Ted Nelson: Computer Lib / Dream Machines

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0 * THU * * * ; Man has created the myth of "the computer" in his own image, or one of them: cold, immaculate, s te rile , "scientific." oppressive.

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Some people flee this image. O thers, drawn toward it, have joined the cold-sterile-oppressive cu lt, and propagate it like a faith. Many are still sbout this mischief, making people do things rigidly and saying it is the com puter's fault. Still others see computer* for what they really are: versatile gizmos which may be turned to any p u rp o se , in any style. And so a wealth of new stylea and human purposes are being proposed and trie d , each proponent propounding his own dream in his own very personal w ay.

A ll r i g h t s r e s e rv e d .

Additional c o p l > . . r .

S ? postpaid f r o . H u g o 's Book S e r v i c e , Box 2 6 2 2 , C h ica g o , I ll i n o i s 60690. P a ek aR e o f te n c o p i e s , $50 p o s t p a i d .

This book presents s panoply of things and dream s. Perhaps some will appeal to the r e a d e r ...

THE COMPUTER PRIESTHOOD Any nitwit can understand com puters, and many do. Unfortunately, due to ridiculous historical circum stances, computers have been made a mystery to most of the w o rld . And this situation does not seem to be Improving. You hear more and more about computers, but to most people it's just one big b l u r . The people who know sbout computers often seem unwilling to explain things or answ er y our q ues­ tions . Stereotyped notions develop about computers operating In fixed w ays-- and so confusion increases. The chasm between lsymen and computer people widens fast and danger­ ously . This book Is a m easure of desperation, so serious and abysms! Is the public sense of confusion and ignorance. Anything with buttons or lights can be palmed off on the layman as a computer. There are so many different things, and their differences are so important; yet to the lay public they are lumped together as "computer stuff." indistinct and beyond understanding or criticism . It’s as If people couldn't tell apart camera from exposure meter or tripod, or car from truck or tollbooth. This book is therefore devoted to the premise that EVERYBODY SHOULD UNDERSTAND COMPUTERS . It is intended to fill a crying need. Lots of everyday people have aeked me where they can learn about com puters, and 1 have had to say now here. Most of what is w ritten about computers for the layman is either unreadable or silly. (Some exceptions are listed nearby: you can go to them Instead of this if you w a nt.) B u t virtually nowhere is the big picture simply enough explained. Nowhere can one get a sim ple, soup-to-nut6 overview of what computers are really about, without technical or mathematical mumbojumbo, complicated examples, or talking down. This book is an attem pt. (And nowhere have I seen a simple book explaining to the layman the fabulous wonderlsnd of computer graphics which awaits us a l l . a matter which means a great deal to me personally . as well as a lot to all of us in g e n e ra l. That's discussed on the flip side.) Computers are simply a necessary and enjoyable part of life, like food and books. Computers are not everything, they are just an aspect of everything, and not to know this is computer Illiteracy, a silly and dangerous igno ra n ce. Computers are as easy to understand as cam eras. I have tried to make this book like a photography m agazine-b re e ry , forceful and as vivid ss possible. This book will explain how to tell apples from oranges and which way la u p . If you want to make c id e r, or help get things right aide u p , you will have to go on from h e r e . I am not a skillful programmer, hands-on person or eminent professional; I am just a computer fa n . computer fanatic if you will. But if D r. David Reuben can w rite about sex I can certainly w rite about computers. I have written this like a letter to a nephew , chatty and p e rso n al. This is perhaps less boring for the re s d e r. and certainly less boring for the w r ite r . who is doing this in a h u r r y . Like a photography m agazine, it throws at you some rudim ents In a m erry setting. Other things are thrown in so you'll get the sound of them , even if the details are e lu siv e. (We learn most everyday things by beginning with vague im pressions, but somehow encouraging these is not usually felt to be re specta ble.) What I have chosen for inclusion here has been a r b itr a r y . based on what might amuse and give quick Insight. Any bright highschool k id , or anyone else who can stumble through the details of s photography magazine, should be able to understand this book, o r get the main id ea s. This will not make you a program m er or a computer perso n , though it may help you talk that t a lk . and perhaps make you feel more comfortable (or at least able to cope) when new machines encroach on your life. If you can get a chance to learn programming-- see the suggestions on p . - - it's an awfully good experience for anybody above fourth g ra d e . But the main idea of this book is to help you tell apples from o ra n g es. and which wsy is up. I hope you do go on from h ere, and have made a few suggestions. 1 am "publiahing" this book myself. In this first draft form, to test its viability, to see how mad the computer people g e t. and to see If there is as much hunger to understand com puters, among all you Polks Out T h e re , as I th in k . I will be interested to receive corrections and suggestions for subsequent editio n s. if a n y . (The computer field is Its own exploding u n iv e rse , so I'll worry about up-to-dateness at that time.)

Hamburg

Knowledge is power and so it tends to be hoarded. Experts in any field rarely want people to understand what they do .and generally enjoy putting people down. Thus if we say that the use of computers Is dominated by a priesthood. people who spatter you with unlntelligable answ ers and seem unwilling to give you straight o nes. it is not that they are different in this respect from any o ther profession. Doctors, lawyers and construction engineers are the same w ay. But computers are very s p ec ial. and we have to deal with them everyw here, and this effectively gives the computer priesthood a stranglehold on the operation of all large o rganiza­ tions. of government bureaux, and anything else that they r u n . Members of Congress are now complaining about control of information by the computer people. that they cannot get the information even though it's on computers. Next to this it seems a small matter that in ordinary companies "untrained" personnel can't gel straight questions answered by computer people; but it's the same phenomenon. It is imperative for many reasons that the appalling gap between public and computer insider be closed. As the saying g o es . war is too important to be left to the gen e ra ls. G uardianship of the computer can no longer be left to a p rie sthood. 1 see this as just one example of the creeping evil of Professionalism .* the control of aspects of society by cliques of i n sid ers. There may be some chance, though, that Professionalism can be turned around. Doctors, for exam ple, are being told that they no longer own people's b o d ie s . "* And this book may suggest to some computer professionals that their position should not be as sacrosanct a s they have thought, cither. This in not to say that computer people are trying to louse everybody up on p u rp o s e . Like anyone trying to do a complex job as he sees f i t . they don't want to be bothered with idle questions and complaints. Indeed, probab­ ly any group of insiders would have hoarded computers just as m uch. If the computer had evolved from the telegraph (which it just might h a v e ). perh ap s the librarians would have hoarded it conceptually as much as the math and en­ gineering people have. But things have gone too far. People have legitimate complaints about the way computers a r e u s e d . and legitimate ideas for ways they should be u s e d , which should no longer be shunted aside. In no way do I mean to condemn computer people in general. (Only the ones who don't want you to know w hat's going o n .) The field is full of fine, imaginative people. Indeed, the number of creative and brilliant people known within the field for their cle v er and creative contri­ butions is considerable. They d ese rv e to be known as widely a s . s a y , good photographers or w r it e r s .

"Computers are catching h^ll from growing multitudes who see them uniformly as the tools of the regulation and suffocation of all things w a rm . moist, and human. The cha rg e s, of course, ' are not totally unfounded, but in their most sweeping form they are ineffective and therefore actually an acquiescence to the dehumanization which they d e c ry . We clearly need a much more discerning evaluation in o rd e r to clarify the ethics of various roles of machines in human affairs."

Ken Knowlton in "Collaborations with A rtists-a Programm er's Reflections" in Nake a Rosenfeld, e d s . , Graphic Languages (North-Holland Pub. C o .), p. 399.

* This is a side point. I see Professionalism aa a spreading disease of the present-day w orld, a sort of poly-oligarchy by which various groups (subway conductors, social w o rk ers, bric kla yers) can b rin g things to a halt if their particular new increased demands are not met. (Meanwhile, the Irrele­ vance of each profession in creas e s , in proportion to its increasing rig id ity .) Such lucky groups demand more In each go-ro u n d -- but meantime, the number who are permanently unemployed grows and grow s. ** Ellen F rankfort, Vaginal Politics, Q uadrangle B ooks. Boston Women'a Health Collective, Our Bodies, O u rse lv es.' Simon a S ch u ster.

T h isf s i d e o f t h e b o o k . C o m p u t e r L ib p r o p e r ( w h o s e t i t l e i s n e v e r t h e l e s s t h e s i m p l e r ! w a y lo r e f e r lo b o t h h a l v e s ) , i s a n a t t e m p t to e x p l a i n s i m p l y a n d c o n c i s e l y w h y c o m p u t e r s a r e m a r v e l o u s a n d w o n d e r f u l , a n d w h a t s o m e m a in th i n g s a r e i.i th e f ie ld . T h e s e c o n d h a l f o f th e b o o k . D r e a m M a c h i n e s , i s s p e c i a l l y a b o u t f a n t a s y a n d i m a g i n a t i o n , a n d n e w t e c h n i q u e s f o r i t . T h a r h a l f i s r e l a t e d lo t h i s h a l f , b u t c a n b e r e a d fir sL ; I w a n t e d lo s e p a r a t e th e m a s d i s t i n c t l y a s p o s s i b l e .

T h e r e m a r k s b e l o w a l l r e f e r to t h i s f i r s t h a l f , t h e C o m p u t e r L i b h a l f o f Lhe b o o k .

FANDOM W ith t h i s b o o k I am no l o n g e r c a l l i n g m y s e l f a c o m p u t e r p r o f e s s i o n a l . I 'm a c o m p u t e r f a n , a n d I'm o u t l o m a k e y o u o n e . (A ll c o m p u t e r p r o f e s s i o n a l s w e r e f a n s o n c e , b u t p e o p l e g e t c r a b b i e r a e t h e y g e t o ld e r , a n d m ore p r o fe s s io n a l - ) A g e n e r a ti o n of c o m p u te r fane a n d h o b b y is t s i s w ell on Its w a y , b u t fo r th e m ost p a rt th e s e a r e p e o p le w ho h a v e h a d s o m e s o r t of a n I n . T h i s i s m e a n t to b e a n I n f o r t h o s e who d id n 't g e t one e a rlie r. T h e c o m p u te r fa n is som e one w ho a p p r e c ia te s th e o p t i o n s , f u n , e x c i t e m e n t , a n d f i e n d i s h f a s c i n a t i o n of c o m p u t e r s . N o t o n l y le t h e c o m p u t e r fu n in i t s e l f , l i k e e l e c t r i c t r a i n s ; b u t I t a l s o e x t e n d s to y o u a w id e v a r i e t y o f p o s s i b l e p e r s o n a l u s e s . O n c a s e y ou d o n 't k now i t , th e p r i c e of c o m p u te r s a n d o f u s i n g th e m i s g o i n g d o w n a s f a s t a s e v e r y o t h e r p r i c e 1b g o i n g u p . S o i n t h e n e x t few d e c a d e s w e m a y b e r e d u c e d to e a t i n g s o y b e a n s a n d c a r r o t s , b u t w e ' l l c e r t a i n l y h a v e c o m p u te rs .) S o m e h o w th e I d e a i s a b r o a d t h a t c o m p u t e r a c t i v i t i e s a r e u n c r e a t i v e , a s c o m p a r e d . sa y , w ith r o ta t in g c la y a g a in s t y o u r f i n g e r s u n t i l It b e c o m e s a p o t . T h i s i s c a t e g o r i c a l l y f a l s e . C o m p u t e r s i n v o l v e im a g i n a t i o n a n d c r e a t i o n a t t h e h ig h e s t l e v e l . C o m p u ters a re an in v o lv e m e n t you can r e a lly g e t i n t o , r e g a r d l e s s of y o u r t r i p o r y o u r k a r m a . T h e y a re to y s , t h e y a re to o ls , th e y a r e g lo r io u s a b s t r a c t i o n s . So I t y o u l i k e m e n t a l c r e a t i o n , t o y t r a i n s , o r a b s t r a c t i o n s , c o m p u t e r s a r e f o r y o u . I f y o u a r e i n t e r e s t e d in d e m o c r a c y a n d its f u t u r e , y o u 'd b e tte r u n d e r s t a n d c o m p u te rs . A nd It y o u a r e c o n c e r n e d a b o u t p o w e r a n d t h e w a y i t i s b e i n g u s e d , a n d a r e n 't we a ll r i g h t n o w , th e sa m e th in g g o e s .

T h e r e i s a lre a d y a b a c k la s h a g a in s t c o m p u te r s , a n d th e s p i r i t o f t h is a n li- c o m p u t e r b a c k la s h i s c o r r e c t , b u t s h o u ld b e d ir e c te d a g a in s t v e r y s p e c ific k in d s or th in g s . T h e p u b l i c s h o u l d s t o p b e i n g m a d at " c o m p u t e r s " i n t h e a b s t r a c t , a n d s t a r t b e in g m ad a t th e p e o p le w h o m a k e in ­ c o n v e n ie n t s y s te m s . It i s n o t " th e c o m p u te r," w h ic h h a s n o I n t r i n s i c s t y l e o r c h a r a c t e r , w h ic h i s a t f a u lt ; il i s p e o p le w h o u s e " lh e c o m p u te r" a s a n e x c u s e to in c o n v e n i e n c e y o u , w h o a r e a t f a u l t . T h e m e c h a n i s m s of l e g i t i m a t e p u b l i c p r o t e s t - - . s i t - i n s a n d so o n - - s h o u ld p e r h a p s so o n b e tu r n e d to c o m p la in t o v e r b a d and in h u m a n c o m p u te r s y s te m s .

T h e q u e s t i o n i s , w ill t h e c r u m m i e r t r e n d s c o n t i n u e ? O r c a n th e p u b l i c l e a r n , i n t i m e , w h a t g o o d a n d b e a u ti f u l th in g s a r e p o s s i b l e , a n d t r a n s la t e th is re a liz a ti o n in to d n e ffec tiv e d e m a n d ? I do not b e lie v e th is i s a n o b s c u r e o r s p e c ia liz e d i s s u e . Its sh a d o w falls a c r o s s th e f u t u r e of m a n k in d , i f a n y , lik e a g ia n t se q u o ia . E ith e r c o m p u te r s y s te m s a r e g o in g lo g o o n in c o n v e n ie n c in g o u r l i v e s , o r t h e y a r e g o i n g t o b e t u r n e d a r o u n d to m a k e l i f e b e t t e r . T h is i s o n e o f lh e d ire c tio n s th a t c o n s u m e ris m s h o u ld t u r n . 1 h a v e a n a x e to g r in d : I w an t to s e e c o m p u te rs u s e fu l to i n d i v i d u a l s , a n d l h e s o o n e r t h e b e l t e r , w i t h o u t n e c e s s a r y c o m p lic atio n o r h u m a n s e r v i lity b e in g r e q u i r e d . A n y o n e w h o a g r e e s w ith th e s e p r i n c i p l e s is o n m y s i d e , a n d a n y o n e w ho does n o t, is n o t. T H I S B O O K IS F O R P E R S O N A L F R E E D O M . A N D A G A I N S T R E S T R I C T IO N A N D C O E R C IO N , T h a t 's r e a lly a l l i t 's a b o u t. M any p e o p le , fo r r e a s o n s of th e ir o w n , e n jo y a n d b e lie v e in r e s t ric tin g a n d c o e r c in g p e o p le; th e r e a d e r m ay d e cid e w h e th e r h e is fo r o r a g a in s t th is p r in c ip le . A c h a n l y o u c a n t a k e to t h e s t r e e t s : C O M P U T E R PO W ER T O T H E PE O P LE ! DOWN W ITH C Y B E R C R U D !

T H E F U T U R E , IF ANY T H E S O C IE T Y W h ic h b r i n g s u s to o u r n e x t t o p i c . T h e r e I s no q u e s t i o n of w h e t h e r t h e c o m p u t e r w i l l r e m a k e s o c i e t y ; it h a s . Y ou d e a l w i t h c o m p u t e r s p e r h a p s m an y tim es a d a y - - o r w o rs e , c o m p u te rs d e a l w ith y o u , t h o u g h y o u m a y n o t k n o w i t . C o m p u t e r s a r e g o i n g i n to e v e r y t h i n g , a re in te rtw in e d w ith e v e r y t h i n g , a n d it's g o in g to g e t m o r e a n d m o r e s o . T h e r e a d e r s h o u l d h a v e a s e n s e of th e d a n c e o f o p tio n s , th e r e m a r k a b ly d if f e r e n t w a y s th a t c o m p u te rs may b e u s e d : b y e x t e n s i o n , h e s h o u ld c om e to s e e t h e e x t r a o r d i n a r y r a n g e o f o p t i o n s w h i c h c o n f r o n t u s a s a s o c i e t y in o u r f u t u r e u s e o f t h e m . I n d e e d , c o m p u t e r s h a v e w ith a sw oop e x p a n d e d th e o p tio n s of e v e r y t h i n g -

B u t a v a rie ty o f in c o n v e n ie n t s y s te m s a lre a d y to u c h o n o u r l i v e s , n u i s a n c e s w e m u s t d e a l w i t h a ll t h e tim e ; a n d I f e a r t h a t w o r s e i s t o c o m e , I w o u l d l i k e lo a l e r t t h e r e a d e r , i n n o u n c e r t a i n t e r m s , t h a t t h e ti m e h a s c o m e t o b e o p e n l y a tte n tiv e a n d c r i t i c a l i n o b s e r v i n g a n d d e a li n g w ith c o m p u te r s y s t e m s ; a n d to t r a n s f o r m c r i t i c i s m i n t o a c t i o n . I f s y s t e m s a re b a d , a n n o y in g a n d d e m e a n in g , th e s e m a tte rs s h o u ld b e b r o u g h t to t h e a t t e n t i o n o f t h e p e r p e t r a t o r s . P o l i t e l y a t f i r s t . B u t j u s t a s th e a tm o s p h e ri c p o llu tio n fo s te re d b y GM h a s b e c o m e a m a t t e r f o r c i t i z e n c o n c e r n a n d a t t a c k t h r o u g h l e g i t i m a t e c h a n n e l s o f p r o t e s t , s o too s h o u l d t h e p r o c e d u r a l p o llu tio n o f in c o n s i d e r a t e c o m p u te r s y s te m s b ecom e a m a tte r fo r th e sa m e k i n d s o f c o n c e r n . T h e r e a d e r s h o u ld r e a l i z e h e can c ritic iz e and dem and;

S i m p l y a s a m a t t e r o f c i t i z e n s h i p , i t i s e s s e n t i a l lo u n d e rs t a n d th e im p a c t an d u s e s of c o m p u te rs i n th e w o rld o f th e f u t u r e , i f a n y : a n d to h a v e a s e n s e o f th e is s u e s a b o u t c o m p u te rs lh a l co n fro n t u s a s a p e o p le-- e sp e c ia lly p r iv a c y a n d d a t a b a n k s , b u t a l s o s t r a n g e ne w a d d i t i o n s lo o u r e conom ic s y s te m (" th e c h e c k le s s so c ie ty ") , o u r p o litica l s y ste m ( h a lf - b a k e d v o te -a t-h o m e p r o p o s a l s ) , a n d s o o n . I r e g r e t th a t t h e r e i s not room to c o v e r th e s e h e r e . V a rio u s c o m p an ies o r e s e e k in g w id e p u b lic s u p p o r t fo r th e s o r t s o f t h i n g s th e y a r e t r y i n g to b r i n g a b o u t . L e g is la tio n w ill b e p r o p o s e d o n w h ic h th e v ie w s o f th e p u b lic s h o u ld h a v e a b e a r i n g . II i s i m p o r t a n t t h a t t h e s e b e u n d e r s t o o d s e n s ib ly b y so m e p a r t of th e e le c to ra te b e fo re th e y a r e m ade to o p e r m a n e n t , r a t h e r l h a n m a d e m a i l e r s o f d u m b a s s e n t . F in a lly , an d moat so le m n ly , c o m p u te rs a r e h e lp in g u s u n d e r s t a n d l h e u n p r e c e d e n t e d d a n g e r of o u r f u t u r e ( s e e " T h e C lu b of R o m e p .^ fl) . T he h u m an r a c e m ay h a v e o n ly a s h o r l tim e le ft o n e a r t h , e v e n if t h e r e i s n o w a r . T h e s e s tu d ie s m ust b e se e n a n d u n d e rsto o d b y a s m any in te l l i g e n t m en of good w ill a s p o s s ib l e .

T H E P U B L IC D O E S N O T H A VE T O T A K E W H A T 'S B E IN G D IS H E D O U T .

TH ER EFO R E W e lc o m e t o t h e c o m p u t e r w o r l d , t h e d a m n d e s t a n d c r a z ie s t th i n g th a t h a s e v e r h a p p e n e d . But w e , th e c o m p u te r p e o p l e . a r e n o t c r a z y . I t i s y o u o t h e r s w h o a r e c r a z y to le t u s h a v e a l l th i6 f u n a n d p o w e r to o u r s e l v e s .

C O M P U T E R S B E L O N G TO ALL M A N KIN D .

B .A ., p h ilo s o p h y . S w a rth m o re; g ra d u a te s tu d y U. o f C hicago: M . A . , so c io lo g y , H a r v a r d . M o s t l y s e l f - t a u g h t in c o m p u t e r s , M e m b e r o f e d i t o r i a l b o a r d , C o m p u t e r D e c i s i o n s m a g a z i n e ; l i s t e d i n N e w Y o r k T i m e s ’ W h o 'a W h o i n C o m p u t e r s ; m e m b e r o f A s s o c i a t i o n f o r C o m p u t i n g M a c h i n e r y s i n c c 196 4 . R e s e a r c h a s s i s t a n t . C o m m u n ic atio n R e s e a r c h I n s t i t u t e , 196 2 -3 . I n s tr u c to r in s o c io lo g y , V a s s a r C o lle g e , 1964-6. S e n i o r s t a f f r e s e a r c h e r , H a r c o u r t , B r a c e » W o r ld P u b l i s h e r s , 1 9 6 6 - 7 . C o n s u l t a n t lo B e ll T e l e p h o n e L a b o r a t o r i e s , W h i p p a n y , N . J . , 1 9 6 7 - 8 . C o n s u l t a n t to C B S L a b o r a t o r i e s , S t a m f o r d , C t . , 1 9 6 0 - 9 . P r o p r i e t o r o f T h e N e l s o n O r g a n i z a t i o n , I n c . , N e w Y o r k C i t y , 1 9 6 9 - 7 2 . L e c t u r e r i n a r t , U . o f I l l i n o i s a t C h i c a g o C i r c l e , s p r i n g 1973. L e c t u r e r i n c o m p u t e r e d u c a t i o n , O f f ic e o f I n s t r u c t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s D e v e l o p m e n t , U . o f I l l i n o i s a t C h i c a g o C i r c l e , 1 9 7 3 - 4 . P hoto b y R oger F ie ld .

The obvious consequence Is simply for the computer people to be allowed to take over altogether. It may Indeed be that computer people -- the more well-informed and visionary ones, anyway— can see the farthest, and appreciate most deeply the better ways things can g o , and the steps that have to be taken to get th e r e . (And Boards of Managers can at least be partially assured that hanky-panky at the lower levels will be prevented, If men In charge know where the bodies are burled. ) That seems to be how It's going. Examples: The president of Dartmouth College, John Kemeny, is a respected computerman and a devel­ oper of one of the important computing languages, BASIC (see p . \(, ). The new president of the Russell Sage Foun­ dation, Hugh Cline, used to teach computing at Columbia. It's probably the same in Industry. In other words, more and m ore, for better and for w o rse, things are b eing ru n by people who know how to use com puters, and this trend is probsbly ir r e ­ versible. In some w ays, of course, this la s sinister portent. In private industry It's not so b ad, since the danger is more of embezzlement and botch-up than of public menace. But then th ere's the problem of the government. The men who manage the Information tools s re more and more In charge of government, loo. And If we can have a Watergate without computers, just w ait. (See "Burning Issue s," p . 5g)

*moe£ IT'S AT Computers are where It's at. Recently a bank employee was accused of embezzling a million and a hall dollars by clever computer programming. Hie programs shifted funds from hundreds of people's accounts to his own. but apparently kept things looking Innocent by clever programming trick s. According to the pape rs, the program kept up appearances by redeposltlng lhe stolen amount in each account just as interest payments were about to be calculated, then withdrawing It again just after. ("Chief Teller la Accused of Theft of S i. 5 Million at a Bank Here." New York Times, 23 March 73, p. 1.) The alleged embezzlement was discovered, not by bank audit, but by records found on the premises of a raided bookmaker. In a recent scandal that has rocked the insurance w orld, an Insurance company appears to have generated thousands of fictitious customers and accounts by computer, then bilked other inaurance companies-- those who re-insured the original fictitious policies-- by fictitious claims on the fictitious misfortunes of the fictitious policy-holders.

The way to defend ourselves sgalnst computer people la to become computer people ourse lv e s. Which of course Is the point. We must all become computer people, at least to the extent that we have already become Automobile People and Camera People— that is , Informed enough to tell when one goes by o r when someone points one at y o u . MANY MANSIONS The future is going to be full of com puters, for good o r ill. Many computer systems are being prepsred by a variety of lunatics, idealists and dream ers, as well as profit-hungry companies and unimaginative clods, all for the benefit of m snklnd. Which ones will work and which ones we will like is another matter. The grand and dreamy ones bid fair to reorganize drastically the lives of mankind. For Instance, Doug Engelbart at Stanford Research Institute has a beautiful system, called N I£, that will allow us to use computers aa a generalized postoffice and publication system. From your com­ puter terminal you just sign onto Engelbart's System, and you're at once In touch with lots of w ritings by other su b s c rib e rs . which you may call to your screen and w rite replies to. (These grander and dreamier applications are discussed on the other side of this book.)

In April of 1673, according to the Chicsgo radio, a burglary ring had a "computerized" list of a thousand prospective victim s.

But the plain computer visions are grand enough.

There have been Instances where dishonest university students, nevertheless sble programmers, were able to change their course grades. stored on a central university computer.

The great world of tim e-sharing, for Instance. ("Time-sharing" means thst the computer's time is shared by a variety of u sers simultaneously. See p . i ? . ) If you have an account on a time-sharing computer, you can sign on from your terminal (see p. I'f) over any telephone, no matter w here you are, and at once do anylhlng that particular computer allows— calling up programs in a variety of computer languages, dipping into data on a variety of subjects as easily as one now consults a chart.

It is not unheard of for ace programmers to create grand incomprehensible systems that run whole companies, systems they can personally play like a piano, and then blackmail their Arms. A friend of a friend of the author Is an ace programmer at the Pentagon ■ supposedly a private supervising colonels. On days he Is mad at his boss, he s a y s , the army cannot find out Ha strength within 300,000 men. Or three million if he so chooses.

This awkward state of affairs, obviously spanning both the American continent and most realms of endeavor, has come about for various reasons. First, the climate of uncomprehenalon leads men in management to treat computer matters as "mere technicalities"— a myth as sinister as the public notion that computers are "scientific"-* and abandon the kind of scrutiny they sensibly apply to any other company activities. Second ■ most of today's computer systems are Inherently leaky and Insecure— and likely lo stay that way awhile. Getting things to work on them Involves giving people extraordinary and Invisible powers. (Eventually this will change, but watch out for the meantime.)

For instance, at Dartmouth College-- where time-sharing is perhaps farthest advanced as a way of life— the user (any Dartmouth student, for instance) can just sit down at a terminal and write a simple program (In Dartmouth's BASIC language, for Instance) to analyze cenaus data. Since Dart­ mouth has a complete file on its tim e-shsrlng system of the detailed sample from the 1070 census, the program can buzz through that and report almost immediately the numbers of divorced Aleuts or boy millionaires in the sample, or (more signifi­ cantly) the relative Incomes of different ethnic groups when categorized according to the queationer's interests. But simple time-sharing la only the beginning. Networks of computers are now coming into being. Most significant of these is the ARPANET (financed by AAPA, the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, it is nonetheless nonmtlitary In c h a ra cter). Dozens of large tim e-shsring computers around the country are being tied into the Arpanet. and a user of any of these can reach d ir­ ectly into the olher computers of the n etw o rk using their program s, data or other facilities. Arpanet enthusiasts see this aa the wave of the future.

But while computers and th eir combinations grow bigger and b igger, they also grow smaller and sm aller. A complete computer the size of an OreoTwolde Is now available, guaranteed for twentyflve years (and very expensive). But its actual h eart, the Intel m icroprocessor. Is only sixty bucks now, and just wait (see M icroprocessors, p . */ ^ ) . By 19B0 there should be as many pro­ grammed and programmable objects In your house as you now have TVs, radios and typewriters; that's s conservative estimate. But just what these devices will all be doing— ah ■ th ere's the question that has many people talking to themselvea. OTHER COMING THINGS? There are a lot of tall stories about what computers will do for the world. Among lhe most threatening, I think, are glowing reporta of "scientific" politics (don't you believe i t ) . We hear how computers will bring "science” to govern­ m ent, helping, for example, to redraw the lines of election districts. (See C ybercrud, p . $ .) Then you may also have heard that computers are going to be our new mentors and companions, tutoring u s , chatting with us and perhaps lulling us to sleep— like Hal in 2001. Worried? Good. (See "The God-Builders," nip s id e .) (t. '^ )

6 )o tz ta h i m t n p i r A college student broke through the security of the Pacific Telephone computer system from a terminal an d , according to Computerworld (6 June 73), stole over s million dollars worth of equipment by ordering it delivered to him! (Penthouse, December 73, claims he was in hlghschool and it was only nine hundred thousand, but you gel the idea.) After serving a few weeks In j a il, he has formed his own computer-securlty consulting compsny. More power to him.

The new breed has got to be watched. This is the urgency of this book. Remember that the man who writes lhe payroll program can write himself some pretty amazing checks-- perhaps to be mailed out to Switzerland, next y ear. From here on it's computer politics, computer dirty tric k s , computer wonderlands, computer everything. For anyone concerned to be w here it's a t , then, this book will provide a few suggestions. Now is the Ume you either know or you don't. Enough power talk. Knowledge Is power. Here you go. Dig in.

G E T T I N G -W S S T N I fiH t The greatest hurdle for the beginner (or "layman") is making an effort to grasp particulars of that which he hears about. A. WHAT IS ITS NAME? Every system o r proposal o r project has a name of some so rt. Make an effort to learn i t , or y ou're stuck try in g to refer to "that computerish thing." (And don't be a snob about acronym s, those all-cap names snd terms sprung from the foreheads of other words, like ILLIAC and PLATO and CAI. T here's a need for them. Short w ords are too general to use for names, and long phra ses are too unw ieldy.) B. IN WHAT PARTICULAR WAY DOBS IT EMPLOY THE COMPUTER? For record-keeping? For looking stuff up quickly or fancily? For sesrchlng out combinations? For making up combi­ nations and testing their properties? For enacting complex phenomena? As automatic typewriters? To play m usic, or just to store the written notes? It is hoped thst you will become sensitive to these distinctions, and be able to understand and remember them after somebody explains them. Otherwise you're stuck just referring to "that computer business," and y ou're In with the rest of the sheep.

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T he ex p la n atio n s— not y e t fully d eb ugge d— are intended for an y b o d y . T he lis tin g s of e x p e n siv e p roducts and se rv ic e s a r e in tended not only as c o rro b o ra tiv e d e ta il, for a gen e ra l s e n s e of w h a t's av a ila b le , b u t also for b u s in e s s people who m ight find them h e lp fu l, for affluent individua ls and Qlubs who w ant to try th e ir h a n d , and finally as a b o x s c o re of how the p ric es a re coming do w n . Because we a re all going to b e able to afford these things p re tty soon.

People a s k me often w here th ey can lea rn about " s c ie n c e ." As In all fie ld s , m aga­ zines a re u su a lly th e b e s t s o u rc es of g e n e ra l orie n ta tio n . Science D igest Is k in d of h elpful for a s t a r t . alth o u g h unfortunately they p rin t sum m aries of e v e ry fool s tudy that g e n e ra liz es to the h e a rts of all hum anity from two dozen Iowa State fresh m en .

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Scientific Am erican is the fa v o rite. Some stuff Is h a r d to re a d b u t som e .isn 't; the p ic ­ t u re s and diagram s a r e t e r r i f i c . h s ,o ° Q ( w - i) Science t T echnology m agazine seem s to me one of th e b e tte r o n e s - - b re e z y , inform a­ tiv e , not triv ia l. Science m agazine is re a d by most actual s c ie n ­ ti s ts , and if you h av e a lively curiosity an d can g u e s s at the m e a n in g s’of w o rd s, w ill tell you an in c re d ib le am ount. (This is a main s o u rc e for th e science artic le s in the New York T im e s , w hich in t u r n . . . ) T h e ir a r tic le s on politics of scie n ce, and the fu tu re , a re v e ry in te re s tin g , im portant, an d d e p r e s s in g . You have to Join Am. A ssn . for th e A dvancem ent of S cience. W ashington, D .C .

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T h is diagram show s the amazing and un iq u e way p ric e s drop in the com puter field. The p ric e s shown a re for the f irs t m inicom puter, th e PDP-5 (a nd its hugely p o p u lar o ffsp rin g , the PDP-8); b u t the p rin c ip le h as held th roughout the field, a n d the dow nw ard tre n d w ill p ro b a b ly accelerate due to the new big Integrated c ir c u its .

Daniel S . G r e e n b e rg 's S cience and Governm ent R eport ( s o r r y — $35 a y e a r) is w hat re ally tells i t . G re e n b e rg is the man who k now s, both what is s h a p in g up in scie n ce and the in s a n e governm ental confusions and flo u n d e rin g re s p o n s e s and g ra n d s ta n d in g an d p o r k - b a r r e l i n i ti a ti v e s ... G re e n b e rg i s , in cid en ta lly , one of th e finest w r ite rs of o u r time and a gre at h u m o ris t. Science a n d G overnm ent Repor t , Kaloram a S tation (r e a lly ? ) , Box 21123, W ashington, D .C . 20009. T h is is th e w all that th e h a n d w ritin g is o n .

IT'S AT IH T*|IJ

34

Another exam ple: an IBM 7090, a v e ry decent m illion-dollar com puter in 1960, was put up for s ale at a m odish P ark e -B ern e t "used com puter auction" in 1970. If I rem em ber a r ig h t, they could not get a $1000 b i d , becau se tod ay 's m achines a re so much sm a lle r, fa s te r and m ore depe n d ab le.

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INTRO " W here I t ’s At" So u rces of Inf o r ma t i o n CY B ERCRUD Tills MYTH OF T H E C O M PUTER T he Power and the Glory T HE DEEP DARK SECR ET (Computer B a sics Reduced to One Easy Page) T H E NEW ER A INTERACTIVE S Y STEMS TERMINALS C O M PU T E R LANGUAGES: Prelude 1. BASIC 2. T R A C ® Language 3. APL DAT A S T RU CTURES Binary Patterns C O M PU T E R LANGUAGES: Postscript ROC K BOTTOM: Inner Languages of Computers; Comput e r A r c h i te c t u re BUCKY'S WRISTWATCII, a sample m a ch i n e - l a n g u a g e p r o gram T h e A s s embler Y o u r Basic C om p u t e r Structure: T H E M I NI C O M P U T E R B IG COMPUTERS G R EAT COMPUTERS: Sketches of Some S pe c i fi c Machines List of Mini M a kers M IC R O P R O C E S S O R S (The New T h i r d Kind of Computer) A DV A N C E D P R O GRAMS O P E R AT I N G S Y S TEMS TIM E- S H A RI N G C O M PU T E R PE OPLE Pr ogram N eg o t i a t i o n S u gg estions for W r iters Fun and Games H ow C om puter S t uf f is Bought and Sold H ow C o m pu t e r C o m p a ni e s are Financed, So me t i m es IBM Digital E q u i p m e n t C o r po r a t io n Peripherals for Yo u r Mini S IM U LATION O P E R A TI O N S R ES EARCH GREAT ISSUES MILIT A RY USES OF CO MP U T E RS T h e ABM S y s t e m DNA DAMN THA T COMPUTER! S TUFF YO U M AY RUN INTO T H E CLUB OF ROME

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E v e ry w h ere in th e w o rld people c a n p re ten d that y o u r ig n o ra n c e , o r p o s itio n , o r c r e d e n tia ls , or p o v e r ty , o r g e n e ra l u n w o rth in e ss , are th e re asons you a r e b e in g p u s h e d a ro u n d o r m ade to feel sm all. And b e c au se you c a n 't t e l l , you have to ta k e it. A nd of c o u rs e w e can do th e same th in g with co m p u ters . Y e s, we ca n do it in s p a d e s . (See " C y b e r c r u d ," p . 8 . ) B ut m any of u s do not want t o . T h e re h a s to b e a b e tte r w a y . T h e re h a s to be a b e tte r w o rld .

C o m p u t e r . ( F o r m e r l y IEEE C o m p u t e r G r o u p N e w s .) $ 1 2 /y r . T h o u g h tf u l, c le a rly w ritte n a rti c le s on h ig h - le v e l to p ic s . Q u ite a b it o n A rtif ic ia l I n te l lig e n c e ( s e e f l i p s i d e ) . IE EE C o m p u t e r S o c i e t y , 16400 V en tU T a B l v d . , E n c i n o CA 9 1 3 1 6 .

H e re a r e som e o th e r m a g a z in e s th a t m ay in te r e s t y o u . No p a r ti c u la r o r d e r . PC C . T h e r e a r e s e v e r a l m a jo r p la c e s y o u g e t in f o r ­ m a tio n i n t h e c o m p u t e r f ie l d : f r i e n d s , m a g a z i n e s , b in g o c a r d s , c o n fe re n ce s an d c o n fe re n c e p r o c e e d in g s .

FRIENDS. F r ie n d s w e c a n 't h e lp w ith . B ut y o u m ig h t m ake som e a t c o n fe re n c e s . O r jo in a c o m p u te r c lu b ?

MAGAZINES. T h e p r i n c i p a l m a g a z in e s a r e ( f i r s t few lis te d r o u g h ly b y degT ee o f g e n eral in te r e s t ): D a t a m a t i o n ■ $1 5 a y e a r o r f r e e . T h e m a i n c o m p u te r m a g a z in e , a b re e z y . c le v e r m o n t h l y . L o ts o f a d s . i n t e r e s t i n g a r t i ­ c l e s t h e la y m a n c a n r e a d w i t h n o t m u c h e f f o r t . T w i t s IBM . S u b s c r i p t i o n s a r e $15 i f y o u ' r e n o t a c o m p u te r p e r s o n , f re e if y o u a r e . D a t a m a t i o n . 35 M a s o n S t . , G r e e n w i c h C T 06 8 3 0 . C o m p u t e r D e c i s i o n s . S o m e $7 a y e a r o r f r e e . Som e n ic e lig h t a r t i c l e s . a s w e l l a s h e lp fu l r e v ie w a r ti c le s on d if f e r e n t s u b j e c t s . A v o id s t e c h n i c a l i t i e s . C o m p u t e r D e c i s i o n s . 50 E s s e x S t . . R o s e l l e P a r k N J 0 76 6 2 . C o m p u te r s a n d A u to m a tio n . A v o id s t e c h n i­ c a litie s b u t q u ite a b it o f s o c ia l -i n te r e s t s tu f f . N obody g e ts it f re e ; s o m e th in g l i k e $ 7 .5 0 a y e a r . B e r k e le y E n t e r ­ p r i s e s , I n c . , 0 1 5 W a s h in g t o n S t . , N e w t o n v i l l e , M a s s . 02 1 6 0 . C o m p u te r w o rld (a c tu a lly a w e e k ly ta b lo id p a p e r ) . Not fre e: $9 a y e a r . M o re u p -to -th e -m in u te th a n m ost p e o p le h a v e lim e to b e . C o m p u t e r w o r l d , C i r c . D e p t . , 797 W a s h in g t o n S t . , N e w t o n , M a s s . 0 21 6 0 . C o m p u tin g S u r v e y s . E x c e lle n t, c le a rl y w ritte n in tro d u c to ry a rtic le s o n a v a rie ty of s u b je c ts . A ny s e rio u s b e g i n n e r sh o u ld d e fin ite ly s u b s c r i b e to C o m p u t i n g S u r v e y s . ( S e e A C M . b e lo w .)

*

C o m m u n ic a tio n s of th e A C M . H ig h - c la s s M i r * *a 1' jo u r n a l a b o u t th e o re tic a l m a tte rs a n d e v e n t s o n t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l s i d e o f th e H eld . (S ee ACM, b e lo w .) C o m p u te r D e s i g n . $ 1 0 / y r . o r f re e . C o n c e n ­ tr a t e s on p a r ts f o r c o m p u te rs , b u t a lso te lls te ch n ica l d e ta ils o f new c o m p u te rs a n d p e r i p h e r a l s . C o m p u te r D e s i g n . C irc u la tio n D e p t .. P .O . Box A , W in c h e s te r. M a ss. 01890. D a ta P r o c e s s i n g m a g a z i n e . O r i e n t e d to c o n v en tio n al b u s in e s s a p p lic a tio n s o f c o m p u te r s . $10. N o rth A m e ric a n P u b l i s h i n g C o . , 134 N . 13 th S t . , P h i l a d e l p h i a , P a . 191 07 .

D e lig h tfu l e d u c a tio n a l/c o u n te r c u l tu r e ta b lo id e m p h a s iz in g c o m p u te r g a m es a n d f u n . O r i e n t e d to B A S IC l a n g u a g e . $ 4 / y r . f r o m P e o p l e 's C o m p u t e r C o m ­ p a n y , P . O . B o x 3 1 0 , M e n lo P a r k , CA 94 0 2 5 .

