Advent of Computing

Hybrid computers are composed of a digital computer linked to an analog computer. That leads to an interesting challenge: how do you write software for one of these things? The analog side actively resists programming, while the digital side can't comprehend of continuous values. In the 1960s specialized languages appeared that tried to bridge this divide. And, I assure you, they are not at all like what you would expect.

In 1945 the first electronic digital computers sparked to life. Number crunching was instantly changed forever! The perfect technology had arrived, and there was never even a competition, right? Well, not so much. The simple fact is that computers sucked for decades. Digital machines have all kinds of inherent pitfalls. There was another entire lineage of computers that existed in the shadow of digital machines: the analogs. Eventually the two technologies would merge in an attempt to create the truly perfect machine: one with the flexibility and accuracy of a digital computer, and the speed and interactivity of an analog computer. The result were hybrids!  

Last episode I said that Fourth Generation Languages were a topic for another time. Well... this counts as another time. Today we are trying to figure out what exactly makes a language 4th Generation. Along the way we will see why the term bugs me so much, why 4GLs seem so strange, and how a programmer can increase their productivity by 2,000% (some restrictions apply).

I'm back to normal episodes, and I'm running out the gate with a weird one. Thoroughbred/OS was a multi-user and multi-tasking operating system for the IBM PC. It's mian interface was... BASIC of all things! What exactly is this oddity? https://winworldpc.com/product/thoroughbred-os/662 - Try Out Thoroughbred/OS yourself

I recently had the chance to talk to Ben Zotto about his upcoming book: Go Computer Now! - The Story of Sphere Computers. It's all about an obscure machine powered by the Motorola 6800 that released in 1975. I figured it was the perfect faire for my audience. And... I really want to read this book! You can back the project over at kickstarter: http://kickstarter.com/projects/bzotto/go-computer-now-the-story-of-sphere?ref=ey52pt And find out more at Ben's sites: https://gocomputernow.com/, https://sphere.computer/