8. BEFORE 1945
MECHANICAL TOOLS
Who’s What’s
the user? the
interface?
MAD SCIENTISTS GEARS AND CRANKS
How Who
is it bought
used?
1, 2, 3, 4... them?
COUNTING IT DEPENDS
9. An undetected error in a logarithmic table is
like a sunken rock at sea yet undiscovered,
upon which it is impossible to say what
wrecks may have taken place.
—Sir John Herschel (1842)
First published table of Logarithms by John Napier, 1614
http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/images/dan/napier_logtable.jpg 9
10. CHARLES BABBAGE
“
(1791–1871)
As soon as an Analytical Engine
exists, it will necessarily guide the
future course of the science.
Whenever any result is sought by
its aid, the question will then arise
— by what course of calculation
can these results be arrived at by
the machine in the shortest time?
—Passages from the Life of a
Philosopher, ch. 8 “Of the
Analytical Engine”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CharlesBabbage.jpg 10
14. “
VANNEVAR BUSH
(1890 – 1974)
Vannevar Bush is a great name for
playing six degrees of separation.
Turn back the clock on any aspect of
information technology — from the
birth of Silicon Valley and the
marriage of science and the military to
the advent of the World Wide Web —
and you find his footprints. As
historian Michael Sherry says, "To
understand the world of Bill Gates
and Bill Clinton, start with
understanding Vannevar Bush.
—G. Pascal Zachary, The Godfather
14
15. 1945–1950
THE NEW INVENTION
Who’s What’s
the user? the
interface?
THE INVENTORS MOVING CABLES AROUND
How Who
is it bought
used? them?
BRUTE FORCE ARITHMETIC THE MILITARY
17. “
One would think that if a man invented a machine
that revolutionized the world, took out a patent
on that machine, and had the full financial and
legal resources of a major American corporation
on his side, he would spend most of the rest of his
life enjoying fortune and fame.
Edison did. Bell did.
By and large, Pres Eckert and John Mauchley did
not.
—Shurkin, Engines of the Mind
17
20. “
The principle flaw was ENIAC’s inability to hold
easily altered instructions in its memory. Every
time the machine needed reprogramming,
operators had to run around the room turning
dials, throwing switches, replugging cables, and
rolling function tables about.
It was realized that this whole method of
programming was a clumsy method, and
archaic… but it did not matter with firing tables,
which permitted the same program to run for
weeks.
—Joel Shurkin, Engines of the Mind
20
21. 1950 –1960
THE CALCULATOR
Who’s What’s the
the user? interface?
EXPERTS AND PIONEERS PUNCH CARDS AND TAPE
How is it Who
used? bought
them?
HIGH SPEED CALCULATIONS ROCKET SCIENTISTS
22. HERMAN HOLLERITH
(1860 – 1929)
http://www.census.gov/history/img/Hollerith.jpg http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/1890-card.gif 22
23. (1880)
THE CENSUS
23
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/1880_census_Hollerith.gif
26. F.W. TAYLOR
“
(1856 – 1915)
Now one of the very first requirements
for a man who is fit to handle pig iron as a
regular occupation is that he shall be so
stupid and so phlegmatic that he more
nearly resembles in his mental make-up
the ox than any other type. The man who
is mentally alert and intelligent is for this
very reason entirely unsuited to what
would, for him, be the grinding monotony
of work of this character.
http://explorepahistory.com/images/ExplorePAHistory-a0j8p9-a_349.jpg
26
31. “
One place where IBM did succeed was in keeping
viable the basic input medium of the punched
card, and with that the basic flow of data through
a customer’s installation. The same card, encoded
the same way and using a keypunch little changed
since the 1930s, served IBMs computers through
the 1960s and beyond. The sequential processing
and file structure, implicit in punched card
operations, also survived in the form of batch
processing common to most mainframe computer
centers of the 1960s.
—Ceruzzi, A History of Modern Computing
31
32. PUNCHED HOLE FUNCTIONS
1. Adds
2. Subtracts
3. Multiplies
4. Divides
5. Lists itself
6. Reproduces itself
7. Classifies itself
8. Selects itself
9. Prints to an IBM Card
10. Automatic balance forward
11. Files itself
12. Posts itself
13. Reproduces and prints
14. Punch from pencil mark
15. Print total
16. Compare to something
17. Advance/eject a form 32
34. 1960 –1970
THE GIANT BRAIN
Who’s the What’s the
user? interface?