C o m p u tin g R e v ie w s . P r in t s r e v i e w s , b y i n d i v i d u a l s in t h e f i e l d , o f m o s t o f t h e s e ri o u s c o m p u te r a r t i c l e s . U sefu l, b u t s u b j e c t to i n d i v i d u a l b i a s e s a n d g a p s . (S ee ACM, b e lo w .) T h e N ew E d u c a t i o n a l T e c h n o l o g y . $ 5 / y r . P re s u m a b ly c o n c e n tra te s o n a c tiv itie s o f its p u b lis h e r : G e n e ra l T u r t l e , I n c . , 545 T e c h n o l o g y S q u a r e , C a m b r i d g e . MA 02139: w o n d e r f u l c o m p u t e r t o y s f o r sc h o o ls a n d th e w e l l- h e e l e d . T h e H o n e y w e ll C o m p u te r J o u r n a l . S o m e th in g l i k e $1 0 a y e a r . H o n e y w e ll I n f o r m a tio n S y s te m s , I n c ., P h o e n ix . A riz o n a . S h o w c a se m a g a z in e o t m is c e lla n e o u s c o n te n t; r e a d a b le , n ic e ly e d i t e d . H as u n u s u a l p r a c tic e o f i n c lu d in g m ic ro fic h e ( m ic r o f ilm c a r d ) o f e n t i r e i s s u e i n a p o c k et. IBM S y s t e m s J o u r n a l . S h o w c a s e t e c h n i c a l jo u r n a l of m is c e lla n e o u s c o n te n t , e s p e c i a l l y a r c a n a a b o u t IBM p r o d u c t s . $ 5 / y r . IB M . A r m o n k , NY 1 0 5 0 4 . IBM J o u r n a l o f R e s e a r c h a n d D e v e l o p m e n t . S h o w case te ch n ica l jo u r n a l o f m is ce l­ l a n e o u s c o n t e n t . $ 7 . 5 0 / y e a r . IB M , A r m o n k . NY 10S04 .

J o u r n a l o f t h e A C M . A h i g h l y t e c h n i c a l , m a lh ( " j A C - K 'A o r ie n le d jo u r n a l . H eavy o n g r a p h th e o ry V / a n d p a tte rn r e c o g n itio n . (S ee ACM, b e lo w .) D ig i t a l D e s i g n . $ 15 o r f r e e . A b o u t c o m p u t e r p a r t s a n d d e s i g n s . D ig ita l D e s i g n . C i r c . D e p t . , 167 C o r e y R o a d , B r o o k l i n e , M a s s . 02 1 4 6 . I n f o s y s t e m s . A s p i r i n g m a g . $20 o r f r e e . H it c h c o c k P u b l i c s t o n s , P . O . B o x 30 07 , W h e a to n , 111. 6 0 1 87 . T h i n k . T h i s i s t h e IBM h o u s e o r g a n . P r e s u m a b l y f r e e to IBM c u s t o m e r s o r p r o s p e c t s . IB M . A r m o n k , NY 105 04 . T h e r e a r e a lso e x p e n s iv e (sn o b ?) m a g a z in e s , b ou gh t b y e x e c u tiv e s. C o m p u te r A g e , $ 9 5 /y r . EDP N ew s S e r v ic e s I n c . , 514 1 0th S t . N . W . , W a s h in g t o n D C 20 0 0 4 . C o m p u te r D ig e s t. $ 3 6 /y r . In fo rm a tio n G r o u p , 1309 C h e r r y S t . , P h i l a d e l p h i a PA 191 07 . D a ta P r o c e s s i n g D i g e s t . $ 5 1 / y r . 6 82 0 l a T i j e r a B l v d . . L o s A n g e l e s C A 90 0 4 5 .

H e y n o w , h e r e ' s a m a g a z i n e c a l l e d C o m p u t o p i a . O n l y $ 15 a y e a r . U n f o r t u n a t e l y i n J a p a n e s e . C o m p u t e r A g e C o . L t d . , K a s u m i g a s e k l B l d g . , B o x 12 2 , C h i y o d a - K u , T o k y o , J a p a n .

T h e b e s t r e v ie w o f w h a t 's h a p p e n i n g l a te ly , b y n o n e o t h e r t h a n M r . W h o le E a r t h C a t a l o g h im s e l f : S t e w a r t B r a n d , " S p a c e w a r : F a n a t i c L ife a n d S y m b o l i c D e a th a m o n g th e C o m p u te r B u m s ." R o llin g S t o n e . 2 D ecem b er 72, 5 0 -5 6 . He v is i te d th e m ost h o ts h o t p la c e s a n d r e p o r t s e s p e c ia l ly o n th e f u n - a n d - g a m e s s id e o f t h i n g s . G ilb e rt B u rc k a n d th e E d ito rs o f F o r t u n e , T h e C o m p u te r A g e . H a r p e r a n d R o w . I g n o re t h e r i d i c u l o u s f u ll t i t l e . T h e C o m p u t e r A g e a n d I ts P o t e n t i a l f o r M a n a g e m e n t ; t h i s b o o k h a s n o t h i n g to d o w i t h m a n a g e m e n t , b u l i s a n i c e g e n e r a l o r i e n t a t i o n to t h e f i e l d . T h o m as H . C ro w le y , U n d e r s ta n d in g C o m p u te r s . M c G ra w -H ill. T h is is th e m o st r e a d a b le a n d s tr a ig h tf o rw a rd in tr o d u c tio n to th e te c h n i­ c a litie s a ro u n d . J e re m y B e r n s te i n , T h e A n a ly tic a l E n g in e . Random H o u s e , 19 6 4 . H i s t o r y o f c o m p u t e r s , w e l l t o l d , a n d th e w ay th in g s lo o k e d in 1964, w h ic h w a s n 't re a lly v e ry d if f e r e n t. D o n ald E . K n u th . T h e A rt of P r o g r a m m in g , ( 7 v o l s . ) A m o n u m e n ta l s e r i e s , e x c e lle n tly w r i tte n a nd w i d e l y p r a i s e d , f o r a n y o n e w h o w a n t s to d i g in a n d b e a s e rio u s p r o g ra m m e r. T h r e e of (h e s e v e n v o lu m e s a r e o u t s o f a r . a t a b o u t t w e n t y b u c k s a p i e c e . V o l . 1: F u n d a m e n t a l A l g o r i t h m s . V o l . 2: S e m i n u m e r i c a l A l g o r i t h m s . V o l . 3: S o r t i n g a n d S e a r c h i n g . A d d is o n -W e s le y .

BUMMERS T h is is p e r h a p s a m in o r ity v ie w , b u t I th in k a n y i n t r o d u c t i o n to c o m p u t e r s w h i c h m a k e 6 th e m se e m in tr in s i c a lly m a th e m a tic a l i s m is le a d in g . H is to r ic a lly th e y b e g a n a s m a th e m a tic a l, b u t now t h i s i s s i m p l y t h e w r o n g w a y to t h i n k a b o u t t h e m . S a m e g o e s f o r e m p h a s i z i n g b u s i n e s s u s e s a s if th a t w ere a ll. We w i l l n o t n a m e h e r e a n y o f t h e v a r i o u s d is a g r e e a b le p a m p h le ts a n d b o o k s w h ic h s tr e s s t h e s e a s p e c ts a n d d o n 't m a k e t h i n g s v e r y c l e a r .

K > A B O U T FR E E S U B S C R I P T I O N S . M a n y o f t h e m a g a z i n e s a r e f r e e to " q u a l i f i e d ” r e a d e r s , u s u a l l y ( h o s e w i l l i n g to s l a t e o n a s i g n e d f o r m t h a t th e y i n f lu e n c e th e p u r c h a s e o f c o m p u t e r s . c o m p u te r s e r ­ v i c e s , p u n c h c a r d s , o r th e lik e . (T h e y a s k o th e r q u e s tio n s o n th e fo r m , b u t w h e t h e r y o u in f lu e n c e p u r c h a s e is u s u a lly w h a t d e c id e s w h e t h e r th e y s e n d y o u t h e m a g a z i n e . ) It i s a l s o h e l p f u l to h a v e a g o o d - s o u n d in g tid e o r c o m p an y a ffiliatio n . B INGO C A R D S . T h e s e a r e little p o s tc a r d s y o u fin d in a ll th e m a g a z i n e s e x c e p t t h e ACM a n d c o m p a n y o n e s . F i ll in y o u r n am e a n d an a ttr a c tiv e title ("S y ste m s C o n su lta n t" o r " c o n s u lta n t" is g o o d - - a fte r a ll, so m e d a y som e o n e may a s k y o u r a d v ic e ) a n d c irc le t h e n u m b e r s c o r r e s p o n d i n g to t h e a d s t h a t e n t i c e y o u . Y o u 'l l b e f lo o d e d w i t h i n t e r e s t i n g , e x p e n s i v e l y p r i n t e d , c o lo rfu l, e d u c a tio n a l m a te ria l on d iffe re n t p e o p le 's c o m p u te rs a n d a c c e s s o r i e s . A n d n o te th a t s e n d e r s d o n 't lo s e : a n y c o m p a n y w a n t s i t s p r o d u c t s know n. H o w e v e r, a p o sto ffice b o x is g o o d , a s it h e lp s to a v o i d c a l l s a t h o m e f r o m s a l e s m e n , w a s t i n g t h e i r tim e a s m u c h a s y o u r s . If y o u a r e in a r u r a l - t y p e a re a w h e re yo u c a n a s s u m e a co m p an y n am e w ith no le g a l d if f ic u l tie s , so m u c h th e b e t t e r .

W O s f c C fc ^ fO ^ S ' T h a t t h e f ie l d h a s n o t b e e n p o p u l a r i z e d b y i t s b e tte r w r i t e r s m ay s im p ly c o m e fro m a n h o n e s t d o u b i th a t o r d in a r y p e o p le c a n u n d e rs t a n d c o m p u te rs .

A n u m b e r o f i n e x p e n s i v e g a d g e t s p u r p o r t to le ac h y o u c o m p u te r p r in c i p le s . M any p e o p le h a v e b e e n d i s a p p o i n t e d , o r w o r s e , m a d e lo f e e l s t u p i d , w h e n th e y l e a r n n o t h i n g f ro m t h e s e . A c t u a l l y t h e b e s t t h e s e t h i n g s r e a l l y c a n d o i s g i v e y o u a n id e a o f w h a t c a n b e d o n e w ith c o m b i n a t i o n s o f s w i t c h e s . F r o m t h a t to l e a r n i n g w h a t c o m p u te r p e o p le re a lly th in k a b o u t i s a lo n g , lo n g w ay.

I d is p u t e th a t. T h r o u g h m a g a z in e s , m illio n s o f A m e ric an s h a v e le a r n e d a b o u t p h o to g r a p h y . T h ro u g h th e p o p u la r s c ie n c e - a n d -m e c h a n ic s ty p e m a g a z in e s , a n d m o re r e c e n tly th e e le c tro n ic s m a g a z in e s , v a rio u s o th e r te ch n ica l s u b je c ts h a v e b e co m e w id e ly u n d e rs t o o d . So fa r nobo dy has o p en ed u p c o m p u te rs. T h is i s a f i r s t a t t e m p t . If t h i s b o o k w o n 't d o i t a n o t h e r o n e w ill. A n d yo u b e tte r b e lie v e th at P o p u la r C o m p u ters m a g a z in e is n o t v e r y f a r a w a y . Soon a f u lly - lo a d e d m i n i c o m p u t e r w ill c o s t l e s s t h a n t h e b e s t h i - f i s e t s . I n a c o u p l e o f y e a r s . t h o u s a n d s o f i n d i v i d u a l s w ill o w n c o m p u t e r s , a n d m il l i o n s m o r e w i l l w a n t t o . L o o k o u t, h e re we g o .

W o o p s , h e r e it i s . P o p u l a r C o m p u t i n g , $15 a y e a r ( $ 1 2 i f p r e p a i d ) , B o x 2 7 2 , C a J a b a s a s , C A 91 30 2

ACM, the Association fo r Com puting M achinery. T h is is the main com puter professional society; the title only h as m eaning h is to r­ ically , as m any m em bers a r e conc erned not w ith m achinery its elf, but w ith softw are, la n g u a g e s , th eo rie s an d so o n . If you have any p lan s to s tick with th e s u b je c t, m em bership in the Association for Com puting M achinery is highly recom ­ m ende d. ACM ca lls its e lf "The Society of th e Com puting Com m unity." T h u s it p ro p e rly em braces both professionals and fa ns. Dues fo r official stu d e n ts a r e $0 a y e a r, $35 for o th e r s , w hich includes a s u b s crip tio n to Communications of the ACM, th e official m ag. T h e ir a d d re s s for m em berships and m agazines is ACM, P .O . Box 12105, C h u rch S t. S tation, New Y ork, NY 10249. (T he actual ACM HQ is at 1133 A ve. of the A m ericas, New Y ork. N .Y . 10036.) They h av e stacked th e deck so that if you want to s u b s c r ib e to any ACM m aga­ zines y o u 'd b e tte r join anyw ay. H ere are th e y e a r pric es: Member Non-Member Communications of the ACM free $35 Com puting S u rv ey s $7 $25 Com puting R eview s $12.50 $35 J o u rn a l of the ACM $7 $30 T he one dra w bac k lo join in g th e ACM is a ll the doggoned m ailing lists it gets you o n . It's u n c le a r w h e th e r th e r e 's an y th in g you can do to p re v e n t th is , b u t th e re oughta b e. SIGs and S IC s. For ACM m em bers with sp ec ial in te re s ts (and we all have th e m ), th e ACM contains s u b d iv isio n s -- c lu b s within th e c lu b , of people who keep in touch to s h a r e th e ir in te re s ts . T he se a r e called SICs (S pecial In te rest Committees) and SIGs (S pecial In te rest G ro u p s). T h e re a r e such c lu b s -- SICs and SIGs— in num erous a r e a s , in clu d in g P rogram m ing L anguages, Com puter Usage in Education, e tc . E ncouraging these s u b in te re s ts lo stay within ACM save s a lot of tro u b le for eve ry b o d y and keeps ACM the c e n tral society. AFIPS. AFIPS is th e UN of com puting. They spon so re d th e Joints , and now s p o n s o r the NCC. J u s t as in d iv id u a ls c a n 't join th e UN, they ca n 't join AFIPS, w hich sta n d s for Am erican F ederation of Inform ation P roces­ s in g S o c ieties. D epending on y o u r special in te r e s ts , tho u g h , you can join a member s o c ie ty . T he constituent societies of AFIPS a r e , a s of J u n e 1973: (If any tu rn you o n , w rite AFIPS for ad d re s s e s : AFIPS, 210 Summit A ve. M ontvale NJ 07645.) ft* ACM: the Association for Com puting M ac h in ery . IEEE, th e Institute of E lectrical and Electronics E n g in e e rs . T h is is the pro fessio n al society of e le ctro n ics g uys. Sim ulation C ouncils. T his is the professional society for th o se in te re s te d in Simulation (se e p . 5 3 ). Association for Com putational L in g u is tic s . (Where lan g u a g e and com puter ty p e s g a t h e r .) Am erican Association of A e ronautics and A s tro n a u tic s . Am erican S tatistical A sso ciation. Instrum e nt Society of A m erica. Society for Inform ation D isplay. (See flip s id e .) Am erican In stitu te of C ertified P ublic A ccountants. A m erican Society fo r Inform ation S cien c e. (This gro u p is m ainly for electronified lib ra ria n s a n d inform ation re trie v a l ty p e s -- see flip s i d e . ) Society for In d u s tria l and Applied M athematics. S pecial L ib ra ries A ssociation. Association for Educational Data S ystem s. IFIP. T his is the intern a tio n a l com puter society. Like AFIPS, its m em bers a re s o c ie tie s , so jo in in g ACM makes you an IFIP p artic ip a n t. IFIP holds conferences a ro u n d the w o rld . F un. E xpense.

CONFERENCES.

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS.

C onferences in any field a r e e x c itin g , at lea st till you re ac h a ce rta in d eg ree of boredom w ith the fie ld . Com puter conferences have th e ir own heady a tm osphere, com pounded of a se n s e of elitism , of b e in g in the w itc h e s ' c a u ld ro n , and th e s u re sen se of t h e im pact ev e ry th in g you see will have as it all g row s and g ro w s. Plus you get to look at g adge ts.

As you may k n o w , conferences la rg ely con­ sis t of s e p a ra te " s e s s io n s " in w hich d iffe re n t people talk on specific to p ic s , u su ally re a d in g out loud from th e ir notes a n d s h o w in g slid es .

Usually to go for one day d o esn 't cost m u c h , and at th e b ig g e r ones you get lots of free l ite ra tu r e , have salesm en explain th e ir th in g s to y o u , see m ovies, h ea r fascinaling (som etim es) sp e a k e rs . THE JOINTS! The p rin c ip a l com puter confer­ e n c es have alw ays bee n the S p rin g Joint C om puter C on feren c e, h eld in an E a ste rn city in M ay, and the Fall Joint C om puter C onference, held in a W estern city in November (the infamous S p rin g J o in t and Fall J o i n t , o r SJCC and F J C C ). In 1973, because of poor b u s in e s s the p re v io u s y e a r , the two w ere collapsed into one National Com puter Conference (NCC) in J u n e (U niversal Joint?) The J o in ts have alw ays bee n sponsored by AFIPS (see belo w ). The National Com puter C onference w ill henceforth b e a n n u a l, at least for a w hile. T he cost of atten d in g is h ig h -w hile it's ju s t a couple of d o llars lo look at the e x h ib its , this r is e s to p e r h a p s fifteen d o llars to go to th e d a y 's technical sess io n s o r fifty for the week (not counting lodging and e a t s ) - - but i t 's v e r y m uch w orth it. The lower age limit for attendees is som ething like tw elv e , unfortunately for those with in te re s te d ch ild re n . O ther im portant conferences: the annual ACM conference in the sum m er; BEMA (B usiness Equipm ent M frs. A s s n .) in the fall and s p r in g (no th e o ry , but lots of g ad g e ts); a n d o th er conferencs on special s u b je c ts . held all the time all o v e r . Lists of c onferences and th e ir w hereabouts a re in most of the m agazines; Communications of the ACM an d Com puter Design have the b ig g est lis ts .

C onference p ro c e e d in g s a r e b ooks w hich re s u lt from c o n fe re n c e s . S upposedly th ey contain w hat ea ch guy s a id ; in p ra c tic e p eople say one thing a n d p u b lis h a n o th e r, m ore formal than the actual p re s e n ta tio n . T h is leads to a c u rio u s phenom enon at the main com puter co n fere n ce s (S JC C ,F JC C , ACM and now NCC) . When yo u re g is te r they g iv e you a book (you’r e actually p a y in g p e rh a p s $15 fo r i t ) , contain­ in g all the p a p e rs th a t a r e about lo b e g iv e n , nicely tric k e d out by th e ir a u th o r s . If you r u s h to a co rn er a n d look at the book it may change y o u r notion of w hich s e s s io n s to go to. Anyway , th e r e s u ltin g v olum es of conference p ro c e e d in g s a r e a tr e a s u r e trove of i n te re s tin g p a p e rs on an immense v a r ie ty of com puterish an d n o t-so co m p u terish s u b je c ts . G reat for b ro w sin g . E x pe nsive b u t w o n d e rfu l. (H orrible w hen y o u 're m o v in g , th o u g h , as th ey are b ig and h e a v y .) JOINT PROCEEDINGS. P ro ce ed in g s for the S p rin g J o in t and Fall J o in t, from the fifties to 1972. a re ava ila b le from AFIPS P re s s , a s a r e p ro c ee d in g s of th e 1973 NCC. (AFIPS P r e s s , 210 Summit A venue, M ontvale NJ 07645.) T hey cost $20-26 each afte r the conference is o v er; les s in m icrofilm . (At th e Jo in t C onferences, AFIPS P re s s often g iv es d is c o u n ts , at th e ir b o o th , on back Jo in t p r o c e e d in g s .) t > > l f you w ant to sp e n d money to lea rn about the fie ld . P ro ce ed in g s of the Jo in t C onferences a r e a fine b u y . Back ACM P ro c e e d in g s . From the ACM. O ther P ro ce ed in g s ■ Often sold a t co u n te rs at c o n fe re n c e s . Or availa b le from v a rio u s p u b lis h e r s . Join the ACM and y o u ’ll find out soon enough.

TRY TO GET TO THE NATIONAL JOIN T. J u s t as e v e ry Muslim should go to Mecca, e v e ry com puter fan sh o u ld go to a National Jo in t (National C om puter C o nferenc e, o r N C C ). T h e n ex t two a r e (check the m agazines): May 1974, C hicago May 1975,—Son P ranoitao-.

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NO QUALIFICATIONS ARE NEEDED. T hink of it a s a circu s for s m art a le c k s , o r , if you p r e f e r , a Deep Educational E xpe rien ce .

V oH ur H ^ r p u f* I f y o u T im e C P M P u r e n c e u n j e i ? T h e re is a lot of talk about "b est" w ays of tea ch in g about co m p u te rs , b u t in most p laces the actual a ltern ativ es open to those who w ant to le a rn a r e fairly dism al. U n iv e rs itie s . U niv ersities an d colleges ten d to teach com puting with a m athem atical em phasis at th e s t a r t . Indeed, most seem to r e q u ire that to get into the intro d u cto ry com puter c o u r s e , you m ust have had h ig h er math (at least c a l c u l u s , som etim es m atrix alg e b ra as w e l l ) . T h is is p re p o s te ro u s , like re q u irin g an en g in e e rin g d e g r e e to d riv e a c a r. (G radeschool k id s can le a rn lo p rogram w ith no p re re q u is ite s .) t£ » lt seem s lo b e to cu t down enrollm ent, s in c e t h e y 'r e not s e t up to deal w ith a ll those people who w ant to le a rn aboul com puters. (And why n ot?) Also i t 's a status th in g ; as if th is re s tric lio n somehow should keep enrollm ent to s tu d e n ts with "logical m in d s," w h a le v er th o se a r e , o r "m athem atical sop h istic atio n ," as if that w e re re le v a n t. "C om puter s c h o o ls ," community and com m ercial c o lleg e s, on th e o th er h a n d , te n d to p re p a re slu d e n ts only for th e most hum drum b u s in e s s a p p lica tio n s- - k e y p u n c h in g (w hich is ra p id ly becom ing o b s o le te ), and program m ing in th e COBOL lan g u a g e on IBM b u s in e s s sy stem s. T h is gets you no clo s e r to the m ore exciting a p p lica tio n s of c om puters than you w e re o rig in a lly . Some expe rim ental tre n d s a r e more e n c o u ra g in g . Some c o lle g e s , for in s ta n c e , offer "com puter app rec ia tio n c o u r s e s ," w ith a w id e r in tro d u ctio n to w h a t's available and m ore v a r ie d p rogram m ing in ten d ed lo s e r v e as an introduction to th is w id er h o riz o n . H ighschool c o u rses seem to b e cutting thro u g h th e ju n k an d offerin g s tu d e n ts a c ce ss to m inicom puters w ith qu ick ie lan g u a g e s , usually BASIC. Both Digital E quipm ent C o rp . and H ew lett-P ackard seem to b e m aking inro a d s h e r e .

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Kiddie s e t u p s , rum ored to ex is t in Boston and S an F ra n c isc o , a r e g ea re d lo lettin g g ra d e-sc h o o l c h ild re n se e and play with co m p u ters. Also one com pany (G eneral T u r t l e , see p . '5 7 ) is s e llin g com puter toys Inte n d ed to e n c o u ra g e ac tu al pro g ram m in g b y c h ild re n .

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A n u m b e r o f p e o p l e h a v e g o tte n m ad a t m e fo r c o i n i n g t h e te rm " c y b e r c r u d , " w h ic h 1 d e fin e a s " p u t t i n g t h i n g s o v e r o n p e o p le u s i n g c o m p u t e r s . ” B u t a s lo n g a s it g o e s o n w e ' l l n e e d th e w o r d . At e v e r y c o r n e r o f o u r s o c i e t y , p e o p le a r e i s s u i n g p r o n o u n c e m e n t s a n d m a k i n g o th e r p e o p le d o t h i n g s a n d s a y i n g i t ’s b e c a u s e o f t h e c o m p u t e r . T h e f u n c tio n o f c y b e r c r u d i s th u s lo c o n f u s e . i n ti m i­ d a te o r p r e s s u r e . We h a v e all got to ge t w i s e to t h i s i f i t i s g o in g to b e c u r t a i l e d . C y b e r c r u d l a k e s n u m e r o u s f o rm s . A ll o f t h e m , h o w e v e r , s h a r e th e p a d n a o f " s c i e n c e " t h a t c o m p u te rs h a v e f o r th e la y m a n . l a ) COMPUTER A S MAGIC WORD T h e m ost d e l i c a t e , a n d s e e m i n g ly i n n o c e n t , t e c h n i q u e I s t h e p r a c d c e o r n a m in g t h i n g s SO a s s p u r i o u s l y to s u g g e s t t h a t t h e y i n v o lv e c o m p u te r s . T h u s t h e r e Is a m a n u f a c t u r e r o f p o t - p i p e s w ith "D a ta " I n Its n a m e . e n d a p p a r e n t l y a p o r n o g r a p h y h o u se w ith a " C y b e r - " . l b ) COMPUTER AS MAGIC INGREDIENT T h e a b o v e s e a m s s i l l y , b u t It i s n o l e s s s il ly th a n t a l k i n g a b o u t " c o m p u t e r p r e d i c t i o n s " a n d " c o m p u t e r s t u d i e s " o f t h i n g s . T h e m e r e f a c t th a t a c o m p u te r i s I n v o l v e d i n s o m e th in g h a s n o b e a r i n g o n its c h a r a c t e r o r v a l i d i t y . T h e w ay t h i n g s a re d o n e w ith c o m p u te r s a ff e c ts t h e i r c h a r a c t e r a n d v a l i d i t y . Ju a t l i k e t h e w a y t h i n g s a r e d o n e w ith o u t c o m p u t e r s . ( I n d e e d , m e r e ly u s i n g a c o m p u te r o f te n h a s no b e a r i n g o n th e w a y t h i n g s a r e d o n e . ) T h i s sa m e t e c h n i q u e i s e a s il y m a g n if ie d to s u g g e s t , n o t m e r e ly t h a t s o m e th in g in v o lv e s c o m p u t e r s , b u t is w h o lly d o n e b y c o m p u t e r s . T h e w o rd " c o m p u t e r iz e ” p e r f o r m s this fata l f u n c ti o n . When u s e d sp e c if ic a l ly , a s i n c o m p u te r iz e th e b illin g o p e ra tio n , it can be fa irly c le a r: b u t m ake it v a g u e , a s i n c o m p u t e r i z e l h e o f f i c e , a n d it c a n mean a n y t h i n g , " F u ll y c o m p u t e r i z e " i s w o r s e . T h u s w e h e a r a b o u t a " fu l ly c o m p u t e r i z e d " p r i n t s h o p , w h i c h t u r n s o u t to b e o n e w h o s e c o m p u t e r s d o t h e t y p e ­ se ttin g : b u t th e y c o u ld a lso r u n th e p r e 6 6 e s . p a y th e b ill s a n d w o rk t h e c o ff e e m a c h i n e - F o r p r a c ­ tic al p u r p o s e s , t h e r e i s no s u c h t h i n g a s " f u l ly " c o m p u te r iz e d - T h e r e i s a l w a y s o n e m o re t h i n g c o m p u te r s c o u ld do.

M ore a g g r e s s i v e l y , c y b e r c r u d Is a t e c h n i q u e f o r m a k in g p e o p l e d o w h a t y o u w a n t . " T h e c o m ­ p u te r r e q u i r e s i t , " y ou say , and s o p e o p le c a n be m a d e to h a n d o v e r p e r s o n a l I n fo r m a tio n , s e c r e t a r i e s c a n b e in ti m i d a t e d in to s c o u r i n g t h e f i l e s , p a y m e n t s c h ed u le s can b e artificia lly e n fo r c e d .

"If it c a n 't b e d o n e In COBOL, I j u s t te ll p e o p le It c a n 't b e d o n e b y c o m p u t e r . It s a v e s a lo t o f t r o u b l e - " A ttr ib u te d to s o m e b o d y in R o c h e s t e r ( S e e CO BO L , p ^ | . )

TH E G ENERAL ST A T U S TRICK S t a t u e t r i c k s , c o m b in in g t h e p u t d o w n a n d t h e s e l f - b o o s t , d a t e b a c k to tim es I m m e m o r ia l. B u t t o d a y th e y ta k e new f o r m s . T h e b i g g e s t t r i c k is to e l e v a t e y o u r s e l f a n d d e m e a n lh e l i s t e n e r a t t h e s a m e t i m e , o r , m o r e g e n e r a l l y , th e t e c h n i q u e is m a k in g p e o p le feel s t u p i d w h ile a c t i n g l i k e a b i g c h e e s e . T h u s s o m e o n e o n e m ig h t s a y , " P e o p le m u st b e g in to ge l u s e d to t h e o b j e c ­ tiv e sc ien tific w a y s of d o in g th in g s t h a t c o m p u t e r s now m a k e n e c e s s a r y . ” But t h e t r a n s l a t i o n s e e m s lo be : " P e o p le m u s t g e t u s e d to t h e I n f l e x i b l e , b a d ly thought o u t, I n co n v e n ien t a n d u n k in d sy ste m s that 1 a nd o th e r s e lf -r ig h te o u s in d iv id u a ls a n d com ­ p a n ie s a r e in flic tin g on th e w o rld ." YOU DO N ’T ALWAYS G OTTA T h e unin fo rm ed a re b u lld o z e d . a nd e v e n t h e i n f o r m e d a r e p r e s s u r e d , b y th e f o o lis h m y th s of t h e c l e v e r , im p l a c a b l e a n d s c i e n t i f i c c o m p u t e r t o w h ic h t h e y m u s t a d a p t. P e o p le a r e told t h e y h a v e to " r e l a t e to th e c o m p u t e r . " B ut a c t u a l l y t h e y a r e b e i n g m a d e to r e la te lo s y s t e m s h u m a n s h a v e d e s i g n e d a r o u n d I t, in m uc h th e s a m e w a y a s w o r d d a n c e Is d e s i g n e d a r o u n d t h e s w o r d .

In th e movie " F a i l - S a f e , " t h e y s h o w e d y o u l o t s o f f a k e ta p e d r i v e s w i l h l h e r e e l s c o n s t a n t l y t u r n i n g in o n e d i r e c t i o n . T h i s t h e y c a l l e d a " c o m p u t e r . " C a l l i n g a n y s i n i s t e r b o x "a c o m p u te r " i s a w i d e s p r e a d t r i c k . G iv e s p e o p le t h e w illleB , K e e p s 'e m i n l in e .

When e s t a b l i s h m e n t c o m p u te r p e o p le s a y th a t th e c o m p u t e r r e q u i r e s y o u to b e s y s t e m a t i c , t h e y g e n e r a l l y m e an y o u h a v e to l e a r n t h e i r s y s t e m . But a n y o n e w h o t e l l s y o u a m e th o d " h a s to b e c h a n g e d f o r th e c o m p u t e r ” is u s u a l l y f i b b i n g H e p r e f e r s to c h s n g e th e m e th o d f o r th e c o m p u t e r , T h e r e a s o n s m a y b e b a d o r g o o d . O fte n th e c o m p u te r s a l e s m a n o r I n d o c t r i n a l o r w ill p r e s e n t as "scien tific " te c h n iq u e s w h ic h w e r e d o p e d out o r w h o m p e d u p b y a c o u p le of g u y s i n t h e b a c k room . H e r e i s an e x a m p l e , a s told to m e . A f r i e n d o f m in e w o r k e d in a d r e s s f a c to r y w h e r e ih e y h a d a p e r f e c t l y g o o d s y s te m for b i l l i n g a n d b o o k k e e p i n g . C u a to m e r s w e r e lis te d by nam e a n d k e p t i n a l p h a ­ b e tic a l o r d e r . T h e fast p a c e of th e g a r m e n t i n d u s ­ t r y m e a n t t h a t c o m p a n i e s often c h a n g e d n a m e s , a n d SO v a r i o u s c o m p a n i e s h a d a n u m b e r of d i f f e r e n t n a m e s in th e f i l e . T h i s b o t h e r e d n o b o d y b e c a u s e th e p e o p le u n d e r s t o o d th e s y s te m .

iv p „ ,lto r!

T h e n m a n a g e m e n t b o u g h t a s m a ll c o m p u t e r , n e v e r m in d w h a t b r a n d , a n d h i r e d a c o u p le o f g u y s lo come in a n d p u t th e b o o k k e ep in g sy ste m o n it. S t i l l o k a y . I n d e e d , sm a ll p r o g r a m m i n g f ir m s c a n so m e tim e s d o t h i s s o r t o f t h i n g v e r y w e l l , b e c a u s e t h e y c a n w o r k f le x i b ly w i l h t h e p e o p le a n d d o n 't n e c e s s a r i l y fee l c om m itted lo m a k in g it w o rk a c e r ta in w ay.

W e ll. t h i s w a s a n i c e i n s t a n c e w h e r e t h e e x i s t i n g s y s t e m c o u ld h a v e b e e n e x a c t l y t r a n s ­ f e r r e d lo t h e c o m p u t e r . T h e fac t t h a t s o m e c u s t o m ­ e r s had s e v e r a l na m es w ould c e r t a i n l y h a v e b e e n n o p r o b le m : a p r o g r a m c o u ld h a v e b e e n w r i t t e n l h a t a llo w e d u s e r s lo t y p e a n y a c c e p t a b l e c u s t o m e r n a m e , c a u s i n g lh e c o m p u t e r to look u p t h e c o r r e c t account (an d if d e s ir e d , p r in t its u su a l n am e a n d a sk for v e rific a tio n ).

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Input typ la ta (als o called keypunch operators) are clerka who copy I n to n a t io n Into lha computer (on te n t n a l a )

But a change i s c o a i n g . No one coa* pany o r f a c t i o n i s b r in g in g i t a b o u t, a l ­ th o u g h s o a e a a y f e e l I t i s n o t i n t h e i r in te re s t. I w ou ld l i k e to c a l l i t h e re t h e DIAPHANOUS ag e o f th e c o a p u t e r .

bvnnci m v m .

(punch cards, aegnetlc d is k , e tc . ) nOTt: thaaa Job* way end in a few yeerm whan nothing ele e haa to be coplad anywor becauee usera put things In t h ^ e l v e e .

S p ad ai. not w o rd * . ih M ld be uaed for •Iw e llln g . But v o rd a ahould help ua unearth

In lhe com puter H eld, the earn* thing* a n often called by d ifferen t o aaee (for Inatanee. the IBM 1B00, a (airly o rdinary m lnlcanpuler, la called by them lhe *1BM 1B00 Data A cquisition and Control System ”) , d ifferin ' thing* a re often called by the aame nam es, and things can be Inalde-out and upalde-dow n versions of each other In ex trao rd in ary v a rie ty . (Indeed, compu* le r people mey find Ihla book Inslde-out. which la okay with me. Life Is e Klein b o ttle.) Sorting th in g s o u t. th en , means having a few basic concepts c lea r In your m ind, and knowing when you see eiam plea and variations of there.

Coaputer p r o g c sm re Co^mter repairwan, or " f i e ld engin eer*," f l a c o a p u tt n and chair accesaorlee whan soaathlng goaa wrong e le c tr ic a lly or In the gears.

f™ w h *"*h* Pl*n" than chlngc ehcs t i l l thay work.

Th«r alwaya wear t i e c lip s , ao aa not to get pulled Into r o ta tin g »achln«ry.

A NAIVE USER (no elfanaa) Is an ordin ary parson who doamn’t naad to know any of th .a a ehlnga In ordar to do aoMthlng uaaful wlch th* r —

T h t r t ' t no t uo h t h i n g . Bu t t a y i n g su e h t hi ng * i n t i m i d a c t t many, t t p t e i a l l y t h o t t who h av t b u n t o l d t h t y do n o t havt, " l o g i e a l m i n d t . "

But t h t o t h t r modi o f th im k in p , t h t i n t u i t i u t , ha s i c e p l a c t i n th e a o m p u t t r f i t l d t o o . V h i a h t v t r y o u r h a b i t u a l t t y l t o f mi nd , oewpute; o f f t r yo u f o o d - - a n d u t t n t i l t - - f o r t h o u g h t .

HORRIBLE MISUNDERSTANDING!}

WHAT YOU’VB SEEN PROBABLY WASN'T -A COMPUTER.." 0*1 out of y our head th e notion thal eotne one *yalem you've seen showed you what Computer* A n Really L ike. Computer a y eim e can be as different e ite m a lly a s bat* and whalea (Yet It'* lha aame kind of h a artb aa l, b u t Uial'e no halp In daaling with them .) Then what la It com puiar people know . you may a sk , that leada them lo understand new ay stem* quickly? A ha. Computer people eliiipty adjuat faster to w hole new w orlda.

Sana people think of o o a p id an aa thing* ihow m yatarl^ualy d lg w t and aaabnllale ed g e. *Ju a t lead ll (o lha o x n p u ta r, * 1j Ihem o o o . But w hal you faad into th a computer fuat ails th e n u nlcaa th a ra 'i a p r a g r a a . "How would you do that by a m p u ta r? * I* a q u aetlai p v p la o ftu i a ak. Th* quactkm should b* . *how would you do that ai all?* If lh a ra la a method fo r doing aoaw lhlng which can be broken down Into sim ple a tap * , a id n q v l M no human Judgment, than mayba we c a t take thoaa n e p a ■ t d program th a n on * m p u t e r . But mayba we can also Ihlnk of * d m p U r way to gat th a n d o n a. Than Uwra i* Lha Ida* th al a eo D p n lif la — Bathing you aak q u a rta n * . This aaaum as, I g u w , th e e arlla r prvm laa, thal th e computer ha* altaady dlgaeU d and aaaimllatad * lot of stuff and c o t elin g it b ack al you In

Actually w hat n u * l hap p an, to get ’quasU ais* an sw e rad , la thla: tb e ra must be program thal pu ta Input m aterial into a data a tru c tu n . (Baa "Data B tru c tu rw .') Than you need program * th a l w ill m uni and trw * . o r w h alaw r, th ro u g h th e data stru c tu re In way* T ^ d M ir a . T h a i you na*d a way to M art tlwaa trad n g -a n d -a aa rc h ln g program a going through th e dMa atru ctu ro In w ay* you w ant. So you n * d a program accap d ag Input b o n a keyboard, * , h l t *Tg ' atartln g th* o th er p i^ w n n mo*

I n t h e f i r s t p l a c e , COMPUTERS RILL DISAPPEAR CONCEPTUALLY, w i l l b eco ae " t r a n s p a r e n t " , i n t h e s e n s e o f b v in g p a r t s o f u n d e r s t a n d a b l e w h o le s . More­ o v e r, th e " p a r t s " o f a c o m p u te r s y s t e a w i l l hav e CLEAR CONCEPTUAL HEANING. In o t h e r w o r d s , COMPUTER SYSTEMS WILL BE UNDERSTANDABLE. I n s t e a d o f t h i n g s b e in g c o m p l i c a t e d , th e y w i l l b e co a e Now, many p e o p le t h i n k c o a p u t e r s a r e by t h e i r n a t u r e in c o m p r e h e n s ib le and c o a p l l c a t e d - u n f o r t u n a t e l y , t h a t ' s b e c a u s e th e y h a v e be en MADE TO BE. U s u a l ly t h i s i s u n i n t e n t i o n a l , b u t I f e a r n o t a lw a y s . EXAMPLE. I n s t e a d o f b e in g t o l d , " t h i s i s t h e m y s t e r i o u s XYZ c o n p u t ­ e r , i t h as to have t h i n g s J u s t s o , y ou h a v e t o f i l l o u t th e s e DMQ f o r a s t o go i n t o t h e V 3 4 . . . " { you w i l l h e a r s u c h s u r p r i s i n g l y s i n p l e t h i n g s a s " T h is s y s t e a i s s e t up f o r k e e p in g t r a c k o f who owes w h a t to t h e c o a p a n y . On th e s c r e e n you c a n g e t l i s t s o f a c c o u n ts and o u t s t a n d i n g b i l l s and who owes t h e a ; i f you p o i n t a t one w ith th e l i g h t p e n , t h e p r i n t i n g a a c h i n e o v e r h e r e w i l l p r i n t a b i l l a l l s e t t o go in t h e e n v e l o p e .'

Creating programs to halp h U la lha from oF ccacuttna.

Computt r p t o p l t o f t t n t a y t h a t to u n d e r s t a n d o o m p u t t r t you h a o t t o h a v t a ’ l o g i c a l m i n d . “

W ist i s s e a n e , a c t u a l l y , i s i n d t t d i m p o r t a n t : i n w o rk in g u ie h a o m p u t t r t yo u m u t t o f t t n uo rk o u t t h t t x a o t r a m i f i e a t i o n t o f t p t e i f i e oombin a tio n i o f th i n g t , w ith o u t tk i p p i n g s te p s .

By " d ia p h a n o u s " I r e f e r b o th to the tr a n s p a r e n t , u n d e rs ta n d a b le c h a r a c t e r of th e s y s t e a s t o c o a e , and t o t h e l i k e l i ­ hood t h a t e o n p u t e r s w i l l b e sh ow ing us e v e r y th in g ( d l a - . a c ro s s e v e ry th in g , p h a l n e i n . to sh o w ).

THE AUTOMOBILE ANALOGY ( a o r e )

In o t h e r w o rd s , s y s t e a s w i l l i n c r e a s i n g l y h a v e UNDERSTANDABLE PARTS WITH UNDERSTANDABLE INTERCONNECTIONS.-

"The I n t e r s t a t e w*s b u a p e r > to - b u a p e r , b u t a f t e r we h ad lu n c h a t th e r e s t s t o p i t c l e a r e d up t i l l we g o t to th e t o l l b o o t n . Then H a r r y g o t l o s t on t h e I n t e r c h a n g e , a n J we had t o d o u b le b a c k on th e s e r v i c e How in c o m p r e h e n s ib le to so a eo n e f r e a 19 05 . Y et how s i a p l e - a l n d e d when you u n ­ de rstan d i t . T h a t ' s how ± t i s w ith com­ p u te rs . C o n p u t e r t a l k so u n d s s o s t r a n g e and i n c o a p r e h e n s i b l e to y ou f o l k s o u t th e re * * y e t t o us i n h e r e I t ' s o f t e n as s im p le a s t h e l i n e s above** i_f y ou knew t h e fund** m e n ta l c o n c e p t s . And n o t h i n g in th e n o r a a l e v e ry d a y w o rld w i l l h a v e p r e p a r e d you f o r t h e a . I t ’ s n o t ja rg o n , b u t th e s i a p l e s t way t o e x p r e s s th o u g h ts in t h e s e a r e a s .

USINd A COMPUTER SHOULD ALWAYS BE EASIER THAN NOT USING A COMPUTER. U It la n 'l. you (o r y our s m p a n y , o r your stale) may have been aold a bill of good*. OR ihay may have decided yo u r Inconvenience I* l« * t Im portant than acn ath ln g alee. In any c a se , you have a rig h t to aak •h a rp queation*.

THE DAWED LIE " C o o p u te rs a r e r i g i d and Inh um an ." A BETTER APPROXIMATION

WHAT IS THIS SYSTEM ABOUT? Handy queationa to *ls* up whai a c o o p u tar la aupptmad to be doing. Whai daia doe* It eon la in '

Fo r on e t h i n g , s m a l l e r a n d s m a l l e r com­ p a n i e s a r e b u y in g c o a p u t e r s e r v i c e s , and t h e y w o n 't s t a n d f o r r i d i c u l o u s c o m p l i c a t i o n s . F o r a n o t h e r t h i n g , a number o f p e o p l e i n t h e c o a p u t e r f i e l d h a v e g o t t e n s i c k o f s y ste m s t h a t Bake t h i n g s h a r d f o r p e o p l e . F in a lly , t h e p r i c e o f c o m p u te r s , e s p e c i a l l y m ic r o ­ p r o c e s s o r s ( s e e p . f ' j ) a r e c o n in g down s o f a s t t h a t th e y c a n b e t a i l o r e d t o f i t p e o p l e , r a th e r th a n v ic e v e r s a . B u t m ost o f a l l , i t ' s ) u s t vt i a e , t h a t ' s a l l .

Vji.

BIBLIOGRAPHY W hen I* th* data stored? What o ther data w ill II link up to? Whai Information do you auppoae can raaaoiubly be derived from thal? Whai a n the key Input and output device*?

P e o p le a r e so m e tim es ( a l l {o o o f t e n ) r i g i d and Inhum an. (M ac h in e s and • n l a a l s a r e nonhu a a n - - t h e t a r a " i n ­ human" a p p l i e s o n ly t o p e o p l e . )

In whai fora* doe* information go In and oul?

" R i g i d a n d in h u a a n " c o m p u te r sy ste m s a r e t h e c r e a t i o n o f r i g i d a nd In h u a a n pe o p le .

Whai do you auppoae Ihay m ight want to know?

C .L . F r e i t a s , "M aking t h e B e s t Buy f o r th e S m a ll B u s i n e s s . " C o a p u te r D e c i s i o n * . March 7 3 , 2 2 - 2 6 . Compares t h e r e l a t i v e c o s t s o f m in ic o m p u te r s a n d tim e * s h * T ln g ; c o n c lu d e s t h a t m in i* a r e t h a b a s t b u y . B u r to n L. K a t i , "M akin g M in ic o m p u te r s Work i n a M t d l u m - s l t e d B u s i n e s s . " D ata P r o c e s s i n g . W i n te r 19 7 1 , 9 - 1 1 . S tre s s e s th e p o in t t h a t w e ll-d e s ­ i g n e d c o m p u te r s y s t e a s c a n be u s e d by e x i s t i n g p e r s o n n e l o f * f i n , w i th o u t e x ce ssiv e c o m p lic atio n . F r e d e r i c G. u i t h i n g t o n , " C o sm e tic Pro gram m ing ." D a t a m a tio n . Mar 7 0 , 9 1 - 9 S . How to a ak* s y s t e a s f r i e n d l y on t h e o u t s i d e .

THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPUTER TERMS FOR THE '7 0 s H ere a r e some p h r a s e s t h a t w i l l c o u n t i n t h e new e r a o f c o m p u tin g , when we w i l l r u n i n t o a o r e and more c o m p u te r s y s te m s s e t up f o r p a rti c u la r purposes.

X m E ltf c C fiV C S Y S 1 E M 5

c o n n c c t e d t o a f u n c t i o n i n g c om pute i ( N o t e t h a t t h e c o m p u te r may be i n 1 ty p e w rit e r o r desk i t s e l f . )

Used to b a t h a t o r d i n a r y p e o p le had to d e a l w i t h c o m p u te rs by f i l l i n g o u t i n t r i c a t e f o rm s, w h ic h w ere t h e n t r a n s l a t e d i n t o pu nch c a r d s . T h e f o rm s p u t t h i n g s i n w e i r d c a t e ­ g o r i e s ( s e e "Cod ed-Down D a t a , " p .T v .'- V .)

M o tto 1 f o r t h e new o r a :

No l o n g e r .

USING A COMPUTER SHOULD ALWAYS BE EASIER THAN NOT USING A COMPUTER.

I I

Anyway, n o l o n g e r n e c e s s a r y .

™

C o a p u t e r s y s te m s c a n now j i v e y o u a c t i o n , e x c ite m e n t- - and e x p la n a tio n s .

M ott o 2 f o r t h e new e r a : THE NEW FRONTIER IN COMPUTERS IS CONCEPTUAL SIMPLICITY AND CLARITY.-------------------------------

T ttfV N A L S

T h i s i s d o n e t h r o u g h t h e m a gic o f th e TERMINAL. T e r m i n a l s c o n e i n tw o c o n s p ic u o u s f l a v o r s ( t y p e w r i t e r and s c r e e n o r "bo o b tu b e " ) and a l s o h a v e tw o l e s s - n o t i c e a b l e d i v i s i o n s ( " T e l e t y p e " o r " i n d u s t r y " v e r s u s "IBM t y p e . " )

P e o p le who d e l i g h t i n i n t r i c a c y a r e g o in g to h a v e t o l e a r n some new t r i c k s . I n t e r n a l i n ­ t r i c a c y i s f i n e , a s long a s th e u s e r d o e s n ' t have to d e a l w ith i t .

Anyway, a t e r m i n a l i s s o m e th in g t h a t a llo w s a p e r s o n a n d a c o a p u t e r to ty p e a t eac h o th e r.

M ott o 3 f o r t h e new e r a ( t o c om pute r p e o p le ):

Now, c o m p u te rs a r e a e r e l y g a d g e ts f o r t w i d d l i n g i n f o r n a t i o n . They no more u n d e r ­ s t a n d E n g l i s h , o r human p s y c h o l o g y , th a n p u p p ie s c an r e a d a u s i c . (S e e " A r t i f i c i a l I n ­ te llig e n c e ,” p .l t - I D But t h e c o m p u t e r ' s p r o g ­ ram c a n , f o r i n s t a n c e , d i r e c t t h e c o m p u te r to t y p e o u t a s im p le q u e s t i o n , and com pare th e u s e r ' s a n s w e r w i t h a s im p le s e t o f a l t e r n a t i v e s . Fo r e x a n p l e , s u p p o s e th e u s e r i s v i s i t i n g a h o s ­ p ita l. A c o m p u te r c an s i g n h im in w i t h o u t th e a b r a s i v e n e s s o f a r e c e i v i n g n u r s e , and w i t h f a r a o r e p a t i e n c e . The f o l l o w i n g m ig h t be a sa m ple d ia lo g u e . (H e r e t h e c o m p u te r t y p e s w h a t 's in c a y s , a n d t h e use rt> r e p l i e s a r e in lo w e r - c a s e - )

MAKING THINGS KASY IS HARD. M ott o 4 f o r t h e new e r a ; ANY SYSTEM FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE SHOULD HE TEACHABLE IX TEN MINUTES OR LESS. t e r m in a l o r k e y s c o p e ( s e e p . DM 104 >. I t a l i e n s th e c o m p u te r

Anyone who h a s b e e n t a u g h t t h e u s e o f some f i x e d - p u r p o s e c o m p u te r s y s t e n , su c h as an a i r l i n e r e s e r v a t i o n s y s t e n , may d o u b t t h i s . B ut p e rh a p s t h i s bo ok w i l l c l a r i f y t h i n g s som ew hat.

T) t h i n g s up f o r pr< ra c tiv e ___ ____ __ . . . i c c t e d , b u t r e s p o n d i n g to you. I n t e r a c t i v e s y s te m s a n d p r o g ra m * c a n r e s p o n d t o y o u r c h o i c e s an K K tan d ard In te rfa c e .

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TW O < .K J v O F You would think t h e fu ndam enta l dichotomy among compu ter terminal* w as betw een th ose that p r in t o n p»p«r and thoae lh a t ahow you muff on . s c r e e n . Bul It l a n 't. (T h at's lik e th e difference between people and w halea -- much g r e a le r outside lhan In eld e.) Actually the fu ndam enta l d is tinction between term inals la between ASCII (pro nounced "Aakey") and IBM te rm in als. ASCII is a code and scheme o f organization which was a d opte d by "the Indus­ try un d er th e b le aslng of th e National Bureau o f Standard s. But IBM ha s poin te dly Ignored ihlB s ta n d a r d . T h e prin ci pal te rm in al o f th e ASCII ty p e . In sh e er n um bers , Is Ihe model 33-ASR Teletype (trademark of Tel etype C o r p . ) . so th is k in d of terminal Is called th e "33 ASR ty p e ," o r "Teletypet y p e . ” o r We ev en sa y a g iv e n te rm inal "looks to the computer like a T e l e ty p e ."

All are ASCII-type unle ss oth e rw is e noted. Nole: th e re a r e hundreds of ty pes and b r an d s of te rm inals a vail able . T h ese a r e Just some th oughts.

T h ere Is on e main ty p e , how ev er, exem­ plified by the IBM model 2741 te rm in al. T hus we say a terminal Is an "IBM-type" o r "2741-type" term in al.

MISCELLANEOUS BEST BUY? The model 38 ASR Teletype giv es you uppe r and lower case, and la oth erw is e sim ilar to the standard model 33. $70 a month from RCA Servic e Company . Data Communications Dlv, (offices in major c itie s ) ; SlS/m o. f o r th e couple r. 30- day cancellable but cosls $50 to p u t In , $24 to ta k e out. T h ere i s a c u te le rm lnal thal be have s Just I lka (he 33 ASR, bul Is faster and u s e s NCR p r e ssu r e pa per o r a r ib b o n , Interc hange ably. T h e Emlel S e rie s A te le prin ter from Exte l C o r p . , 310 Anthony T r a il , N ort hbro ok. III. 60062. If you like Sele ctrlcs, b u t want t o go to ASCII, the re Is o ne weird possib ility .

Curio usly, IBM ha s giv e n its b le ssin g to th is a rrangem ent, meaning you can have (h is sa ndwich deal done to a Sele ct ric you r e n t from IBM , and se rv iced unde r beefed-up IBM mainten­ ance a gre em ents ($72 per y e a r , o r $16.50 p e r hour, as of 1970).

DISPLAY TERMINALS ( s e c r P - l,M 2 0 - 1 ) T lie r e a r e n a n y b r a a . l s . Sn tic .is c v i d e o . T he e a rlie r video te rm inals camo wilh dr ea dfu l s ty lin g , like a 1940s science-fic tio n movie. But as an exam ple of how th e market Is develo ping, one of the handsomes t video te rm inals I s th e $1300 Mini-Tec from TEC Incorpora te d. 9800 North Oracle R o a d , T u c s o n . A rl*. 85704. It comes covered with w ood-g rain contact pa per a nd looks ve ry nic e. (You sh o u ld have seen the ir e a r ly models.)

Both T elety pe- an d IBM-type terminals coma In e ith er vld eo-a creen o r p r in ting models, from a v a rie ty Of m a n ufa cture rs .

The Hazeltlne 1000 video te rm in al rents for $4 9/mo. on s l - y e a r c ontra ct. LOWER-CASE OPTION; modem and c ouple r ap p aren tly nol inclu ded. (Ha zelline, G re en la w n. NY 11740, wilh offices all o v e r .)

T h e r e Is s ve ry Impo rtant performance difference between ASCII a n d IBM terminals. The ASCII terminal can se n d each charac te r typed by the u se r- - eac h " k ey stro k e ”- - lo th e o>mpuier immediately. T h is means lhat highly responsive prog rams can be w ritte n , w h ic h examine the u s e r 's Input and can r e p ly In sta n tan e o u sly . It need b e , after anyth in g th e u ser ty p e s.

Why this unw ie ld y de sig n ? Supposedly it r esults from the c urious d e c is i o n . in the design of IBM's 380 com puier. to make a ll devices r—emble th e c a r d rea d e r a s far as ih e computer Is conce rned. Ju st as ih e c a r d r e a d er rea ds punched carda till the la st one Is d o ne , the IBM terminal la designed to se n d and rec eive charac te rs until a "finished" condition Is reached.

TVPE RIGHTEfL T h e J fo g ic ^ p e w r ll« K f

A num ber o f d i f f e r e n t s y s t e m s a r e c o n in g on t h e m a r k e t t o a i d y o u i n e r r o r - f r e e t y p i n g . IBM w o u ld h a v e y o u c a l l t h e s e " w o r d p r o ­ c e s s i n g s y s t e m s , ” s i n c e t h a t makes them s o u n d o f - a - p i e c e w i t h t h e i r d i c t a t i o n e q u i p m e n t . Ac­ tu a lly th e y ’ re t e x t r e g u r g ita tio n sy ste m s, but l e t ' s j u s t c a l l th e m M a g ic T y p e w r i t e r s . P r i c e s o f t h e s e t h i n g s t e n d t o r u n b e tw e e n $100 and $250 a m o n th . G en e ra lly t h e s e a r e b e in g so ld a s s e c r e ­ t a r i a l a i d s , p a r t l y b e c a u s e t h e y t e n d t o b e to o u n g a in ly f o r u se b y w r i t e r s th e m se lv es . A p r i n c i p a l u s e h a s b e e n i n l a r g e law o f f i c e s , w h ere c o n t r a c t s , w i l l s a n d s u c h a r e s t o r e d a s " b o i l e r p l a t e " ( s t a n d a r d s e c t i o n s o f D ocum ent) and th e n m o d i f i e d s l i g h t l y by t h e l a w y e r t o j u s t i f y th e le g a l f e e s . Such sy ste m s a l l b a s i c a l l y c o n s i s t o f th re e th in g s : A t y p e w r i t e r , c o n n e c t e d t o sotae s o r t o f m a g n e tic m em ory. su c h as a t a p e , c o a te d c a r d o r d i s k , and e d i t i n g c i r c u i t r y , w h ic h r e s p o n d s t o v a r i o u s a c t s by t h e u s e r . WHAT THEY DO: a l l o w y o u t o t y p e s t u f f i n , w h ic h i s b o t h t y p e d o n t h e papeT a nd a t t h e s a n e t i m e s to re d t h e m a g n e t i c w h a t e v e r . S m a ll e r r o r s yo u c o r r e c t a s y o u t y p e a l o n g , g e n e r a l l y by backspacing.

Vario us firms r e n t term in al s, some on a Short- lc rm ba sis. (Some term inal companies are ba d new s, keepin g up their equipment ba dly and offeri ng poor s e rv i c e , so watch i t.) (T he day will come, le t's hope it's so on, th al you c a n r e n t a term in al o ve rnig ht o r for a w eekend lik e a movie earners. But till people get a se nse of how far and fast th in gs a r e m ovin g, we'll co n tin u e to sc hlock along h a p h a z a r d ly ,) U nfortunately renta l people a re ha rd io fin d, since (hey a re usually lo cal , and th e Yellow Pages idiotically lum p togeth er every possib le form of com puie r sa les and s e rv ic e unde r "Dala Processing E quipment and Supplie s." and few firms f u rth er sp ecify th e i r b usin e ss In the lis ting.

A ve ry hot Item r lg h i now Is a terminal called Ihe "Digi- Log"-- a ctu ally se v er al different models-- available from Digi-Log Sysie m s, I n c ., 666 Davisvllle Rd. , Willow G ro ve, P*. 19090. T h is de vice fits in a br ie fcase. Basically Il is a keyboard with a socket for ihe phone, and an antenna w ire. You phone the compu ter, drop ihe phone handsel In th e slo t, and clip the w ire lo (he an tenna of a TV s e l , Presto! On ihe TV set appears whal you and Ihe computer type at each oth e r.

A good outfit, lhal r enis both ASCII and IBM -type term in als of the ir own m a nufa cture , is A nderson Ja cobson Co. (1065 Morse A v e ,, Sunnyvale . Calif. 94066. and major c itie s ) . They have a Se le ctric term in al, for in stan c e, which r e n ts for about $100 a month (about th e same as Ihe s ta n d a r d IBM 2741) but is porta ble-

T his is especia lly good for trav elling salesmen (to communicate wilh their offices and orderin g system via tim e-sharin g computer) and executives who do compuier work from the r o a d . Also for people who want to show off remote computer sysiems.

T o pro v id e a memory with y o u r ASCII o r JBMIBM-type term in al, an odd machine c alled the T e c h tr a n 4100 (about $1000 from T echtr an Indus­ tr ie s, 580 Jeff erson Rd. . Roc hester. NY 14623) can be used for offline storage. It use s s magnetic c asse tte , Here are some th in gs you c an do with il: t y p e stu ff into Ihe Techtr an. la te r squirt It lo a computer a t high sp eed r e c eiv e stuff from a computer at high sp e ed , la ter ty pe It back automatically on t h e terminal ty p e into ( h e T e c h tr a n . c orrec t it, a nd ihen have It typed back automatically-no com pute r, T he question of whet her the T echtr an can be used with Ihe Digi-Log has noi been publicly resolved.

Disadvantage: on ly 42 c h arac ters p e r line, which is awkw ard for some th in g s , suc h a s programming In F o r tr a n . Price: $1200 to $1400, They ala o le ase , al rates as low a s $40/month (3 y e a r s ).

Also available on ren ta l, suppose dly , from Westwood Associates, Inc. . 50 Washington T e r r a c e , East Orange, NJ 07017.

It ha ppens lhal Anderson Ja cobso n (above) will r e n t you ih e ir 2741-type Sele ct ric te rm in al, with a T ec h tran , for about $220 a monlh lotal. But they w on't rent th e Tec htr an s e p a r a t e ly ,

For th ose of us lit erary type s who warn uppe r and lower case bul are Stuck with 33ASRS. a LOWER-CASE CONVERSION KIT is avail able from Dala Term inals and Communications. Campbell, C a lifornia .

i f you have no objection to IT T . they offer a porta ble video term inal wilh b u ilt -i n modem and couple r, the Asciecope. for $65/monlh. Supposed ly ih e re 's a long w alling lis t. (ITT Data Equipment and System s D iv is ion, East Union A v e . . East Rutherfo rd, NJ 07073.)

see Kustom E le ctronics, Inc. ( a r e n 't they the rock -am p pe ople ? ). Data Communications Division, 1010 West Chesln ut, Chanute , Kanss s $6720. T h ey 'v e already sel up tr avelling term in als (or the mobile constab ulary of Kansas City (M o.), Palm Beach and Nashville. (Communications. J a n . 73, ad p. 47. ) Now . of c o u r s e , you'll need a whole stationary radio se tu p to ru n t h a t , ..

When y o u w a n t a c l e a n c o p y - - P r e s t o W a i t - o ! P u t in c l e a n p a p e r , s t a r t th e m a g n e tic w h a te v e r a t th e b e g i n n i n g , and th e t y p e w r i t e r r e t y p e s i t w ith o u t a m is ta k e . I f y o u ' re lucky. U n f o r t u n a t e l y sotae o f t h e s e s y s t e m s a r e q u i t e b a d ly th o u g h t o u t. I n o n e o r tw o c a s e s I an n o t s u r e w h e t h e r t h e y a r e d e s i g n e d a s t h e y a re a c c i d e n t a l l y o r on p u rp o se . N e ith e r i n t e r p r c t a t i o n T s n a t t e r i n g t o th e m a n u f a c t u r e r . I h a v e h a d e x t e n s i v e e x p e r i e n c e w i t h tw o o f t h e s e s y s t e m s , t h e IBM Hag T a p e S e l e c t r i c a n d t h e IBM Mag C a r d E x e c u t i v e . S u ffic e i t to s a y t h a t i f I b e lie v e d t h a t th e s e sy ste m s w ere a s c um bersom e a s t h e y a r e by a c c i d e n t , t h e n t h e s e c t i o n s i n t h i s b o o k o n IBM a n d i t s p r o d u c t s m ig h t ha v e a v e ry d i f f e r e n t s l a n t . As i t i s , th e s e s y ste m s r e q u ir e a t r a i n i n g p e rio d o f (say ) a w eek, and r e q u i r e su c h c o n tin u o u s a t t e n t i o n t o t h e i r c u r i o u s ta c c h a n i c s t h a t t h e u s e r i s g iv en l i t t l e o p p o r tu n ity to t h in k o f a n y th in g e lse . In b o t h c a s e s , i n my o p i n i o n , t h e s u p e r ­ f i c i a l p l a u s i b i l i t y o f th e i n i t i a l d e s ig n prem ­ i s e s k n o ts i n t o ta n g l e d r a t i f i c a t i o n s w h ic h v e r g e on t h e p r e p o s t e r o u s . Much o f t h i s b o o k w as w r i t t e n o n a Mag C a r d E x e c u t i v e - - a n d I * n da mned s o r r y I b o t h e r e d .

VTOP, ^3«00.

VIDEO TERMINALS WITHOUT THE VIDEO

Here are some names (n either e ndorse d nor criticize d): Com pute r P lannin g I Supply, Chicago T T S Syste m s, LA Vardon k A ssociates. Dallas

Honeywell (Honeywell Information Syste m s, Wellesley H ills, M aas.) ha s recentl y made a vailable a Braille program to be used with " sta n d ard te rm in al s" In their syste m s. (T his may be Ihe ada plslio n developed at MIT lo do Braille on the 33 ASR.)

Some s y s t e m s o f t h i s

961 f«.« f. n). 1U

Ann A rbor T erm inals , Inc. (Ann Arb or. Mich.7) is said lo offer a sim ilar unit lhal i s

A 2741-type Selectric te rm inal with memor y, offe ring th e se same capabilit ie s, is now availab le from IBM! II is th e Communicaling Mag Card Executive (CMC). Since Ihe Mag Card Executive, to which they have added Ihe communication featu re, c o sis ove r $200 a monlh, fig ure ihe communication feature could cost an oth er $100 o r 30 m onth ly, o r pr obably half again a s much as the Anderso n-Jacobso n .

Indeed, even th e S e le ctric (IBM trademarly. ? - [' ty p in g mechanism a ppears in some T elety p e-ty p e te rm inals -

IBM-type te rm in als. h o w eve r, requir e » "line feed" ch arac te r o r an "end of transm is sio n” ch arac te r lo be typed b y th e u s e r to make it Ihe compu ter'a t u r n , This lo cks th e keyboard so (he person can 't use 11. T h e n the computer must type some)hing, e n d in g with lla o w n "unlock" signal thal makes It the p e rso n 's tu r n aga in .

A "CRT S urvey" Listing cha racte ristic s of 110 CRT dis plays (in cludin g both video te r ­ minals and fancier picto ria l dla pla ya-- see flip side □ ! this book) Is available for len bucks postpaid from Dalapro R esearch Corp. , One Corporate C e n te r, Route 38, Moorestown, NJ 08057.

PRINTING TERMINALS-

A firm called Tycom System s Corporation (26 Ju st Road, Fairfield NY 07006) of fe rs an Inte resting alte rna tive , it happen s thal a ll SelecI rlcs ( anyw ay. Model 1 and Mbdel 11) ha ve a seam a ro und the midriff a t which I he ly p e w rli e r can be unsc re w ed into two se ctions. C lev e r Tycom! They make s devic e which fils b e tw e e n , looks io the bottom lik e the top of ihe S e le c tric , and looks to (he top like th e bottom. A ls o, it t u r n s the S ele ctric into a term in al, receiv ing ASCII codes from whatever com puter you attach it to and c au sin g th e compuier to type th e m , o r a endln g out whal you ty pe lo Ihe com puter In ASCII. IBM. how ever, aeema to l ik e ch an gin g Its syste m s aro u n d a lot. for In sta n ce c hangin g Its codes when It b r in g s out s new compuier, (Fortunstely. It Just happens lhat they a lso Sell sd aple rs between them. W hew.) So IBM-type term inals are different by de sign .

If you'r e seri ous about keeping u p with developm ents In th e te rm inal a re a, you might wanl lo su bsc ribe to T erm inals Review (1 2 6 /y r.). highly apoken of by Datamation. (GML C o r p . . 594 Marrotl Rd. . Lexington. MA 02173.)

O IC C .

T he equival ent IBM-type te rm in al-- key b o ard , coupler a nd d i p to the T V -- Is the IPSA-100, offered by I.P . Sharp Associates, Inc. (Brid ge Administration Building, Bridge Plaza, O g d e n sb u r g , NY 13669). Unfortunately it's much la rg e r than the Digi-Log-- ll comes In a medium-size su ll csse -- end more expensive ($1700 up), How ev er, they offer ihe APL c h arac ter-ae t (see APL un der "Magic Languages ," «s an option— even a model with bolh normal and APL c harac ter-sela as a switch-selectable option (costs even more). Re cently, of all th ings , pla ns for a do-ityourself unit of rhis ty pe w ere announced in a popular electronics magazine (Don L ancas ter, "TV T ypew rite r," Radio-Electron Ice, Se p t. 1973, 43-52), Thia does nol in clude the full p la n s, which a re available for $2 from TV TYPEWRITER , Radio-Electronic s , 45 E. I7lh S i . . New York . NY 10003Supposedly this can b e built tor "around $120"-- probab ly a deal more- - if you a r e a skil le d ele ctronics builder or te chnicia n. But lhal looks to include a great deal of labor. T he finished unit holds up to 32 charac ters pe r line and up to 16 lines on the sc re en ; a second memory can be added , lo hold a second altern ative sc reen ful.

T he IBM Mag T ape S e l e c t r i c C om poser (MT/SC. MTSC) . P r o d u c e s l o v e l y r e s u l t s w i t h t h e S c l c c t r i c Com poser, a very fancy S e l e c t r i c . But has c o m p l i c a t i o n s w e l l be y o n d t h o s e o f t h e Mag T a p e S e le c tric . liv e n n o r e v a r i a b l e w i j t h s t h a n Mag Card E x e c u tiv e . U ses same n a g - f i l m c a r t r i d g e s a s MTST. K ( N o t e : f o r t h o s e who l i k e t h e o u t p u t from th e above d e v i c e s , b u t a p p r e c ia te a ls o th e r e l a ­ tiv e d i f f i c u l t y o f th e i r u s e , th e re is A v ailab le a c o m p u t e r p e r i p h e r a l d e v i c e w h ic h r e a d s a n d w r i t e s t h e s e 16mm mag t a p e c a r t r i d g e s . I d o n 't know who m a k e s i t , u n f o r t u n a t e l y . ) IBM's l a t e s t i s c a l l e d t h e M a g n e t i c Memory T y p e w r i t e r , a n d se e m s t o s t o r e up t o o n e p a g e i n a h i d d e n memory. A p p a r e n t l y you c a n ' t s e t i t a s id e , lik e th e c ard s o r ta p es. A f i r m c a l l c d R e d a c t r o n makes m a g ic t y p e ­ w r i te r s u sin g e i t h e r c a s s e tte s (a u d io -ty p e ) o r mag c a r d s ( l i k e t h e Mag C a r d E x e c u t i v e ) . A f i r m c a l l e d S a v i n d o e s t h e sa m e t h i n g , u s i n g a T ycom S e l e c t r i c S a n d w ic h ( s e c u n d e r " P r in tin g T e r m in a ls ," ne arb y ). O l i v e t t i h a s one c a l l e d t h e S - 1 4 W ord P r o ­ c e s s i n g S y s tem . T h eir c a r tr id g e (a d is k ? ) s t o r e s , t h e y s a y , ISO p a g e s o f t y p i n g . Two o t h e r o u t f i t s a nd Q u i n t y p e .

in t h e f i e l d a r e T r e n d o t a

ty p e a re :

T he IBM Mag T a p e S e l e c t r i c (MT/ST o r MTST). R e c o r d s o n s p r o c k e t e d 16mm n a g f i l m o f t h e t y p e u s e d f o r m o v ie s o u n d r e c o r d i n g , a n d y o u h a v e two d i f f e r e n t t a p e s t o g e t c o n fu s e d b e tw e e n . The IBM Mag C a r d E x e c u t i v e . R ecords on a p l a s t i c H o l l e r i t h c a r d ( s e e p . 2 & ) c o a te d w ith m a g n e tic o x i d e . V a ria b le w id th o f c h a r a c te r s p rese n ts f a s c in a tin g d if f i c u l t i e s .

N oops! R e m in g t o n ? )

H e r e com es S p e r r y R e m in g t o n ! T hey h a v e one to o .

(S p e rry

For th o s e in te r e s t e d in t h i s s o r t o f th in g , t h e r e i s a n I n t e r n a t i o n a l Word P r o c e s s i n g A s s o c i a ­ t i o n ( M a r y l a n d R o a d , AHS B u i l d i n g , W illo w G r o v e , PA 1 9 0 9 0 .) S e e a l s o t h e F l i p S i d e o f t h e b o o k f o r more h ig h -p e rfo rm a n c e te x t sy ste m s.

T h e s e la n g u a g e s h a v e b e e n c h o s e n b e ­ c au se th e y a re im p o r ta n t, v e ry d i f f e r e n t from e a c h o t h e r , v e r y p o w e r f u l , i n f l u e n t i a l and h i g h l y r e g a r d e d i n t h e f i e l d , i n t e r a c ­ t i v e f ro m t i m e - s h a r i n g s y s t e n s , a n d v e r y s u i t a b l e f o r m a k in g i n t e r a c t i v e p r o g r a m s and " g o o d -g u y s y s t e n s . "

are what make compute rs go 'r o u n d . IF you r c om pute r only did one th in g , then to s ta r t It y o u 'd o n ly ne ed one button to press. If y o u r c om pute r only did th in g s , without va ria tio n s , then let each operation bo sta rte d by one o f th e Keys o f th e te rm inal, would be lhat.

Each u ay b e u se d t o c r e a t e p ro g ra m s m

e

[QUICKIE] B ecause th e s e la n g u a g e s can be u sed fro m a t e r m i n a l , a n d t h u s l e a r n e d q u i c k l y , we m ig h t c a l l th e m Q u i c k i e l a n g u a g e s .

two dozen you could pressin g and thal

N o t e : i n t e r a c t i v e l a n g u a g e s m e an y o u , th e p ro g ra m m e r, can c h an g e y o u r p ro g ra m from t h e t e r m i n a l ; i n t e r a c t i v e w ro c r a m s a r e t h o s e w h ic h i n t e r a c t w i t h u s e r s , w h ic h is d iffe re n t. H o w ev e r, t h e s e l a n g u a g e s a r e q u i t e s u i t a b l e T or b o t h .

But th a t's not what i f a about. We ha v e lots of different th in gs lhAt we want compute rs 10 d o . and we want one com­ mand lo w o rk on d if feren t v arieties of d ala . o r on the r e s u l ts o f a p rev io u s command. or even lo chew on a noth er command Itself; a n d so e computer la n g u ag e Is a c o n lr lv ed method of g iv in g commands to a com puter lha t allows th e commands lo b e en lw ln ed In a complex fashion,

E veryone 9hould have some b r u s h with computer pr ogra mming, ju s l lo see what it Is and is n 't, Whai ii is: c asti ng mystical spe lls in arc ane te rm inology, whose exac t de ta ils have exact ramifi ca tions. Whai II is n ' t : ta lk in g o r typing to the computer in some way that re­ q uir es Intelligence by lh e machine. Whai ll la: an in tr ic ate technical a n . Whai it isn 'l: sc ie nce.

Another reason for these three: they r e p r e s e n t. In a w ay. se veral major ty p e s, BASIC is a widesp read and fairly sta n d ard la nguage -- lhal i s , it is available on c om pute rs e v ery w h e re. Mor eove r, ll looks r a th e r like F o r tr a n , which is th e most im portant "scienti fic" computer language.

Why th r e e la ng uage s? Because one would look loo much alik e . Only by p e ru s i n g several do you get any se nse of th e v a rie ty th e y ta ke. T h is means h a v in g basic o pe ra tions that can b e bu ilt into b ig g e r o p e ra tions (routin es, su b ro u tin e s, su b p r o g ra m s, p ro g ra m s). T h u s a c o m p u t e r la n g u a g e i s r e a l l y a m e th o d b y w h i c h a u s e r c a n t i e t h e s e p ro g ra m s t o g e t h e r . C o m p u te r la n g u a g e s a re b u i l t a cc o rd in g to c o n triv e d s e t s o f r u l e s f o r t y in g p ro g ra m s t o g e t h e r . Such r u l e s a r c l i m i t e d o n ly by th e im a g in a ­ tio n of t h e i r c o n t r i v e r s . Each co m p u ter la n g u a g e h a s i t s own c o n t r i v e d s y s t e m o f r u l e s , a n d i t may b e c o m p l e t e l y d i f f e r e n t from t h e c o n t r i v e d r u l e s t y i n g t o g e t h e r any o t h e r c o m p u t e r l a n g u a g e . ( T h a t ' s one reason lo r h e re p r e s e n tin g th r e e d i f f e r ­ e n t c o n p u t e r l a n g u a g e s , t o show so me o f t h e mad v a r i e t y t h a t c a n e x i s t . )

TRAC Language, though w ell-know n among re se a r c h e r s, ha s mighty p o w ers that a re not so well know n. Moreover, it a ch ie v es it s pow ers th rough lha simple and highly consis te nt following ot a few simple p rin cip les , a n d is th u s b oth v e ry eaay to le a r n and an elega nt inte llectu al triu m p h for Its in vento r.

T h e s e t h r e e l a n g u a g e s make i t p o s s i b l e i n p r i n c i p l e f o r you t o l e a r n c o m p u te rs w i t h no c o a c h i n g . A ll you n e ed ( i n p r i n c i ­ p l e ) i s y o u r own t e r m i n a l , a n d t i m e - s h a r i n g a c c o u n t s w i t h f i r m s r u n n i n g BASIC (M o st o f t h e n d o ) , TRAC L an g u a g e ( f o r a v a i l a b i l i t y s e e p , 2 1 ) , a n d / o r APL ( f o r p a r t i a l l i s t o f so u rces see p . 25).

Moreove r, il ia a so-ca lle d "lisi la n g u a g e ." meaning thal it can handle Information havin g extremely varied and c hangin g form -- a v e ry Important feature lo those of ua in te rested in computer applications like p ic ture-m a king and text handling, which use am orphous and busy types of data. (See "Data S t r u c tu r e s .” p p - 2 & - >

Why theae three? Severa l good r ea so n s. One, they can be use d from a te rm in a l, which means lhal you could in p rin cip le g e t a te rm inal In yo ur home and play wilh th e c om pute r from ove r lhe tele phone. Bui this is e x p en siv e , and al worsl fra ught with accidental financial lia bilities, so th e possibi lity Is minor r ig ht now, N eve rthele ss, il should be practical a n d in e x­ pensiv e fairly soon.

APL i s a noth er elegant la n g u ag e , a ls o worked oul handsomely from certa in ba sic ide as by a v e ry th oughtful and in sp ire d inve ntor.

In the contemplation of these th r e e la n ­ gua ges you may be gin lo see th e influ ence o f th e Individual human min d in th e com p u te r fie ld, q uite c o n tra r y to th e s te r e o ty p e . I w ould like lo str e s s h e r e lhal each of th e s e th r e e la n g u ag e s r e p r e s e n ts somebody's I ndiv id ua l p e rso n a l a c h ­ ievem ent. and i s in t u r n a foundation upon which o th e r s , w riting p r o g r a m s , c a n b u ild Two o f t h e s e l a n g u a g e s p e r m i t t h e c r e a t i o n o f i n t e r a c t i v e p r o g r a m s t h o t w ork o n a l i n e - b y - l i n e b a s i s ; i n a d d i t i o n , TRAC L an g u a g e ( p p . 1 8 - 2 1 ) p e r m i t s t h e c r e a t i o n o f sy ste m s t h a t r e a c t t o a ny c h a r a c t e r th e u s e r ty p e s i n , r a t h e r t h a n w a i t i n g f o r th e c a r r i a g e r e t u r n a t th e en d o f a l i n e . T h is p e rm i ts y ou t o p ro g ra m u s e r - l e v e l sy ste m s t h a t a r e e v e n more r e s p o n s i v e . IF YOU'RE SCARED. Don't w o r r y , ll'a not a te s t. Flip the pa ges a n d look a t lh e exam ­ ple s. (In p a rti c u la r , you mig ht look for lhe same program which a ppea rs in e ach la ng uage: a program to cause th e com pute r to prin t "HELP, I AM TRAPPED IN A LOOP" f o r e v e r . ) This book Is org an iz ed s o you c an look al It or sk ip ll In any o r d e r , s o th e r e is no pa rti cula r reason you have lo f ig ht th r o u g h the next th ree c hapte rs If you wani to p r e s s o n . But if you w ant to s tu d y these I s n g u a g o s , b y all means do 80. Languages lhal can be use d from a te rm in al are called o n -lin e la n g u a g e s , T h e r e a rc a n u m ­ ber of o th e r popular o n -lin e la n g u ag e s: JOSS (lhe o r ig in a l) . FOCAL. LOGO. SPEAKEASY. I’m ju sl s o r ry th e re 's no room for the m h e r e . Some p o p u l a r n o n - i n t e r a c t i v e la n g u a g e s a r e b r i e f l y d e s c r i b e d on p p . 3 0 - 3 1 .

C o m p u te r l a n g u a g e s t e n d t o l o o k l i k e n o t h i n g e l s e y o u ’ ve e v e r s e e n . T hus c o n ­ p u t e r p r o g r a m s , w h ic h o f c o u r s e h a v e t o be w r i t t e n i n t h e s e c o m p u te r l a n g u a g e s , look p r e t t y w e i r d . Some p r o g r a m s lo o k lik e o ld t r a i n sc h e d u le s ( in n u l t i p l e c o lu m n s). Some l o o k a l i t t l e l i k e p r i n ­ te d p o e t r y . I n a n y c a s e , a COMPUTER PRO­ GRAM NO MORI: LOOKS LIKE IT S RESULT THAN THAN THE WORD "COW" LOOKS LIKE A COW. One o f t h e c e n t r a l c o n c e p t s o f t h i s boo k i s t h a t o f a ' " p r o g r a m f o l l o w e r , ” a d y n a m ic e n t i t y w h ic h somehow f o l l o w s a p r o g ra m . ' . f e l l , EVERY LANCUAGE HAS A PRO­ GRAM FOLLOWER FOLLOWING ITS OWN PARTI­ CULAR RULES. T h e s e r u l e s a r e c o n t r i v e d fo r c o n v en ie n ce , s u i t a b i l i t y to a p u rp o se, and " a e s t h e t i c s " o f a s o r t - - o f t e n s o a e fo rm o f s t a r k c o m p r e s s i o n . (T h e p r o g r a m f o l l o w e r s w i r e d i n t o c o m p u t e r s a r c some w hat m o re a k i n t o o n e a n o t h e r ; s e e "R o c k B o t to m , " p . 3 2 . ) A b o u t a l l we c a n s a y la n g u a g e s h a v e i n common i s : EVERY COMPUTER LANGUAGE ALLOWS LOOPS. TESTS AND BRANCHES, AND COMMUNICATION WITH EXTERNAL DEVICES, a s m e n t i o n e d on p . 1 1 . Beyond th a t th e d i f f e r e n c e s a re i n c r e d i b l e .

T i l l more and so re you g e l th e f e e l of I t . Anil f in d yo urself w ritin g proKraa» lh a t work

So t h e b a s i c s e c r e t o f c o m p u te r p e o ­ p le is t h i s : i t ' s n o t th a t th e n e c e s s a r ­ i l y know s o m u c h , b u t t h e y c a n a d a p t t o a w h o le new w o r l d o f p o s s i b i l i t i e s more

THE to r UAV ’to

to g e t h e r th e f u n d am e n ta l o p e r a t i o n s o[ la n g u a g e f i t s

t o g e th e r a c c o rd in g to i t s

s o n a l l t y and p r e o c c u p a tio n s o f t h e p e rs o n o r p e o p l e who d e s i g n e d i t .

PROGRAMS VS. SYSTEMS: A Vague Guideline lo a Vague Distinction

Mo dern c o m p u te r l a n g u a g e s g e n e r a l l y c a n h a n d l e a l l t h e m a in k i n d s o f p r o g r a n m i n g s c o a t h a n d l i n g , n u .a ber c r u n c h i n g , s t o r i n g f i l e a on d i s k memory a n d g e t t i n g th e m b a c k ,

A " pro gram '- r u n s on an o rd in ary compute r, without n e ce ssarily in te rac tin g with lhe oulalde world; a "sy ste m " Inv o lv es a whole se tu p , o f which th e co mpute r and a p rogra m In It are Jusl th e c entr al th in g s .

I n t h i a book we w i l l t r y ■n a t t e r i n g of a l l th e s e .

t o g iv e you a

The t e x t i s u s u a l l y s c u r v u a s a s e r i e s o f a l p h a b e t i c a l a n d p u n c t u a t i o n c o d e s i n t h e com­ p u t e r ' s c o r e m e m ory. T he a r e a i t o c c u p i e s in t h e c o r e memory i s c a l l e d a c o r e b u f f e r . The p r o g r a m g e n e r a l l y g i v e s t h e u s e r a n im ­ a g in a r y " p o i n t e r , " a m a rk e r s p e c i f y i n g w h at p o i n t i n t h e t e x t th e p ro g ra m i s c u r r e n t l y c o n ce rn e d w ith .

The Moving Fiojfr w rita; and, having writ. Mores oo : oer ell joai Piety (X* Wit Shall lara il back to a n a l half a Line, Nor all your T o n vraih oul ■ Word of it.

What i s t h e p o i n t e r f o r ? I t s p e c i f i e s w h e r e th e o p e r a t i o n s a r e t o t a k e p l a c e . " I n s e r t,” for exam ple. I f t e x t i s i n s e r t e d , i t w i l l go i n t o th e p la c e p r e s e n tly p o in te d a t.

K h a y y a m /F t ttg g r a ld

Many o f t h e commands a r e c o n c e r n e d w i t h c o n ­ t r o l l i n g th e c u r r e n t p o s i t i o n o f th e p o i n t e r , m o v in g i t b a c k w a r d o r f o r w a r d b y a s p e c i f i c num­ b er o f c h a r a c t e r s ( in c lu d in g p u n c tu a tio n nark s and s p a c e s ) o r l i n e s (know n t o t h e p r o g r a m by t h e c a r r i a g e - r e t u r n c o d cs i n t e r s p e r s e d i n th e t e x t ) , N umerous i n t e r a c t i v e p r o g r a m s e x i s t f o r e d i t i n g t e x t a t co m p u te r t e r m i n a l s - - i n o t h e r w o r d s , f o r d o i n g w h a t M a g ic T y p e w r i t e r s d o , b u t u s in g a c o m p u te r i n s t e a d o f a sm a ll s p e c i a l pu rpose m achine. U n f o r t u n a t e l y m ost o f t h e s e s y ste m s a r e d rea d fu l. D r e a d f u l , th B t i s , f o r o r d i n a r y hunan b e i n g s . What c o n p u t e r p e o p l e se em t o th in k o f a s a p p ro p r ia te s y ste m s f o r h a n d lin g t e x t a r e t o t a l l y u n s u i t a b l e f o r p e o p l e who c a r e a n d t h i n k a l o t a b o u t t e x t , a l t h o u g h t h e y may be good i o r c o m p u t e r p r o g r a m m e r s . Such s y s t e n s allo w y o u t o i n s e r t t e x t ( w i t h s a n e d i f f i c u l t y ) , d e l e t e ( w i t h so me d i f ­ f i c u l t y ) , and r e a r r a n g e ( n a y b e ). O r d i n a r i l y th e u s e r m ust l e a r n an e x p l i c i t command l a n g u a g e , some s y s t e m o f a l p h a b e t i c a l commands t h a t h a v e t o b e t y p e d i n t o e f f e c t a n y change i n th e m a t e r i a l . Program m ers t h i n k t h i s i s g o o d f o r y o u a n d to u g h e n s t h e n i n d .

c W u tc v ? - s m e

sy rre in .

4M

jy,

a Cvrv. b vrtef; r v ? v n w

L

'

® ® |6'

o-A

455 A 90} 90) B ^

to which we may assig n the following meanings: B 0 ) 45) A A r

ONE-SIDED: 0} A 451 A 90^ A

t au/ f t i f -

In considering the su c ce ssiv e meanings of thiB reb u s we a re proceeding from right to left, aa you note, and each new symbol adds meaning. This is the general id ea.

TWO-SIDED: STAPLING OPERATORS B 451 A staple A (thing named on the right) to B (thing named on th e left) at a position 45* clockw ise from middle of B’s c e n terline.

W -T sllp/t

You will note, in th is example, the curious arrangement w hereby you can have several p ictu res, or o p e rato rs, in a row. This is one of the fun features of the language.

ROTATION OPERATORS do nothing to A rotate A clockwise 45* rotate A clockwise 90° e tc .

(o»

*

-

And equivalently for other angleB. Now, u sin g these r u le s , and lettin g o ur things be any file c a rd s that a re h a n d y , h e re a re some resu lts:

1

C 45) B 0) 90) A

It's h ard to believ e, but th e re you a re . This notation seems adequate to make a whole lot of different stapled p a tte rn s . Exercise! Use this nutty file c a rd notation to program the making of funny p a tte rn s . Practice with a friend and Bee if you can communicate patterns through these p ro g ra m s , one person uncomprehendingly c a rry in g out the o th er’s program and being s u r p r i s e d . The point of all th is has been to show the powerful but somewhat s ta rtlin g way that b rief s c rib b les in notations of t h i B type can have all sorts of r e s u lts .

H e r e la a n o t h e r e x a m p l e s h o w in g h o w w e c h u g a lo n g t h e r o w o f s y m b o l s a n d t a k e i t a p a r t . A g a i n , th e a lp h a b e tic a l e n title s r e p r e s e n t t h i n g s .

It w o u ld b e i n s a n e to e n u m e r a t e th e m a l l , b u t h e r e I s a s a m p l i n g o f A P L 's o p e r a t o r s . T h e y ' r e a ll on th e pocket c a r d s ( s e e B ib lio g ra p h y ) .

E> (Ǥ| ^

SOME A PL O PERATORS

______ f i r s t o p e r a t i o n (o n e - s i d e d ),

F o r o ld t i m e s ' s a k e , h e r e a r e o u r f r i e n d s : (A n d a c o u s i n t h r o w n i n f o r s y m m e t r y . ) +A

s e c o n d o p e ra tio n (tw o -sid ed )

A+B

T r y d i v i d i n g u p th e s e e x a m p l e s :

-B A -B aB

( p ROMEO ELEANOR < 2 > SAM

SUSIB

O n e m o r e t h i n g n e e d s to b e n o t e d . N ot o n ly c a n w e w o r k o u t th e s e q u e n c e s o f o p e r s t l o n s . fro m l i g h t to l e f t . b e t w e e n th e s y m b o l s ; t h e c o m p u te r c a n c a r r y th s m o u t i n a s t a b le f a s h i o n . W hich i s o f c o u rse e s s e n tia l.

A iB

!A

INSIDE

?A

T h e t r u t h o f t h e m a tte r i s th a t A PL l n th e co m ­ p u te r Is a c o n tin u in g su c c e s s io n of th in g s b e in g o p e ra te d o n a n d re p la c e d In th e w o rk a r e a .

. . . UG

^

jZf ' y A R G ^

I [ I

th in g w h ic h r e s u lts f ro m o p e r a t o r $ d o n e o n YAAOH,

p la in A ( w h a t e v e r A s h o u l d h a p p e n to b e ) A p lu s B ( w h a t e v e r A s h o u l d h a p p e n to B . heh heh) n e g a ti o n of B A m in u s B th e s ig n of B ( e x p r e s s e d a s - 1 .0 o r 1) A ti m e s B

A ?B

fa c to ria l A ( 1 * 2 * 3 . . . u p to A ) th e n u m b e r o f p o ssib le c o m b in a tio n s y o u c a n g e t f ro m B ■ ta k e n A a t a tim e a ra n d o m I n te g e r ta k e n f ro m a r r a y A ta k e s o m e I n t e g e r s a t r a n d o m f r o m B . How m a n y ? A .

B u t, of c o u rs e . A PL goes o n a n d o n . T h e r e a r e d o z e n s m o r e ( I n c l u d i n g s y m b o l s m a d e o f m o re t h a n o n e w e i r d APL s y m b o l , p r i n t e d o n to p o f e a c h o t h e r to m a k e a n e w s y m b o l ) .

t h i n g t h a t r e s u l t s f ro m o p e r a t i o n Lv d o n e to th a t b y UG V a n d ao o n . W hat le e f f e c tiv e ly h a p p e n i n g i s t h a t t h e APL p r o c e s s o r i s h o l d i n g w h a t i t ' s w o r k i n g o n in a h o l d i n g a r e a . T h e w a y It c a r r i e s o u t t h e B ean o f t h e A PL l a n g u a g e , t h e r e o n l y h a s to b e o n e t h i n g in th e re a t a lim e .

A s w e s a i d , A PL h a s o p e ra to r s ( a lr e a d y e x p la in e d ) a n d t h in g s ■ T h e th in g s c a n b e p la in n u m b e r s , o r A r r a y s ( a l r e a d y m e n tio n e d u n d e r B A S IC ). T h i n k o f th e m a s r o w s , b o x e s a n d su p e rb o x e s of n u m b e rs : 2 4 6 8 10

C o n s i d e r t h e I n c r e d i b l e p o w e r . S i n g l e APL s y m b o l s g i v e y o u l o g a r i t h m s , tr ig o n o m e t r i c fu n c tio n s , m a trix fu n c tio n s , n u m b e r sy ste m c o n v e r­ s i o n s , l o g s to a n y a r b i t r a r y b a s e , a n d p o w e r s o f e (a m y ste rio u s n u m b e r o f w h ic h e n g in e e r s a r e f o n d ) .

3 5

a tw o - d i m e n s i o n a l th i n g

X • 0 8

a th re e -d im e n s io n a l th in g , s e e n f ro m t h e f r o n t . M ayb e w e b e t t e r lo o k a t t h e l e v e l a s i d e b y sid e : 13 2 4 5 7 6 6

A PL c a n h a v e T h i n g s w i t h f o u r d i m e n s i o n s , f iv e a n d s o o n , b u t w e w o n 't t r o u b l e y o u h e r e w i t h p i c t u r e s . O h y s s . a n d A n a l ly a n o - d l m e n s l o n a l t h i n g . E x a m p le : 7 5 .2 It i s c a l l e d n o - d ltn e n s t o n a l b e c a u s e t h e r e I s o n ly o n e o f i t , s o i t Is n o t a r o w o r a b o x . S e r i o u s l y , t h e s e a r e a r r a y s , a n d I v e r s o n 's A PL w o r k s th e m o v e r , t u r n s th s m I n s i d e o u t , t w i s t s a n d s a p s t h r o u g h to w h s t e v e r t h e a n s w e r s a r e . A s In BA SIC a n d T R A C , t h e a r r a y s o f A PL a r e r e a l l y s t o r e d l n th e c o m p u t e r 's c o r e m e m o r y , a s s o c i a t e d w ith t h e n a m e y o u g i v e t h e m . T h e a r r a y s m ay b e o f a l l d i f f e r e n t s i t e s s n d d im e n ­ s i o n a lit y :

O t h e r w e i r d t h i n g s . Y ou c a n a p p l y a n o p e r ­ a tio n to a l l t h e e l e m e n ts o f s n a r r a y u s i n g t h e / o p e r a t o r : + /A I s t h e s u m o f e v e r y t h i n g I n A , >/A i s t h e c o m b in e d p r o d u c t o f e v e r y t h i n g In A . A n d so o n . W h e w . A s y o u m a y s u s p e c t , A PL p r o g r a m s c a n b e I n c r e d i b l y c o n c i s e . ( T h i s Is a f r e q u e n t l y - h e a r d c r i t i c i s m : th a t th e c o n c i s e n e s s m a k e s th e m h a r d to u n d e r s t a n d a n d h a r d to c h a n g e . )

________________ H oe/ , --------' l 2 . 5 7 .1 8 8 .0 0 6 ^

___

/n o ra ] [ w o o p s l e l } ^ * 1 •* » ) [ab cd efl [ ( (««. W“ ) ISA M ’

1 ^ 1 (e m p t y a r r a y , b u l a n a m e Is sa v e d for It.)

MAKE YOUR OWN F i n a ll y a n d g l o r i o u e l y . t h e u s e r m a y d e f in e h is ow n fu n c tio n s , e ith e r o n e -s id e d o r tw o - s id e d , w ith a l p h a b e t i c a l n a m e s . F o r i n s t a n c e , y o u c a n c r e a t e y o u r o w n o n e - s i d e d o p e r a t o r Z O N K . a s ln

[n um \

[371416] (a z e r o - d i m e n s i o n a l a r r a y , s i n c e i t ' s o n ly o n e n u m b e r . )

ZONK B

(n* ($*>• fxf

a n d e v e n a lw o - 8id e d Z O N K , A ZONK B w h ic h c s n th e n g o r i g h t i n I h e r e w ith t h e b i g b o y s :

S u p p o s e w e h a v e a s im p le u s e r p r o g r a m ,

A $

Y + - Z

ZONK

B

D o n 't a s k w h a t it m e a n s , b u t i t ' s a llo w e d . S t a r l i n g a t t h e t i g h t o f t h i s u s e r p r o g r a m , th e m a in A PL p r o g r a m p u t s Z i n t o t h e w o r k a r e a . T h a t 's th e f i r s t t h i n g . T h e n , s t e p p i n g le ft l n th e u s e r p r o g r a m , t h e A PL p r o c e s s o r f o llo w s t h e r u l e s a n d d i s c o v e r s t h a t t h e n e x t o p e r a t i o n m a k e s It

w h i c h h a p p e n s to m e a n , " t h e n e g a ti o n o f Z . " S o it c a r r i e s th is o u t on Z a n d r e p la c e s Z w ith th e r e s u l t , - Z . T h e n , c o n t i n u i n g to s c a n l e f t w a r d , t h e APL p r o c e s s o r c o n t i n u e s to r e p l a c e w h a t w a s l n t h e w o r k a re a w ith th e r e s u l t of e ac h o p e ra tio n in th e s u c ­ c e s s i v e l i n e s o f t h e u s e r p r o g r a m , tLU t h e p r o g r a m i s c o m p le te d . A PL

pie*-

h tl 'i +

E a c h a r r a y I s r e a l l y a s e r i e s o f m e m o r y l o c a t io n s w ith I ts l a b e l a n d b o x i n g I n f o r m a tio n — d i m e n s i o n s a n d l e n g t h s — s t o r e d s e p a r a t e l y . O n e v e r y n ic e t h i n g a b o u t A PL i s t h a t a r r a y s c a n k e e p c h a n g i n g th e ir s iz e s f re e ly , a n d th is n e e d b e of no c o n c e rn to t h e A PL p r o g r a m m e r . ( T h e a r r a y s c a n a l s o b e b o x e d a n d r e b o x e d l n d if f e r e n t d i m e n s i o n s j u s t b y c h a n g i n g t h e b o x i n g in f o r m a t io n — w ith a n o p e r a t o r c a lle d " ra v e l ." )

s w i n e prekc5! A n A PL m a c h i n e . a m in i t h a t d o e s n o t h i n g b u t A P L . I s n o w a v a i l a b l e f ro m a C a n a d i a n f ir m f o r th e m e r e p i t t a n c e o f TH RBE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS , th e p r i c e o f m a n y a m e r e te r m i n a l . T h is a c c o r d i n g to C o m p u t e r w o r l d . 10 O ct 7 9 . R u n , d o n 't w a l k , to M ic ro C o m p u te r M a c h i n e s , I n c . , 4 i A n s l n g S q . . W illow d a l e . M2J 1 T 1 . O n t a r i o , C a n a d a . T h a t $3500 g e t s y o u a 16K m e m o r y , t h e A PL p r o g r a m , k e y b o a r d a n d n u m e r i c a l k e y b o a r d , a n d p la s m a d i s p l a y . C a s s e t t e ( w h i c h a p p a r e n tly s to r e s a n d r e tr ie v e s a r r a y s b y nam e w h e n c a lle d b y th e p r o g r a m ) i s $1500 e x l r a . RUNS ON B A T T E R I E S . S o r r y , n o g r e e n s t a m p s . (Note th a t t h e A PL p r o c e s s o r t a k e s u p m o st o f t h e 16 K , b u t y o u c a n g e t m o r e . )

Prt>cV S V r

0 ‘'3 r v - )

-7 .

□ u r

• - 'H ELP. I AM CAUGHT IN A LOOP1 1

Some sy m m e tr ie s I v e r so n h s s m anaged to come up w ith a r e tr u ly r e m a r k a b le . T h e a r r o w , f or I n sta n c e . T h e le ft a rro w :

A aaig nm ent sta te m ent; B (w hich m ay hav e b e e n com pute d d u r i n g Ih e le ftw a rd sc a n ) ia a s s ig n e d the name o f A:

On lin e 1 th e p r o g ra m p r i n t s o u t w h a l e v c r 's In q u o te s. And lin e 2 c a u s e s It to go b a c k a n d do lin e 1 a g a in . F o r e v e r .

frte

mn VL

a n d Ihe r lg h l a rr o w :

T h e Jump sta te m en t, w h e r e B (w hich may h a v e b e e n com ­ p u te d d u r i n g th e le ftw a r d s c a n ) Is a sta te m ent n u m b e r: th e p r o g ra m now go e s a n d e x e c u t e s th a t lin e .

II sh o u ld b e m e n tio n e d a t th is p o in t tha t b ra n c h in g te s t s a r e c o n d u c te d in APL p r o g ra m s b y sp e c if y in g c o n d itio n s w h ic h a r e e ilh c r tr u e or f als e, a n d A PL's a n s w e r is 1 if i r u e . 0 if f als e. (T h is is s n o lh e r th in g th e s e log ic a l a r r a y s a r e f o r . ) Exam ple:

CRASHING THE SYMBOLS TOGETHER

T h e o v e ra ll APL la n g u ag e , rea lly , la the c a r r y i n g t h r o u g h of th is nota tion to create an Im­ m e n sely p o w e r f u l p rog ram m in g la nguage. The im p e tu s o b v io u s l y came from the de sire lo make v a r io u s i n tr ic a t e m athematical operations easy to c o m m a n d. T h e r e s u l t , h o w ev e r, le a programming l a n g u a g e w ith g r e a t pow er for sim pler tasks as well.

When I v e r s o n s sslg n 6 on e -a ld ed an d twos id e d m e a n i n g s to a sy m b ol, often the two meanings m ay look n a t u r a l o n ly b e ca u se Iverson Is su c h sn a r t i s t . E xsm ple:

[■]

L og ical a r r a y e ; 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 ( th es e a r r a y s of o n e s s n d z e r o e s a r e c a lle d "lo gic al" fo r a v a rie ty of r e a s o n s ; In Ih ls caa e we c o uld c a ll them " lo g ic a l" sim ply b e c a u se th e y a r e u se d fo r p ic k in g a n d e ho oaln g a n d d e c i d i n g .)

ttts

REV

2 4 - 6 6 10 2040

S c a la r a r r a y s : 2 .5 -3 .1 4 16 0.0 01 2705333.1 (a e c s la r Is som e th ing th a l c a n b e m e a su r e d on a r u l e r - l t k e s c a le , w h e r e th e re a r e a lw ay s p o in ts i n b e tw e e e n .)

C H o ie e j o f m

I v e r s o n 's nota tion is built around the c u r io u s p r in c i p le o f h a v in g the same symbols mean tw o th in g s d e p e n d in g on c o n tex t. (Goodness k n o w s h e u s e s en o u g h d ifferent symbols; doubling u p s i le ast m e an s h e d o e sn ’t need any more.) It t u r n s o u t th a t ih ia nota tion r ep rese n tsT c on sisie ni s e r i e s o f o p e r a tio n s in a sto un ding combinations.

REV

□

M

A* In BASIC , y ou c an u s e s u b s c r i p t s to get a t s p e c if ic e lem en ts In a r r a y s . R e f e r r i n g to th e e x a m p le s a b o v e . If yo u typ e

Smvfoe MISlOoMbttfUt

3>2

T h is sy m m etry Is m y stica lly i n t e r e s t in g b e c a u s e the a saig n m en l a n d Jum p sta te m en ts a r e so b a s i c to pro g ra m m in g O r c o n s id e r this :

It w o r k s o n a r r a y s , sin g ly a n d In p a i r a . a c c o rd in g to th o s e fu n n y -lo o k in g sy m b o l s . a s th e APL p r o c e s s o r s e a n a r l g h t- to - le f t.

T h is o p e ra tio n le s v e s th e n u m b e r 1. b e c a u s e 3 is g r e a te r th a n 2. So yo u c o u ld b r a n c h o n a test w ith som e thing lik e

A n u m b e r o f b a sic APL o p e ra to r s h e lp yo u a tr e tc h . a q u le h a n d p u ll a p a r t y o u r a r r a y a . C o n sid er th e low ly comma (called " r a v e l , " w h ic h m eans t h e aam e a s " u n r a v e l " ) . •A

w hich b r s n c h e s to lin e 7 in th e p r o g ra m if A Is g r e a te r tha n B . a n d Is ig n o r e d (as a n u n e x ec u lab le b r a n c h to lin e z ero ) if B la g r e a t e r tha n A.

-> e/ a

f o rg e l A 's o ld d im e n s io n s , m ake It o n e -d lm e n a lo n a l. m ake A an d B on e long o n e -d im en sio n al a r r a y .

H ere la how w e m ake t h in g s a p p e a r a n d d is a p p e a r . ( " C o m p r e s s i o n .") A /B

A must be a o n e -d lm en a lo n al a r r a y o f on e s and t e r o e s . T h e r e s u l t l a t h o s e e le m e n ts o f B s e lec te d b y th e o n e s . Exam ple: 1 0 1 / c a 1 r e s u l ts In c t

T he o p p o s ite s l a s h h a s th e o p p o site e ff e c t. I n s e r tin g e x t r a n ull e lem ents w h ere th e re a r e zaroea: 1 1 0 l\3 r e s u l ts in 3 5 0 9

5 B

H e r e 's a n o th e r se le c to r . T h is o p e ra to r ta k e s th e f i r s t o r la s t few o f A. d e p e n d in g o n siz e and sig n o f B: Bt A an d B ^ A Is th e o p p o site. If y o u w a n l to know Ihe re la tiv e p o s itio n s of n u m b e rs o f d if f e r e n t s iz e s In s o n e -d im e n sio n a l a rra y . ^

p r in t X.

x«-n

IVERSON'S TAFF Y-PULL

A .B

□< - x

(nam e o f a r r a y )

w ill te ll y o u . It g iv e s y ou th e p o s it io n s . In o r d e r of s iz e , o f t h e n u m b e r s . And 4 d o e s It fo r d e s c e n d in g o r d e r .

T hese a re Just sam ples. The lin g o e s on

THE APL ENVIRONMENT A sid e from th e APL la n g u a g e its e lf , to p r o g ra m in APL y ou m ust le a r n a lo t of " sy ste m " c om m ands, a lp h a b e tic a l c om m a nd s b y w hic h lo tell t h e APL p r o c e s s o r w h a t y o u w a n t to do ln g e n eral — w hal to s to r e , w hat lo b r i n g forth from a to ra g e . a n d so o n. O rd in a rily yo u h a v e a w o r k s p a c e , a co lle c ­ tion o f p r o g ra m s a n d d a ta w h ic h y o u may summon b y nam e. When il c o m e s- - th a t i s . w h en th e com­ p u te r haa fetc h ed th ia m a te ria l a n d a n n o u n ce d on y o u r te rm in al lh a t It ia r e a d y - - y o u c an r u n the p ro g ra m s a n d u s e th e d a ta ln y o u r w o rk s p s c e . You c a n a lso h a v e p a s s w o r d s f o r y o u r d ifferen t w o rk s p a c e a , so o th e r s a t o th e r te rm in a ls c an no t ta m p e r w ilh y o u r stu ff. T hia i s not th e p ie c e to g o in to the sy ste m co m m and s. If y o u 'r e s e r i o u s , y o u c a n le a r n them from th e b o ok o r t h e APL s a le s m a n . T h e r e a r e m a n y . m an y d if f e r e n t e r r o r m e saa g es th a t th e APL p r o c e s s o r c s n se n d y o u . d e p e n d in g o n th e c ir c u m s t a n c e s . It Is p o a slb le lo m ake m a n y , m any m is ta k e s in APL. a n d th e r e a r e e r r o r m e s s a g e s for a ll o f I h e m . All of th e m , th a t I s , lh a t lo ok to th e c o m p u te r like e r r o r s ; If y o u d o so m e th in g p e r m i s s ib le th a t's n ot w h at y ou i n te n d e d , th e c o m p u ie r w ill not te ll y o u . But It is a te rm in a l l a n g u a g e . d e s ig n e d to h e lp p e o ple m u d d le t h r o u g h .

(one way of w ri t i n g . "Jum p lo A if B Is t r u e " ) Is a sp e cia l c a s e o f th e '' c o m p re s s io n " o p e r a t o r . ( B e rr y 360 p r i m e r . 72 a n d 16 5 .) T h is i s v e r y h a r d to u n d e r s t a n d , a lth o u g h it se em s c l e a r w h i l e y o u 'r e r e a d in g il. On Ihe o th e r h a n d , th e r e i s e v e r y in d i c a t i o n th a l APL la ao d e e p y o u k e e p f in d in g new t r u t h s i n i l . (L ike th e a b o v e p a r a g r a p h . ) T h e w h o le th in g is Just u n b e lie v a b le . H ooray fo r a ll t h a t .

APL FOR USER-LEVEL SYSTEMS (See "Good-G uy S y a te m e ." p .

)

B e ca u se APL c a n s o licit te x t Inp ut from a u s e r a n d a n a ly z e I t. th e la n g u a g e ia p o w erfu l fo r Ih e c re a ti o n of u s e r - l e v e l e n v iro n m e n ts a n d s y s te m s - - w ith the d r s w b a c k , u n i v e r s a l to a ll IBM te r m in a l s , th a t in p u l linea m u st e n d w ith s p e c if ic c h a r a c t e r s . In o th e r w o rd s , It c a n 't b e aa fully I n te r a c tiv e a s c o m p u te r la n g u a g e s th a t u a e ASCII t e rm in a ls . N ee d le ss to s a y . Ih e m athe m atica l e le g a n c e and p o w e r of the s y ste m Is com p le tely u n n e c e s s a r y fo r most u s e r - le v e l s y s te m s . But I t 's n ic e to know i t ' s t h e r e . APL Is p r o b a b ly b e s t f o r s y s te m s w ith w e ll-d e fin e d a n d s e g ­ r e g a te d fileB-* " a r r a y - t y p e p r o b le m s ," lik e p a y ro ll , a cc o u n ts an d s o o n . Il Is not s u ite d fo r m u c h l a r g e r a m o rp ho us and e v olutio na ry stu ff, the w ay lis t la n g u a g e s lik e TRAC a r e . D on't u se APL If y o u 'r e g o in g 10 s to r e la r g e e v o lv in g te x ts o r h u g e b ro k e r a g e data b a s e s , lik e w hal ta n k e r a a r e f r e e in th e M e d ite rran e an . T h e q u ic k e s t p ay oR may lie in u s in g APL to r e p la c e b u s in e s s form s s n d h a ate n the flow o f I n fo rm a tion th r o u g h a c o m p a n y . A sa le s m a n on the r o a d w ith an APL te r m in a l. fo r In sta n c e . c an a t once e n te r h is o r d e r s in th e c o m p u te r from the c u sto m e r's o ffice, c hecking in v e n to r y d i r e c t l y . If th e p r o g ra m i s u p ■

WHERE TO GET IT

ROUND («n o b sc u re a n d d onnish Joke) p , th e G re ek le tte r " rh o ," Is an APL operato r / for (eating th« else of a rr a y s . Whan used In the o ne -e lded form at. II f iv e s lha s it e s of e ach dim ension of an a r r a y . T hu s M . when A Is Is 2 2 . And now n 'YOUR BOAT' I equala 0, sin c e th e re a re 9 letters in the a rr a y 'YOUR BOAT': 'YOUR BOAT' Is 1, since p 9 la 1. and M 'YOUR BOAT' ' Is likewise 1.

*[;}]

If'

T h is la n gu ag e Is su p e rb for "scientific" program m ing, Inclu ding heavy n u m b er c ru n c h in g a n d exp er­ im entation with dif ferent formulae on small dale b a se s. (Big d sia ba ses s r e a p ro blem .) It Is a lso not b ad for s v a rie ty of simple b u sine ss a p p lic atio n s, suc h a s p a y ro ll, accounting, b illin g a n d In v en to ry .

PAST ANSWERBACK IN APL If you want quic k a n a w e rs. the APL term inal Just g iv e s you Ihe r e iu l t o f w hatever you typ e In. For In slsn c e. 3i 4

IBM d oe sn 't se ll APL s e rv i c e s . T h e ir time* sh a ri n g APL is a v a ila b le . h o w e v e r. from v a rio u s s u p p li e r s . Of c o u r s e , lh at meana you pro bably hav e to have an IBM-type te rm in a l. u n le ss you find a s e rv ic e lh at offers APL to Ihe o th e r h in d - - an add itio n whic h seem s to be becoming fashionable . Usual c h arg e la about te n bucke a n hour o>nnect c h a r g e , g lu e p ro c e ssin g , whic h de pends on w hai y o u 'r e ckilng. It can easily r u n o v e r $15 an h o u r , th ou gh , a n d more for heavy c ru n c h in g o r p r in to u t. eo watch I t. T h e aale sm an w ill come lo y o u r ho use o r o fn c e . ve rify th at y o u r te rm inal w ill w o rk (or te ll y o u w h ere you c an ren l o n e ) . p atiently show yo u how to sign o n . le ach you th e la n gu ag e (or maybe an h ou r if h e 's a nice g u y . sn d proffer ihe c o n tra ct. —^A P L s e rv ic e s a r e prob ab ly sa fe r lo sig n o n to . In lerm e of r is k e d e x p en se s. tha n moat oth er tim e - sh a rin g s y ste m s. (Though of co u rse ell tim e - sh a rin g Involves financia l r i s k . ) Because th e syste m is r e s tric te d only an d exactly to APL. y o u 'r e not pa ying for capabilities you w on 't be u s in g , o r for m assive d isk s to ra g e (which y o u 'r e not allow ed In moel APL a erv lce s a n y w a y ) . or for a c r e s of co re memory you mlghl b e temple d to f ill. —» ]n o th e r w o rd a . APL is a comparatively str a ig h t p rop ositio n, sn d h ighly recom mended if you ha v e a lol of tnalh o r sta tistics y o u'd like lo do on a fairly small n u m b e r of e s s e s . Also good for a v a rle ly of o the r th ln g a . th ou gh . Inclu ding fun . Different v e n d o rs offer in te resting v srlslio n s on IBM's baalc A P L \ 360 p ackag e, as note d b e lo w . In o th e r w o rd s. th e y \o m p e le with each olhe r in p a rt by a d ding fea tu res lo the baalc A P L \3 8 0 p r o ­ g r a m , v ying for y o u r b u sln e e s . Each of Ihe v e n ­ d o r s lis ted also o ffe rs v a rio us p ro gra m s In APL you can u se interactiv ely al an IBM-type te rm inal, In many c ase s u s in g a n o rd in ary lypeball and not se e in g the funny c h a r a c te r ! ; though how c le a r and e asy iheBe p ro gra m s a r e will v a ry . And r em e m b e r. of c o u rse , th at yo u can do y o u r own th in g . o r h a v e o lh e rs do II for y o u , u sin g APL. APL Is also a vailable o n the PD P-10. and presum ably o th e r non-IBM b ig m achines.

will cause It to p r in t oul 12

THE VENDORS and the same goes for far le aa com prehensible stuff like 1 ^ ^

^

? 1 2 3 4

(ca rria ge r e tu r n )

Scie ntific T im e -S h a rin g C orporation (7316 Wiscon­ s in A v e .. Belh eada MD 20014) call s He v e rsion A PL'PLUS. T hey 'll se n d you a nic e pocket c a r d summ ariz ing the commends.

ty pe d-ln array PROGRAMS IN APL But lhe -larg er function of APL Is lo create p ro g ra m s th a t ean be e to re d . named and c arried oul at a la te r lime. For t h i s . APL allow s you to define p r o g ra m s. a line al a tim e. The p ro g ra m s rem ain sto red In the system s s lo ng sb you w anl. Using the "Del” o p e ra to r ( V ) • you tell the system th al you wanl lo p u t In a p rog ra m . Del cauaes the te rm in al to help you alo ng In v a rio u s w a y s . A nic e feetu re is lh al you can lock y ou r APL p r o g ra m s, lh at Is, make them Inaccessible and u n rea d ab le by o lh e re . w hether Ihey are p ro g ra m m e rs o r n o t. In th la case y ou define a p rog ra m s ta r tin g w ilh ihe mystical sig n del-tlld e ( l ^ i ) Instead of del ( V ) • an d Invoke Ihe names of d a rk s p ir its .

APL, like BASIC, can b e c lassed a a a n "algebraic" la n g u a g e -- but ih le one la bulll to pleeee rea l mathematicians, wilh high -lev el stuff only th ey know abo u t, like Inn er an d O ute r Prod uc ts. P a rad o x ic ally , Ihls makea APL te rrific for teachin g the ae de ep e r mathematical c on ce pts, help in g y ou se e the c onsequences of o pe ra do ns and tha un d e rly in g s tr u c tu re of mathematical th ln g a . Matrla a la e b ra . for Insta nce , c an be v lau allced a lol b e tte r b y w orking u p to It w ith le ase r concepta (like v e ctors and Inn er p ro d u cts ) en acted on an APL te rm inal. It w ould b e really sw ell If eomeone would p u t to­ g e th e r a tou r-gu id e book of h ig h e r mathem­ a tic s a t the gTad e/h lg hschool level for people w ith access to APL. In te r e stin g ly . Alfred Bork (U. o f C a l. a t I rvin e) is tsk ln g a sim ilar approach to teachin g p h y s ic s , u sin g APL a a a fundamental la ng uage In his ph y sic s c o u rse s.

SNEAKY REPEATER STATEMENT IN APL? O ne o f th e APL o p e ra to r s . "lota" ( i ) . seeme lo make Its own pro gra m loop w ithin a line. When u se d o n e -sid ed , ll fu rn ish es a se rie s of a sce n d in g n um b e rs u p to lh e n um ber I t's operating o n . T h is u n til th e laat o n e la reach ed. You typ e : I n APL r e p lie s : 3

T 6 9

12

15

18

21

In o th e r w o rd s , o n e -sid ed lota looks to be d o in g Its ow n little lo op, Increasing Its sta rtin g nu m b er b y 1. u n til II g e ts to th e va lu e on Us r i g h t . a n d chug* o n down th e line with each. V ary sneaky way of d oin g a lo op. However! II isn 't rea lly loopin g, e x ac tly . What the Iota doea Is croa ie a one-dim ensional a r r a y . a row o f Integ ers from 1 u p lo th* n um ber o n Its r ig h t . T hla rea ult la what the n moves on le ftw a rd .

APL*PLUS offers o ver tw entyflve co ncentrators a ro un d th e c o u n try , p e r ­ mitting lo cal-call se rvice s In suc h m etr o­ politan c e n te rs aa Kalamazoo a nd R ochester. (Firms with offices In both c itie s . ple ase n ote.) T hey also have en "AUTOSTART" featu re w hic h perm lis Ihs c hainin g of pro­ gram s Into g r a n d comple xes, so you don't have lo call them all Individually. APL*PLUS charges the following for sto ra g e, if you can dig It: $10 PER MILLION BYTE-DAYS. (A byte Is usually one c h a r a c te r .) T he census Is pro bably taken o nce a d a y .

TERMINALS F o r an APL term inal, yo u m ight Juat w anl a 2741 from IBM (about a h u n d r e d a m o n lh . b u t on a y e a r c o n tra c t ) . O r se e Ihe lis t u n d e r " T erm in a ls" ( p . \ H ) . o r aak y o u r f rien d ly APL com pany when y ou s ig n u p . Tw o m ore APL te rm inals ■ m entioned he re Inste ad of u n d e r "T erm inals" fo r no apeclal reason: T ek tro n ix offers one o f ils gree n le g r a p h ic s term inals (Bee n ip sid e ) to r APL (the model 4013). T h is perm its APL to d raw p ic tu r e s for y o u . 11 seems lo be an ASCII-type u n i l . Com puter D evices. Inc. su pp ose d ly makes an an APL te rm in al u sin g the nic e NCR th erm al p r i n t e r . w hic h Is much faster a n d q u ie te r lh an a mechanical ty p e w rit e r . Spo o k ier, th o u g h . And lhe special pa p er coals a lo t of money.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Iverson h a s a formal bo ok . Ig no re ll un le ss y o u 'r e a mathematician: Kenneth E. Iverson. A Program min g L ang uag e. Wiley. 1662. Paul B e r r y . A P L \3 6 0 P r im e r . Slu dent T e n t. A vailable "thro ug h IBM b r a n c h o ffices." or IBM Technic al Publications Department. 112 East Post Road. While P lain s . NY 10601. No IBM p ub lication nu m b er on It. whic h Is so rt of o d d . 1966. - + T h ls Is o ne o f lhe most beautifully w ritte n , sim ple, clea r com pute r manuale lhat Is lo be found. Such a sta te ment may a stound r e a d e r s who have se en o lhe r IBM m a n u als, but I t's Iru e . A .D . Falkoff a nd K .E . I v e rso n . A P L \3 6 0 U sers' M anual, AIbo a vailable from IBM. no p ub lication num ber. POCKET CARDS (giving v e ry com pressed sum­ m a ries) a r e available from both: Scie ntific Time S h a r in g Corp. (see WHERE TO GET IT) Technic al Publications D e p t., IBM, 112 Eesi Post Road. While P lain s. N .Y . 10601. ABk for APL Reference Data card S210-0007-0. May cost a q u a r te r o r something. Paul B e r ry . A P L \ l l 3 0 P r im e r . Adeplcd from 360 m e n u al. Same p u b . Bui (o r v e rsion of APL th a t r u n s on the IBM 1130 minicomputer. Roy A . S y k e s . "The Use an d Mieuse of APL." $2 from Scientific T im e -S h a ring C o r p . , 7316 Wisconsin A v e .. Belheada MD 20014. A Joker for you msth ( re e k s. T re n c h a rd More. J r . . "Axioms and T heorem e for a T heory o( A r r a y s ." IBM J o u rn al o( Reach- 4 D evi. . MBi-ch 73. U S-157. T h is Is a h igh-le vel th in g , a so rt of m assiv e eel theory of APL. Intended lo make APL o p e ra to rs apply lo a r r a y s of a r r a y s , and le ad ultim ately to the prov ab ility o( p ro gram s. "Get o n T arg e t with APL." A sug ge stiv e c irc u la r sa les t h ln g y . IBM GS20-2439-0. IBM has a vid eota ped c ourse In APL by A ,J . Rose. (Done 1966.) £ ^ > W h a l you really need to gel elerted la B e r ry 's Prim er. Felkoff end Iv erso n 's m anual, an d a pocket c a r d . PIub of c ou rse lhe syetem an d the (riend to

T h is firm also se rv ice s ASCII te r ­ m in als. w hic h some people will con sider to b e a b ig h e lp . Thai means you can have Inte racli ve u a era of APL p rog ra m s at ASCII te rm inals, and that you ean also program from (he few APL terminelB lh at a r e n 't of th e IBM t y p e . Tim e Sha ring R e sou rce s. Inc. (17? N orthern B l v d .. Great N eck. N .Y . 11022) offers a lot of APL s e rv ic e . Includ ing text syetem s and verlo us k in ds of file hen d lln g , u n d e r lhe name TOTAL/APL. Among the Interesting featu res Time S h a rin g Reaourcee. Inc. have added ia a n EXECUTE command, whic h allow s an APL sir in g e n tered al the k e y bo ard In u a a r o n -lin e mode to be executed as alraig ht APL. T hla I b heavy. P e rh ap s the most v e re atile-a o un dlng APL se rvice rig h t now is offered b y . of all p e o p le . a su b sid iary of th e American Can Com pany. American Information Serv ices (Am erican Lane. G re enw ic h CT 06630) c alls Iheir v e rsio n VIRTUAL APL. meaning lh at It can ru n In " v ir tu a l mem ory"-- a p opula r mienomer for virtually unlim ited memory— and c onsequently lhe program m er Is h a rdly subje ct to spa ee lim itations at a l l . M oreover, f iles on th e A1S system a re com patible with o the r IBM la n g u a g e s, so you c an use APL lo iry things oul q uickly and th e n c o nv ert lo Fortran, Cobol o r w h atev e r. ( O r. c o nv ersely , a company may go from those o lh e r la nguages to APL wllhoul chang in g Ihe way th e ir files a re sto red on th is s e r v i c e . ) APL may Indeed In term it w ith th ese oth e r la n g u ag e s, how is u n c lea r. And th e p ric e s look especially good: $8.75 a n h o u r c o n n ec t. f IS a m onlh minimum (actu ally th e ir minimum d isk spa ce ren tal - - 1 IBM c y lin d e r — so for lhat am ount you get a lot of s to r a g e ) . But rem em ber the re a re etill c o re c h a r g e e , a nd $1 p e r thouaand c h a r a c te r s prin te d o r tr a n s fe rr e d lo sto ra g e. In the Weei. a b ig v e n d o r la P ro p rie tary Computer Syste m s. I n c . . Van N u y s. California.

