{"id":7181,"date":"2021-07-07T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T13:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/?p=7181"},"modified":"2021-07-07T09:36:26","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T13:36:26","slug":"computers-that-i-have-known","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2021\/07\/07\/computers-that-i-have-known\/","title":{"rendered":"Computers That I Have Known"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content\"><!--introduction--><p>Nick Higham's Numerical Linear Algebra group at the University of Manchester is hosting a conference celebrating Jack Dongarra's 70th birthday July 7 and 8.  I am <a href=\"https:\/\/nla-group.org\/new-directions-in-numerical-linear-algebra-and-high-performance-computing-2020\/\">giving a talk<\/a>, virtually, on July 7. I plan to reminisce about how I did computing in the days before everybody had their own computer in their lap. Here are the slides for the talk, some notes, and some links to this blog for more details.<\/p><p>These computers that have been a vital part of my professional life.<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide2s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><!--\/introduction--><h3>Contents<\/h3><div><ul><li><a href=\"#3d1e0102-d8a4-438b-a029-ebb97ebb3698\">Caltech and University of Utah, 1959 and 1960<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#7f514fac-34c5-4320-a5ea-1a2ffab25936\">Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1960 - 1961<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#9ac1970d-1822-4dfc-ac41-72dfd9fb94e1\">Used punched cards.<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#9f139e36-78cc-4028-807d-d1726d873024\">Stanford, 1961 - 1965<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#088f381e-b85b-44d8-9fbf-e23a8a8033e7\">ETH Zurich, 1965<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#3b41e9c9-d41e-4eaa-b72a-fa1799bd57ff\">University of Michigan, 1966 - 1972<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#e7dcfd20-4db7-4f37-9dc6-c064978e528a\">Argonne, 1970s<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#864e72b8-5a86-47ef-8840-371734046d77\">VAX, 1980s<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#49c9e2ab-0a5c-44a5-b023-4b3586afe93a\">Intel IPSC, 1985<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#5782e903-a10e-41b6-a5fe-5c7416900e5f\">Ardent TiTan, 1988<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#c61e7a88-cdf7-42a6-a7a8-2209f2e10526\">Sun Workstations, 1980s<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><h4>Caltech and University of Utah, 1959 and 1960<a name=\"3d1e0102-d8a4-438b-a029-ebb97ebb3698\"><\/a><\/h4><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide3s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><p>Burroughs 205 Datatron<\/p><p>For the story of the only Burroughs 205 computer with a \"skip on minus\" instruction, see Cleve's Corner blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2017\/10\/09\/my-first-computer-the-burroughs-205-datatron\">\"My First Computer\"<\/a>.<\/p><p>At first, we programmed in purely numeric machine language. Here is a sample program, a portion of an accounting application, taken from the Burrough's 205 User guide.<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide4s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><h4>Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1960 - 1961<a name=\"7f514fac-34c5-4320-a5ea-1a2ffab25936\"><\/a><\/h4><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide8s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><p>IBM 709, IBM 7094<\/p><p>Worked for Chuck Lawson for two summers. Introduced to Fortran. For the story of FLOP, see Cleve's Corner blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2015\/09\/24\/charles-lawson-1931-2015\/#55b07a43-ec45-4ad8-9b5a-7bbed6fdeaf3\">FLOP<\/a>.<\/p><h4>Used punched cards.<a name=\"9ac1970d-1822-4dfc-ac41-72dfd9fb94e1\"><\/a><\/h4><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide4sb.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><h4>Stanford, 1961 - 1965<a name=\"9f139e36-78cc-4028-807d-d1726d873024\"><\/a><\/h4><p>Burroughs 220, Burroughs Algol 58.<\/p><p>Burroughs 5500, full Algol.<\/p><p>IBM 7090, Algol-W, ORVYL and WYLBUR<\/p><p>DEC PDP-1<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide6s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><p>For the story of the circle generator, see Cleve's Corner blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2012\/06\/19\/symplectic-spacewar\/\">\"Sympletic Spacewar\"<\/a>.<\/p><h4>ETH Zurich, 1965<a name=\"088f381e-b85b-44d8-9fbf-e23a8a8033e7\"><\/a><\/h4><p>CDC 1604. First accurate computation of the eigenvalues of the L-shaped membrane. lambda_1 = 9.6397238445.  See Cleve's Corner blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2014\/11\/17\/mathworks-logo-part-four-method-of-particular-solutions-generates-the-logo\/\">MathWorks Logo<\/a>.<\/p><h4>University of Michigan, 1966 - 1972<a name=\"3b41e9c9-d41e-4eaa-b72a-fa1799bd57ff\"><\/a><\/h4><p>IBM 360\/67. MTS, Michigan Timesharing System. First interactive demo of matrix computation. Shown to Wallace Givens at Argonne.<\/p><h4>Argonne, 1970s<a name=\"e7dcfd20-4db7-4f37-9dc6-c064978e528a\"><\/a><\/h4><p>IBM mainframes. TSO, IBM's Time Sharing Option.<\/p><p>Tetronix 4081.  