC • Invented concept of compiler: ARITH-MATIC, MATH-MATIC and FLOW-MATIC • COBOL was partially an extensionof FLOW-MATIC • Standards • Advocated and pioneered development of standards for testing computer systems and languages. Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

23. Grace Hopper (3 of 3) • Naval Career • Retired three times • 1983 Special Presidential promotion to Rear Admiral • Defense Distinguished Service Medal recipient (1986) • Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) • Senior Consultant and Goodwill Ambassador (1986 – 1992) Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

24. Nanoseconds • To demonstrate the cost of computing time, Hopper would hand out pieces of wire. • Distance electrons travel: • 1 nanosecond ≈ 12 inches • 1 microsecond ≈ 1000 feet • 1 millisecond ≈ 189 miles • 1 second ≈ 189,000 miles Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

25. Clip: Hopper and Nanosecond • Grace Hopper explains the nanosecondURL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eyFDBPk4Yw • She also appeared on Letterman!URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ0g5_NgRao Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

26. Let's Jump Ahead • Until the late 1960s, the general view of computers was the mainframe • The idea of a personal computer on one's desktop was an alien idea • Then came the Mother of All Demos Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

27. Douglas Engelbart • Early pioneer of Human-Computer Interaction • Developed computer mouse • Set foundation for Hypertext • Established use of GUIs • Main credo: Use computers to connect and support human thought and capability Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

28. Mother of All Demos • Stanford Research InstituteDecember 9, 1968 • Live demonstration of a GUI workstation that shows • Computer mouse • Video conferencing • File sharing • Word processing Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

29. Clip: The Demo • URL:http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html • Clips:2. Introduces workstation3. Word processor12. Mouse and keyboard Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

30. Our Final Clip • I expect to hear some groans… Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

31. The Office Assistant • Animated help tool in Microsoft Office 97-2003 • Despised by the public Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

32. Microsoft Word Feature Glut • Word had many many features • Letter wizard • Cross-referencing • Etc. • Difficult for users to discover and learn the features that could best help them Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

33. Original Idea: Lumiere • Bayesian model (AI technique) • Agent tracks user’s goals • Offer advice when user appears stuck • Taper off advice as user stops showing interest in new features • Prevent frustrating the user • Accepts that every user may not want to become a complete power user of Word Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

34. It worked but… • Lumiere’s software took up a large percentage of the Office memory and storage space requirements • Caused Office to run a bit slowly Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

35. Marketing’s Lobotomy • Lumiere’s intelligence was stripped • They kept the task detection software • Removed the code for tracking the learner’s progress and avoiding annoyance • Result: • Unhappy customers • Clippy removed from Office 2007 Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

36. Impact on Intelligent Agents • Negative opinion of intelligent helper agents like Clippy • Furthered by automated hotlines with poor speech recognition • Lumiere as it was would run fine on computers today • It won’t be implemented into future Office versions • Consumer response would be negative Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

37. Perhaps the Tide is Turning • Clippy was over 4+ years ago • New smart agents are around • Apple iPhone’s Siri • Very popular • Not animated but is treated as a person • Siri-type clones likely to become more plentiful in the near future Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

38. Summary • I hope you enjoyed a few clips from the history of IT and computing • We'll touch on many more throughout the rest of the term • Starvation and theoretical physicists • Laziness and integrated circuits Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology