lpress@venera.isi.edu (Laurence I. Press) (07/25/88)
The Precursors of Personal Computing
I am compiling an anthology of historical papers which laid the
groundwork for today's workstations and personal computers. The
following list is preliminary, based mostly on personal
recollection and a little library research and suggestions from
others.
About half of the items in the list are papers I have copies of,
and about half are entries like "a paper by x" or "something on
topic x," so I would like your feedback. Are there topic areas
which have been overlooked; are there systems, programs or people
which have been overlooked; do you recall (even vaguely)
particular papers, reports or articles which should be included?
If you are interested in the good old days, let me know and I
will keep you updated on the list as it grows. Here is the list
as it stands today:
Personal Computers, The Beginning
A Preliminary List of Topics and Papers
1. The Concept of Personal Computing
Vannevar Bush, As We May Think, Atlantic Monthly, July, 1945
JCR Licklider, Man-Computer Symbiosis, IRE Transactions on Human
Factors in Electronics, March 1960
Douglas Englebart, A Research Center for Augmenting Human
Intellect, 1968 FJCC
Tom Steel, After Timesharing, What? SDC internal working paper,
8/21/67
Fred Gruenberger, "Are Small, Free-Standing Computers Here To
Stay?" Datamation, April, 1966, pp 67-8
2. Computers for the Masses -- The Vision of Computers as Tools
for non-technical People
Alan Kay, A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages, 1972 ACM
National Conference
Robert L. Albrecht, A Modern Day Medicine Show, Datamation,
July, 1963
something by Kemeny and Kurtz discussing the value of
including programming and computer literacy as part of a
liberal education
Roberts and Yates, ALTAIR 8800, Popular Electronics, January,
1975
Jim Warren -- either his IEEE or NCC personal computing survey
of 1976
something from Albrecht's PCC Newspaper or perhaps an early
Dr. Dobbs
something by Ted Nelson, David Ahl or Steve Jobs
3. Early Interactive Applications
A. Graphics
Ivan Sutherland, Sketchpad, a Man-Machine Graphical
Communication System, SJCC, 1963
Steven Anson Coons, An Outline of the Requirements for a
Computer-Aided Design System, 1963 SJCC
something from GE?
B. Text Processing
something on the "Expensive Typewriter" mentioned in Levy's
Hackers or other screen oriented text processing system
perhaps another paper from Englebart's lab
something on IBM's Administrative Terminal System for the
1440 (1965?) or their announcement of the Magnetic Tape
Selectric Typewriter (1964?)
an early paper from the Writer's Workbench at AT&T
C. Spreadsheet
A paper on one of the early time-shared financial planning
languages -- was there one called FPL at MIT?
D. DB and File Management
paper on RPG, FARGO or other early packages for conversion
of punched card applications
papers on early systems at GE, Informatics and SDC
papers on early codasyl work
(papers and also old ads and press release photos)
E. Engineering and Miscellaneous
Everett, et al, SAGE - A Data-Processing System for Air
Defense, 1957 EJCC
A Culler and Fried paper or Culler and Huff, Solution for
Non-Linear Integral Equations Using On-Line Control, 1962
SJCC
4. Early Stand-Alone Machines
Mitchel and Olsen, TX-0: A Transistor Computer (1956 EJCC)
Frankovich and Peterson, A Functional Description of the Lincoln
TX-2 Computer, 1957 WJCC (several other papers on the TX-2 in the
same proceedings)
RR Everett, The Whirlwind I Computer, AIEE-IRE Conference, 1951
Clark and Molnar, A Description of the LINC. In Computers in
Biomedical Research, I. R. W. Stacy and B. D. Waxman (eds),
Academic Press, New York, 1965
Xerox ALTO paper -- internal or published
perhaps something on early commercial products which were used
in single-user mode, for example, the Royal McBee LGP-30, IBM
1620, Bendix G-15, DEC PDP-8, Wang and HP programmable
calculators, IBM 5100 or Three Rivers PERQ
5. Timesharing -- Interactive Computing for the Masses, and the
Idea of a Community of Users sharing Data, Programs and
Resources
Christopher Strachey, Timesharing in Large Fast Computers,
UNESCO, 1960
McCarthy, J., et al, A Timesharing Debugging System for Small
Computers, 1963 SJCC
Jack Dennis, A Multi-user Computation Facility for Education and
Research, CACM, 9/64
Corbato, et al, An Experimental Timesharing System, 1962 SJCC
Schwartz, et al, A General-Purpose Time-Sharing System, 1964 SJCC
Edward Fredkin, The Time Sharing of Computers, Computers and
Automation, November, 1963
6. Communication -- Extending the User Community Beyond the
Timesharing System
Early technology, e.g. Fry, Stibitz, and Williams, Complex
Computer paper, 1940, Baran paper from RAND, Paper on SDC-MIT
link or on Paper on SEAC or Whirlwind data acquisition
RC Matlack, The Role of Communication Networks in Digital Data
Systems, 1955 EJCC
Something by Licklider -- conceptual, stress on community of
users
Marill and Roberts, Toward a Cooperative Network of Timeshared
Computers, FJCC, 1966
Larry Roberts, Computer Resource Development to Achieve Resource
Sharing, 1970 SJCC
Roberts and Wessler, Computer Network Development to Achieve
Resource Sharing, 1970 SJCC
Ethernet paper
something by Paul Baran at RAND
7. Interpreted Languages
GOTRAN paper (Jack Palmer or Charles Davidson)
Dartmouth BASIC paper
Cliff Shaw, JOSS: A Designers View of an Experimental On-Line
System, 1964, FJCC
Dunn and Morrisy, Remote computing - An Experimental System,
1964 SJCC (several papers)
a paper on TINT at SDC
an article on Microsoft BASIC for the Altair
8. Component Technology
Ruth M. Davis, A History of Automated Displays, Datamation,
January, 1975
photo of mouse patent application
paper on first light pen
paper on the RAND tablet
paper on floppy disk (by Shugart?) from IBM
product announcement or photo or paper describing first low-
cost character-oriented terminal (whose was it?)
a Teletype photo
early microprocessor concept paper or a description of the
4004 (published or internal to Intel)
early speculation on the possibilities for IC memories and
logic (a widely read paper that stood in the same relationship
to IC technology as Strachey on timesharing or Licklider on
interactive applications)
discussion of early devices (research or product) from TI,
Fairchild, etc.
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Larry Press (lpress@venera.isi.edu)
10726 Esther Avenue, LA, CA 90064
(213) 475-6515