First email sent to Jim Pool at DOE. See Cleve's Corner blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2014\/02\/17\/the-tektronix-4081\/\">Tektronix 4081<\/a>.<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide7s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><h4>VAX, 1980s<a name=\"864e72b8-5a86-47ef-8840-371734046d77\"><\/a><\/h4><p>University of New Mexico. VMS vs. Unix. Early MATLAB.<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide9s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><h4>Intel IPSC, 1985<a name=\"49c9e2ab-0a5c-44a5-b023-4b3586afe93a\"><\/a><\/h4><p>Commercialization of Caltech Cosmic Cube developed by Chuck Seitz and Geoffery Fox. One board essentially an IBM PC with 80286 CPU, an 80287 math coprocessor, 256K memory. Hypercube interconnect, d5, d6, d7 with 32, 64, 128 nodes. Very basic message passing software.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/10\/28\/the-intel-hypercube-part-1\/\">https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/10\/28\/the-intel-hypercube-part-1\/<\/a>.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/11\/12\/the-intel-hypercube-part-2-reposted\/\">https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/11\/12\/the-intel-hypercube-part-2-reposted\/<\/a>.<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide10s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><h4>Ardent TiTan, 1988<a name=\"5782e903-a10e-41b6-a5fe-5c7416900e5f\"><\/a><\/h4><p>Vectorizing Fortran. Dor&eacute;. MATLAB 3.5 Bundled.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/11\/25\/the-ardent-titan-part-1\/\">https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/11\/25\/the-ardent-titan-part-1\/<\/a>.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/12\/09\/the-ardent-titan-part-2\/\">https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/12\/09\/the-ardent-titan-part-2\/<\/a>.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2018\/12\/31\/vaxbarn-restores-vibrating-membrane-on-ardent-titan\/\">https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2018\/12\/31\/vaxbarn-restores-vibrating-membrane-on-ardent-titan\/<\/a><\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide10sb.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><h4>Sun Workstations, 1980s<a name=\"c61e7a88-cdf7-42a6-a7a8-2209f2e10526\"><\/a><\/h4><p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide11s.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p><script language=\"JavaScript\"> <!-- \r\n    function grabCode_0c515c003d6346c38b427f30d07640a7() {\r\n        \/\/ Remember the title so we can use it in the new page\r\n        title = document.title;\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Break up these strings so that their presence\r\n        \/\/ in the Javascript doesn't mess up the search for\r\n        \/\/ the MATLAB code.\r\n        t1='0c515c003d6346c38b427f30d07640a7 ' + '##### ' + 'SOURCE BEGIN' + ' #####';\r\n        t2='##### ' + 'SOURCE END' + ' #####' + ' 0c515c003d6346c38b427f30d07640a7';\r\n    \r\n        b=document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0];\r\n        i1=b.innerHTML.indexOf(t1)+t1.length;\r\n        i2=b.innerHTML.indexOf(t2);\r\n \r\n        code_string = b.innerHTML.substring(i1, i2);\r\n        code_string = code_string.replace(\/REPLACE_WITH_DASH_DASH\/g,'--');\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Use \/x3C\/g instead of the less-than character to avoid errors \r\n        \/\/ in the XML parser.\r\n        \/\/ Use '\\x26#60;' instead of '<' so that the XML parser\r\n        \/\/ doesn't go ahead and substitute the less-than character. \r\n        code_string = code_string.replace(\/\\x3C\/g, '\\x26#60;');\r\n\r\n        copyright = 'Copyright 2021 The MathWorks, Inc.';\r\n\r\n        w = window.open();\r\n        d = w.document;\r\n        d.write('<pre>\\n');\r\n        d.write(code_string);\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Add copyright line at the bottom if specified.\r\n        if (copyright.length > 0) {\r\n            d.writeln('');\r\n            d.writeln('%%');\r\n            if (copyright.length > 0) {\r\n                d.writeln('% _' + copyright + '_');\r\n            }\r\n        }\r\n\r\n        d.write('<\/pre>\\n');\r\n\r\n        d.title = title + ' (MATLAB code)';\r\n        d.close();\r\n    }   \r\n     --> <\/script><p style=\"text-align: right; font-size: xx-small; font-weight:lighter;   font-style: italic; color: gray\"><br><a href=\"javascript:grabCode_0c515c003d6346c38b427f30d07640a7()\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;        font-style: italic;\">Get \r\n      the MATLAB code <noscript>(requires JavaScript)<\/noscript><\/span><\/a><br><br>\r\n      Published with MATLAB&reg; R2021b<br><\/p><\/div><!--\r\n0c515c003d6346c38b427f30d07640a7 ##### SOURCE BEGIN #####\r\n%% Computers That I Have Known\r\n% Nick Higham's Numerical Linear Algebra group at the\r\n% University of Manchester is hosting a conference\r\n% celebrating Jack Dongarra's 70th birthday \r\n% July 7 and 8.  I am \r\n% <https:\/\/nla-group.org\/new-directions-in-numerical-linear-algebra-and-high-performance-computing-2020\/\r\n% giving a talk>, virtually, on July 7.\r\n% I plan to reminisce about how I did computing in the days\r\n% before everybody had their own computer in their lap.\r\n% Here are the slides for the talk, some notes, and some links to this\r\n% blog for more details.\r\n%\r\n% These computers that have been a vital part of my professional life.