Advent of Computing

I mean that both in the specific and the abstract. This episode we are looking at APL, which stands for A Programming Language. APL was developed in the mid 50s, but didn't see a working implementation until 1965. It's a language that truly looks like no others, but has some odd parallels to everything from BASIC to LISP to linear algebra.






Learn APL at: tryapl.org
https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/APL.htm - A Programming Language

Dale Biagio(author of Hello, World!) got in touch with me recently. He said he had a book full of short histories of programming languages. Better still, it has sources! How could I resist! In this episode I sit down with Dale to talk about the intersection of technical and human histories.
You can find more about Hello, World! at Dale's website:
https://helloworldthebook.com/

I've been browsing old compur surveys and trying to build up a comprehensive data set. What I've found is a little surprising: between late 1945 and 1949 only 10 new computers entered service. Once we get to the 50s that number explodes. What's going on here? What caused the gap between the first digital machines and the explosion of computers in the 50s? In this episode I try to answer that question by finding out just what was going on during this digital gap.
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What connects IBM, the NSA, the Third Reich, and high fidelity recordings of symphonies? The answer is: magnetic drum memory. Join me as I lose all track of scope and plot to discovery just how and why magnetic drum memory was invented.
Like Advent of Computing? Then check out the after show! Adjunct of Computing is now LIVE: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts

In 1947 Raytheon signed a contract to make their first computer. It would be their last... at least for many many years. The fruits of this contract was RAYDAC. Early digital computers were odd, to say the least. And RAYDAC distinguishes itself. From zig-zag delay lines to hunting tapes to freon cooling, it truly is a unique machine.
Selected Sources:
https://ed-thelen.org/McGee_Book-4.2.2.pdf - McGee on his experience programming RAYDAC
https://sci-hub.st/10.1109/JRPROC.1948.232626 - A Digital Computer for Scientific Applications
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2002859 - The Logical Design of RAYDAC
Like Advent of Computing? Then check out the after show! Adjunct of Computing is now LIVE: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts