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 purebred computer... but strange one. It uses twisted spring steel for memory, has no addresses, and it's machine code looks more like a spell than a program. It's existence is due, in no small part, to a man being very mean to GE engineers. Like Advent of Computing? Then check out the after show! Adjunct of Computing is now LIVE: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts

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. Forty-Four Esolangs is a "The first artist's monograph of programming languages". During this interview we keep circling around one very crucial question: what really is a programming language? Get the book and learn more about esolangs here: https://danieltemkin.com/Esolangs

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 story to that of UNIX. First developed for the PDP-15 in 1969, RSX becomes much more well known when it migrates to the PDP-11. It becomes a multitasking and multiuser system. A key difference is niche. While UNIX is a very general purpose system RSX is built for real time. That leads to something very unique.

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 specific memory requirements. So what happens when you try and get UNIX to run on a microcomputer? Hilarity ensues. Today we are looking at 3 small versions of UNIX: OMNIX, LSX, and CROMIX. And, I'll tell you, one of these is closer to vaporware than the others.

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 first compiler is implemented on the back of an envelope. It only has one data type, and only one format for every line of code. It's the bane of Chester, and center of an office drama! What's not to love? Selected sources: https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/960118.808393 - Griswold's history of SNOBOL https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/321203.321207 - THE SNOBOL1 Paper

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 scraps he "liberated" from his job at Bell Labs. In 1940 he demonstrated a machine he called a computer. That research forms one of the foundations of modern computing. It also forms a weird temporal phenomenon that I have yet to name. Maybe the Curse of '37? Selected Sources: Zeroth Generation by George Stibitz (NOW WITH A 2nd EDITION!) http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Datamation/196704.pdf - Stibitz in Datamation  

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