Expensive Desk Calculator
Encyclopedia
Expensive Desk Calculator by Robert A. Wagner is thought to be computing
's first interactive calculation program.
The software first ran on the TX-0
computer loaned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) by Lincoln Laboratory
. It was ported to the PDP-1
donated to MIT in 1961 by Digital Equipment Corporation
.
Friends from the MIT Tech Model Railroad Club
, Wagner and a group of fellow students had access to these room-sized machines outside classes, signing up for time during off hours. Overseen by Jack Dennis
, John McKenzie and faculty advisors, they were personal computer
users as early as the late 1950s.
The calculators Wagner needed to complete his numerical analysis
homework were across campus and in short supply so he wrote one himself. Although the program has about three thousand lines of code and took months to write, Wagner received a grade of zero on his homework. His professor's reaction was, "You used a computer! This can't be right." Steven Levy
wrote, "The professor would learn in time, as would everyone, that the world opened up by the computer was a limitless one."
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
's first interactive calculation program.
The software first ran on the TX-0
TX-0
The TX-0, for Transistorized Experimental computer zero, but affectionately referred to as tixo , was an early fully transistorized computer and contained a then-huge 64K of 18-bit words of magnetic core memory. The TX-0 was built in 1955 and went online in 1956 and was used continually through the...
computer loaned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT) by Lincoln Laboratory
Lincoln Laboratory
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and development activities focus on long-term technology development as well as...
. It was ported to the PDP-1
PDP-1
The PDP-1 was the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1960. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at MIT, BBN and elsewhere...
donated to MIT in 1961 by Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
.
Friends from the MIT Tech Model Railroad Club
Tech Model Railroad Club
The Tech Model Railroad Club is a student organization at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , and one of the most celebrated model railroad clubs in the world, because of its historic role as a wellspring of hacker culture...
, Wagner and a group of fellow students had access to these room-sized machines outside classes, signing up for time during off hours. Overseen by Jack Dennis
Jack Dennis
Jack Dennis is a computer scientist and retired MIT professor.Dennis entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949 as an electrical engineering major; he received his MS degree in 1954, and continued doctoral research and received his ScD in 1958...
, John McKenzie and faculty advisors, they were personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
users as early as the late 1950s.
The calculators Wagner needed to complete his numerical analysis
Numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation for the problems of mathematical analysis ....
homework were across campus and in short supply so he wrote one himself. Although the program has about three thousand lines of code and took months to write, Wagner received a grade of zero on his homework. His professor's reaction was, "You used a computer! This can't be right." Steven Levy
Steven Levy
Steven Levy is an American journalist who has written several books on computers, technology, cryptography, the Internet, cybersecurity, and privacy.-Career:...
wrote, "The professor would learn in time, as would everyone, that the world opened up by the computer was a limitless one."
See also
- PDP-1PDP-1The PDP-1 was the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1960. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at MIT, BBN and elsewhere...
- Expensive TypewriterExpensive TypewriterExpensive Typewriter was a text editing program that ran on the DEC PDP-1 computer that had been recently delivered at MIT. Since it could drive an IBM Selectric typewriter , it may be considered the first word processing program, although it was not WYSIWYG, having no CRT display. It was written...
- Expensive PlanetariumExpensive PlanetariumExpensive Planetarium is the star display written by Peter Samson for Spacewar!, one of the first interactive computer games. Conceived and written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students including Stephen Russell who programmed it, the Spacewar! game first ran in early 1962 on the PDP-1...
- Expensive Tape RecorderExpensive Tape RecorderExpensive Tape Recorder is a digital audio program written by David Gross while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gross developed the idea with Alan Kotok, a fellow member of the Tech Model Railroad Club...