Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/12/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Nathan, that -was- sadistic! I started writing software in 1970/71. All on punched cards. I also never dropped a stack, but I know people who did! Back then the university had 2 computers, an IBM 370 and a CDC 6600 IIRC, for the entire university. Mind you only engineers and other scientists used computers there. FD >________________________________ > From: Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> >To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> >Sent: Friday, 21 December 2012, 6:18 >Subject: Re: [Leica] Some artifacts at the Computer History Museum IMG: > >Fascinating! I had a sadistic computer science teacher in my first semester >of university, in 1980, who made us punch cards because he wanted us >experience how things were done when he was young...fortunately, I never >had the experience of dropping the stack on the floor. > >Cheers, >Nathan > >Nathan Wajsman >Alicante, Spain >http://www.frozenlight.eu >http://www.greatpix.eu >PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws >Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ > > >YNWA > > > > >On Dec 21, 2012, at 6:55 AM, Herbert Kanner wrote: > >> Fellow LUGers, >> >> I have been a volunteer at the Computer History Museum since 2003, >> starting as a documenter of artifacts. That is, in collaboration with a >> partner, the partner often being a paid staff member, we would enter >> characteristics of the object in question into a horribly complex >> database. Things such as dimensions, weight (if it was small enough to be >> picked up), place of manufacture, etc., etc., including all numbers that >> could be found on the object: model numbers, serial numbers, goddam >> numbers, you name it. Then we would photograph it with a point & shoot. >> >> One of the tasks for which I eventually volunteered was editing those >> damn photographs. Considering how foolproof a P$S is, I was just amazed >> at how badly some of the volunteers would handle a camera. Many of the >> pix just had to be thrown out. >> >> After a couple of years of this, I thought it would be fun to become a >> docent. At the time, all that could be seen by visitors was in one large >> room, and the formal docent training was an hour in which they showed us >> where all the emergency exits from the building were. >> >> In 2012 a brand new $20 million exhibit opened ($15 having been >> contributed by Bill Gates) and some formal docent training ensued, led by >> a lady who had trained docents at two art museums: Getty and Cantor) >> >> I took a few pictures yesterday of museum artifacts. Not wanting to >> overwhelm people, I will post them two or three at a time, with a bit of >> explanation of what they are. The light in there is really weird, being a >> mixture of ordinary incandescent, window light, and deliberately colored >> light. Also, some, not today's, had to be shot at ISO 2600 (flash not >> permitted, and I've given it up anyway), so we'll see how good noise >> reduction is. >> >> For today: >> >> The Babbage Difference Engine #2. This is a working machine, and we >> demonstrate it once each day that the Museum is open. There are two of >> them in the world; the other is in the London Science Museum. We are the >> only ones who still demonstrate it regularly, as a result of which it >> requires regular maintenance with occasional major repairs. What the >> machine does is by addition only, it evaluates seventh degree polynomials >> to seven places of accuracy--such polynomials can be satisfactory >> approximations to other functions such as logarithms and trig functions. >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002678.jpg.html >> >> The U.S. Constitution requires a census every ten years. That word does >> not actually appear there; it's called "enumeration". The purpose is to >> establish how many Representatives a state is entitled to. In the >> Constitution a (white) person counted as one, a slave as 3/5 of a person, >> and a red-skin didn't count at all. Now Congress in it's wisdom decided >> that if these guys were out counting heads, they might as well ask a few >> useful questions. The resulting data, in 1880, took seven years to >> process. Because the population was growing, the most optimistic estimate >> was that it would take eleven years to process the data in 1890. Herman >> Hollerith proposed a method of dealing with the data by using punched >> cards, which by no coincidence turned out to be the same size and shape >> as the currency at the time. Here is the machine which read the cards. >> The card was put on a platform and the handle depressed. Wherever there >> was a hole, a pin would go through the hole and complete an e >le >> ctric circuit. The counters that you see are like clocks, which a large >> hand and a small one. Each clock could count up to ten thousand. >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002660.jpg.html >> >> Here is a crude device that was used to punch the cards, a pantograph. >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002662.jpg.html >> >> After Hollerith retired, some investors who had already bought a company >> that made time clock and a calculating grocery scale bought Hollerith's >> company. Eventually they hired as CEO a guy who had been fired by >> National Cash Register. That guy got rid of the clocks and scales and >> eventually renamed the company International Business Machines, later >> renamed IBM. His name was Thomas J. Watson. >> >> Enjoy, >> >> Herb >> >> >> Herbert Kanner >> kanner at acm.org >> 650-326-8204 >> >> Question authority and the authorities will question you. >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > >