Episode 181 - RAYDAC
In 1947 Raytheon signed a contract to make their first computer. It would be their last... at least for many many years. The fruits of this...
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Advent of Computing
Welcome to Advent of Computing, the show that talks about the shocking, intriguing, and all too often relevant history of computing. A lot of little things we take for granted today have ric...
Advent of Computing Podcast Guide
Listen to Advent of Computing, a Society & Culture podcast by Sean S Haas. Stream 197 episodes in English, follow new audio stories, and play episodes online on Radio and Podcast.
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20 of 197 episodesEpisode 180 - You Wouldn't Magnetize a Tape!
The image of a mainframe is almost always accompanied by it's companion: the magnetic tape drive. For decades magnetic tape served as the me...
Episode 179 - Programming Block by Block
In which we discuss GPSS: the General Purpose Simulation Language. As for as languages go, this is a unique one. It's designed for certain t...
Episode 178 - The Programma 101
The Olivetti Programma 101 isn't quite like any other machine. On first glance it looks like a big desktop calculator. Inside, it's a purebr...
Dan Temkin - Forty-Four Esolangs
Dan Temkin has been a long time friend of the show. I finally got the chance to sit down and talk with him about one of his latest projects....
Episode 177 - Getting Real with RSX
Who wants to hear me make incorrect assumptions about old software? RSX is a system that, from the outside, can sound like it has a similar...
Episode 176 - Is That Even UNIX?
UNIX is beloved by many. It's the classic minicomputer operating system. It's big, it's powerful, it's multitasking, and it has some very sp...
Episode 175 - SNOBOL? That's Disgusting!
Today we are talking about one of the most unique languages I've ever come across. SNOBOL emerges from the early days of programming. It's f...
Episode 174 - The Bell Model I
We are getting back to the actual digital family tree. In 1937 George Stibitz built a tiny binary adding circuit on his kitchen table using...
Episode 173 - Hybrid Programming
Hybrid computers are composed of a digital computer linked to an analog computer. That leads to an interesting challenge: how do you write s...
Episode 172 - Analog/Hybrid
In 1945 the first electronic digital computers sparked to life. Number crunching was instantly changed forever! The perfect technology had a...
Episode 171 - What Is a 4GL?
Last episode I said that Fourth Generation Languages were a topic for another time. Well... this counts as another time. Today we are trying...
Episode 170 - Thoroughbred/OS
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 sys...
Episode 169.5 - Ben Zotto and the Story of Sphere Computers
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...
Episode 169 - Dellinger's Viruses
In 1981 Joe Dellinger attempted to create the perfect computer program: a virus that spread silently. In 1982 a revision of that virus broke...
Episode 168 - Halt and Catch Fire
Imagine a secret number that could be used to bring your computer to a screeching halt. In 1977 Gerry Wheeler discovered an interesting feat...
Episode 167 - The Tape That Unwound Itself
Have you ever had a computer do something you can't explain? Have you ever thought a machine had a mind of its own? In 1971 Met Life was fac...
Episode 166 - Beyond the PDP-11
My trilogy on the PDP-11 concludes with a look at the far flung places this computer can take us. In this episode we look at some issues wit...
Episode 165 - LSI-11
This episode we continue my series on the PDP-11 by examining how DEC adapted to the advent of the microprocessor. Along the way we will see...
Episode 164 - LGP-30 LIVE! from VCF West
Last weekend I had the chance to talk about the LGP-30 and my emulation project at VCF West in Mountain View, CA. The showrunners will be po...