COMPUTER CENTER ACOLYTES TELETYPE AND TERMINAL
How is it Who
used? bought
them?
BATCH PROCESSING INFORMATION INTENSIVE BUSINESSES
35. “
MAN-COMPUTER SYMBIOSIS
The hope is that, in not too
many years, human brains
and computing machines
will be coupled together
very tightly and that the
resulting partnership will
think as no human brain has
ever thought and process
data in a way not
approached by the
information-handling
machines we know today.
—J.C.R. Licklider
Man-Computer Symbiosis
35
40. GRACE MURRAY HOPPER
“
(1906 – 1992)
A ship in port is safe; but
that is not what ships are
built for. Sail out to sea and
do new things.
“
It's easier to ask forgiveness
than it is to get permission.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/publicresourceorg/493885707/
40
41. “
Not only would a
programmer hardly
ever see the
computer, he or she
might never even
see the keypunch on
which the programs
were entered into
the computer.
—A History of
Modern Computing
41
42. HENRY DREYFUSS
“
(1904 – 1972)
The products we design are going to
be ridden in, sat upon, looked at,
talked into, activated, operated, or in
some way used by people individually
or en masse. If the point of contact
between the product and the people
becomes a point of friction, then the
industrial designer has failed. If, on
the other hand, people are made
safer, more comfortable, more eager
to purchase, more efficient—or just
plain happier—the industrial designer
has succeeded.
http://perpenduum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/henrydreyfuss.jpg 42
45. 1970 –1985
PINK COLLAR LABOR
Who’s the What’s the
user? interface?
DATA ENTRY OPERATORS GREEN-SCREEN ALPHANUMERIC
How is it Who
used? bought
them?
TIME SHARING MOST BUSINESSES
49. “
By the mid-1960s, data processing computers for
business had become well established. The
commercial computer installation was
characterized by a large, centralized computer
manufactured by IBM or one of the other half-
dozen mainframe computer companies, running a
batch-processing or real-time application.
The role of the user in this computing environment
was to feed data into the computer system and
interact with it in the very restricted fashion
determined by the application.
—Kelly and Aspray, “Computer”
49
53. IVAN SUTHERLAND
“
(b.1938)
The Sketchpad system makes it possible for a
man and a computer to converse rapidly
through the medium of line drawings.
Heretofore, most interaction between man
and computers has been slowed down by the
need to reduce all communication to written
statements that can be typed; in the past, we
have been writing letters to rather than
conferring with our computers. The
Sketchpad system, by eliminating typed
statements (except for legends) in favor of
line drawings, opens up a new area of man-
machine communication.
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_fall/projects/abowd_team/ivan/ivanbw_45.jpg 53
55. “
DOUGLAS ENGELBART
(b. 1925)
By augmenting man's intellect
we mean increasing the
capability of a man to approach
a complex problem situation,
gain comprehension to suit his
particular needs, and to derive
solutions to problems. One
objective is to develop new
techniques, procedures, and
systems that will better adapt
people's basic information-
handling capabilities to the
needs, problems, and progress
of society.
—Douglas Englebart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Engelbartmice.jpg
55
56. X/Y POSITION INDICATOR
ALSO KNOWN AS “THE MOUSE”
(1964)
The number of
buttons on a mouse
is one of the most
controversial issues
in the industry.
People get religious.
—Bill Gates
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
e/ed/Mouse-patents-englebart-rid.png 56
57. NLS – ONLINE SYSTEM
(60s)
http://www.dougengelbart.org/ 57
58. THE MOTHER OF ALL DEMOS
(1968)
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/files/2008/12/engelbart-demo.jpg http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8734787622017763097 58
59. 1985 –1995
PERSONAL COMPUTING
Who’s What’s the
the user? interface?
GEEKS GUIs
How is Who
it used? bought
them?
PACKAGED SOFTWARE APPS UPWARDLY MOBILE HOME USERS
73. 1995 – ?
NETWORKED UBIQUITY
Who’s What’s the
the user? interface?
EVERYONE. GUIs
How is Who
it used? bought
them?
WEB-ENABLED TOOLS THEY’RE CHEAP! BUY SEVERAL!