\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide2s.png>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Caltech and University of Utah, 1959 and 1960\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide3s.png>>\r\n%\r\n% Burroughs 205 Datatron\r\n%\r\n% For the story of the only Burroughs 205 computer with a \r\n% \"skip on minus\" instruction, see Cleve's Corner blog,\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2017\/10\/09\/my-first-computer-the-burroughs-205-datatron\r\n% \"My First Computer\">.\r\n\r\n%%\r\n% At first, we programmed in purely numeric machine language.\r\n% Here is a sample program, a portion of an accounting application,\r\n% taken from the Burrough's 205 User guide.\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide4s.png>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1960 - 1961\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide8s.png>>\r\n%\r\n% IBM 709, IBM 7094\r\n%\r\n% Worked for Chuck Lawson for two summers.  \r\n% Introduced to Fortran.\r\n% For the story of FLOP, see Cleve's Corner blog,\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2015\/09\/24\/charles-lawson-1931-2015\/#55b07a43-ec45-4ad8-9b5a-7bbed6fdeaf3\r\n% FLOP>.\r\n\r\n%% Used punched cards.\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide4sb.png>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Stanford, 1961 - 1965\r\n% Burroughs 220, Burroughs Algol 58.\r\n\r\n%%\r\n% Burroughs 5500, full Algol.\r\n\r\n%%\r\n% IBM 7090, \r\n% Algol-W,\r\n% ORVYL and WYLBUR\r\n\r\n%%\r\n% DEC PDP-1\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide6s.png>>\r\n%\r\n% For the story of the circle generator,\r\n% see Cleve's Corner blog,\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2012\/06\/19\/symplectic-spacewar\/\r\n% \"Sympletic Spacewar\">.\r\n\r\n%% ETH Zurich, 1965\r\n% CDC 1604.\r\n% First accurate computation of the eigenvalues of the L-shaped membrane.\r\n% lambda_1 = 9.6397238445.  See Cleve's Corner blog,\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2014\/11\/17\/mathworks-logo-part-four-method-of-particular-solutions-generates-the-logo\/\r\n% MathWorks Logo>.\r\n\r\n%% University of Michigan, 1966 - 1972\r\n% IBM 360\/67.\r\n% MTS, Michigan Timesharing System.\r\n% First interactive demo of matrix computation.\r\n% Shown to Wallace Givens at Argonne.\r\n\r\n%% Argonne, 1970s\r\n% IBM mainframes.\r\n% TSO, IBM's Time Sharing Option.\r\n\r\n%%\r\n% Tetronix 4081.  First email sent to Jim Pool at DOE.\r\n% See Cleve's Corner blog,\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2014\/02\/17\/the-tektronix-4081\/\r\n% Tektronix 4081>.\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide7s.png>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% VAX, 1980s\r\n% University of New Mexico.\r\n% VMS vs. Unix.\r\n% Early MATLAB.\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide9s.png>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Intel IPSC, 1985\r\n% Commercialization of Caltech Cosmic Cube developed by\r\n% Chuck Seitz and Geoffery Fox.\r\n% One board essentially an IBM PC with 80286 CPU, an 80287 math\r\n% coprocessor, 256K memory.\r\n% Hypercube interconnect, d5, d6, d7 with 32, 64, 128 nodes.\r\n% Very basic message passing software.\r\n%\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/10\/28\/the-intel-hypercube-part-1\/>.\r\n%\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/11\/12\/the-intel-hypercube-part-2-reposted\/>.\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide10s.png>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Ardent TiTan, 1988\r\n% Vectorizing Fortran.\r\n% Dor\u00e9.\r\n% MATLAB 3.5 Bundled.\r\n%\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/11\/25\/the-ardent-titan-part-1\/>.\r\n%\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2013\/12\/09\/the-ardent-titan-part-2\/>.\r\n%\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2018\/12\/31\/vaxbarn-restores-vibrating-membrane-on-ardent-titan\/>\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide10sb.png>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Sun Workstations, 1980s\r\n%\r\n% <<Slide11s.png>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n##### SOURCE END ##### 0c515c003d6346c38b427f30d07640a7\r\n-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overview-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/Slide1.png\" class=\"img-responsive attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/div><!--introduction--><p>Nick Higham's Numerical Linear Algebra group at the University of Manchester is hosting a conference celebrating Jack Dongarra's 70th birthday July 7 and 8.  I am <a href=\"https:\/\/nla-group.org\/new-directions-in-numerical-linear-algebra-and-high-performance-computing-2020\/\">giving a talk<\/a>, virtually, on July 7. I plan to reminisce about how I did computing in the days before everybody had their own computer in their lap. Here are the slides for the talk, some notes, and some links to this blog for more details.... <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2021\/07\/07\/computers-that-i-have-known\/\">read more >><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":7190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7181"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7229,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7181\/revisions\/7229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}