Power a nd sim plicity do not oflen go t o g e th e r . APL Ib an extrem ely powerful language for methemallca, p h y sic s, sta tistic s , simulation a n d so o n . H ow ever, It Is not exactly sim ple. It's not easy to d e b u g . Indeed. APL p ro gra m s s r e h a rd to u n d e rsta n d becauee of th e ir d e n s ity . And th e APL language doea not fit ve ry well on

APL ia not Just a prog ram m in g lang uage. It le a lso u se d by some people a s a definition o r deecrlpllon la n g u ag e , th at la , a form of notation for sta lin g how thlnga w o rk (la w s of n a tu re , algeb raic sy ste m s, com pu lers o r w h s le v e r ) . For In sta n c e , w hen IBM's 360 compute r came o u l . Iv erson a n d his f rie n d s did a v e ry h lg h -clae a a rtic le d e s c r ib in g formally in APL Juat w hat 360s do (the m a chln e'e a rc h ite c tu r e ). Bui of c o u rs e th is w as e v en le s s com prehensib le lhan the 360 program m ing m a n u a l. Falkoff. A . D .. K .E . Iv erao n and E ,H . S u sae n gu lh . "A Formal Deecrtp don o f S yete m /3 60." IBM System s J o u r n a l. v . 3 no. 3, 1964. The form al de scrip tio n in APL. IBM System /3 60 O p eratin g System: A ssem ble r ta n g u a g e . Document Number C26-6S14-X ( w h e re X Is a num ber sig nify in g th e la te st e d itio n ) . IBM Technic al P u b lica tio ns, While Plalne New Y o rk . The M anual.

FAST-CHANCING DATA An a r r a y (a ls o c a ll e d a t a b l e ) la a se ctio n or co r. m

w

. 1 * * 0 » P W « ™ " • T h e r e i s s r g u m enl a s to w h e th e r TRAC L a n g u a g e ia a l is t- p r o c ­ e s s in g la n g u ag e .

T h e d s ta s tr u c tu r e c h o s e n g oe s a lo n g w ay in im p o s in g te c h n iq u e s a n d s ty l e s o f o p e r a tio n on Uie p r o g r a m .

H ere a r e some I n te r e s tin g s t r u c t u r e s th a t p r o g ra m m e rs c re a te b y lis t p r o c e s s in g :

O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , th e co m p u te r la n g u a g e you u s e h a s a c o n sid e r a b le efTect u po n t h e d a ta s t r u c t u r e s y o u may ch o o se. L an g u a g es t e n d to Impose s ty l e s o f h a n d lin g In fo rm a tio n . T h e d e c i­ sio n to p r o g r a m a give n p ro b lem in a s p e c if ic la n ­ g u a g e . s u c h a s BASIC o r COBOL o r APL o r TRAC L a n g u a g e . e ith e r locks y ou in to s p e c if ic ty p e s of d s ta s t r u c t u r e , o r e n e r is c o n s id e r a b le p r e s s u r e lo do it s c e r t a i n w a y . In most c ase a y ou c a n 't s e t It u p Ju st a n y w ay yo u w a n t, b u t h a v e to a d ju a t to Ihe l a n g u a g e y ou a re u s in g - - a ltho ug h to d a y 's la n g u a g e s te n d to allow more a n d m o re t y p e s of d a ta.

RINGS (o r c y c le s ) . T h e s e a r e a rr a n g e m e n ts o f p o in te r s th a t go a ro u n d in a c ir c l e to th e ir f irst item a g a in .

Note: By d e c e n t s t a n d a r d s Of E n g lis h , the w o rd da la sh o u ld be p lu r a l , datu m s i n ­ g u la r. Bul ihe m a tte r i s too far gone: d a ta is now u tte rly s in g u l a r , lik e " c o r n ” an d " in fo rm a tio n." a g r a n u la r co llective w hic h may b e sco o ped, p o u r e d o r co u n ted . But I d raw Ih e lin e al m e d ia . a re m a ny , "m edia" i s plural!

Media

" C om p ute rs p u t e v e r y t h i n g into p i g e o n h o le s .'' W rong. Pe op le p u t t h in g s into p i g e o n ­ h o le s. And d e s i g n e r s o f c o m p u te r p r o g r a m s c a n se t u p lo usy p ig e o n h o le s . If y o u le t 'e m . More s o p h is tic a te d p ro g ra m m i n g c a n often a v oid p ig e o n h o le s e n t i r e l y .

T RE E S. T h e s e a r e s t r u c t u r e s lh a t fan o u t . ( T h e r e a r e n o r in g s in a tr e e s t r u c t u r e , te ch n ica lly sp e a k in g .)

P l a i n l y . t h e n , It is th e s e o v e ra ll s t r u c t u r e s th a l w e r e a lly c a r e about; b u t to u n d e r s t a n d o v e r ­ all s t r u c t u r e s , we n e e d an Id ea o f all th e d ifferen t form s o f d a ta th a t may be p u t in th e m .

/ \

VARIABLES AND ARRAYS □ T h e e a r lie a t d a ta s tr u c t u r e s in c o m p u t e r s , a n d s ti ll th e p re d o m in a tin g o n e a , e r e v a r ia b le s a n d a r r a y s . (We met them e a r l i e r u n d e r BASIC , s e e {P-lfc-17' a n d A P L , s e e q . ) A v a r i a b l e i s a sp a c e o r lo catio n in c o re m e m ory. ( F o r c o n v e n ie n c e , m ost p r o g ra m m in g l a n g u a g e s allow th e p r o g ra m m e r to c all a v a r ia b le b y a n a m e , s o th a t h e d o e sn 't h a v e to k e e p t r a c k of ita n u m e r i c a l a d d r e a s .)

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GRAPH STRUCTURES ( so m e tim e s c alled p l e x e s ) . H ere the w o rd " g r a p h ” i s n ot u s e d in the o r d i n a r y w a y , to m ean a d ia g ra m m a tic s o r t o f p ic ­ tu r e , b u t to m ean a n y s t r u c t u r e o f c o n n e c te d p o in ts . R ing s a nd t r e e s a r e s p e c ia l c a s e s of g r a p h s tru c tu re s.

G ra p h s t r u c t u r e s c a n go a n y w h ic h w a y .

People w ho w a n t to feel With It o c ca sio n ally u s e th e te rm "bU " for a n y old c h u n k of in fo rm atio n , lik e a n am e o r a d d r e a s . T h i s is W ron g. A Bit i s th e s m a lle s t p ie e e of b in a ry I n fo rm a tio n , an Item lh a t c a n b e one of tw o th in g B , lik e h e a d s o r t a ils , X o r O , o n e o r ze ro ; a n d a ll o lh e r in fo rm ation c a n b e p a c k e d in to a c o u n tab le n u m b e r o f b i t s . (How many may d e p e n d o n t h e d a ta s t r u c t u r e c h o s e n .) A s a h a n d y r u l e of thumb: e v e r y le tte r of th e a lp h ab e t o r p u n c ­ tu a tio n m a rk la e ig h t b its (ae e ASCII b o x ) ; f o r h e a v y s to r a g e of e v er y d a y decim al n u m b e r s , e v e r y nu m e rica l d ig it c a n b e f u r t h e r p a c k e d d ow n (to f o u r b its in BCD c o d e ) .

A CONCRETE EXAMPLE. S u p p o s e we w an t to r e p r e s e n t th e g e n e a lo g y o f (he m o n a rc h s o f Eng* E n g la n d , bo f a r a s Is k n o w n . In a c o m p u te r da ta S t r u c t u r e . NOTE THAT A DATA STRUCTURE IS DIFFERENT FROM A PROGRAM: If s e v e r a l p r o g ra m m e re a g r e e b e fo r e h a n d o n a d a ta s t r u c t u r e . th e n ( h e y c a n go s e p a r a t e w a y s a n d e a c h c a n w rite a p r o g ra m (o d o so m e th in g d if f e r e n t w ith it— If th e y h a v e r e a lly a g r e e d o n a com plete a n d e x a c t la y o u t, w h ic h th e y may o n ly th in k th e y 'v e do n e . F i r s t we c o n s id e r th e s u b je c t m a tte r . G en ­ e alo g y Is c o n c e p tu a lly sim p le to u s , b u t a s d a ta i s n o l a s tr iv i a l a s It m ig h t se em a t f i r s t . E v ery p e r s o n h a s tw o p a r e n ts a n d a s p e c if ic d a te of b i r t h . Each p a i r o f p a r e n ts c a n h a v e m o re th a n o ne c h ild , an d In d iv id u a l p a r e n ts c a n at d iffe re n t tim es a h a r e p a re n th o o d w ith d if f e r e n t o th e r I n d iv id u a ls . P r e s u m a b ly we w o u ld like a d a ta s tr u c tu r e th a l allo w s a p r o g ra m to f ln d o u t w ho w as a g iv e n p e r s o n 's p a r e n t , w ho w e r e a g iv e n p e r s o n 'a c h il­ d r e n , w hat b ro th e rs a n d s iste rs each p e rso n h a d , a n d s im ila r m a tte rs (so f a r a s is kn ow n b y h is t o r ­ ia n s - - a n o th e r d if f ic u lty ). Note th a t Juat b e c a u s e It ia sim p le to p u t th is In form a tio n in a w all c h a r t , lh at d o e s n ot m ean ll la s im p le to f ig u r e out a n a d e q u a te d a ta s t r u c t u r e . N ote to o . th a l a n y a s p e c t o f th e d a ta w h ic h Is le ft o u t c a n n o t th e n b e h a n d le d b y Ihe p r o g r a m . W hat's n ot th e r e i s nol t h e r e . T h e e a s y w ay o u l Is to u se a la n g u a g e lik e , s a y , TRAC L an g u a g e , a n d u se Its b a s ic u n its (In t h is c a s e , "fo rm a 11) lo m ak e u p a d a ta s tr u c t u r e w h o se i n d iv i d u a l s e c tio n s w ou ld sh ow p a r e n ta g e , d a l e a , b r o t h e r s a n d s l a t e r s an d s o o n . T h e b r a v e r a p p r o a c h ie to tr y to a et it up f o r so m e th in g lik e FORTRAN o r BASIC, la n g u a g e s w h ic h t r e a t c o re m em ory m ore lik e a n u m e ric a lly a d d r e s s e d a r r a y o r b l o c k , a s doee ro ck -b otto m m a ch in e la n g u a g e . Let ue assu m e th a t we h a v e d e c id e d to u s e an a r r a y - t y p e da ta s t r u c t u r e , f o r In sta n c e to go w ith a p r o g r a m In th e BASIC la n g u a g e on a 16b lt m in ic o m p u te r . We d o not h a v e m u ch room in c o re m e m o r y , so for e ac h p e rs o n In o u r da ta s t r u c t u r e w e a r e g o in g lo ha ve to s to r e a s e p a ­ r a te r e c o r d on a d i s k m e m o r y , a n d call It into c o re m em o ry a s r e q u i r e d . A fte r m uch h e a d - s c r a t c h i n g , we m igh t come u p w ith so m e th in g lik e th e fo llo w in g . It la n o t a v e r y good d a la s t r u c t u r e . It la no t a v e ry g oo d d a la s t r u c t u r e o n p u r p o a e . It u s e s a bloc k o f 28 w o r d s , o r 448 b its , p e r i n d i v i d u a l , not c o u n lin g th e le n g th o f h is n a m e , w h ic h Is an a d d itio n a l 6 b its p e r c h a r ­ a c te r o r s p a c e . H o w e v e r, th is In I tse lf Is n e i­ t h e r go od n o r b a d . I t's more lh a n y o u might e x p e c t, b u t le s s th a n y o u m ight n e e d . ( I n c id e n ta lly , o ut o f c o n ce rn for sto r a g e s p a c e , some d a ta flelda s r e p a c k e d more th a n on e lo e 16-blt c o m p u te r w o rd . T h is Is s c o r n ­ f u lly c a lle d b it- f id d lin g b y c o m pu te rfo lk who w o rk o n b ig m a chln ea a n d d o n 't h a v e to w o rr y a b o u t s u c h m a tte r s .)

I n d iv id u a l's ow n (n am e ) m o ther f a th e r b ro th ers (u p to flv e)

sisters ( u p lo fiv e)

da le of l e t r e i g n , if any da te o f 2d r e i g n . If any female c h ild r e n . u p to flve

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P a r e n ts a n d c h ild r e n o f m o n a rc h a a r e in c lu d e d , a s w ell a s m o n a rc h a . All m o n a rc h s ha ve a s e p a r a t e m o n­ a rc h n u m b e r. No m o n a rc h r e ig n e d m o re th a n tw ic e . (?) No m o n a rc h o r p a r e n t of a m o n a rc h h a d m o re th a n flv e c h ild r e n of one sex . (Note th e d a n g e r o f th e s e a s s u m p tio n s .) We a r e no t i n te r e s t e d In g r a n d c h i l ­ d r e n o f m o n a rc h s u n le s s th e y a r e a lso m o n a rc h a . o r a lb lin g s . o r p a r e n t s o f m o n a rc h a . T h e in fo rm atio n a bo ut the d iffe re n t p e o p le c an b e I n p u t in an y o r d e r , a s th e y e a r s o f r e ig n c a n b e ste p p e d t h r o u g h b y a p r o g r a m lo And the o r d e r of re ig n . If th ia se em s lik e too much b o th e r , th a l is In a w ay the p o in t. D ata s tr u c tu r e s m ust be th o u g h t o u t . S in c e c o m p u le rs h a v e no I n tr in s ic w ay of o p e r a tin g o r of h a n d lin g d a ta (tho ug h p a r t i c u l a r la n g u a g e s w ill r e s t r ic t y ou in p a r t i c ­ u l a r w a y s ) , yo u w ill h a v e to w o rk a ll Ih ls o u t, a n d a c a r e l e s s l y c h o s e n d a la s t r u c t u r e w ill le a v e s o m e th in g o u t. o r fail to d is t in g u is h am o ng im ­ p o r ta n t d if f e r e n c e s , o r o th e rw is e h a v e Its r e v e n g e .

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A s e x p la in e d a l r e a d y . th a t w a s th e b a s ic b lo c k . We s till h a v e lo ke ep th e n a m es so m e­ w h e r e , In a s tr i n g a r e a . W h eth er lo k e e p th la I n c o re a ll th e tim e, o r on d i s k . Is a d e c isio n w e n e e d n 't g o Into h e r e .

m-MSN (riM on u ttW

evew term s

" T h e r a is a g r o w in g fee lin g th at d a ta p r o c e s s in g p e o ple w o u ld b e n efit if th e y w e r e to a cc ep t a r a d ic a l ly new p o in t of v ie w , on e th a t w ou ld lib e r a te Ihe a p p lic a tio n p r o g r a m m e r 's th in k i n g from the c e n tr a l is m o f c o re s t o r a g e a n d allow him th e freedom lo a ct a s a n a v ig a ­ to r w ith in a d a ta b a s e . T h la r e o r le n ta l lo n w ill c a u s e a s much a n g u is h am ong p r o g ra m m e rs a6 th e h e lio c e n tr ic th e o ry d id am on g a ncie n t a s tr o n o m e r s a nd t h e o lo g i a n s .” C h a r le s W. Bachm an (p iec e c ite d in B i b lio g r a p h y )

(F o r i n s t a n c e , if y o u h a v e n 't n o tic e d yel: we le ft o u t le g itim a c y . F o r many p u r p o s e s we w an t lo know w h ic h k i n g s w ere b a s t a r d s . ) (Self-teBl: i s flv e b its lo n g e n o u g h to e x ­ p r e s s Ihe g r e a te s t n u m b e r of m o nths a n y E n g lish m o n a rc h r e ig n e d ? - - se e " B in a ry P a t t e r n s . " O r do we h a v e to fix t h is d a ta s t r u c t u r e on th a t s c o re a lso ? )

R em em ber th e s o n g th a t had a p o in te r d a ta s tr u c tu re ? ( in a lp h a b e tic a l o r d e r )

T o g iv e yo u a s e n s e of the s o r t of p r o g ra m th is d a la s tr u c t u r e allow s: A p r o g ra m lo a s c e r t a in how many k in g s w ere th e s o n s of k in g s w ould look a l e ac h e n try th a t h a d a m o n a rc h n u m b e r , te at w h e t h e r th e m o n a rc h w as m a le , a n d i f m ale, w ould look al th e m ale p a r e n t 's s e r i a l n u m b e r. T h e n It w ould look u p lh a t p a re n t'B e n t r y , a n d se e w h e t h e r il in tu r n h a d a m o n a rc h n u m b e r , a nd if s o . add on e lo t h e c o u n t it w as m a k in g . T h e n il would go b a c k to the e n lry il h a d b e e n loo king a l. a n d s te p on to the o n e a fte r th a t.

ANKLE BONE BACK BONE FOOT BONE ----- > H t A U BONE HIP BONE KNEE BONE NECK BONE SHIN BONE SHOULDEII B< THIGH BONE

T h i s is a ctu a lly a p re tty lo u sy d a la s t r u c ­ t u r e . T h e c lu m s in e s s o f th is a p p ro a c h to s u c h d a ta - - a n d y ou a r e w elcome to th in k o f a b e tte r o n e - - s h o w s some o f Ih e d ifficu ltie s of h a n d lin g com plex d a la a bo ut th e r e a l w o rl d . T h in g s like le n g th s o f na m es a n d n u m b e rs o f r e la tiv e s p r o ­ d u c e g r e a t i r r e g u l a r i t i e s , bu t m ake th e s e k in d s of d a ta n o le s s w o rth o f o u r a tte n tio n . We c o uld a d d lotB o f th in g s to o u r da la s t r u c t u r e (a n d so m ak e il more u n w ie ld y ) . For , a e In x -s ta - (nl cbel, we m igh t w a n t to m a rk e ach s e r i a l n u m b e r sp e c ia lly if it r e f e r r e d to som eone w ho w as Ihe o f fs p r in g o f a m o n a rc h . We c ou ld s im ­ p ly s e l a p a r t i c u l a r b it to 1 in th e s e r i a l n u m b e r for th em (ca lle d a f la g o r la g ) . We c o u ld a lso fla g d a le s a n d g e n e a lo g ie s lh a l a r e r e g a r d e d a s u n ­ c e r ta i n . T h e r e is n o lim it lo th e e x a c tn e s s an d c o m p le x ilv w ith w h ic h in form ation may b e r e p ­ r e s e n te d , But d o in g ll rlg h l c a n . a s a lw a y s , b e tr o u b le so m e . A lo t o f c o m p u te r pe o ple w an l to avoid d e a li n g w ith c om plex d a ta ; p e r h a p s y ou c a n b e ­ g in to s e e w h y . o u t w e m ust d e al w ith lh e tr u e c o m p le x itie s o f in fo rm atio n ; th e re f o re la n ­ g u a g e s a n d s y ste m s lh a l allow c om ple x in fo rm a ­ tio n s t r u c t u r e s m ust becom e b e lte r - k n o w n a n d e a s ie r lo u s e . THE FRONTIER: COMPLEX FILE STRUCTURE

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H era a r e some a ae u m p tio n s 1 h a v e e m b od ied I n th ia d a la s t r u c t u r e . T h a t i s , I h a d th e m In m in d . ( T h e p a r t s y o u d i d n 't h a v e In m in d a re w h at get y o u l a t e r . )

T h e a rr a n g e m e n ts o f w hole f lie s— g r o u p s o f r e c o r d s o r o lh e r info c h u n k s - - s r e u p to th e p r o g r a m m e r . T h e s t r u c t u r e o f flleB I s c a ll e d , nol s u r p r i s i n g l y , file s t r u c t u r e , a n d It Is u p lo th e p r o g ra m m e r to d e c id e how hla file s sh o u ld be a r r a n g e d . H a b its d ie h a r d . T h e notion of s e q u e n c e - e v e n f a l s e , im p o s ed s e q u e n c e — Is d e e p In Ihe r a c ia l u n c o n s c io u s of c o m p u te r p e o p le . An i n t e r ­ e s t i n g c o n c r e te te rm sh o w s th is n ic e l y . B e ca use c o m p u te r p e o p le o f te n th in k an y file s h o u ld h ave a b a s ic s e q u e n c e , (h ey u s e Ihe te rm in v e r t e d f ile fo r a file th a t h a s b e e n c h a n g e d from its b a s ic s e q u e n c e (o a n o th e r s e q u e n c e . B ut in c r e a s ­ i n g l y , a ll th e s e q u e n c e s a r e fala e a n d a r ti f i c i a l . W here now a r e I n v e r te d flies? All flle a s r e In­ v e r te d If t h e y 'r e a n y th in g . F o r t u n a t e l y , th e f in al f ro n t ie r o f d a ta s t r u c t u r e la now I n c r e a s in g ly r e c o g n iz e d a s th e c o n tro l o f com plex s t o r a g e o f f lie s on d i s k mem­ o r y . T h e la te st fa n c y te rm f o r th is Is d a ta b a se s y a le m . m e an in g p la n n e d - o u t o v e ra ll s to r a g e lh al yo u c a n se n d y o u r p r o g r a m s to lik e m e s s e n g e r s . T h e facl th a t IBM now h a s moved in to th is a r e a (w ith Its I n tr ic a te " a c c e s s m e th o d s" a n d all t h e i r I n itia la ) m e an s c o m p lex s to r a g e c o n tro l has filia lly a r r i v e d , a lth o u g h th e p io n e e r in g w o rk w aa d o n e b y B achm an at GE som e y e a r 6 ag o (ae e b ib li o g r a p h y ) . T ill th e la s t few y e a r a , e x te r n a l s to r a g e , w ith p o in te r s a n d e v e r y th in g , h a s n o t b e e n c o n v e n ie n tly u n d e r the p r o g ra m m e r's c o n tro l e x c e p t in c r u d e w a y s . F inally we a r e s e e in g s y s te m s b e g in n in g lo ge l a ro u n d th a t a u to m a tic ally h a n d le c om plex file s t r u c t u r e s in v e r s a t i l e w ay s th a t p r o g ra m m e ra c a n u s e more e a s il y .

Malcolm C . H a r r is o n , D s ia -S tr u c tu r e s a n d P r o g r a m m in g . S c o n , F o r e sm a n . 1973. - » T h is book c a n be r ec o m m e n ded to a m b itio u s b e g i n n e r s . It h a s u se fu l s u m ­ m a ri e s o f d iffe re n t la n g u a g e s , a s w ell as fu n d am e n ta l tre a tm e n t of d a ta s t r u c t u r e s a s Ihey In te r tw in e w ith s p e c if ic ls n g u e g e s . An o b s c u r e a n d in tr ic a t e stud y of th e in t e r c h a n g e a b ility o f d a la s t r u c t u r e s - - how Ihey fu n d am e n ta lly in te r c o n v e r t— h a s b e e n th e lon gtim e r e s e a r c h o f one A nalol H o lt, who callB h is w o rk M e m -T h e o ry , Mem la from m e m o r y . a nd a ls o , c o n v e n ie n tly , s H eb rew l e tte r . T h is Is an e x tre m e ly a m bitiou s s t u d y , a s it in p r in c ip le e m b ra c e s n o l Ju s t m u ch o r a ll of c o m p u te r s c ie n c e , b u t p e r h a p s m a the m atics Itse lf. Math f r e a k s a tte n tio n : Holt h a s sa id he in te n d e d to d e riv e a ll of sy m b o lic logic a n d m ath em atics from r e la tio n a a n d p o in te r s t r u c t u r e s . L e t's h e a r It for t u r n in g R u ss ell on h is h e a d . I d o n 't know if Holt h a s p u b lis h e d a n y th in g on it in t h e op en l i t e r a t u r e o r n o t. H o w ev e r, h e d oe s h a v e a gam e a v a ila b le w h ic h se em s w e ird ly to em body th e s e p r in c i p le s . T h e game o f Mem Is a v a ila b le for $6.5 0 p o stp a id ($ 6 .8 6 to P e n n s y lv a n ia n s ) from S t e ll e d a r, I n c . . 1700 Walnut S t . . P h lla . PA 19103. It h a s b e a u ti fu ll y c o lo re d p le c e a , lo o ks d e c e p tiv e ­ ly s im p le , a n d Is u n lik e a n y th in g , e x c e p t d i s c r e t e a b a lr a c tiv e th in k in g its e lf . Recom­ m e n d ed . C h a r le s W. B a chm an. " T h e P ro g ram m er a s N av i­ g a t o r . " CACM Nov 1973. Bachm an w a s th e p rim e m o v e r In the d e v elo p m en t of l a r g e lin k e d d i s k d a la s y s ­ te m s at G e n e ra l E le ctric ; h e la th e P io n e e r. T h i s is a bout b ig n - d lm e n slo n a l s tu f f . D av id L efk o v itz. F ile S t r u c tu r e s to r O n-L in e S y s te m s . S p a r ta n - H a y d e n Bo ok s, $12. A lfonso F . C a r d e n a s . "E valu a tio n of File O r g a n ­ iz a t io n - - a Model a n d S y s te m ." CACM S e p 7 3. 540-548. Not s u r p r i s i n g l y , it t u r n s o ut th a l d if f e r e n t file o rg a n iz a t io n s h a v e d if f e r e n t a d v a n ta g e s . E d g a r H . Sibley a n d R o b e rt W. T a y l o r . "A D ata D efin it io n a n d M app in g L a n g u a g e ." CACM D ec 73. 750-759. E xam ple of c u r r e n t so p h is t ic a te d a p p ro a c h e s : a w h ole la n g u a g e fo r n a ilin g t h e d a ta Ju sl th e w ay it sh o u ld b e . H as h e lp fu l f u r t h e r c ita tio n s.

D a l a Is p u n c h e d Into c a r d s a c c o r d i n g to so m e p l a n a s s o c i a t e d w ith th e p r o g r a m . B e y o n d th o s e s im p le m a tte r s t h e r e I h no p r e o r d a i n e d a r r a n g e m e n t f o r In fo rm a tio n on a p u n c h c a r d ; It ail d e p e n d s on w h a l th e p r o g r a m c a l l s f o r - B ut e a c h a e P 8 r a le p i e c e o r se c ti o n o f I n f o r m a tio n - - e a c h b u n c h o f c o n s e c u tiv e c h a r a c t e r s t h a l t o g e t h e r h a v e a s p e c if ic m e a n i n g - - a re c alled a f ie l d . A f ie ld c a n b e a n a m e , a n u m b e r , an a m o u n t o f m o n e y , a n a lp h a b e tic a l c o d e r e p r e ­ s e n tin g so m e th in g , a n u m e rica l code r e p r e s e n t­ i n g s o m e th in g , o r o l h e r s tu f f . When th e c a r d s go Into t h e p r o g r a m , i h e p r o g r a m c an p ic k ofT th e In fo r m a tio n it n e e d a o n e f ie ld a t a ti m e — p u l l i n g t h e f ie ld ln c o lu m n s 1 lo 17 In to one p r o g r a m v a r i a b l e , t h e f ie ld from c o lu m n s n in e to te n Into a n o t h e r p r o g r a m v a r i a b l e , a n d so

T h e p u n c h c a r d i s a n I m p o r ta n t e x a m p le o f a n i n p u t u n it I n f l u e n c i n g th e s t r u c t u r e o f c o m p u te r p r o g r a m s , It I s c o n v e n ie n t lo u s e f ie l d s on a p u n c h c a r d a s I h e b a s i c d a t a s t r u c ­ t u r e o f a p r o g r a m a n d s a y . " T h a i ' s Ihe w a y it h a s to b e f o r th e c o m p u t e r . In t h e w o r s t c a s e s we s e e t h e w o r k i n g s o f th e " p u n c h c a r d m e n ­ ta lity " o r " 80- c o lu m n m in d " ( s e e b o x ) .

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D ata u s u a lly h a s to b e m a r s h a l l e d Into r o w s , o r e v e n r e g im e n ts a n d b a t t a l i o n s , be fo r e It c a n g o In to a c o m p u te r.

- * P e o p le w ill o f te n t h r u s t a p u n c h e d d a ta c a r d a t y o u s n d a s k , "W hat d o e s th i s m e an? " Who k n o w s? It m a y h a v e l e t t e r i n g b a n g e d a lo n g th e l o p . s h o w i n g w h a t c h a r a c t e r s th e h o le s r e p ­ r e s e n t . b u t If th e s e c h a r a c t e r s d o n ’t shqw a n y ­ th i n g u n d e r s t a n d a b l e , s u c h a s t h e p e r s o n ' s n a m e , y o u 'r e i n th e d a r K . T h e c a r d may h a v e p r e ­ p r i n t e d se c ti o n l i n e s d i v i d i n g it u p , b u l th e s e a r e r a r e l y s e l f - e x p l a n a t o r y . I t ' s o f te n Im­ p o s s i b l e J u s t to lo o k a t a p u n c h e d c a r d a n d te ll b y e y e w hal th e I n d i v i d u a l f ie l d s a r e f o r , o r e v e n w h e r e ih e y b e g i n a n d e n d ; a ll lh a l d e p e n d s o n th e p r o g r a m . O nly so m e o n e w ho u n d e r s t a n d s th e p r o g r a m , o r a l l e a s t k n o w s what f ie l d s Ihe c a r d i s d i v i d e d Inlo a n d w hal t h e c h a r a c t e r s r e p r e s e n t t h e r e , c a n h e lp .

(So m e p e o p le Ju s t g e t t h e i r d a t a i n to a c o m p u te r b y s it tin g a t a te rm in a l s n d ty p i n g it I n . p e r h a p s a n s w e r in g q u e s tio n s t y p e d to them b y a f r o n t - e n d p r o g r a m . But t h e y 'r e th e lu c k y o n e s . Most o f u s h a v e lo ge l th e d a t a s e l up on so m e Kin d o f h o ld in g s u r f a c e b e f o r e i l g e ts fed I n . T h a t 's an I n p u t m e d iu m . ) DATA MEDIA A d a l a m edium ( "m ediu m " Is t h e s i n g u l a r o f " m e d i a " ) Is a n y th in g th a l h o ld s Ihe m a r k s of d a ta o u t s i d e Ihe c o re m em ory of a c o m p u i e r . T h u s p u n c h e d c a r d s a n d p u n c h e d p a p e r lape may b e u s e d aa In p u t m e d i a . u s e d f o r p u tti n g In fo r m a tio n Into a c o m p u te r. (E ach m e diu m n e e d s a c o r r e s p o n d i n g I n p u t o r o u tp u t d e v i c e , to w h i s k a c r o s s th e a u rf a c e a n d I r a n a l a le it s m a r k s o r h o le s Into t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g e le c tr o n ic p u lse s.)

MAGNETIC STORAGE T h e s e m e p r i n c i p l e of fie lds applies in o t h e r d a ta m e d ia , e s p e c ia l ly magnet ic ta pe and d i s k . We m ay e x t e n d th e notion of a field to e x p la i n r e c o r d s a n d f ile s . A f i e l d , g e n e r a ll y s p e a k i n g , Is a section of p o s i t i o n s o n so me mediu m r e s e r v e d for one p a r t i c u l a r p ie c e o f in f o r m a t io n , o r lha data In || , A r e c o r d i s a b u n c h of fie lds stored on som e m e diu m w h ic h h a v e so me organiz ed use. ( F o r I n s ta n c e , t h e a c c o u n tin g Information held b y a n e l e c t r i c u til ity com pany a bout a particula r c u s to m e r Is lik e ly to b e s to r e d a s a r ec o rd with a t l e a s t th e s e fie l d s : a c c o u n t n u m b e r; Iasi name; I n itia ls ; a d d r e s s ; a m o u n t c u r r e n t l y ow ed.) A Ole i s a w h o le b i g com ple te b u n c h of in f o r m a tio n lha l Is Bt o re d s o m e p la c e . In many a p p lic a ti o n s a file I s co m p o sed o f num ero us s i m i l a r , c o n s e c u tiv e r e c o r d s . F o r I nsta nce, a n e l e c t r i c c o m p a n y m a y well s to r e ihe re c o rd s f o r a l l o f i t s c u s to m e r s o n a m a g n etic la p e, o r d e r e d b y a c c o u n t n u m b e r ( ac co u n t 000001 firs t). S t o r i n g s e q u e n c e s of sim ila r r e c o rd s In lo n g f ile s is ty p ic a l o f b u s i n e s s p r o g r a m s , th o u g h p e r h a p s t h i s sh o u ld b e g in lo change. I t 's e s p e c ia l ly s u i t e d to b a tc h p r o c e s s in g , t h a t i s , h a n d lin g m a n y r e c o r d s In ihe same w ay a t th e sa m e tim e . (S e e " S y ste m P ro g r a m s.") N ow , th e d i v i s i o n s o f f i e l d , r e c o r d and f ile a r e c o n c e p tu a l: th e y a r e w h a t th e p r o g ra m ­ m e r t h i n k s a b o u t, b a a e d on th e Information n e e d s o f a s p e c if ic c o m p u te r p r o g r a m . ftt-t

So m etim es , in d i s m a l s y s te m s w e e n c o u n ­ t e r d a y - t o - d a y — l ik e f o r u n i v e r s i t y r e g i s t r a t i o n — a p u n c h c a r d w ill h a v e a p e r s o n ' s n a m e in t h e f ir s t few c o l u m n s , o r w o r s e , s p e r s o n a l s e r i a l n u m b e r . O t h e r In fo r m a tio n c o n tin u e s fro m t h e r e . T h e s e m a y o r m a y not b e r e c o g ­ n iz a b l e . e i t h e r fro m r e a d i n g th e h o le s by e y e , o r from d e s i g n a t i o n s p r e - p r i n t e d on th e c a r d .

T h e r e a r e th r e e t y p e s of d a ta m edia ; In p u t, o u t p u t a n d s to r a g e m e d ia . A n in p u t m e d iu m c a r r i e s th e d a la I n . A n o u tp u t m ediu m r e c e i v e s th e r e s u l ts o f a p r o g r a m ; f o r i n s t a n c e , a s h e e t o f p a p e r coin in g o u t o f a p r i n t i n g d e v ic e Is a n o u t p u t m ed iu m , a s Is a p u n c h e d c a r d o r p u n c h e d p a p e r tap e.

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S t o r a g e media a r e o u tp u t m e d ia t h a t may be u s e d a s in p u t media la t e r o n . T h u s p u n c h e d c a r d s a n d p u n c h e d p a p e r la p e c a n b e s to r a g e m e d ia . B u l Ih e b e t t e r s to r a g e m e dia u s e m a g ­ n e tic r e c o r d i n g (w h ich Is f a s t e r a n d l e s s b u l k y ) , lik e m a g n e t ic ta p e a n d d i s k s , o r Ju s t p la in " d i s k s " a s w e g e n e r a ll y call the m . (S e e f u lle r lis t o f m a g m e d ia u n d e r " P e r i p h e r a l s . " p . 5 7 ■)

BLOCKS A b lo c k Is s o m e th in g e l s e , w h ic h may b e r e la te d o n ly lo q u i r k s o f ih e s it u a ti o n . A b lo c k i s a s e c tio n o f s t o r e d m a te r ia l, d iv id e d e i t h e r a c c o r d i n g to th e d i v is io n s of th e d a la o r p e c u li a r itie s o f th e d e v ic e h o l d i n g i t , s u c h a s a d i s k d r i v e . S h o r t r e c o r d s m ay b e s t o r e d m a n y to a b lo c k . If r e c o r d s a r e lo n g th e y m ay b e made u p o f m a ny b lo c k s .

T h e u n i t s a n d a r r a n g e m e n ts of d a l a u s e d fo r i n p u t . o u tp u t an d s to r a g e a r e In p r i n c i p l e n o t n e c e s s a r i l y ih e tr u e o n e s of th e d a l a s t r u c t u r e u s e d b y th e p r o g r a m . T h e b lo c k s a n d r e c o r d s o f s t o r a g e , f o r i n s t a n c e , may h a v e i r r e g u l a r d a ta w i t h p o in le r e sit tin g in th e m . ( U n f o r tu n ­ a te ly t h e r e i s so m e c a r r y o v e r , in t h a t p r o g r a m ­ m e r s a r e te m p te d to u se d s t a s t r u c t u r e s w h ic h a r e e a s y lo s lo r e a n d r u n in a n d o u t . r a t h e r th a n h a n d l i n g th e tr u e co m p le x itie s o f t h e s u b ­ je c t . T h i s i s a lw a y s a te m p ta tio n .)

ASCII c o d e . You c a n f i g u r e o u t from th e ta b le th e b ll p a t t e r n f o r a n y l e t t e r , o r w h a l a n y g iv e n c o m b in a tio n of s e v e n b its

L et u s c o n s i d e r th e u n its a n d a r r a n g e m e n t s □ f d a ta u s e d l o r In p u t a n d o u tp u t a n d s t o r a g e . T h e s e a r e , r e s p e c t i v e l y , f ie l d s , r e c o r d s , f lie s an d b lo c k s .

E x a m p le . F i n d i h e c a p it a l le t t e r G In th e ta b le . F o r t h e f i r s t t h r e e b i t s o f the c o d e , look s t th e top o f t h e colu mn: 100. F o r th e n e x t f o u r , look s i d e w a y s lo th e left; 0111. So G Is; IOOOIU.

THE PUNCH CARD

- ♦ I n p a r t i c u l a r , tape b lo c k s c a n b e a lm o st a n y s iz e , w h ile d is k b lo c k s ofte n h a v e a c e r ta i n fix e d siz e ( n u m b e r of c h a r a c t e r s o r b i t s ) b a s e d o n th e p e c u li a r itie s of Ihe I n d iv id u a l d e v ic e . ( T h is c an be a p a in In th e n e c k . ) On t h s o th e r h a n d , d u e to. th e q u i r k s of m a gnetic r e c o r d i n g , y o u r p r o g r a m u s u a lly c a n ’t Just c h an g e som e th in g in th e m id d le o f a b lo c k ; th e whole d is k block o r ta p e file h a s to b e r e ­ p la c e d . T h is Is le s s t r o u b le w ilh a s h o r t d is k b lo c k lhan a lo n g tape file.

L e t 's b e g in w ilh a fun e xam ple; th a t h o a r y o ld m e d iu m for i n p u t a n d o u t p u t , th e pu n c h ed (or "p u n ch ") c a r d . T h e p u n c h c a r d w ill s h o w u s w h at a field i s . T h e p u n c h c a r d Is g e n e r a ll y b e l i e v e d lo h a v e b e e n I n v e n te d b y H erm an H o lle rith ( a l­ th o u g h t h e a u t h o r ' s I n -l a w s h a d b i t t e r r e c o l l e c ­ tio n s io th e c o n t r a r y ) . It w a s f ir s t u s e d o n a b r o a d s c a le to c o u n t u p th e c e n s u s o f I9 6 0 , a n d la t e r b e c a m e a n e a r ly c o r n e r s t o n e o f IBM, b u t t h a t’s a n o t h e r s t o r y . T h e p u n c h e s o n a c a r d r e p r e s e n t s row o f In fo r m a tio n ( s u c h aa a row o f ty p e d l e t t e r s ) , th i s la n o t o b v io u s b e c a u s e th e c a r d la a r e c ­ ta n g le r a t h e r lh a n a li n e . H o w e v e r, t h e le n g th o f ih e c a r d 1b a c tu a lly d iv id e d in to e i g h t y p o sl b o n a , e a c h o f w h ic h may h o ld o n e n u m b e r , a lp h a b e tic c h a r a c t e r o r p u n c tu a t io n m a r k . T h e s e p o s it io n s a r e a c tu a lly n a r r o w c o l u m n s , e ig h ty o f th e m , w ith d if f e r e n t p o s it io n s I n w h ic h h o le s m a y b e p u n c h e d . O ne ho le In a c o lu m n r e p r e s e n t s a n u m e ra l; w h ic h p o s itio n i n th e co lu m n s p e c i f i e s w h a t n u m b e r . T w o h o le s In a c o lu m n g e n e r a l l y mean a le tte r of th e a l p h a b e t , th r e e h o le s i n a c o lu m n m e an a p u n c tu a t io n m a rk .

TRADITIONAL CONVEYER-BELT PROGRAMS Many tr a d i tio n a l b u s i n e s s p r o g r a m s a r e o f t h i s t y p e , r e a d i n g In o n e d a la r e c o r d a t a tim e , d o in g s o m e th in g to it (Buch a s n o tin g t h a t a n in d iv i d u a l h a s p a id t h e e x a c t a m o u n t o f h i s g a s ) a n d w r i t i n g o u t a n e w r e c o r d f o r t h a t c u s to m e r o n th e c u r r e n t m o n th ’s t a p e . THE PROBLEM

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tfc K*$IC OFMTA How d o e s a c o m p u te r p r o g r a m p r i n t so m e th in g o u t o n a p r i n t i n g m a ch in e? It s e n d s t h e c o d e f o r e a c h le tte r o u t to th e p r i n t i n g m a c h i n e . How d o e s a c o m p u te r p r o g ra m r e s p o n d to s o m e th in g a u s e r ty p e * in? II c o m p a r e s th e c o d e s th a t com e in from t h e l e t t e r s h e ty p e s w ith a s e r i e s o f c o d e s I n m e m o r y . a n d w h en it B n d s a m a tc h b e tw e e n l e t t e r s , n u m b e rs , w o rd s o r p h r a s e s , b r a n ­ c h e s to t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g a c ti o n . How d o e s a c o m p u te r p r o g ra m m e a s u r e so m e th in g ? ft ta k e s in n u m e ri c a l c o d e s from a d e v ic e w h ic h h a s a lr e a d y m a d e th e m e a s u r e m e n ts a n d c o n v e r te d th e m to c o d e e .

