Advent of Computing Sean Haas

Have you ever formed a bad first impression? Way back when I formed a hasty impression of this language called TRAC. It's been called a proto-esoteric language, and for good reason. It's outlandish, complex, and confounding. But, after the urging of some listeners, I've decided to give TRAC a second look. What I've found is, perhaps, more confusing than I ever imagined. This episode we are looking at the wild history of TRAC, how it actually pioneered some good ideas, and why it feels so alien.
Selected Sources:
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/800197.806048 - 1965 TRAC paper
https://github.com/gmilmei/trac64 - TRAC64 processor in "modern" C
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/365230.365270 - 1966 TRAC paper, with more code!

In 1984 SCO released PC XENIX, a port of UNIX that ran on an IBM PC. To understand why that's such a technical feat, and how we even got here, we have to go back to the late 1970s. In this episode we are taking a look at how Microsoft got into the UNIX game, and how they repeatedly struggled to make micro-UNIX work for them. Along the way we run into vaporware, conspiracy, and the expected missing sources!

This episode I'm opening up my research vault to present some interesting pre-digital technology. Back before computers us humans used to write everything down on paper. Over time that lead to some organizational issues. By 1890 punch cards show up to solve one aspect of this problem, but that technology had it's limitations. We will be looking at other paper-based approaches to data management, as I slowly try and explain a realization I've come to about the early history of hypertext.

I'm currently out traveling. Due to my poor planning I managed to score back to back trips, for both business and leisure. While I'm not able to get an episode out on time, I do have a replacement!
In 2023 I was invited to speak at the Intelligent Speech conference. So, today, I present the audio of that talk. The topic is, of course, the wild path of the Intel 8086's creation and rise to power!
If you prefer to watch, here's the video of the same talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ud8LK3-eAM

In 1959 the world bore witness to a new type of computer: the PDP-1. It was the first interactive computer to really make a dent in the market. Some say it was the first minicomputer: a totally new class of machine. But where did this computer come from, and what made it so different from the rest of the digital pack?
Selected sources:
https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/olsen.html - Smithsonian interview with Ken Olsen
https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2019/03/102785079-05-01-acc.pdf - Computing in the Middle Ages
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_decBooksBeng_37322315 - Computer Egnineerling, Bell et al.

I've been feeling like rambling, so it's time for a classic ramble. This time we are looking at the origins of books about computers. More specifically, computer books targeted at a general audience. Along the way we stumble into the first public disclosure of digital computers, the first intentionally unimportant machine, and wild speculation about the future of mechanical brains.
No sources listed this time, because I want the journey to be a surprise!