I F V bU W A N T H 0 t \ 5 t K 5 , WE G 0 T T h e b a s ic k i n d s o f n u m b e r o p e r a tio n s w ir e d in to aU c o m p u te r s a r e few ; J u s t a d d (a n d so m e tim es s u b t r a c t ) b i n a r y n u m b e r s . H o w e v e r, u p a b o v e t h e m in ic o m p u te r r a n g e , a c o m p u te r may h a v e m u lt ip ly , d i v i d e , a n d m o r e . P a n d e r c o m p u te rs o f fe r m ore ty p e s a n d o p e r a tio n s o n th e m . PLAIN BINARY-* V e r y im p o r ta n t f o r c o u n ­ ti n g . R e p r e s e n ts n u m b e r s aa p a t t e r n s o f l ' s a n d 0 's ( o r X 's an d O h s . if y o u p r e f e r ) . How to h a n d le n e g a tiv e n u m b e rs ? T w o w a y s; TRUE NEGATIVE— b i n a r y n u m b e r w ith a s i g n b it a t th e b e g i n ­ n i n g , follow ed b y th e n u m b e r .

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C o d e s a r e p a l l e m e o r s y m b o ls w h ic h a r e a s s ig n e d m e a n i n g s . Som etim es we m ake u p s p e c ia l c o d e s lo c u t d o w n Ih e s m ount o f in f o r m a tio n tha t h a s to be s t o r e d . On y o u r d r i v e r ' s L ic ense, f o r i n s t a n c e . Ihey m ay r e d u c e y o u r h a i r c o lo r lo on e d e cim al d ig i. ( fo u r b its o f in f o r m a t io n ), s in c e t h e r e a r e le a s lh a n n in e p o s s ib i liti e s fo r q u ic k id e n tif ic a ti o n of h a ir - c o lo r a n y w s y . O b v i o u s l y . c o d e s c a n b e an y d a r n thing*, an y s e l o f s y m b o ls lh a t i s l e s s th a n w h a i y o u s t a r t e d w i t h . But b y c o m p re a s ln g In fo rm a tio n th e y lose in f o r m a tio n , s o th a t s u b tl e ti e s d is a p p e a r ( c o n s i d e r th e u s e of le lte re A lo F to g r a d e s t u d e n t s ) . When y ou d iv id e a c o n tin u u m in to c a t e g o r i e s , not Ju st lh e f e w n e s s o f th e c a t e g o r i e s , b u t the p la c e s y o u d r a w th e lin e - - c a lle d " b r e a k s " o r " c u t l l n g - p o i n t s " - - p r e s e n t p r o b le m s . Suc h c h o p p in g f re q u e n t ly b l u r s o u l I m p o rtan t d i s ­ tin c tio n s . C o d in g Is a lw a y s a r b i t r a r y , f r e ­ q u e n tly d e s t r u c t i v e a n d s t u p i d .

Lola o f w a y s now e x i s t to h a n d le w r i t­ te n In fo rm a tio n b y c o m p u te r. T h e s e often p r e s e n t b e t t e r w a y s lo o p e r a te lh a n b y u s in g c o d e s of t h i s ty p e . Bui m a n y c o m p u te r p r o ­ g r a m m e r s p r e f e r to m ake y o u u s e c o d e s . (NOTE: t h e r e s r e tw o o th e r s e n s e s o f " c o d e ” u s e d h e r e a b o u ls : 1) th e b i n a r y p a t ­ t e r n s m ad e to s ta n d for a n y I n fo r m a tio n , e s p e c ia l ly on in p u t a n d o u tp u t; 2) w h a t c o m p u te r p r o g r a m s c o n s is t o f. lh at i s , lin e s of c o m m a n d s .)

"L o gica l d e d u c ti o n " r e a lly c o n s is ts of te c h ­ n iq u e s f o r f in d in g o u l w h a t 's a lr e a d y i n a d a la s t r u c t u r e . "L o gica l I n c o n s i s te n c y " m e a n s a da ta s t r u c t u r e c o n tr a d ic ts i t s e l f . R a r e ly d o e s It h a p p e n I J u t • c o m p u te r h e lp s y o u d is c o v e r so m e th in g n e w a b o u t a su b je c t th a l y o u d i d n 't s u s p e c t o r s e e c o m in g w ith o u t lh e c o m p u te r; a fte r a l l . y o u h a v e lo s e l u p a stu d y In s u c h a w a y a s to m a k e room to find th in g s o u l . a n d y o u c a n o n ly m ak e ro om to f in d some t h i n g s o u l .

ptw£Hew& nmw'rf P u n c h c a r d s a r e n o t in lr in s l c a U y e v il. T h ey h a v e s e rv e d many u se fu l p u r p o s e s . B ut t h e p u n c h - c s r d m e n ta lity i s s till a r o u n d . T h i s w ill b e s e e n In (he p r o g r a m m e r w ho h a b itu a lly s e t s t h in g s u p s o w e h a v e to u se p u n c h c a r d s ( w h e n o t h e r m e d ia , o r I n t e r ­ a c ti v e t e r m i n a l s , w o u ld b e b e t t e r ) ; w h o in ­ s i s t s o n t h e u s e r o r v ic tim p u tti n g d o w n n u m b e r s ( w h e n w ith a lit tle m ore e ff o rt th e p r o g r a m c o u ld h a n d le t e x t , w h ic h i s e a s ie r t o r t h e h u m a n , o r e v e n lo ok u p lh e I n fo r ­ m ation in d a ta It h a s a l r e a d y ) ; w h o I n s is ts t h s t p e o p le ’s l a s t n a m e s b e c u t do w n to e le v e n l e t t e r s b e c a u s e h e d o e s n 't fee l lik e l e a v i n g a lo n g e r f ie ld o r h a n d lin g e x c e p tio n s i n h i s p r o g r a m ; w h o I n s is ts o n Ihe o u t s i d e r c u t t i n g h i s in fo rm atio n in to s n a r f y lit tle c o d e s , w h e n s u c h d i g e s t i o n , i f n e e d e d a t a l l , c o u ld b e b e t t e r d o n e b y th e p r o g r a m ; a n d s o o n . T h e p u n c h c a r d m e n ta lity i s r e s p o n s i b le f o r m a n y o f t h e w o e s th a t h a v e b e e n b la m e d on " c o m p u te rs ."

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F o r h is t o r i c a l r e a s o n s c o m p u te rs h a v e b e e n u s e d m o s t ly w ith n u m b e r s u p to now ; b u t lh a t i s g o i n g to b e t h o r o u g h ly t u r n e d s r o u n d . W ith in a few y e a r s t h e r e may b e m o re t e x t — w r i t t e n p r o s e a n d p o e t r y — s t o r e d o n c o m p u te r s lh a n n u m b e r s . D u r i n g t h e r e c e n t m a s s iv e la w s u it by C o n tro l D a is a g a in s t IBM. ll w a s r e v e a le d lh a t IBM h a d a n a w e so m e n u m b e r o f le tte r s a n d c o m m u n ic a t io n s s t o r e d o n m a g n e tic m em ory.

W hen I liv e d in New Y o r k , I h a d a d r i v e r ' s l i c e n s e w ilh ih s s t a g g e r i n g s e r i a l num ber NO 5443 12903 3 -41 21 -3 7 Now i t m a y v e r y w ell b e . a s In some s e r i a l n u m b e r s , th a t In fo rm a tio n is h id d e n in t h e n u m b e r th a t I n s i d e r s c a n d o p e o u t. lik e m y c r im i n a l r e c o r d o r au to m o b ile a c c i­ d e n t s , If a n y . (N Is my in i t i a l , a n d two o f th e d i g i t s s h o w my d a te o f b i r t h , a h a n d y c h e c k a g a i n s t a lte ra tio n b y t h i r s t y m in o r s . B ut th e r e s t o f it Is r id ic u lo u s .) T h e fsct th a t th a l l e a v e s 15 m o re d e cim al d ig i t s m eans ( if n o o t h e r c o d e s a r e h id d e n ) lh a l New Y ork S la te h a s p r o v i s i o n in t h e i r lic e n s e n u m b e r i n g f o r u p lo 9 9 9 .9 9 9 . 9 8 9 , 9 9 9 . B99 I n h a b it a n ts . It i s d o u b tf u l th a l t h e r e w ill e v e r b e lh a t m an y N ew Y o r k e r s , o r I n d e e d th a l m any h u m a n b e i n g s w h ile th e s p e c ie s e n d u r e s . In o t h e r w o r d s , e i t h e r New Y ork S tate Is p l s n n l n g on h a v in g m a n y , m any m o re o c c u p a n t s , o r a n a w fu lly in e ffic ie nt co de h a s b e e n a d o p te d , m e a n in g a lo t of m e m o ry s p a c e Is w a ste d h o ld in g tho se s il ly b i g n u m b e r s f o r m illio n s o f d r i v e r s . H o w e v e r, l h a t d o e s n 't r e p r e s e n t a lo t o f m o n e y . 10 m illio n d e cim al s p a c e s th e s e d s y s f its o n s c o u p le o f d i s k d r i v e s . Bui I t 's a n a w f u l p a in In t h e n e c k w h e n y o u w a n t lo c a s h a c h e c k .

i^ut m CUTfUT D ata h a s to g e t I n s id e Ih e m a ch in e so m e h o w , a n d r e s u l t s h a v e to g e t b a c k o u l. T w o m a in ty p e s of c o d e s - - th a t I s , s t a n ­ d a r d i z e d p a t t e r n s - - e x i s t , a lth o u g h w h s l fo rm s o f d a ta p r o g r a m s w o rk o n in s i d e v a rie s c o n sid e ra b ly . ( T h e I n p u t d a ta c an b e c o m p le te ly tr a n s fo r m e d b e f o r e I n te r n a l w o rk a l a r t s . )

o r s m a lle r th a n .00000001234S67 F o r some p e o p le e v e n t h is i s n ' t p r e ­ c is e e n o u g h , s o I h sy p r o g r a m u p " in f in ite p r s c l s l o n a r i t h m e t i c ." w h ic h c a r r i e s o u t a rith m e tic to a s m any p la c e s a s th e y w a n t. II la k e s m ue h l o n g e r , th o u g h .

WHAT'S AVAILABLE IN MACHINES AND LANGUAGES Som e m a c h i n e s . lik e th e 360 . a r e m o r e - o r - l e s s w i r e d u p lo h a n d le s e v e r s l n u m b e r ty p e s : b i n a r y , f lo a tin g p o i n t , BCD. L ittle m a c h in e s u s u a l l y o n ly h a v e p la in b i n ­ a r y . s o o t h e r ty p e s h a v e to b e h a n d le d b y p r o g r a m s b u ilt u p from th a l fu n d am e n ta l b in a ry . L a n g u a g e s m a k e u p f o r th le b y p r o v i d i n g p r o g r a m s to h a n d le n u m b e r s in s o m e o r a ll o f t h e s e f o rm a ts. T h e r e a r e l a n g u a g e a th a t o f fe r e v e n m o re k i n d s of n u m b e rs-IMAGINARY n u m b e rs (tw o -p a rt n u m b e rs f o llo w in g c e r t a i n r u l e s ) QUATBRNIONS (U ke I m a g in a r y n u m b e r s b u t w o rs e) a n d goo d n ess know s w hat e lse . O n lhe o t h e r h a n d , so m e la n g u a g e s r e s t r i c t w h a t n u m b e r f a c ilitie s a r e a v a il­ a b le fo r s im p li c i t y 's s a k e . B A 9 IC , for i n s t a n c e , d o e s n 't d i s t i n g u i s h b e tw e e n i n t e g e r s (c o u n ti n g n u m b e r s ) a n d th o s e w ith d e c im a l p o in ts ; a ll n u m b e r s m ay h a v e d e cim al p o in ts . TRAC L a n g u a g s o nly g i v e s y o u I n t e g e r s to s t s r t , s in c e I t 's e a sy e n o u g h to p r o g r a m o th e r k i n d s o f n u m b e r b e h a v i o r In ( lik e in f in it e p r e c i s i o n ) .

1. A SCII ( p r o n o u n c e d " A s k e y ," A m e ric a n S t a n d a r d C od e fo r I n fo rm a tio n E x c h a n g e . T h i s allo w s a ll th e k i n d s o f n u m b e r s a n d a lp h a b e ts y o u c o u ld p o s s ib l y w a n t (fo r in s t a n c e , S w a h ili) f o r g e ttin g I n fo rm a tio n In a n d o u t o f c o m p u te r s . ASCII i s u s e d lo a n d from m ost T e l e ty p e t e r m l n s l s a n d k e y s c o p e a . H o w e v e r , ASCII Is a ls o u s e d for I n t e r n a l s t o r a g e o f a lp h a b e tic a l d a la In m a n y no n -IB M s y s te m s , a n d lt Is a ls o the r u n n i n g f o rm o f a n u m b e r of p r o g ra m m i n g l a n g u a g e s , s u c h a s TRAC l a n g u a g e (see p . \ 3 ) , TBCO a n d GRASS (see p .* 3 i) . IB M 's d e lib e r a te u n d e r m i n in g o f the A SC II c o d e Is a s o u r c e o f w i d e s p r e a d a n g e r . (S e e IB M , p . 5*2..) 2 . EBCDIC ( p r o n o u n c e d " E b s a d lc k , " ) E x te n d e d B i n a r y C od e d D ec im a l. T h i s w as th e c o d e IBM b r o u g h t o u t w ith th e 360, p a s s i n g A SCII b y . (IBM s e e m s to th in k of c o m p e t lb llll y a s a p r i v i l e g e th a t m u sl be e a r n e d , i . e . . p a id f o r . ) EBCDIC a lso a l­ low s n u m b e r s , Ihe E n g lis h a lp h a b e t , a n d v a r i o u s p u n c tu a t io n m a r k s . T h i s i s u s e d to a n d f ro m m o st IBM t e r m in a l s ("2741 ty p e " ) .

HOLLERIT H, m e a n i n g l h e c olu m n p a t l e m s t h s t g o in o n p u n c h e d c a r d s . ( T h e y c a n a ls o come o u t th a t w a y , If yo u w a n t th e m lo .) CARD-IMAGE BINARY. If f o r some rea so n yo u w anl exact b in a ry p a tle m s fro m y o u r p r o g r a m , th e y c a n b e p u n c h e d o u t a s r o w s o r c o lu m n s on p u n c h c a r d s . ST E R LIN G . J u s t lo sh o w y o u how c o m ic al t h i n g s c a n g e t , I h s o r i g i n a l PL/I s p e c if ic a t io n s ( se e p - 3 p a llo w ed n u m b e r s to b e I n p u l a n d o u tp u t in t e r m s of P o u n d s , S h i llin g s a n d P e n c e (12 p e n c e to t h e s h i l ­ l i n g , 20 s h i l l i n g s to t h e p o u n d ) . No p r o ­ v is i o n w a s m a d e f o r G u in e a s (th e 2 1 - a h llU n g u n i t ) , o r f s r t h l n g s . u n f o r t u n a te ly .

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B a s ic a l ly t h e r e a r e two d ifferen t m e th o d s . A c o m p ilin g l a n g u a g e , 3 u c h a s FORTRAN or COBOL, h a s a c o m p ile r p r o g r a m , w h ic h s j i s In the c o m p u te r, and r e c e i v e s lh e in p u t p r o g ra m . o r " s o u r c e p r o g r a m ." th e way th e a s s e m b le r d o e s . II a n a ly z e s th e s o u rce p r o g r a m and s u b s ti tu te s for it a n o b je ct p r o g ra m . in m achine Isn guage. w h ic h la a tr a n s la t io n of the s o u r c e p r o g r a m . and can actu ally be r u n on th e c o m p u te r, T h e r e la tio n of th e h ig h e r la nguage i s not o n e - to - o n e to m a ch in e la n g u a g e : ma ny Instru ctio n s in m a c h i n e l a n g u a g e a re often n e e d e d lo compile tt single in s t r u c t i o n o f th e s o u r c e p r o g ra m . (A s o u r c e p r o g ra m of 100 l i n e s c a n e a s il y come o u l a th o u s a n d lin e s lo n g In lie o u t p u t v e r s i o n . ) M o r e o v e r, b e c a u s e of th e in te rd ep e n d en c y of th e in s t r u c t i o n s in lh e s o u r c e p r o g r a m . lh e com piler u s u a lly h a s to c h e c k v a rio u s a r r a n g e m e n ts all o v e r the p r o g ra m b e fo re i t c a n g e n e r a te th e final c o d e .

A c o m p u te r l a n g u a g e ia • sya iepi for c a s t i n g s p e lls . T h i s ! ■ n o l « m e t a p h o r b u t t n e x a c tly t r u e s ta te m e n t . Each la n g u a g e h w a v o c a b u l a r y of c o m m a n d s, lh a l I s , d if f e r e n t o r d e r * y o u c a n g i v e t h a t a r e fundam e nta l lo lhe I s n g u a g e , a n d a i y n l » , t h a l i s . r u l e s a bout h o w to g iv e th e c om m ands r i g h t , a n d h o w y o u m ay fit them to g e th e r a n d e n t w i n e ih e m . L e a r n in g to w o r k w ilh o n e la n g u a g e d o e s n 't m e an y o u 'v e le a r n e d a n o t h e r . You le a r n th e m one a l a rim e, bu t a lte r to m e e x p e r i e n c e il g e ls e a s i e r . T h e r e a r e c o m p u te r l a n g u a g e s f o r te s tin g r o c k e ts h ip s an d c o n tro llin g o il r e f i n e r i e s a n d m a k in g p i c t u r e s . T h e r e a r e c o m p u te r l a n g v - g e s for so c io lo gic al s t a t i s t i c s a n d d e s ig n in g a u to m o b ile s. A n d t h e r e a r e c om pute r l a n g u a g e s w h ic h will d o a n y o f th e s e t h i n g s , and m o r e , b u l w ilh m o r e difficu lty b e c a u s e th e y h a v e n o p u r p o s e b u ilt i n . (D ul e a c h o f th e se g e n e r a l - p u r p o s e la n g u a g e a le n d s to h a v e its ow n o u tlo o k .)

Most c o m p ile rs come In s e v e r a l sta g e s . You have to put th e f i r s t s ta g e of I h e c o m p ile r Inlo the c o m p u te r, th e n r u n In th e s o u r c e p r o g ra m . a n d th e f i r s t s la g e p u ls o u t a f i r s t in te r m e d ia te v e r s i o n o f th e p ro g ra m , T h e n yo u p u t t h i s v e r s i o n In to a se cond s t a g e , w hic h p u ls out a second in te r m e d i a te v e r s i o n ; a n d so on t h r o u g h v a r io u s s ta g e s . T h i s i s d o n e f a ir ly auto m a tic ally on b i g c o m p u le r s , bul o n little m a ch in es i l ' s a p a in .

Most p r o g r a m m e r s h a v e a f a v o r ite la n g u a g e o r Iw c, an d th is i s n o t o r a t i o n a l m i l l e r . T h e r e a r e m a n y d if f e r e n t co m p u te r l a n g u a g e s — in fact th o u s a n d s — b u t w h a t th e y all h a v e In c om m on i s a ctin g on Beries of i n s t r u c t i o n s . Be y o n d lh a t , e v e r y la n g u a g e i s d if f e r e n t. S o f o r e a c h la n g u a g e , lhe q u e stio n * a r e

(In f a c t , c o m p ile rs le n d to b e v e r y slo w p r o g r a m s ; b u t th a l d e p e n d s on th e amount o f " o p tim isin g " th e y d o , t h s t i a , ho w effic ient th e y t r y lo m a k e the o bje ct p r o g r a m . )

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WHAT ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS?

A n i n t e r p r e t i v e la n g u a g e w o r k s d if f e r e n t l y , T h ere s i t s in c o re a p r o c e s s o r for the la n g u a g e call ed an in t e r p r e t e r ; t h i s g o e s t h r o u g h th e p r o g ra m o n e s te p al a tim e , a ctu a lly c a r r y i n g out e ach o p e ra tio n In th e lis t and g o in g o n to th e n e x t . TRAC and APL a r e i n t e r p r e t i v e : it ’s a good way to d o q u ic k ie la n g u a g e s.

c h e w s th e I n s tr u c ti o n s of lh e la n g u ag e in lo a n o th e r form l o b e p r o c e s s e d la t e r .

HOW DO THEY FIT TOGETHER? Most c o m p u te r la n g u a g e s in v o lv e som ehow ty p in g in th e co m m a n d s o f y o u r s p e ll lo a com pute r s e t u p f o r tha t la n g u a g e . ( T h e c o m p u te r i s se l u p b y p u ttin g i n a b i g g e r p r o g r a m , called th e p r o c e s s o r for lha l l a n g u a g e ■)

I n t e r p r e t e r s a r e p e rh a p s Ihe eaBler method of th e tw o lo g r a s p , sin c e th e y seem to c o r r e s p o n d a little b e tte r lo t h e w ay many p e o p le t h in k of c o m p u te rs . T h a t d o e sn 't m e a n t h e y 'r e b e lte r . For p r o g r a m s that have to b e ru n o v e r a n d o v e r , com p ilin g is u s u a l l y m o re econom ical In lh e lo n g r u n ; b u t for p r o g ra m s tha t ha v e to be r e p e a te d ly c h a n g e d , i n t e r p r e t e r s a r e ofte n s im p le r lo w ork w ilh .

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M a kin g l a n g u a g e p r o c e s s o r s , e s p e c ia l ly c o m p ile rs , i s w id e ly r e g a r d e d a s a b la c k a r t . Some pe ople have ( ri c k s l h a t a r e v i r t u a l tr a d e m a r k s ( s e e b e lo w ) .

if? ep'Z T h e n , a fte r v a r i o u s S t e p s , you ge l lo t r y y o u r p r o g r a m .

A c t u a ll y , th e d e s i g n of a l a n g u a g e - - e s p e c ia l ly lhe s y n t a x , ho w i t s com m a nds fit t o g e t h e r - - s tr o n g ly in f lu e n c e s th e d e s ig n o f i t s p r o c e s s o r - BASIC a n d APL. for i n s t a n c e , w o rk l e f t - l o - r ig h t on e a c h l in e , a n d to p - to - b o tto m On a p r o g r a m . Both a ct o n som e th in g s t o r e d in a w ork a r e a . T R A C , o n th e o th e r h a n d , w o rk s leM -IO -rlght on a te x t s t r i n g lh a t c h a n g e s s iz e lik e a r u b b e r b a n d , O th e r la n g u a g e s e x h ib it c o m p a r sb le d if f e r e n c e s .

O n ce y o u k n o w a la n g u a g e you con c a s t s p e l l s in il ; b u t lh a l d o e s n 't m e a n i t ' s e a s y . A s p e ll c ast in a c om pute r la n g u a g e w ill m a k e th e co m p u te r do w h a t you w a n l - IF i l ' s p o s s i b l e lo d o ll w ith l h a l c o m p u te r; IF i l ' s p o s s i b l e lo d o it in l h a t la n g u a g e : IF y o u u s e d t h e v o c a b u la ry an d r u l e s o f Ihe la n g u ag e c o rre c tly ; an d IK y o u la id o u l in th e spe ll a p l a n l h a l w o u ld effectively d o w h a i y c j h s d in m in d .

MIXED CASES AND VARIATIONS (for lh e w h im sica l) T h e r e a r e a lot of m ix ed c a s e s . A l o a d - a n d - g o c o m p ile r ( s u c h a s WATFOR) i s p u t into th e c o m p u te r w ith t h e p r o g r a m , c o m p ile s I t , a n d th e n s t a r t s it g o in g im m ed ia te ly . An i n t e r p r e t iv e c o m p ile r lo oks up w h a t lo do w ith a g iv e n in s t r u c tio n b y i n ­ t e r p r e t i n g it inlo a s e r i e s of ste p s , bul com p ilin g th e m in s te a d of c a r r y i n g the m Out. (A firm call ed D ig itek i s wel l know n for m a k in g v e r y good c om pile rs of I h is t y p e . ) An I n c r e m e n ta l c o m p ile r ju s l r u n s a lo ng c om pilin g a command at a tim e; t h i s c a n b e a lot f a s t e r b u l h a s d r a w b a c k s .

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BUT i f you m a k e a m is ta k e in c a s tin g y o u r s p e l l , l h a t is a BUG. (Aa y o u s e e fro m th e iFs a L o v e, m a ny ty p e s of b u g a re p o a s i b l e . ) P r o g r a m b u g s call c a u s e u n f o r t u n a te r e s u l t s . ( S u p p o s e d ly a b i g NASA r o c k e t failed in ta keoff on c e b e c a u se of a m is p l a c t d do lla r s ig n in a p r o g r a m . ) Getting [he b u g s o u t of a p r o g ra m i s Called d e b u g g in g . It'S v e r y h a r d .

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DESIGNING COMPUTER LANGUAGES E v er y p r o g r a m m e r w h o 's d e s ig n e d a l a n g u a g e , a n d c re ate d a p r o c e s s o r f o r i i . h a d c e r ta i n ty p ic a l u s e s in m in d . If you w ant lo c r e a t e y o u r own la n g u a g e , you f ig u r e oul w h ai a o rls of o p e r a t i o n s y ou w o u ld lik e lo h a v e b n ba sic. In l l , a n d ho w y o u w o u ld lik e i l all lo f it to g e th e r s o as Id allow th e v a r i a t i o n s y o u h a v e in m in d . T h e n y o u p r o g ra m y o u r p r o c e s s o r ( w h i c h i s u s u a lly v e r y h a r d ) .

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n tn g s p e ed , nuch f a s t e r than th e u su a l Micro­ se con d or t o . However, s in c e c o re a ea o ry is nuch slow er tha n th e a a l n r e g i s t e r s , a t r i c k i s us ed : p r o g r a a i n s t r u c t i o n s a re drawn f ro a c o r e I n t o a s u p e r f a s t i n s t r u c t i o n l i s t f o ft e n c a l l e d a c a c h e ) , and any Juap s or lo op s w l t h ­ in t h i s se ven-word cache can be e x ec u te d a t u n t h i n k a b l e s p e e d s - - pe rha ps te n s o f a i l l i o n s of t i n e s p e r secon d. The d e s i g n o f th e 360, which was b a s i c a l l y d e c e n t , Is gen­ e r a l l y a t t r i b u t e d t o Amdahl, Blaauw and Brooks. Those who ha te i t , and t h e r e a r e many, base t h e i r co m pl a in ts l a r g e l y on the r e s t r i c t i o n s and c o m p li c a t io n s a s s o c i a t e d w ith i t s o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a OS, wh ic h i s n o t o r i o u s l y I n e f f i c i e n t ( s e e p . i l i t y and h ig h r c s d r i v e , d e s ig n e d f o r re: p on se , t h a t was suppos< is k and be r e l i a b l e even in d u s ty o r 'B e s s y e n v l r o n a e n t s . T hi s was th e LINCtape, s t i l l o f f e r e d as an a c c e ss o r y by one coap an y. DEC ad ap te d i t soaewhat and Bade i t th e DECtape, handy po c ke t ta pe u n i t of th e PDP com pu ter l i n e . I t was nev er s o l d c o a a e r c i a l l y . A do ie n o r so wer e Bade up s p e c i a l l y o u t o f DEC n o d ­ u l e s and d e a l t ou t t o va ri o u s s c i e n t i s t s , and th e g e n e r a l hope was t h a l DEC would ta k e the n a ch in e up as p a r t o f i t s p ro d u ct l i n e , b u t t h a t ’s no t what ha ppened. DEC I n s t e a d pushed i t s PDP-8 and aave us i n s t e a d , by and by,

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p l i s h e d ( a s t e r by a sh o r t p r o g ra a tha n i f They 6600 beca ae ilie s t a r t of a whole l i n e , in c lu d in g th e 6400, 6800 and o th e rs * The 6400 i s u se d by PLATO ( se e p.JMI ifl.

( i t i^ i) DEC was o f f e r e d th e o p ti o n of b u i l d i n g Lin c ol n L a b o r a t o r i e s ’ c l a s s i c LINC, b u t d e c i ­ ded I n s t e a d to c o at u n e i t , in th e n l d - s k x t i e s , w it h th e a l r e a d y - s u c c e s s f u l PDP-8. Th at way a l l th e PDP-8 p r o g ra n s and n o s l of th e LINC p r o g ra a s would work on i t . The r e s u l t i s kind o f s t r a n g e , b u t very po p u la r in b i o a e d i c a l r e ­ s e a r c h : two c o a p u te r s in on e, ha nd ing c o n t r o l back and f o r t h a s ne ede d. You can w r i t e p r o ­ g r a a s on th e Line w it h s e c t i o n s f o r Ihe 8, and v e r s i o n i s c a l l e d th e PDP-12. H h il e you e i g h t h a l f - t h l n k t h a t both s i d e s o f th e comput er cou ld » o r i j l m u l t a o e o u s l y , g iv i n g you doublo s p e e d . I t d o e s n ' t work t h a t way. T n e r e ' s o n ly one core a e a o r y , and t h a t s e t s th e b a s i c sp e ed ; e i t h e r a PDP-9 i n s t r u c ­ t i o n o r a Line i n s t r u c t i o n can be underway a t o n c e, b u t no t b o th . N e v e r t h e l e s s , we se e he re th e double s t r u c t u r e t h a t p la y s such an im po r ta nt p a r t In h ig h l y i n t e r a c t i v e c o ap ut e r d i s p l a y s (s ee P< )* I nd eed , Line p r o g r a a n e r s o f t e n use th e n a c h in e J u s t t h a t way: th e PDP-8 r u n ­ nin g an a c t u a l p r o g r a a , th e Line p a r t ru nn in g th e CRT d i s p l a y in c o n ju n c t io n w it h i t .

Tli* i d e a o f t h i s te ch n iq u e I s t h a t p r o g r a a s c an be " r e l o ­ c a t a b l e , ' 1 o p e r a t i n g anywhere In co re a e a o ry . A few i n s t r u c t i o n s a t t h e b e g i n n i n g o f each program can a s c e r t a i n where i t i s run* Ding f r o a , and e s t a b l i s h th e Base a c c o rd in g l y . The b a s i c i d e a o f the. 360 se ea s t o have been doped ou t fo r B u l t i p r o g r a n i n g , o r th e sim u lta n eo us ru n n in g o f s e v e r a l p r o ­ grams i n c o r e , a f e a t u r e IBM h as pushed h e a v i l y w i t h t h i s coa■HAT'S WRONG HITH THE 360T The m a in d i f f e r e n c e s be tween th e 360 and th e PDP-6 sn d 10 r e p r e s e n t c o n s c i o u s and l e g i t i m a t e and a rg u a b le d e s i g n d e c i s i o n s . To f a n s o f t h e PDP-6 and 10, he re a re th e 3 6 0 's a a l n drawbacks: NO INDIRECT ADDRESSING. T hi s was b e c a u s e , w i t h i n t h e ad­ d r e s s i n g sc hem e a d o p t e d , i n d i r e c t a d d re ss e s co u ld n o t b e a d j u s t e d a u to m a tic ally . (But i t a l s o makes p r og ra as more i n e f f i c i e n t , th us more p r o f i t a b l e to IBM.) NO STACK. Why? Too e x p e n si v e , s a i d Amdahl, Blaauw and Brook* I n t h * IBM S y s te a s J o u r n a l . Funny, the y hav e s t a c k s on ISOOO P D P - l l s - - an d i t wouia nave saved everybody a l o t o f money on pro gra mm in g. HO MEMORY MAPP1NC ( ex c ep t on c e r t a i n a o d e l s ) . Where the PD P -6 's s u c c e s s o r , t h e PDP-lo, a u t o a a t l c a l l y ta k e s c a r e o f r e ­ d i s t r i b u t i n g a d d r e s s e s i n c o re t o s e r v i c e ev er y prog ram a* i f i t w er e o p e r a t i n g f r o a l o c a t i o n t e r o on up , th e 360 l e f t t h i s g e n e r a l p r o b le m t o l o c a l p r o g r a n e r s and (on c e r t a i n l e v e l s ) to o p e ra tin g system s. H a n d l i n g t h i s a u t o a a t l c a l l y i n th e PDP-10’ s he rd w ar e ob­ v i a t e s t h e c o m p l i c a t i o n s o f b a s e - ln d e c a d d r e s s in g and makes p o s ­ s i b l e t h e e f f i c i e n c i e s o f I n d i r e c t a d d re s s in g .

360 l o e k a l l k e s were s o l d by RCA and Un iva c. Now t h a t RCA no l o n g e r makes co m p u te rs , Univac i s s e r v i c i n g th e on es they made. And Amdahl, no l m g e r w it h IBM and no* he ad o f th e Amdahl C o r p . . 1* co ming down th e p i k e w it h a s u p e r - 360 o f h i s own. in p a r t b a c k e d by J a p a n e s e n ose y, i t w i l l be b i g g e r th a n IBM's b i g g e s t - - a n d c h e a p e r . (See Heah N ie n e r , "Ou td oin g IBM: th e Amdahl C h a l l e n g e , ” Computer D e c i s i o n s . March 73, 1 0 -2 0 .)

The beaic design of tha and alaple ■ four maio r«(Ul well-designed Inetructiooa. ■■ think) the flret eo«put< • Grand Bus (■•o’ , < d e a ig a wbich haa caught an rather widely. Data General (the coapuj mentioned) haa used a vary Interesting marketing atrate*y. Inatead of bringing oat a variety of new eonputere aa tine gone on, they eoaceatr p r o g r a a f o l l o w e r ca n go ba ck w h er e i t f r o a a t th e end o f e a c h s u b r o u t i n e .

The PDP-11 i s n o t a b e g i n n e r ' s c o a p u t c r . But th e power an d e l e g a n c e o f i t s a r c h i t e c t u r e have e s t a b l i s h e d i t , s i n c e i t s i n t r o d u c t i o n i n 19 70, a s p e r h a p s t h e f o r e a o s t sm a ll com pu ter in th e w o r l d .

In e l e c t r o n i c s , a " b u s " i s a co aa on c o n n e e to r t h a t s u p p l i e s power o r s i g n a l s t o and f r o a s e v e r a l d e s t i n a t i o n s . In c o a p u te rs , a " b u s " I s a c o aa o n c o n n e c t i o n aao ng s e v e r a l p o i n t s , u s i n g c a r r y i n g a c o a p le x p a r a l l e l s ig n a l.

A c t u a l l y , th o u g h , we c a n ' t b e to o s u r e a b o u t th e word " s a a l l . " Because a s s u c c e s s i v e p a r t s o f th e l i n e a r e u n v e i l e d , i t b e co a es i n ­ c re asin g ly c l e a r th a t t h i s lin e of " s a a ll" co m p u te rs h a s b e e n d e s i g n e d t o I n c lu d e soa e v e ry p o w e r f u l a a c h i n e s and c o u p l i n g te c h n i q u e s aaon g t h e a ; an d i t would s e e a t h a t we h a v e n ' t se e n e v e r y t h i n g y e t .

B a s i c a l l y i l i s a 1 6 - b i t M ach in e, w i t h most i n s t r u c t i o n s o p e r a t i n g on 8 - b i i d a t a a s w ell.

11 (*

In a d d i t i o n , a l l e x t e r n a l d e v i c e s s e e a t o th e p r o g r a a t o be s t o r e d i n c o r e a e a o r y . T h at I s , th e I n t e r f a c e r e g i s t e r s o f a c c e s s o r i e s have " a d d r e s s e s " n u a e r i c a l l y s i m i l a r t o c o r e l o c a t i o n s - - so th e p r o g r a a j u s t " a o v e s " d a t a , w i t h MOVE i n s t r u c t i o n s , t o do or wa ys i n c o r e . ( T h is I s f a c i l i t a t e d by t h e a u t o a a t l c h a n d l i n g o f p r e v i o u s l y b o t h e r s o a e s t u f f , l i k e R ead y, H a l t and Done b i t s . )

The Gra nd Bu s, a new id e a aao ng c o a p u t e r s , is catch in g on. (The t e r i I s u s e d h e r e b e ­ cau se t h e c o l l o q u i a l t e r a , " U n i b u s , " i s a DEC trad e aa rk .) B a s i c a l l y t h e Grand Bus i s a c o n n e c t o r o f M u l t i p l e w i r e s t h a t goes aao ng s e v e r a l le c e s o f e q u l p a e n t . So f a r t h a t ' s j u s t a u s . But a Grand Bus i s one t h a t a l l o w s t h e d i f f e r e n t p i e c e s o f e q u l p a e n t t o be ch an g e d and r e p l a c e d e a s i l y , be c a u s e s i g n a l s any c o n o n p i e c e o f e q u l p a e n t j u s t go o u t on th e bus.

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T h is Beans t h a t th e i n t e r f a c e p r o b l e a I s d e e p ly s i a p l i f i e d , b e ca us e any d e v i c e w i t h a p r o p e r bus I n t e r f a c e c a n s l a p l y be p l u g g e d on to t h e b u s . I t d o e s k b d a l o t a o r e c o m p le x it y o f s i g n a l s . The U nl bua , f o r e x a a p l e , h a s a b o u t f i f t y p a r a l l e l s t r a n d s . But t h a t a e a n s v a r ­ io u s t r i c k y e l e c t r i c a l d i a l o g u e s c an r a p i d l y g i v e i n s t r u c t i o n s t o d e v i c e s and c o n s i d e r r e ­ p l i e s a b o u t t h e i r s t a t u s , i n q u i c k and s t a n ­ d a r d i z e d w ays . P r o a l n e n t g r a n d b u se s i n c l u d e :

I n o t h e r w o r d s , DEC's PDP-11, which ha s a l r e a d y c u t i n t o s a l e s o f t h e i r PDP-8 1 2 - b i t s e r i e s and PDP-15 1 8 - b l t s e r i e s , aa y soon c u t i n t o i t s PDP-10 3 6 - b i t s e r i e s - - as d e sig n e r B e ll u n v e ils (perhaps) a o n s t e r P D P -l ls i n a r r a y s o r do ub le w o rd -len g th o r w h atev e r. The PDP-11 was d e s i g n e d by C. Gordon B e l l and h i s a s s o c i ; # s a t C a r n e g ie -M e ll o n U n iv e r ­ sity . I n d e s i g n i n g th e a r c h i t e c t u r e , and e s ­ p e c i a l l y th e I n s t r u c t i o n - s e t , th e y s i a u l a t e d a wide v a r i e t y o f p o s s i b i l i t i e s b e f o r e th e f i n a l d e s i g n was d e c i d e d . The r e s u l t i n g a r ­ c h i t e c t u r e i s e x t r e a e l y e f f i c i e n t an d p o w e r f u l ( s e e bo x, "The l l ' s Modes” ) .

The Nova bus ( n a a e l e s s ; th e f i r s t ? ) PDP-1 l ' s Unibus Lo ck he ed SUE'S I n f i b u s P D P -S 's Omnibus. n e r a l. For your t t a n c e , Gra nd Bus a r c h i t e c t u r e w oul d s i m p l i f y e v e r y t h i n g . Not o n l y t h a t , b u t D e t r o i t i s s u p p o s e d l y g o in g t o p u t y o u r c a r ' s e l e c t r i c a l s y s t e a on a Grand B u s. T h i s w i l l a e a n you ca n t e l l a t once w ha t I s an d I s n ' t w o rk i n g , and hoo k up mw goodies e a s i l y .

T h e r e a re e i g h t a a i n r e g i s t e r s . Two, th o u g h , f u n c t i o n s p e c i a l l y - t h e p r o g r a a c o u n ­ t e r ( t h a t p a rt o f the p r o g ra a fo llo w er t h a t h o ld s th e nu a be r o f th e n e x t i n s t r u c t i o n ) , and th e ha rd w ar e s t a c k p o i n t e r , b o t h f o ll o w th e sa a e p r o g r a a a i n g r u l e s a s t h e a a i n r e g i s t e r s - an u n u s u a l t e c h n i q u e . Thu s a j u a p i n t h e p r o ­ g r a a i s s i a p l y a na o v e" I n s t r u c t i o n , i n w h ic h th e n e x t p r o g r e a a d d r e s s i s " a o v e d ” i n t o a a i n r e g i s t e r 17, t h e p r o g r a a c o u n t e r .

NiniOMputere a re crasi p r o b la in a in l a rc h lte c tu r the In stru ctio n enough chol In daal^ninq the POP-11, Gordon t e l l and hU eo-^rorkere sy stem atically sought a powerful molution. lim ile tin q varloue peaalble stru c tu re s by c ^ u t a r program, try in g out a v a rie ty of d if f e r ­ ent r f felnatlonm and e tru c tu ree . The elegance and pornr o f tha aolutlon are l i t t l e ehort o f hroath tah ln g . Basically the PDP11, the f in a l design, provides aeven d iffe re n t type* o f In d irect addreaaing. The e c ^ u te r 'e main re g ls ta r e may be ueed both to ooarata on Information (the usual technique, here ealled mode s e re ) . or to p o in t to location* to b . o p treted (In d ire ct medee 1 through 7). Thee* provide eatrem ely e f f l e l . n t means for atepplng t h r a s h ta b la s , TUSH and POP, dlapatch ta ble*, and various other p rogram ing technique*. The following dlagra 1* a ia n t for handy reference.

P h y s ic a lly a l l d e v ice s a re s la p ly a tta c h e d to a g r e a t sash of w ires c a l l e d a Unibus. (See Grand Bus b o x . ) BIBLIOBRAPHY ........ ........... , _________ Ming F u n d a m e n t a l s . (. F r o g ra aa ed work­ b oo k. no p r i c e l i s t e d . ) A lg o n ­ q u i n C o l l e g e B o o k s t o r e , 138S Koodr o f f e A v en ue , O t ta w a , O n t a r i o , Canada 12G-1VB.

■S 'r Z i!T 7 L , PDP-11 l o o k a l i k e s a re s o l d by C a l D a t a . O t h e r f i n s have be en s c a r e d o f f b y DEC's s t e n t , b u t Cal D a t a s a y th e y ave a p a t e n t t o o .

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The h i s t o r y books te n y e a r s f r o a now, i f any, w i l l n o te t h a t th e f i r s t c o a p u te r - o n - a - c h i p was pro­ duced by I n t e l . I n t e l , an a s t u t e l y aanaged coapany, chose to sa k e a a i c r o p r o c e s s o r t h a t would be s u it e d to p la c e a e n t i n o t h e r s ' a a c h in e s a t low c o s t. This a e a n s t h a t i f you aake a fanc y b u l l d o z e r or bakeo v e n, and want i t to have soae f o r a of i n t r i c a t e p r e - p la n n e d b e h a v io r , y o u ' l l p u t " t h e I n t e l chip"

*Blg flaaa have U t t l e fleae th a t b it* 'em And a t forth. I n f i n i t e .* Proverb M ic r o p ro c e s s o r s e re w h a t 's h a p p e n in g . C o a p u te r) c o s t s e v e r a l th o u sa n d buc ks on up. Microprocessors c o s t s e v e r a l hundred on u p , and t h a t p r i c e ra n g e I s f a l l i n g f a s t .

A c t u a ll y th e I n t e l c h ip Is a n u a b er of se p arate c h i p s , which s t a r t low in c o s t - - a f a i r l y c oople to s e t can be had f o r u n d e r $S00-- and can be assea ble d i n to a f u ll co ap u te r. ( In d e e d , v a r io u s f i r a s do o f ­ f e r c o a p l e t e c o a p u te r s b u i l t o u t o f I n t e l e h ip s . In ­ c lu d in g one th e s i z e o f an Oreo c o o k ic , guara nteed f o r 2$ y e a r s . )

So ae a lc r o p r o c e s s o r s a re a l r e a d y on I n t e g r a ­ t e r i r c u l t s . p o sta g e s t a a p - s i z e d e l e c t r o n i c F a n c ie s t h a t a r e s l a p l y p r i n t e d and b a k e d , r a t h e r th a n w ir e d up; t h i s a e a n s th e r e i s e f f e c t i v e l y no b o t t o a l l a i t to th e p r i c e of a l c r o p r o c e s s o r s . B f F T K I T w e l l " I t Beans t h a t in a few y e a r s t h e r e w i l l be a m i c r o p ro c e s s o r in y o u r r e f r i g e r ­ a t o r y o u r t y p e w r i t e r , y o u r la w nao w er, y o u r c a r , and p o s s i b l y yo u r w a l l e t . ( I f you d o n ' t b e l i e v e t h i s , lo o k w hat happened lo poc ket c a l c u l a t o r s in th e l a s t c o u p le o f y e a r s . The c h ip t h o s e a re b u i l t a ro u n d c o a t* f iv e b u c ks. But n e x t coae th e n r o a r a a a a b l e c h i p s , th e a l c r o p r o c e s s o r s .)

The o r i g i n a l I n t e l c h ip s a re th e MCS-4 and MCS-S, v i z . : The t r i c k t h a t Bakes t h i s a l l w ork-- w hether f o r th e hld den-a w ey ty p e o r t h e c o a p u te r ty pe of a i c r o p r o c e s s o r - - I s t h a t th e low er l e v e l has a nuch f a s t e r a ea o ry th a n th e u p p e r l e v e l . T h is Beans t h a t an u p p e r - l e v e l word c a n be ta k e n , and looked up in th e low er l e v e l , and a l l th e lo w e r - l e v e l s te p s c a r r i e d o u t , v e ry f a s t c o a p a r e d to th e u p p e r - l e v e l a e a o r y . Many suc h a a c h i n e s , f o r i n s t a n c e , havo l o w e r - l e v e l spe eds In th e na nosec onds ( b i l l i o f a s e c o n d ) , w h ile th e u p p e r»—■» h 2 ? ) . How, p r e s u a a b l y L in c o ln Labs, l i k e a o s t o t h e r r e s e a r c h o u t f i t s , i s h u r t i n g for a o nay. Why c o u l d n 't they aake an a r r a n g e a e n t f o r S t a n d a rd to s e l l i t s a a c h in e w i t h a TX-2 e a u l a t o r , th u s a e k l n g - a v a i l a b l e suc h p r o g r a a s as Sketc hpad (which h a s n e v e r been e q u a l l e d ) t o a w id e r p u b l i c ?

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B a s i c a l l y , an o p e r a t i n g ays t e a i s a p r o g r a a t h a t s u p e r v i s e s a l l tn e o t h e r p r o ­ grams Ln a c o o p u t e r . For t h i s r e a s o n l l i s a l s o c a l l e d a su£^rv l_so r o r a n o n i t o r . Because t h e o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a i s suppose d to be In c h a r g e , aan y c o a p u te r s now o f f e r s p e ­ c i a l w i r e d - i n i n s t r u c t i o n s t h a t o n ly th e o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a can u s e . T h is p r e v e n ts o t h e r p r o g r a a s f r o a ta k in g c o a p l e t e c o n t r o l o f t h e a a e h in e . O p e r a t in g s y s t e a s cone in a l l s i z e s . The b i g g e r one s ta k e up a l o t o f c o a p u te r t l o e b e ca u se th e y have to do a l o t . The s a a l l e s t k in d ,w h ic h a r e r e a l l y k in d of d i f f e r e n t , a r e J u s t to h e l p a s i n g l e pro* i r i n e r aove q u ic k ly betw een h i s b a s i c progra as. (A t y p i c a l such s y s t e o i s DEC's DOS, o r D is k O p e r a t in g S y s t e a , whic h you c an g e t w ith th e PDP-11.) T his s y s t e a is r e a l l y a k in d o f b u t l e r t h a t ke eps t r a c k of where your b a s i c p r o g r a a s a r e s t o r e d on d is k and b r i n g s t h e a in f o r you q u i c k l y . A s t e p up i s th e Batc h M o n it o r, o r op­ e r a t i n g s y s t e a s e t up f o r Batc h P r o c e s s i n g ( s e e p.&~!!>tr). In b a tc h p r o c e s s i n g , p r o ­ g r a a s go th r o u g h th e c o a p u te r as i f on a co n v ey e r b e l t , one a t a t i n e ( o r in soa e • y s t e a s s e v e r a l a t a t i n e ) . The o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a sh e p h e r d s th e a . Uatch p r o c e s s in g i s use d when p r o g ra a s d o n ' t need any i n t e r a c t i o n w ith huaan u s e r s . (O r, and t h i s i s a o r e c o a a o n , when huaan u s e r s want t i n e - s h a r i n g b u t c a n ' t g e t i t ; se e b e lo w .) A a u l t i p r o e r a a a l n e o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a i s one t h a t a llo w s s e v e r a l d i f f e r e n t ro g ra n s ( o r e o n v e y o r - b e lt se q u en c es of a tc h p r o g r a u s ) to o p e r a t e a t one t i n e . (T h is Is how b o s t IBH 160s a re u s e d .)

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On a a o r e p r a c t i c a l l e v e l , th ough, th e r e a re J u s t l o t s o f t h i n g s w hic h nobody has f i g u r ­ ed o u t how to do In any f e a s i b l e way, o r are J u s t now f i g u r i n g o u t d i f f e r e n t s y s t e a a t i c ways o f do in g . (For a f a v o r i t e su ch a r e a o f n i n e , co ap a re th e d i f f e r e n t c o a p u te r h a l f - t o n e ia a g e sy n th e s is s y s t e a s d e s c r i b e d on pp. DM H to ON M .) Thus you s e e t h a t f l g g e r l n g o u t wavs of doing s t u f f i s s t i l l one o r th e p r i n c i p a l a s ­ p e c ts 01 th e c o a p u te r f i e l d . (Vnole j o u r n a l s a re d e vote d to I t , such a s CACM, JACM and so o n .) But th e n o f c o u r s e , e v e r y few y e a r s th e re coae s a new a o v e a e n t i n t h e f i e l d t h a t bodes to aake us s t a r t a l l o v e r. One su ch tr e n d I s c a l l e d s t r u c t u r e d p r o g ­ r a a a in g . b e in g p r o a u lg a te d by a Dutch r e s e a r c h e r named D l j k s t r a , aaong o t h e r s . The I d e a of s t r u c t u r e d p r o g ra a a in g I s t o r e s t r i c t c o a p u tln g langu ages In c e r t a i n ways and " e l l a l n a t e th e GO TO," i . e . , no lo n g e r ha v e lu a p s to l a b e l e d p la ce * l a p r o g r a a s . By d i v i d i n g c o a p u te r progr a a s up o n ly I n c e r t a i n w ay s, goes t k l s sc h o o l o f th o u g h t, th e p r o g r a a s c an p e rh a p s be proven w o rk ab le , I d th e a a t h e a a t i c a l s e n s e , r a t h e r th a n J u s t d e m o n strated to w o rk , as th e y a r e now-a n o to rio u sly e rro r-p ro n e s i t u a t i o n . I f th e D l j k s t r a sc h o o l la c o r r e c t , we aay ha ve to s t a r t a l l ov e r a g a in w ith a new bunch o f p r o g ­ r a m i n g la n g u ag e s. These r e a a r k s g iv e you th e f l a v o r o f soae r e s t r i c t i o n s and l i n e s o f d e v e lo p a e n t . The r e s t o f t h i s page i s d e v o te d to The G re a t S oftw are P r o b le a - - t h e O p e r a t in g Syste m .

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He have no sp a c e h e r e to d i s c u s s OS, th e o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a o f t h e IBM 360 and 370, whic h i s J u s t as w e l l : i t l a a n o t o r i o u s l y h eavy-handed s y s t e a , e l a b o r a t e d w ith what so a e would c a l l d e v a s t a t i n g a e s s l n e s s . Kinds o f co n v en ie n ce ta k e n f o r g r a n t e d by u s e r s of su c h c o a p u te r s y s t e a s a s t h e Burroughs S000, t h e PDP-10, DTSS and o t h e r s a r e n ' t t h e r e . The p r o g r a a a e r h as t o c o n ce rn h i a s e l f w ith i n t r i c a c i e s h a v in g n a a e s l i k e ACONs, VCONs, TCBs, ECBs, and t h e c o a p l l c a t i o n s of JCL. (While th e s e o t h e r s y s t e a s a ay have e q u i v a l e n t c o m p l i c a t i o n s , th e p r o g r a a a e r ne ed n o t a e s s w ith t h e a t o c r e a t e e f f i c i e n t p r o g r a a s , a s th e 360 d e a a n d s . ) The p r o g r a a a e r a u s t even s e t a s i d e t h e p r e v io u s p r o g r a n e r ' s I n fo r m a tio n i o "SAVE AREAS," w h ic h i s l i k e a r e s t a u r a n t g u e s t h a v in g to c l e a r th e d i t t y d i s h e s o n s i t t i n g down-and r e t u r n t h e a when he l e a v e s . S e v e r a l of th e 3 6 0 's s i x t e e n g e n e r a l r e g i s t e r s a r e con­ f i s c a t e d . T i a e - s h a r i n g r e q u i r e s i t s own JC L -ty p e le o g u a g e . Ana s o on. IBM sa y * i t s f o rth co m in g o p e r a t i n g s y s ­ t e a , OS/VS2-2, w i l l be b e t t e r . BIBLIOG&APKY A .L . S c h e r r , "The D esign o f IBM OS/VS2 Re­ le a s e 2 . " P r o c NCC 7 3 , 3B7-394.

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No way c an we h e re g e t i n t o th e pro se and cons ( both s e n s e s ) o f th e a y r i a d t i a e - s h a r i n g s e r v i c e s t h a t a r e a v a i l a b l e . An e x c e l l e n t suamary o f f i f t y s i i d i f f e r e n t t i a e - s h a r i n g s e r v i c e s ( v a r i o u s l y u s i n g c o n p u to rs by Honey­ w e l l , IBM, DEC, U niva c, CDC, X e r o i and Burroughs) appea re d in th e F e b r u a r y , 1973 Conputer D e c is io n s ( " P i e c i n g Out th e T in e sh a r in c Puz z le " by Jolin R. I l i l l e g a s s , pp. 24- 32). T h is s u a n a r i t e s i n f o r n a t i o n a v a i l a b l e f r o a D atapro Re se arch C o r p ., M oor estow n, NJ. The a r t i c l e c a u ti o n s a g a i n s t th e p o t e n t i a l high c o s t of t i n e - s h a r i n g s e r v i c e s , and urges you to g e t a l l th e a d v ic c you c an b e f o r e commit­ t i n g to a t i n e - s h a r i n g s e r v i c e .

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l u i a l l y what can ba dene by tablatop with allpe of paper-- c ^ k a ring, e a p flv t, sorting, marhin?. doing u l t M U t — aad handing allp a of paper

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T i n e - s h a r i n g means th e s i u u l t a n c o u s use o f one c o a p u te r by s e v e r a l d i f f e r e n t u s e r s a t o n c e. I t ' s b a s ic a lly a c o n p lci fo ra of a u ltip ro g ra n n in g . In p r i n c i p l e t h i s is l i k e a la z y su sa n . The c e n t r a l c o o p u te r works on one u s e r ' s p r o ­ g r a a f o r a w h i l e , th e n on a n o t h e r ' s . . . u n t i l i t i s back to the f i r s t u s e r . There a r e b a s i c a l l y two k in d s o f t i a e s h a r i n g : t i n o - s h a r i n g where you can o nly use c e r t a i n f a c i l i t i e s o r l a n g u a g e s , snd t i u c s h a r i n g where you c an use a l l th e f a c i l i t i e s o f t h e c o n p u te r ( i n c l u d i n g p r o g r a a a in g in th e c o m p u te r's a ssem bly la n g u a g e ). E x aa p le s o f r e s t r i c t e d t i a e - s h a r i n g a re th e v a r io u s a i n i c o a p u t e r s y s t e n s t h a t arc a v a i l a b l e whic h l i n e - s h a r e th e BASIC la nguage. (Nova and PDP-11 and H e w le tt- P a c k a r d , for Soae examples o f u n r e s t r i c t e d t i a e s h a r i n g a r e t h e PDP-10 ( s e e p. i o ) , D a r t­ m o u th 's DTSS, H oneyw ell'S MULTICS, IBM’s TSO, and G ene ra l E l e c t r i c ' s HARK I I I . Bigger I s not n e c e s s a r i l y b e t t e r . For in s t a n c e , t h e r e a r e t i n e - s h a r e d v e r s i o n s o f BASIC t h a t run on b i g IBM c o a p u t e r s . How­ e v e r , i t a ay ve ry w e l l be t h a t b ig IBM i n ­ s t a l l a t i o n s c an sa ve noney by e l i a i n a t l n g t h i s f u n c ti o n and buyin g I n s t e a d a s a a l l H ew le tt- P a c k a r d a i n i c o a p u t e r to run t h e i r BASIC o n , th e re b y s u p p ly i n g BASIC t o a o re u s e r s a t l e s s c o s t and f r e e i n g th e 160 f o r w h a te v e r i t I s IBM s y s t e a s do b e t t e r . R e s t r i c t e d t i a e - s h a r i n g , w ith o nly one o r a few la nguage s o f f e r e d , i s auch e a s i e r to p r o v id e f o r th a n f u l l t l a e - s h a r l n g . P u l l t i a e - s h a r i n g Is a lw ays s h a re d w ith b a t c h , ln o t h e r w ords , th e c o a p u t e r , d a r t i n g aaong u s e r s , s t i l l f in d s so a e t i a e to de vote t o th e b a tc h s t r e a a . T l a e - s h a r l n g i s s e l f - l l a l t i n g . T hat i s , th e a o re u s e r s a re sig n e d o n to a t l n e - s h a r l n g s y s t e a a t a g iv e n a o o e n t , th e a o r e slo w ly th e s y s t e a r e sp o n d s to a l ] o f th e a . O p e r a t in g s y s t e a s a r e b i s and ha rd to p r o g r a a . They ta k e a l o t o T t t i e c om pute r7* t i n e : l o r I n s t a n c e , D a r t a o u t h 's t l a e - s h a r l n g o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a , ta k in g a s auch a s 211 o f th e c o a p u t e r ' s t l a e . I s c o n s id e r e d e f f i c i e n t . The la p o r t a n c e o f t i a e - s h a r i n g Is n o t In t e r a s o f "ra w " e f f i c i e n c y , t h a t i s , th e c o s t o f each o i l l i o n o p e r a t i o n s , b u t In t e r n s o f huaan e f f i c i e n c y , th e a b i l i t y o f eac h u s e r to g e t so auch a o r e o u t o f th e c o a p u te r by u s in g I n t e r a c t i v e p r o g ra a s and la n g u a g e s. OPERATING SYSTEMS TRICKERY Swapping aeans t r a n s f e r r i n g one u s e r ' s r o g r a a o u t o f c o re a e a o ry In o r d e r t o aove n soaeb ody e l s e ' s p r o g r a a . T h is c an happen v e ry r a p i d l y , and even when i t ' s done to you e v e r y t u r n , y o u r t e r a i n a l a ay s e e a to respond a s though you are In c o n tin u o u s p o s s e s s io n o f th e e n t i r e c o a p u te r

The Dartmouth c o a p u te r p h ilo s o p h y -ih e iJ c a c a r r i e d through by Jo hn

i s l i k e a l i b r a r y : i t s s e r v i c e s sh o u ld be T ree lo a i l in a community, p a id for th rough so a e g e n e r a l fund. S t u d e n ts and f a c u l t y a t D artn outh use i t f r e e . (U nless they have g r a n t s . ) You csn use i t to o , i f you pa y. The r e s u l t : eve rybody a t D artn o u th uso s th e c o a p u t e r . I t ’ S always ru nnin g, (alien) s i x days a week. There a re a lm ost two hundrod t e r n i n a l s around th e campus; peak a f t e r n o o n usa ge i s about a hundred and f i f t y . F rc shnen le a r n BASIC f i r s t t h i n g , a f t e r which th e c o a p u te r i s a sta n d in g f a c i l i t y , to be used in c o u rs e s

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MULTICS was announced in 196S as the T im e -Sha rin g S y s te n o f A ll T in e , to be c r e a te d j o i n t l y by MIT, G enera l L l e c t r i c and Bell Labs. Il took a l o t lo n g e r to g e t going th a n they e x p e c te d - - I hnvc a 1968 (?) b u tto n t h a t s a y s , YOU NHVER OUTC.ROH YOUR FOR MULTICS - - b u t now i t ' s a v a i l a b l e f r o n Jloncywcl 1. Tcople sa y i t ' s the g r e a te s t, a l l r ig h t- - i t s fasc in a tin g f a c i l i t i e s in c lu d e th e a b i l i t y to cxccutc p a r t s of o th e r p e o p l e ' s p rogra m s, i f you have p e r m i s s io n - - b u t i t ' s a l s o s a i d to be aw f u lly e x p e n siv e . I n t e r e s t i n g l y , th e MULTICS o p e ra tin g sy ste m i s l u r g v ly programmed in th e PL/1 languag e ( se e p. ). Sys te n s ,^200 Sm ith S t r e e t , MS 06 1 . K a l th a a , Mass. 0 J1 J4 .

e n g in e e r i n g o r w h a t e v e r; f o r inde pende nt r e s e a r c h ; o r j u s t f o r fun and ganes and The e n t i r e Dartmouth s y s t e o i s b u i l t f o r s i a p l i c i t y and c l a r i t y , w ith e x p la n a ­ t i o n s o f a l l th e f a c i l i t i e s a v a i l a b l e a t te rn i n a ls . (The command e x p la i n JCK c a u s ­ e s th e t e r a i n a l to ty p e out a p i c t u r e of K eneny.) Many f u d d y -d u d d ie s i n s i s t t h a t c o a p u te r usa ge sh o u ld be b i l l e d , as i t i s on most c o l l e g e c a n p u s e s . T h a t i s e s s e n t i a l l y th e C a l v i n i s t v ie w . But what i f we t r e a t e d l i ­ b r a r i e s l i k e t h a t ? I t would p r o b a b ly c o s t S10 j u s t to borrow any book. The p o i n t i s t h a t 11 w e ^ e l i e v e tK a l c e r t a i n c o n d i t i o n s a re a s o c i a l good, th e n >e should be f l e x ­ i b l e a b o u t how to i s p l e n e n t th e a . (See Art h H. Luehraann and John M. N evison, " C onpute r Use unde r a P re e-A cc ess P o l ic y , S c i e n c e . 31 May 7 i , 9S7-961. T h is a r t i c l e c o n tin u e s th i l i n e o f a rg u n e n t and f u r t h e r d e s c r i b e s th e Dartmouth b i l l i n g s y s t e a . ) Anyway, Dartmouth w i l l s e l l you i t s t i l s h a r i n g s y s t e a f o r a b o u t S7S00 a a o n th (an d y o u ' l l ne ed a c o a p u te r s e tu p t h a t b e g in s a t $ 1 7 ,S00 a a o n t h ) . T h a t ' l l run SO t e r a l n a l s . A b i g g e r s e t u p w i l l c o s t a o r e . Bul t h a l gel you F o r t r a n , COBOL, SNOBOL, e t c . , H i b e s t BASIC In th e whole w o r l d , g a a e s , f i n a n c i a l s y s t e a s , and a y r i a d o t h e r p r o g ra a s t h e y 'v e b u i l t a t D a r ta o u th . F u r t h e r a o r e , Mr. A doini t r a t o r , i t a e a n s t h e s y s t e a w i l l be a v a l l a b l to u s e r s w ith a a i n i a u n of c o a p l i c s l i o n and b o th e r.

Soae t i a e - s h a r i n g s y s t e n s a rc l o c a l , o th e rs c i t i e s lo log i n t o th e a w ith lo c a l te le p h o n e calls. Perhap s th e a o s t f a r - r e a c h i n g t i n e - s h a r i n g s y s t e n , though, i s G enera l [ i l c c t r i c ' s MARK I I I , w ith c o n c e n t r a t o r s in many o f th e majo r c i t i e s o f t h e w orl d ( n o s t l y L u r o p c) . The n a in com­ p u t e r i s in O hio , b u t th e o v e r a l l s y s t e a aay be th o u g h t of as an oc to p u s a ro und th e g lo b e , b e­ s i d e s hundreds o f c i t i e s in th e USA, The Gb sy ste m o f f e r s l o c a l a c c e s s in A u s t r a l i a , A u s t r i a , nc lgium , Canada, D cnaark, F i n la n d , Fran ce, I t a l y , J a p a n , N e t h e r la n d s , Norway, P u e rto R ico, Sweden, S w i t z e r l a n d , U n ite d Kingdom and West Germany. What t h i s b a s i c a l l y nc ans i s t h a t i f a conpany has o f f i c e s in th e s e p l a c e s , i t can do i t s i n t e r n a l com m unic atio n thTouch C e n tr a l E T e c t r i c ' s c o a n m c r sys t e a . T his p r e s e n t s ob v io u s m e r i t s and d i f f i c u l ­ t i e s , which t h e r e i s no roon to d i s c u s s h e r e . The s e r v i c e i s s a i d to be e x p e n s iv e . They a l s o o f f e r a t o l l - f r e e n u a b er fo r C o n t a c t: G en e ra l E l e c t r i c I n fo r n a ­ t i o n S e r v ic e s B u sin e ss D iv is i o n , 401 N ort h W ashington SI., R o c k v i l l e , Md. 208S0.

A n u a b er o f c o a p a n ie s have b o u g h t. In­ c lu d in g t h e U.S. Naval Acadeny a t A n n a p o l is , which o f f e r s D a r t n o u t h - s t y l e computing to i t s a id sh ip n e n . Connect c h arg e i s $2 to $9 an hour de pendin g on yo ur t e r a i n a l s p e e d , p l u s p r o c e s s in g c h a r g e s . C o n t a c t: DTSS, INC., Hanover Nil 037SS. ( S e v e r a l com mercial f i r a s a l s o o f f e r DTSS t e u s e r s , In c lu d i n g C onputer S h a r in g S e r ­ v i c e s , I n c . Denve r; Gruanan Data S y s t e n s , Woodbury, NY; PolyCoa S y s te n s L t d . , T o r o n to .)

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P a e ln a i s one o f t h e G re a t A b str u se P r o b le a s o t aodern o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a s . The p r o b l e a i s t h i s : y o u 'v e always g o t f a s t e x ­ p e n s iv e a e a o r y and c heap slow a e a o r y . How can th e o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a s t o r e a o s t o f your p r o g r a a in c heap slow a e a o ry and s t i l l p r e d i c t w hic h p a r t s y o u ' l l need soon enough to g e t th e a In t h e r e f o r you? I n t h e h o t t e r s y s t e a s , in d e e d , t h e o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a t r i e s to p r e d i c t w h a t 's a o s t i a p o r t a n t and aove i t to a f a s t l i t t l e a e a o ry c a l l e d a c a c h e . T h is a r e a i s so b i i a r r e and c o a p l l c a t e a i p r e f e r n o t to t h i n k a b o u t i t . "M ln la f o r a e , " s a y s Mr. N atu ral.

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Tha nest enjoyable aaaalon a t tha 197* National Coaputar Conference vaa tha Noitalgla session on tha Dartaouth Syataa, DTSS. The Old Hande w«ra th tr a - luye who »* kids workad on tha original tlaa-aharlng systea, and have now become grewmp* of one sort or An elaralng statement wee aada a t that eaealon by Jerome B. Wiener, who said he had been tha liaison man between the Dartwuth e ffort aad the c v p u ttr manufacturer (net I1H). He steted that ha had been ordered by hie company te atop the Dartmouth "eapert* aant" any way he could, or lea« his Job in three months. Re did no auch thin g, and (he said) a fte r being fired continued to help the Derianath e ff o rt , holding weekend aaetlnge with ethers ir oa th a t com­ pany ln hie b < » . Ke deserves the Prencee O. Kelsey we-de-owr-rnal-Job a d e l .

Y $0 IBM's "TSO", f o r T in e -S h a r e d O p eratin g S y s te n , i s an odd s o r t o f t i n e - s h a r i n g they have cone up w ith f o r th e 370. I t i s a s o r t o f i n t e r a c t i v e b a tc h pro g r a n a ln g . T hat I s , i t a llo w s t h e u s e r a t a t e r a i n a l to c o a a u n lc a te w ith p r o g r a a s r u n n in g in b a tc h node . While t h i s i s a f o r a o f t r u e t i a e - s h a r i n g , (th ough i t s d e t r a c t o r s te nd to c o ap a re i t w ith what they c a l l " t r u e " t i n e - s h a r i n g , such as t h a t on th e PDP-10) , i t ha s a number o f draw ­ b a c k s. For i n s t a n c e , on t h e nodeL 1SS, a f a i r ­ ly la rg e n a c h ln e ( c a . 150,000 a a o n th - - see p . 3 8 ) , TSO n o r n a l l y a llo w s o n ly twenty The bad f e a t u r e o f TSO n o s t o f t e n nentio n e d i s i t s slow r e s p o n s e t i n e . That i s , r e s p o n s e nay be s o n e t i n e s good, s o a e ti n e s e x ec ra b le. IBM i s u r g in g i t s f a n s to b e l i e v e t h a t i t s n e i t o p e r a t i n g s y s t e a , c a l l e d OS/VS2-2, w i l l be auch b e t t e r .

"For M I t always coses dw n to a personal c h allenge: noC j u s t to c re a te a prograa th a t ae« ti the sp e c if ic a tio n s , but to do I t In a way that I fin d a e s th e tic a lly p le a sin g ."

t < |t

Robert B. Jones IV, a heavy p r o g ra a e r a t ChrysleT

OF C o a p u te r p e o p le a re a a y s t e r y to o t h e r s , who s e e t h e a a s s o a e v h a t f r i g h t e n i n g , s o a e w h a t r id ic u lo u s. T h e ir c oncerns se e a s o ' p e c u l i a r , t h e i r h o u rs so b l i a r r e , t h e i r lan g u ag e s o i n ­ c o m p re h e n s ib le . C o a p u t e r p e o p l e a a y b e s t be t h o u g h t o f ■ s a new . e t h n i c g r o u p , v e i y a u c h u n t o th e m ­ s e l v e s . Now, i t i s v e r y h a r d t o c h a r a c t e r i z e e t h n i c g r o u p s I n w o r d s , and c e r t a i n t o g i v e o f f e n s e , b u t i f I h ad t o c h o o s e one w o rd f o r t h e a i t w o u ld b e e l f i n . Ife a r e l i k e t h o s e l i t t l e p e o p l e down aaong t h e a u s h r o o a s , s k i t ­ t e r i n g a ro u n d c o a p le te ly p re o c c u p ie d w ith u n f a t h o a a b l e c o n c e r n s and s e e a i n g l y i n d i f ­ f e r e n t t o n o r a a l h u m a n ity . In th e a o o n l i g h t ( i . e . , p r e t t y l a t e , w i t h s n a c k s a ro u n d t h e e q u ip m e n t) y o u Bay h e a r o u r a u s l c .

P r a c t i c e s a y i n g t h e a l o u d l y and f i r a l y to y o u rself. T h a t way you w o n 't f r e e z e when t h e y ' r e p u l l e d o n y o u . THAT’ S NOT HOW YOU DO IT THAT'S NOT HOW YOU USE COMPUTERS THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU DO WITH COMPUTERS THAT'S NOT HON I T 'S DONE THAT'S NOT PRACTICAL HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT COMPUTERS? WITH YOUR BACKGROUND, YOU COULDN'T UNDERSTAND IT LE T 'S CALL IN SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THIS APPLICATION ( g e n e r a l l y a s h i l l ) IT ISN 'T DONE (you know t h e a n s w e r t o t h a t o n e ) a nd t h e one I ' v e b e e n w a i t i n g to h e a r , I F GOD HAD INTENDED COMPUTERS TO BE USED THAT WAY, HE WOULD HAVE DESIGNED THEM DIFFERENTLY.

M ost l a p o r t a n t l y , t h e f i r s t r u l e I n d e a l ­ in g w i t h l e p r e c h a u n s a p p l i e s e* h y p o t h e s l t o c o a p u t e r p e o p l e : when one p r o a i s e s t o 00 you a a a g i c a l f a v o r , k e e p y o u r e y e s f i x e d on h i a u n t i l h e h a s d e l i v e r e d , ffr you w i n g e l wHat you d e s e r v e . P ro g raa ae rs' p ro ais es a re n o to r­ io u s l y u n k e p t.

U n f o r t u n a t e l y t h e r e i s no r o o a h e r e to c o a c h you on how t o r e p l y t o a l l t h e s e . Be a s s u r e d t h a t t h e r e i s a lw a y s a r e p l y . The b r u te - f o rc e b razen coaeb ack , e q u a lly d ir ty , i s j u s t to say s o a e th i n g l i k e

But th e d ip p y g l o r i e s o f t h i s w o r l d , th e e a r n e s t n e s s a n d w h i a s y , a r e s o m e th in g e l s e . A r e a l c o a p u t e r f r e a k , i f you a s k h i a f o r a p ro g ra a to p r i n t c a le n d a rs , w i l l w rite a prog r a a t h a t g i v e s you y o u r c h o ic e o f G re g o r i a n , J u l i a n , O ld R u s s i a n and F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n a r y , i n e i t h e r s a a l l re fe re n c e p r i n t o u t s o r b ig o n e s you c a n w r i t e i n .

OH YEAH7 WHAT ABOUT THE x WORK USING A y?

DIDN'T YOU SEE THE LAST JOINT PROCEEDINGS?

( w h e re k i s a n y p l a c e on t h e map on p . S" , a n d y i s any c u r r e n t c o a p u t e r , s u c h a s a P D P -10. )

C o a p u t e r p e o p l e ha ve a a n y o r d i n a r y t r a i t s t h s t show u p i n e x t r a o r d i n a r y w a y s - - l o y a l t y , They dogged­ n e s s and c o n s t r a i n e d f a n t a s y t h a t e n a b l e t h e a t o p r o d u c e i n t h e i r w o rk . (Onc e a t l u n c h I asked a t a b l e f u l l o f p r o g ra a a e r s w hat p la n e f i g u r e s t h e y c o u l d g e t o u t o f one c u t th r o u g h a cube. 1 g o t about th re e t ia e s as aany a n s ­ w ers .a s I t h o u g h t t h e r e w e r e . )

Cra lvde e p, atretai cp ue lr a, r v qe nugaelfiut il ne es s, s aas n dw eslol , o 6n f.

U n f o r t u n a t e l y t h e r e i s no r o o a o r t l a e t o go on a b o u t a l l t h e s e t h i n g s - - s e e B i b l i o ­ graphy-- b u t In t h i s p a r t i c u l a r a re a o f f a n ­ t a s y an d e a o t i o n I h a v e o b s e r v e d s o a e i n t e r e s ­ tin g th in g s . One c o a a o n t r a i t o f o u r t i a e s - - t h e t e c h ­ n i q u e o f o b s c u r i n g o n e s e l f - - n a y be a o r e com» a o n a ao n g c o a p u t e r p e o p l e t h a n o t h e r s ( s e e " T he Myth o f t h e M a c h in e ,” p . ? , and a l s o " C y b e rc ru d ," p . J ). Perhaps a c e r t a i n d l s g r u n t l e a e n t w i t h t h e w o rl d o f p e o p l e f u s e s w i t h f a s c i n a t i o n f o r (and e nvy o f ? ) a a c h i n e s . Anyway, a t n y o f u s who h a v e g o t t e n a l o n g b a d l y w ith p e o p le f i n d h e re a r e a l a o f a b s t r a c t i o n s to in v e n t and c h o re o g ra p h , p r i v a t e l y and w ith c o n tin u in g c o n t r o l . A s t r a n g e h o u se f o r t h e e ao tio n s, t h i s . L ik e H e g e l, who b e c a a e a o s t e l o q u e n t a n d a r d e n t when he w as l e c t u r i n g a t h i s a o s t t h e o r e t i c a l , i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t o be a ao n g c o a p u t e r f r e a k s b o i s t e r o u s l y e x p l a i n i n g th e c r o s s - ta n g le d r a t i f i c a t i o n s o f soae s y s te a t h e y h av e s e e n o r w o uld l i k e t o b u i l d . (A s y n d r o a e t o p o n d e r . I ha v e s e e n I t a o r e th a n o n c e : t h e t e c h n i c a l p e r s o n w ho, w i t h soaeone he c a r e s a b o u t, can n o t s to p t a l k i n g •bout h is Id ea s f o r a p r o je c t. A p o ig n a n t ty p e o f F r e u d i a n d i s p l a c e n e n t .) A s a d a s p e c t o f i h l s , i n c i d e n t a l l y , i s by no a e a n s o b v i o u s . T h i s i s t h a t t h e s a a e com­ p u t e r f o l k s who c h a t t e r e l o q u e n t l y a b o u t s y s ­ t e a s t h a t f a s c i n a t e t h e a te n d t o f a l l d a r k and s i l e n t w h i l e sott 'e one e l s e i s e x p o u n d in g h i s own fasc in a tio n s. You w ould e x p e c t t h a t t h e p e r s o n w i t h e f f u l g e n t t e c h n i c a l e n t h u s i a s a s w o u ld r e a l l y c l i c k w ith k in d red s p i r i t s . In ay e x ­ p e r i e n c e t h i s o n l y h a p p en s b r i e f l y : h o s t i l i ­ t i e s an d d i s a g r e e m e n t s b o i l o u t o f no w h ere t o c u t t h e g o o d a o o d . My o n l y c o n c l u s i o n i s t h a t t h e s a a e s p i r i t t h a t o r i g i n a l l y d r i v e s u s m u t­ t e r i n g i n t o t h e c lo c k w o r k f e e l s t h r e a t e n e d when o t h e r s s t a r t a o n k e y in g w i t h w h a t h a s b e e n c o n tro lle d and p r iv a te fan ta sy . T h i s c a n b e summed up as f o l l o w s : NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT ANOTHER GUY'S SYSTEM. H ere a s e l s e w h e r e , t h i n g s f u s e t o b l o c k h u a a n c o a a u n i c a t i o n : e n v y , d i s l i k e o f b e i n g d o m in a ­ t e d , r e f u s a l t o r e l a t e e a o t i o n a l l y , and w h a t ­ ever e ls e . W h a te v e r c o a p u t e r p e o p l e h e a r a b o u t, i t s e e a s th e y i a a e d i a t e l y t r y t o to p . Which i s n o t to sa y t h a t c o a p u t e r p e o p l e a r e s e r e c l o c k w o r k le a o n s o r B e t t e l h e i a i a n ro b o t-c h lld re n . But th e t e n d e n c ie s a r e t h e r e .

BIBLIOGRAPHY G e r a l d M. W e i n b e r g , The P s y c h o lo g y o f C o a n u t e r P r ° r * " V T i T N o s t r e n d R e ln E o T T T -------v e in .

S y s te m a tic t r e a t a e n t in a r e l a t e d

This ease i s so c la s s ic I t ' s a l n s t a Punch uri Judy shew. One o f the n a s t i e s t people I have ev«r a ct a s the head of s e c u r ity fo r a b lg - c ^ ^ u t e r i s i t a l l a t l o i . Several people agree w ith ae th a t » d e lig h ts la te l l i n g paep le they can ’t de ip e cifle thin gs a t the c e n t e r , M re ly fo r the lake of r e s t r ic tin g th M . Anyway, a t th i s s m in s t a ll a ti o n th e re was ‘ p r o g r a ^ r , l e t ' s c a l l h ia h . wbo d isllk w ) euiharley, and d is lik e d t h i s d ir e c to r of s e c u rity , Let'e c a l l h ia B, w ith a aocdy passion. B spent such o f h is t b a in te n se ly , ^ e e s s ively r n n f p la tin g poesLbls ways th a t uaere ■Ight break in to th e t y i t a , a id e lab o rately jrogram ing defanaee and eoim term asures in to :he sem it a r . Ha» I lino* th is ? I knew th is C ra a , who co n stan tly went through B 's w astelasket. a s t i l l p laits In ce ssan tly fo r tha day 1 w ill g e t a big ta u n tin g p r in to u t, casing una ^ c t a d l y to h ia o f f the aachin e, th a t showe ila a l l h is se c re te a re known. I

f |E G 0 H T » e U A very im portant kind of d iscu ssion takes place between people who want c o ^ j t a r p r o ^ a s , b u t c a n 't w rite th e a , and people who can write t h w . b u t d o n 't want to . Or. th a t I s , who don 't want to g e t caught having to do a l o t o f unneces­ sary work i f i t could be done «or« s la p ly . P r o g f n e g o tia tio n , then, Is where the ac u i t s a c " ~ he aay a c tu a lly be the boss-* saye, *1 want a prograa ch at w ill do s ^ a n d - s o , ' ‘and th e p r o g ra n e r sa ys. ' I ’d ra th e r do i t th is way.* In a s e rie s of req u e sts and c o u n te r o f fe rs th e e u stea er e x plain s what he wants and the prog r in r e sp la ln s why he would ra th e r do I t a d i f ­ f e re n t way. I £ l £ e s s e n t ia l fo r both elde£ to aake theaselves c a s p le te lv c l e a r . Often the cust«ner thinks he wants one th ing but would be q u ite s a tis f ie d w ith ano ther th a t I s auch e asie r to prograa. Often the p ro g ra m e r can aake help­ f u l suggestions o f b e tte r ways to do I t th a t w ill be e a s ie r fo r h ia . Very bad thin gs csn happen i f prograa nego­ tia tio n I s n e t done c a r e f u lly and h on estly enough. The p r o g ra n e r can a isu nd erstand and c re a te s e e ­ th ing th a t was not wanted, o r the c u i t a s r can c a r e le s s ly a is s ta te h ia a e lf and ash for tha wrong th in g . Or w orst o f a l l — the p r o g r a m r can de­ lib e r a te ly k lsh e ar and do so w th ing d if f e r e n t, saying, 'T h e re , t h a t 's what you w an ted,' a s he hands ever s o u th i n g th a t i s n ' t what was r e a lly asked f o r. And the poor custoswr nay even believe I t (see ‘Cybercrud,’ p, 8 ) . Prograa n e g o tia tio n should be B r a widely acknowledged aa a d i f f i c u l t and p a in fu l business. I t is exhausting and fra u g h t with s t r e s s i people (on both sid es) g e t a l l k inds o f p sy c h o so u tic s y s p to n (lik e a b d n ln a l p a in s, t i c s and c h ills ) . The fa c t th a t p e o p le's c a r e e rs o ften depend on

. . . p r o g ra m m e rs, in my ex p erien c e . te nd lo be p a in sta k in g . lo gical. Inhib ited, cauti ous, restra ined, defe nsiv e, methodical, and rit u a listic.”

than fo ste rin g the thorough and sym pathetic coop­ e ra tio n which is e s s e n t ia l . If t

Ken Know lton, ” Collaborations with Art iste -A Program m er's Reflections," In Nake a Roeenfeld ( e d s.) . G ra phic Languages (North-Holiand Pub. C o .) . p . 396.

USEFUL. AND POSSIBLY EMBARRASSING QUESTIONS If lhe Computer P n e sls s u r t to pick on yo u. he re are seme hclplul ph rase s that w ill give you stre n g th . I do not wanl to give the im pression thal the G uardians ol the Machine arc alw ays bad g uy s. N evertheless, sad to relale, they a rc not always good g uy s. Like everyone oul 10 bo lster his position, including the plum ber and ihe elec trician , Ihe compuierman haa learned how easy it is to intimidate the layman. Now. these people a re often rig h l. Bul if

a consumer advocale o r w h atev e r-- you are probably cnlitied to slrsig h i answ ers thal w ill help settle the m atter honestly . without puldow ns , Any honest man will a g re e . Now, iheae helplul q u estion s, honesily answ ered, may elicil long m ysterious a n sw e rs. Be patienl and conlident. Write down w hai’s aaid and sil down wiih ihe glossary in this book until you understand the answ er. Then you can ask more questions, I am not inviting the read er to make irouble flippantly. 1 am suggesting lhal many people have th ere may be some discomfort al f ir s t. HOW DOES IT WORK? (T his question may have to be backed up as follows: 'T h e re are no computer systems whose w orkings cannoi be clearly described to someone who u nd e rstan d s Ihe basics, I INSIST THAT YOU MAKE A SINCERE ATTEMPT.- ) WHY DO YOU CLAIM IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY? (SPEAK MORE SLOWLY , PLEASE.) WHAT IS THE DATA STRUCTURE? COULD YOU EXPLAIN THAT IN TERMS OF THE DATA STRUCTURE? WHO DESIGNED THIS DATA STRUCTURE? And can I talk 10 him? WHAT IS THE ALGORITHM? WHO IS THE PROGRAMMER? And can I talk to him? WHY DO WE HAVE TO USE A CANNED PROGRAM FOR THIS? WHY IS THE INPUT LANGUAGE SO COMPLICATED? WHY DO WE NEED CARDS? WHY CAN'T PEOPLE TYPE IN THEIR OWN INPUT? WHY NOT HAVE A SIMPLE-MINDED FRONT END THAT LETS USERS CONTROL IT THEMSELVES? WHY HAVE FORMS TO FILL OUT? WHY NOT HAVE A DIALOGUE FRONT-END ON A MINI? WHY CAN T IT BE ON-UNE? AvJ «*. O C T J f c w k . f r / l O M L O '^ ) T WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE THAT BRAND OF COMPUTER? WHY NOT GET A SYSTEM WITH LESS OVERHEAD? WHY SHOULD ALL COMPUTER OPERATIONS BE CENTRALIZED’ DON'T THEY GET IN EACH OTHER’S WAY? WHY DOES IT ALL HAVE TO BE ON ONE COMPUTER? WHY NOT PUT PART OF IT ON A DEDICATED MINI? WHY CAN’T WE DO THIS PARTICULAR THING ALL ON A MINI? WOULDN’T IT COST LESS IF WE GOT A MINICOMPUTER FOR THIS TASK? WHY CAN'T THIS BE PROGRAMMED IN SOME LANGUAGE LIKE BASIC? YOU KNOW AND I KNOW THAT COMPUTERS DONY HAVE TO WORK THAT WAY. WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO DO IT THAT WAY? If these suggestions seem u n n e ce ssarily contentious, il is because m t of these guys like to pick on people, and you may have is be re a d y . And you may need all the su pp ort you can g e l, if. s a y . you lake a stand like one of Ihese: *U Ihe Information is in th e re , I do n't see why w e c a n 't gel it out." ’ You have no rig h t to aak q u estion s like th is, sn d if the program req u ire s i l , change the program . * Remember. ILLEGITtMIS NON CARBORUNDUM (d on 't lei the b a sta rd s g rin d you down)

' I CANT BEAR HEAT.* REMARKED LAKCW1DERE

THE MEETING OP THE HINDS The CustOHr, Halve Advocate

The ‘E x p e rt'

—

= ---------------------------------------------------------------1 d o n 't see why What yo u'v e g o tta since I t ' s a c ^ ^ u t e r . . . understand i s th a t th e re These a re n o t d e ta i le a re p ro b lea s in v o lv e d ... th a t eencern a e . . . I t c a n 't be th a t These a re ju s t w a y ... 1 n a n a c a p u ta r can do a l l th ese thin gs,

be j u s t what you w a n t...

C f uppancai the e u sto w r w ill g e t what he deserves. Horali I f you want something, y o u'd b e tte r daan w ell n ego tiate i t a t the d e ta i le d le v e l.

The a trtn g e language of com puter people makes more aenae than laymen necessarily realize. Il's a ge n ersliied analy tic al way of looking at ti n e , spa ce and a cti vity. Co nsi der the following. "THERE 18 INSIGNIFICANT BUFFER SPACE IN THE FRONT HALL." (Buffer; pla ce to put something te m porarily.) "BEFORE 1 ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR INTERRUPT. LET MB TAKE THIS PROCESS TO TERMINATION. ’ "COOKING IS AN ART OF INTERLEAVING TIME-BOUND OPERATIONS." ( I . e . . d o i n g pa rte of se parat a Joba In the r ig ht o r d e r with an eye on Ihe c lo c k .)

R .w .iJ .T -e .iy .

TH«e

w u g i e

lU F O R lh T lK fr

to w n of K.B.S.I.S.T.O.R.S. in eza su tiu t ««saion, A tlantia City

Their name makes people think iho y' rc a war prtitcal g ro up , but actually lh e R . E .S .1 .S . T . O . H . S . o l Princeton. N . J . a re o bunch of kids who play with compulers. The y're all young; members are purged when ihey finis h hig h school. Their clubroom Is st Princeton U n iv e rs ity , bu t Ihe initiative Is strictly th e ir s. The name sta nds for "Radically Emphatic Students Interested in Science, Technology and Other Research Subj ec ts." Compulers are not all (hey d o —th ey 'v e also golien Inlo aloi rac in g and tho game of Diplomacy — but compulera are whai the y'ro known for. The Reals tor s ( le i's spell ii the shorl way) exhibit reg ularly at lhe computer con fe re nc es, and hi ve startled numerous people wilh the hig h q u a li ty of Ihelr work. T hey 'v e been invited to various conferonces a bro a d . They have built various language pro ce sso rs and done g r a p h ic s; lately Ihelr fad Is working wilh lhe LDS-1 In Princeton’s Che mistry Department.

They have v aried backgrounds. The father of one is s b utcher, lhe father of an o th er is one o f ihe country’9 foremost intellectuals. (None or thal matters to lhe k id s .) I have dined in a number ot their homes, and find (his in common: Iheir p arents show them great r e s p e c t. love and t r u s t, indeed. Resistor p aren ts liuvc expressed some su rp rise lo le arn lhat their c h ild ren 's work is al lhe full-fledged professional le vel. Tho Important ih in g , lo lhe paren ts, ia lhal the k id s a r e w orking on constructing (hings they e njoy.

The grea l Ih ing about these klda Is th eir la n y flippancy . They've ne ver failed, th e y'v e never beon afraid for th eir Jobs, snd so the y co mb ine the zest of lhe young wilh Ihoir cupcrtlso. Their forma of e xp re ss io n are as sla n lln g to professionals as they are lo o u ts iders; do n't say anything ponderously If 11 can be said pla yfu lly . Don'l say "bit field” If you can say "funny bits;" do n 'l say "alpha numeric buffer" If you can say "quick brown fai bo*: " don’t say "Interrupt signal" if you can Coll il s "Hey Charlie; " don't say " re ad dr es sing logic" If you can say "whoopco bos."

ft.e.S.I.S.T.O.f.S. after infamous Onega cirew m /.

I first met the R esistors in 1970. aril sto n e d hanging around with them for Iwo reasons, F i rs t. Ihey a rc p crf«:lly d elightful: enth usiastic In the way lhat most Adults forego, and v e ry w itty. To them compute r lulk was nol u thing a p a rt, a s it is fur both out­ sid e rs and m ony professionals. Secondly, and this wos lhe self-seeking n sp c cl. 1 noted that those k id s w ere q uite e x p e rt, and inte rested in giv in g me advice w here computer professionals would nol- They got inte rested in helping me with my (perhaps quixotic) Xuiiudu1"1 project (see flip s id e ) . T h is w os enough to keep mu v isiting for a vouple of y e a r s , Now, some people a r c loo proud lo ask c h ild ren for Informa­ tion. T h is Is du m b . Information is w here you find il. T h e last I h e ard , the Resistors w ere Ml work in ,i COUOL compiler for th e PDP-11. hoping il would snvc the local high school from lhe d isa stro u s (lo Ihcm) p urchase of a n 1IIM 1130. (Since the school's in tent was to leueh business programming, they hoped lhal th e availability of COUOL would cnceurngc lhe school (o buy lhe more powerful and less expensive PDP-11.) T h e Rcsislor6 « re few, bui I think (hey lire v e ry important in p rin cip le, u n existence proof. They show how silly and artificial Is o u r edifice o f pedagogy , with all its scqucnccs and sterilizations, and how onybody c un learn unyIhing in lhe r ight a tm osphere, stripped of ils pomposities. T h e Resistors a r e nol obsessed with computers; Ih eir love of compute rs is purl of Ih eir love of ev ery th in g , ond e v ery th in g is what compute rs a rc for.

group lik e you doing a t a Jo in t lik e th is?

4 . A tte m p t Co f i n d o u t how e l s e c o m p u te rs a r e u s e d i n t h e p a r t i c u l a r a r e a , anH- m e n tio n th e s e t o h e lp o r i e n t t h e re a d e r .

W R IT E R S

a flo K e S to e /\f

T h * p u b l i c i s th o r o u g h l y c o n f u s e d a b o u t c o m p u t e r s , an d th o p r e s s a n d p u b l i c i s t s a r e s c a r c e ly fre e fro a b la a e . I T ’S TIME FOR EX­ PLANATIONS. P e o p l e w a n t t o know w h at c o a p u t e r s y s t e a s r e a l l y d o — no a o r e o f t h i s " l a t e s t s p a c e - a g e te c h n o l o g y " g a r b a g e . H r. B u s i n e s s ­ m a n , H r . W r i t e r , a r e y o u a an e nough t o s t a r t t e l l i n g i t stra ig h t? Tho c o a p u t e r p r i e s t h o o d , u n f o r t u n a t e l y , o f t e n w a n t s t o awe p e o p le w i t h , o r u n d u ly s t r e s s , th e n o tio n o f th e c o ap u te r b ein g in ­ v o lv ed in a p a r t i c u l a r th in g a t a l l . I t is t i n e f o r e v e r y b o d y t o s t o p b e i n g i m p r e s s e d by t h i s a n d g e t on w i t h t h i n g s . Don’ t j u s t c o p y e d i t w h a t t h e y g i v e y o u . Hose a ro u n d and r e a l l y f i n d o u t , t h e n w r i t e i t lo u d s n d c l e a r . T hese s ia p le r u l e s a r e ay s u g g e s tio n s f o r b r i n g i n g on a o r e i n t e l l i g e n t d e s c r i p t i o n s t h a t w i l l h e lp e n l i g h t e n th e p u b l i c by o s a o s i s . 1. FIND OUT AND DESCRIBE THE FUNDAMEN­ TAL APPROACH AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE PROGRAM. T h i s c a n i n v a r i a b l y be s t a t e d in t h r e e c l e a r E n g lis h sen ten c es o r l e s s , but not n e c e s s a r i l y b y t h e p e r s o n who c r e a t e d I t . THIS I S WHAT WRITERS ARE FOR: i t i s yo u r d u ty to p r o b e un ­ t i l t h e n a t t e r ha s b e co n e c l e a r .

Examples" T h is c h e ss- p la y in g p rogra n e v a lu a te s p o s s i b l e aoves in t e r a s o f v a rio u s c r i t e r i a f o r p a r t i a l s u c c e s s , and makes t h e no v e w h ic h has th e h ig h e s t a e r i t acc o rd in g to th e s e ra tin g s." "T h is n u slc-co ap o sin g p ro g ra a o p e ra te s on a se a l-ra n d o a b a s i s , sc re en in g p o s s ib le n o t e s f o r v a rio u s k in d s o f a t t r a c t i v e n e s s . . . ” "T h is a rc h ae o lo g ic al c a ta lo g u in g keeps tr a c k o f a v a rie ty of ob je ctiv e o f e a c h a r t i f a c t , p l u s i n f o r a a t i a n on i t w as, in c lu d in g lin k a g e s i n d i c a t i n g o t h e r a r t i f a c t s were n e ar i t . "

sy ste a fea tu res w here w h at

What o r whose c o a p u t e r i s u se d t o d o a t h i n g i s o f a l a o s t no c o n c e r n ( u n l e s s i t I s o n e o f u n u s u a l d e s i g n , o f w h ic h t h e r e a r e com­ p a r a t i v e l y few ) . Not t h o n a k e o f t h e c o a p u ­ t e r , b u t t h e GENERAL IDEA OF HOW THE PROGRAM OPERATES, i s t h e a o s t i a p o r t a n t t h i n g . O f c o u r s e , i f yo u a r e b e i n g p a i d by a h a r d w a r e a a n u f a c t u r e r , y o u ' l l h a v e t o name t h e e q u i p m e n t o v e r and o v e r ; b u t r e c o g n i z e t h a t y o u r r e a l d u t y I s p u b l i c u n d e r s t a n d i n g , and p u t the ta c t s acro ss. ( I f you t h i n k i t c a n 't b e d o n e , r e a d t h e s p l e n d i d Kodak a d s i n t h e S c i e n t i f i c A m e ric a n . ) 2. Keep g e e - w h i z z i n g r e s t r i c t e d t o t h e d e s c r i p t i o n o f a s y s t e a 's p s y c h o lo g ic al e f f e c t on r e a l p e o p l e . (What l a p r e s s e s y ou a a y t u r n o u t t o be o l d h a t . ) 3. Look f o r a n g l e s s p e c i a l t o w h at y o u ' r e rep o rtin g . P ursuing d e t a i l s i s l i k e l y to b r i n g u p b e t t e r s t o r y p e g s and a o r e hu a a n i n ­ te re st. I n s te a d o f s a y in g "co m p u ter s c i e n t i s t s ” h a v e d o n e s o m e t h i n g , you a i g h t f i n d s o m e th in g m o r e i n t e r e s t i n g f o r y o u r l e a d ; how a b o u t "The u n l i k e l y te am o f a b i o p h y s i c i s t and a t e e n - a g e a r t s t u d e n t . . . ” o r - - f i n d i n g w h a t’ s s p e c l a l - '' N e v e r b e f o r e ha s t h i s be en done o n a c o m p u te r s o s m a l l , th e s i z e o f a p o r ta b l e ty p e w r i t e r ( a n d h a v i n g o n l y s o a e 4000 w or ds o f m e n o r y ) . . . ”

I was driv in g some Resistors a round Princclon; they were y ellin g contradic tory d riving instructions "I demand triple r e ­ dundancy in th e directions." I sa id . "Right u p oheud you turn rig h t right a w a y ," said a spokesman.

Since (here was a lol of e x cc ss capacity. (he Rcsis(ors got a fre e account on a national tim e-sharing system . Though they d id n 't have to p a y , the system kept ihcm informed on what (hey would have owed. In a y ear o r so they r u n u p funny-m oney bills of severol hundred thousand dollars.

The iruUe p ress is ambivalent toward th the one hand they moke good copy. (Al one S| had the only working tim e sh a rin g demo-- on a phone booth .) On the o th e r, they Ramclimes pub licity-h u n g ry , like many cclc b rilie s. (At anol Joinl Ihey d u g up an IBM Songbook and serenaded lhe g u y s at lhe IBM pavilion, who had to a ct nice about i l . ) So ihey d on'l got w ritten u p In computer m agazines so much anymore.

Where do Ihey le arn It *11? They loach each other, of c ours e. Newcomera ha ng a ro u n d , learn computor lolk, work on projects, and (ease each o lh e r. T h ey K in use the Informal trade ch an nels, subscribing to magaz ines and filling oul Information request cards un de r su ch company names as Plebnay International Signal Division and Exca ll b u r Wax Fruit.

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L auren. 14. was talking to another g irl ol lhe ACM 70 con­ feren ce. A p a sserb y h eard h e r explaining lh e differences among lhe languages BASIC. POHTRAN. COBOL and TRAC. "How long have you been programming'’ " h e asked in s u r p ris e . "O h. almost a m onlh." she said .

T h is goes a g a i n s t t h e e x c l u s i v i s t te n d e n ­ c i e s we a l l ha v e when we w ant t o b a l l y h o o so m e th in g . I t i s a n a t t e r o f c o n s c i e n c e , an im p o rta n t one . 5.

q u e stio n s to ask: What a r e t h e p r e a i s e s o f y o u r p r o ­ gram? What i f p e o p l e t u r n o u t t o ne ed What c o u l d go wrong? And most I m p o r t a n t : What i s t h a t ?

IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONS I t i s o n l y by c l a r i f y i n g d i s t i n c t i o n s th a t p e o p le a r e e v e r g o in g to g e t a n y th in g stra ig h t. 6 . Do n o t s a y " t h e c o m p u te r" when y ou aean " th e syste m " o r " t h e p r o g ra a ." 7 . D o n 't s a y " a a a 1 f u n c t i o n i n g c o n p u t e r " ( h a r d w a r e e r r o r ) i f t h e c o m p u te r f u n c t i o n e d as i t was d i r e c t e d o n an i n c o r r e c t p r o g r a a (so ftw a re e r r o r ) . (And re a em be r t h a t t h e b e s t p r o g r a a a e r s make m i s t a k e s , s o t h a t a c a t a s t r o p h i c bug i n a s y s t e a i s no s i g n t h a t i t was p r o g r a a » e d by a n in c o m p e t e n t , o n ly th a t i t i s n ’ t f in is h e d .) 6. (A p a r t i c u l a r p o i n t a b o u t g r a p h i c s . Se e f l i p s i d e . ) D o n 't s a y "TV s c r e e n " i f a c o n p u t e r s c r e e n I s n o t TV, i . e . , S25 h o r i ­ z o n t a l l i n e s t h a t y ou c a n s e e on t h e s c r e e n i f y o u lo o k f o r th e m . (S e e p . V \ 6 v e r s u s p . £>*21 . ) HOW ABOUT: " v i s u a l d i s p l a y s c r e e n " ? - - you c a n a d d , " o n w h ic h t h e c o a p u t e r c a n draw a o v i n g l i n e s , " o r w h a t e v e r e l s e t h e p a r t i c u l a r syste m does.

Did (hey ra(e free subscriptions lo computer magazines? I asked, Could Ihey chiim Ihey really "make decisions affecting Iho p urchase of computers"? "Of co u rse we do!" w as lhe r e p ly . "All logc(hcr: shall Resistors (in unison) "NO!"

T heir o riginal advisor, whom we shall call Gaston . is mis­ chievous in h is own rig h t, II w as meeting-lime at G oslon's place o n a b rig h t S a tu rd ay , and I was on the fawn w orking on Xanadu with Nat and Elliou when Gaston in te rru p ted to say lhat an unwelcome salesman of b u rg lar alarms was about lo a rr iv e . "L ei's have a little fun wilh h im ," said Gaslon. The k id s w ere to b e introduced as Gaston's c h ild ren , I was an uncle. We took our stations. T h e salesman may hove realized he w os walking inlo a Irap from a ll the slrangcly beaming adolescents (hot siood in the living room, lie gol oul h is w ares and s ta rted lo demonstrate the burglar alarm , bul il d id n ’t go right- P e te r, stan d in g in fron( o f (he equip­ ment wilh a demonically vacuous g r in , hud rev e rse d a diode behind h is back so that lh e alarm r an g continuously u n less you broke lh e light beam. " I l u m p f s a i d Gaston, "you want to Bee a real security system?" We trooped Inlo lhe kilch o n , w h ere Gaston- kepi a Teletype ru nning, ANY NEWS? typed Goslon. CREAM YEMAW JMJICK PULLED INTO DRIVEWAY . replied lh e T elety p e. JEIISEY LICENSE PLATE . . . (and lhe salesman's license n u m b er), und finally. OWNER OK RECORD NOT KNOWN. John was ty p in g th is from ihe o th e r Teletype in the b a rn . The salesman stared al (he T eletype, lie looked around a l o u r ch eru b ic smiling faces, lie looked al Ihe T eletype. "Thai's all r ig h t.” suid lh e salesman. "Hut now I'd like lo show you a r e a l security system . . ." And it w as back to the old b u rg lar

de ep ly v e rs e d in co m p u ters o r s o f tw a r e , n o t j u s t a p r o g ra m m e r. (Anyway, i f s o m e th in g h a s b e e n program me d by a n e n t o m o l o g i s t , i t i s p r o b a b l y a o r e i n t e r e s t i n g t o r e f e r t o him a s i n e n to m o lo g is t th a n a s a " c o a p u te r s c i e n t i s t . " ) 14 . Do n o t r e f e r t o a p p a r e n t i n t e l l i g e n c e o f t h e c o m p u te r ( u n l e s s t h a t i s a n i n t e n d e d f e a t u r e o f t h e p r o g ra r^ . C r e d i t r a t h e r t h e i n ­ g e n u i t y o f t h e s y s t e m ’s c r e a t o r . Do n o t s a y " t h e c l e v e r c o m p u t e r . " I f any body i s c l e v e r i t i s t h e prog ra m m e r o r p r o g ra m d e s i g n e r , and i f you t h i n k s o , s a y s o . T hese g uy s d o n ' t g e t th e r e c o g n itio n th e y d e s e r v e . 1$. N ev e r, n e v er sa y " te a c h th e c o n p u te r" a s an e l l i p t i c a l way o f s a y i n g " w r i t e c o m p u te r p r o g r a m s . ” Prog ram m in g means c r e a t i n g e x a c t and s p e c i f i c p l a n s t h a t c a n b e a u t o m a t i c a l l y f o llo w e d by t h e e q u i p m e n t . To s a y " t e a c h " when yo u mean " p r o g r a m " i s l i k e " p e r s u a d i n g " a c a r i n s t e a d o f d r i v i n g i t , o r making a t o i l e t " c r y ” in stea d o f flu sh in g i t . ( T h e r e a r e s y s t e n s , d e s c r i b e d on t h e f l i p s i d e , w h ic h s i m u l a t e i n t e l l i g e n t p r o c e s s e s and a a y t h u s ' be s a i d t o " l e a r n " o r " b e t a u g h t . " B ut n e i t h e r p ro gra m m in g n o r s i m u l a t e d l e a r n i n g s h o u l d be d e s c r i b e d i n a s l i p s h o d f a s h i o n t h a t s u g g e s t s t h e c o m p u te r i s some s o r t o f t r a i n a b l e b a b y , puppy o r d e a o n . ) 1 6 . Do n o t im p ly t h a t s o a e t h i n g i s " t h e l a s t w o r d , " u n l e s s y ou h a v e c h e c k e d t h a t i t i s .

BIBLIOGRAPHY E r n e s t G o w er s, P l a i n W o rd s. T h i s w o n d e r f u l l i t t l e b oo k sh ow ed E n g lish c i v i l Se rv an ts " b u re a u c ra tic w r i t i n g " was t o t a l l y u n n e c e s s a r y . Its p r e c e p t s - - n a in ly c o n cern ed w ith c a l l i n g a sp a d e a sp a d e ( s e e p . ) - - tran s p o s e e x a c t l y t o th e c o n p u te r w o rld .

9 . D o n ' t assume t h a t y o u r a u d i e n c e i s c o a p u te r-illite ra te . 1 0 . Don’ t assum e t h a t i t c a n ' t a l l be s a i d s i a p l y . O n ly l a 2y o r h a r d - p r e s s e d w r i t e r s a re u n c lea r. 1 1 . Do n o t u s e c u t e s y - t a l k , p a r t i c u l a r t h a t w hic h s u g g e s t s t h a t c o a p u t e r s h a v e a n i n ­ t r i n s i c c h a r a c t e r . By " c u t e s y ” I a e a n s e n ­ te n c e s l i k e " S c i e n t i s t s hav e r e c e n t l y t a u g h t a c o n p u t e r t o p l a y c h e s s , " M is - L e ad s l i k e "Whet d oes a c o m p u te r so un d l i k e ? " (when t a l k ­ i n g a b o u t m u s l e c o n s t r u c t e d by a p a r t i c u l a r p r o g r a a i n a p a r t i c u l a r w a y ) , and a w e - s t r u c k d e s c r i p t i o n s l i k e , " A t l a s t t h e S p a c e Age h a s come t o t h e r e a l e s t a t e b u s i n e s s . . . ” 1 2 . Do n o t u s e t h e g a rb a g e t e r m ^compu­ t e r i z e d , " u n le s s th e re i s a c l e a r sta te m en t o f w h ere t h e c o m p u te r i s i n t h e s y s t e a , w hat th e c o n p u t e r i s d o i n g end how. A " c o m p u t e r ­ iz e d t r a f f i c s y a to m ," f o r i n s t a n c e , c o u ld be any damn t h i n g , b u t a " s y s t e m o f t r a f f i c l i g h t s under c o a p u te r c o n t r o l , u sing v a rio u s tim in g te c h n iq u e s S t i l l unde r dev elo p m en t,” sa y s so a eth in g . 13. D o n 't p u t i n c l i c h e s a s f a c t , f o r exam ple by t h e u s e such t e r a s a s " n ath e n a t l c a l " o r "com puter s c i e n t i s t ” u n le s s th e y r e a l l y a p p ly . Do n o t im p l y an y a a t h e a a t i c a l c h a r a c t e r u n l e s s you know t h e s y s t e m p o s s e s s e s i t : many p r o g ra m s c o n t a i n no o p e r a t i o n s t h a t can f a i r l y be c a l l e d m a t h e a a t i c a l . S i m i l a r l y , a " c o m p u t e r s c i e n t i s t " i s some one w i d e l y o r

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B e ca u se of th e grea t s u c c e s s of Its small c o m p u le rs , e sp e c ia lly lh e PD P -0 , ev en ma ny com­ p u t e r pe op le th in k th e y on ly make sm all com pu­ t e r s . in (acl t h e i r b ig c o m p u ie r, th e PD P-10, Is one of th e most su c c e ssf u l tim e - sh a rin g c o m p u le ra . An exam ple o f i ts g e n e r a l estee m in lh e field: It is th e h ost c o m p u te r o f ARPAHET, th e national c ompu te r n e tw o rk among sc ie ntif ic in st al lat ion s funded b y t h e D ep artmen t o f Defens e; ba si ca ll y t h i s me ans ARPANET is a n e tw o rk of PDP -lOs.

T h e c o m p u te r companies a re of ten r e f e r r e d to In Uie f ie l d aa "Snow White and th e Se v e n D w a r f s " - - a p h r a s e tha t s ta y s the same e v e n as th e l e a s e r o n e s (l ik e RCA and G enera l E le ctr ic ) g«t o u t o f th e b u s in e s s one by one . T h e p h r a s e s u g g e s t s th a t th e y ’r e all a lik e . T o a n exte n t; b u t t h e r e Is o ne company suffi ciently d if f e r e n t, a n d I m p o r ta n t en ou gh both In it s h is to ry a n d Ita c o n t i n u i n g e m in e n c e , to r e q u i r e e x po sitio n h e re , T h i s I s D ig it a l E quipment C o rp orati on , u su a ll y p r o n o u n c e d " D e c k t h e people who f ir st b r o u g h t ou t th e m in i c o m p u t e r and c ontin ue to ma k e One etufT for p e o p le who know w h at th e y are d o in g .

DEC'S c om p ule rs ha ve alw ay s be en de sig n ed by p r o g r a m m e r s , f o r p r o g r a m m e r s . T h is made for c o n sid er a b le s u s p e n s e w hen th e PDP-11 di d not a p p e a r , e ven th ough th e h ig h e r n u m b e r s d i d , and the- g r a p e v in e had it t h a t Ihe 11 w ou ld be a s ix t e e n -b i t m a ch in e, ll p ro ved to be well w aili ng for ( se e p . 2 2 ) , and has s in c e becom e t h e s ta n d a r d so p h ist ic a te d 16- b lt mach in e In th e ind u stry .

O t h e r c o m p u te r compani es hav e mim icked IBM. T h e y h a v e bull! b ig co m p ute rs a n d I tie d to se ll th e m to b ig corp oratio n s (or t h e i r b u s in e s s d a ta p r o c e s s i n g , o r big "s ci en tific " m a ch ines an d t r i e d to se ll the m lo s c ie n tis ts .

F i r s t th e y made c ir c u it s for pe op le w ho w a n t e d lo tie dig it al eq uipment to ge th e r. T h e n , s i n c e th e y ha d the c ir c u it s any w ay , ih e y manu­ f a c t u r e d a c o m p u te r (the PD P -1 ). T h en more c o m p u t e r s . I n c r e a s in g the lin e slo w ly , b u t a lw ay s t e l l i n g p o te n ti a l u s e r s as muc h ss t h e y co uld p o s s i b l y w a n t lo know. T h e sam e for it s m a n uals. Pe ople w ho w ro t e for Informa tion from Digital would oflen g e l . no t a su m m ar y ahee l r e f e r r i n g you t o a loc al s a l e s o f f i c e , b u l ■ complete manual ( s a y , for th e P D P - 8 ) , In c lu d i n g c h a p te rs on p r o g ra m m in g , ho w lo b u i l d inle rfa ce a lo I t , and th e en ac t t i m i n g a n d d is t r i b u t i o n o f Ih e main I n te r n a l p u l s e s . T h e eff ec t o f Ihls w as tha t soph is tic a te d u a e r s - e s p e c i a l l y in u n iv e rs itie s a nd r e s e a r c h e s t a b ­ l i s h m e n t s — s t a r t e d b uil d in g th e ir o w n . T h e i r o w n in l e r f a c e a , I h e ir ow n modifications to DEC c o m p u t e r s , t h e i r own or ig in a l sy st e m s a ro u n d DEC c o m p u t e r s .

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P D P -2 , 0 o r 13 .)

An a r e a DEC h a s e m p hasize d from th e f ir st h a s be en co m p u te r d is p l a y ( d is c u sse d at le n g th on th e fl ip s i d e ) . T h u s il i s no s u r p r i s e thal ih e lr in te r a c tiv e anim ated c om puie r d i s p l a y , th e GT40 (see p . M i ) i s an o u ts tan d in g d e sig n and su c c e s s . (And the U n iv e rsity of U ta h, c u r r e n t ly lhe m other c h u r c h of co m p u te r d i s p l a y , r u n s ll s g r a p h i c sys te m s from PD P -l O s.)

DEC w anl about il dif f er en tl y , a lw ay s d e ­ s i g n i n g f o r th e people who kn ew w ha t th e y w e r e d o i n g , a n d a lw ay s going lo grea t le n g th s lo te ll y o u e x a c t l y w h a i th e i r eq uipment did.

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In t h i s p lu c k y , hom esp un c om pan y, w h er e e v e n p r e s i d e n t O ls e n i s k no w n by h i s f ir st na m e ( K e n ) , It Is u n d e r s t a n d a b le lhal m a rk e ti n g p iz az z ta k es a ba ck se at. T h i s a p p a r e n tl y w as th e view of a g r o u p o f r e b e l s , led by vic e p r e si d e n t Ed d e C a s tr a , w h o b r o k e off In th e lale s ix t ie s to s la r l a new co m p u te r c om pan y a ro u n d a 16-bll com p uie r d e s ig n called Ihe Nova— r u m o r e d lo ha v e b e en a r eje cted d e s i g n for th e PDP-11. T h e c o m pa ny th e y s ia r te d , Daia G en e ra l, h a s not be en afraid lo u s e lh e h a r d s e l l , an d b e tw ee n th e i r h a r d se ll a n d sou nd ma ch in e line t h e y 'v e se ri o u sly c h all eng e d l h e p a r e n t co m pan y .

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H o w e v e r. I do ha ve g r ate f u l rec oll e cli o ns of th e w arm th and c o u rte sy w it h w h ic h peo ple from Digital E quipm ent Co rp orati o n h a v e ta k e n p a in s lo e x p la i n th in g s lo m e , h o u r a f lc r h o u r , c on fe re nce a fte r c on fe re nce . In th e e a r ly six t ie s ih e y ha d o n e ma n in on e small office to s e r v i c e an d se ll all of New J e r s e y a n d New York C l ly . But lha t one g u y . D av e D en n isto n , sp e nt c o n s id e r a b le time r e s p o n ­ d i n g to my que sti o n s and r e q u e sts o v e r a p e rio d of a cou p le o ( y e a r s , and i n th e n ic e s t p o ssib l e w a y , ev en th o ug h th e re w a s n o way I co uld bu y a n y th in g . You d o n 't fo rget tr ea tm e n t lik e th at.-

But Digital m a rc h e s o n . tltc O r - p u t e r Kur.'s c om puie r c o m p a n y . If IBM is c o m pu te rd c m 's Kodak, w h ose o v e r p r ic e d b u t q u it e re li a b le go od s h a v e v a rio u s d r a w b a c k s . DEC is N ik o n, w il h u m ix - a n d -m a tc h a sso rt m en t of wlmi th e ho is h ots w an t. T h a t 's p lu r alis m for y ou .

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Some k i n d s o f p e r i p h e r a l d e v i c e s , o r com­ p u te r a c c e s s o r i e s , a r e a lw a y s n e c e s s a r y . O n ly th r o u g h p e r i p h e r a l s c a n y o u l o o k a t o r h e a r r e s u l ts o f w h a t t h e co m p u te r d o e s , s t o r e qu an­ t i t i e s o f in fo rftia t i o n , p r i n t s t u f f o u t and w h atn o t.

\ . I f y o u h a v e a c h a n c e , m a y b e y o u s h o u ld t a k e c o m p u t e r c o u r s e s , b u t r e m e m b e r th e s l a n t t h e s e a r e li k e l y to h a v e . O r p e r h a p s y o u p r e f e r j u s t to s i t a n d w a i t , a n d b e p r e p a r e d to s p e a k u p s h a r p l y i f t h e c o n p u t e r p e o p l e a r r i v e r e a d y to p u s h y o u a r o u n d . R em e m b e r: CO M PU TER POWER T O T H E PEOPLE! DOWN WITH CYBERCRUD! C o m p u t e r s c o u ld d o a ll k i n d s o f t h i n g s fo r i n d i v i d u a l s , if o n l y t h e p r o g r a m s w e r e a v a i l a b l e . F o r i n s t a n c e : h e l p y o u c a lc u la t e y o u r ta x i n t e r ­ a c t i v e l y til l it c o m e s o u l b e s t ; h e l p t h e h a r r i e d c r e d i t - c a r d h o l d e r w ith b i l l - p a y i n g b y a llo w in g h im to t r y o u t d i f f e r e n t p a y m e n ts t o d if f e r e n t c r e d i t o r s till h e s e t t l e s o n t h e m o n t h 's b e s t m ix , t h e n t y p i n g t h e c h e c k s ; WRITING ANGRY LETTERS BACK to t h o s e c o m p a n ie s th a t w r i t e y o u n a s t y l e t t e r s b y c o m p u te r ; h e l p i n g w i th l e t t e r - w r i t i n g i n g e n e r a l . Y o u 'll h a v e to w r i te t h e p r o g r a m s .

A n y h o w , s o th e sc ie n tific q u e stio n is w h e th e r b ig - b r a in e d s p e c ie s a r e s m a rt. W ell, dogs a re s m a rte r th a n r a t s . . . But a b o u t t h e s e o t h e r g u y s i n o u r le a g u e a n d b e y o n d . How d o w e k n o w s o i e n t if i c a l ly th a t " t h e s i z e o f t h e b r a i n i s n 'l w h a t c o u n t s " ? B e c a u s e o b v i o u s l y t h e y 'r e n o t a s s m a r t a s w e a r e , p e o p le s a y . T h e r e f o r e it i s n 't b r a i n s i z e th a t c o u n t s . T h e d e p t h o f th i 9 lo g ic s h o u l d b e e v id e n t. (I ’v e e v e n h e a r d p e o p le s a y , " O f c o u r s e t h e y 'r e n o t a s s m a r t . T h e y d o n 't h a v e g u n s . " )

H ow d o y o u t h i n k c o m p u t e r s c a n h e l p th e w o r ld ? W hat a r e y o u w a i t i n g fo r?

HIBLIOGRAPHY P a y c l o s e a t te n ti o n t o a n e l e p h a n t so m e tim e . James D . W a ts o n , M o l e c u l a r B io lo g y o f t h e G e n e . B e a u tifu lly w r i t t e n ; m e a n t f o r h i g h s c h o o l s cience t e a c h e r s . B u t p o t e n t i a l l y f o r m i­ d a b le ; l f s o , s t a r t ' w i t h h i s a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l T h e D o u b le H e l i x , w h i c h i s a g a s . Mark P ta s h n e a n d W a lt e r G i l b e r t , " G e n e tic Repressors." Scientific American, June 1970, 36-44.

W o r k in g e l e p h a n t s in I n d i a r e s p o n d t o so m e 500 d i f f e r e n t o r a l c o m m a n d s . C a n y o u th i n k of a 501st th i n g to a s k an e l e p h a n t to d o ? (1 r a t h e r s u p p o s e i t cou ld - o b l i g e . ) A n y w a y , t h e d o z e n w h a le s I 'v e k n o w n p e r ­ s o n a l ly w e r e s m a r t a s h e l l .

S E. L u r ia , L ife: T h e U n f i n i s h e d E x p e r i m e n t . S c r i b n e r 's . Lewis Thomas, T he L i v e s of a C e l l . Viking, S7. Eloquent w r i t i n g to popularize, among other things, the N e w Ge netic view that your m o d e r n a n i m a l cells, and mine, ac­ tually c o n t a i n v a r i o u s fungi and other stray d i n g - a - l i n g s that slid into one of our ancestors and found useful work, j oi n ­ ing the b a si c g e n e t i c program.

It u s e d t o b e b e l i e v e d lh a l m e m o r y w a s e x c lu s iv e ly a m a tte r of s y n a p tic c o n n e c tio n s — th e g r a d u a l c l o s i n g o f l i l t l e s w i t c h e s b e t w e e n n e r v e c e lls w ith p r a c tic e . It i s n o w k n o w n t h a t te m p o r a r y o r s h o r t - t e r m m e m o ry is s y n a p t i c , b u t s o m e t h in g e l s e t a k e s p l a c e a f te r t h a t . I t 's b e l ie v e d t h a t a f te r a c e r t a i n p e r i o d , a n d il h a s s o m e th in g to do w i th r e s t a n d s l e e p , m e m o r ie s a r e t r a n s ­ f e r r e d to so m e o t h e r f o r m , p r e s u m a b l y c h e m i c a l . B ut how ?

It u s e d to b e f a s h i o n a b l e to s a y , "T he b r a i n Is a c o m p u t e r . " But now p e o p le s a y , "T h e b r a in is a h o l o g r a m . " F a sh io n s c h a n g e .

My f r i e n d A n d r e w J . S i n g e r h a s a b e a u ­ tifu l h y p o t h e s i s t h a t w r a p s it u p . H is g u e s s is t h a t m e m o r ie s a r e m o v e d f ro m s y n a p t i c s to r a g e to DNA ( ! ) s t o r a g e d u r i n g d r e a m i n g , o r m o r e s p e c i f i c a l l y REM s l e e p . I l i k e t h a t o n e . IKE COPPER M A N W A L K E D OUT OF T H E R O C K Y CAVERN

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E v e ry b o d y b l a m e s t h e c o m p u t e r . P e o p l e a r e e n c o u r a g e d t o b la m e t h e c o m p u t e r . T he e m p lo y e e s o f a f i r m , by t e l l i n g o u t s i d e .p e o p l e t h a t i t ' s t h e c o m p u t e r 's f a u l t , a r e e n c o u r a g i n g p u b l i c ap a th y th ro u g h p r i v a t e d e c e i t . T he p r e ­ te n s e i s t h a t t h i s th in g , th e c o m p u te r, i s r i g i d a n d in h u m an ( s e e " T h e Myth o f t h e C o m p u te r ," p . ? ) and m akes a l l k in d s o f s t u p i d m is ta k e s . C o m p u te rs T a r e l y make m i s t a k e s . If t h e c o m p u tin g h a r d w a r e m akes a h a r d w a r e e r r o r i n a b i l l i o n o p e r a t i o n s , i t may be n o tic e d and a re p a irm a n c a l l e d . (O f c o u r s e , once i n a b i l l i o n o p e r a tio n s i s o n ce i n a t h o u s a n d s e c o n d s , o r p e r h a p s e v e ry te n m in u te s . That ought to be m e n tio n e d .) A nyhow, i n n o c e n t g a d g e t r y i s n o t w h a t f o r c e s you t o make s t u p i d m u l t i p l e c h o i c e s on b u r e a u c r a t i c f o r m s ; m ere e q u i p m e n t i s n ' t w h a t l o s e s y o u r s u b s c r ip tio n re c o rd s ; IT'S

THE SYSTEM. By s y s t e m we m ean t h e w h o le s e t u p : t h e c o m p u te r, th e a c c e s s o r i e s t h a t h a v e b ee n chosen f o r i t , i t s p lan o f o p e r a tio n o r p r o g r a m , an d t h e way t i l e s a r e k e p t a n d co m p lain ts h a n d le d . D o n 't b la m e t h e c o m p u t e r . Blame t h e s y s t e m ; b la m e t h e p r o g r a m ­ m er; b la m e t h e p r o c e d u r e s ; b e s t o f a l l , b lam e t h e co m p a n y . L e t them know y o u w i l l ta k e y o u r b u s in e s s to w h e re v e r th e y h a v e human b e i n g s . Same f o r g o v e r n m e n t a l a g e n c ie s : w r ite your congressm an. And so o n .

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Few of u s can help feeling outrage at the book c lu b s , o r s u b s c rip tio n offices, or b illin g d epartm ents, that do n ’t re p ly to o u r le t t e r s . O r re p ly in a p p r o p ria te ly , with a form p rin to u t that doesn't match the problem . F irs t le t's u n d ersta n d how this happens. T h e se outfits a re b a s e d on u s in g the com­ p u te r to handle all co rres p o n d e n c e and tra n s ­ ac tio n s . The "office" may not have any people in it at all— that i s , people w hose job it is to u n d e r s ta n d and deal s en s ib ly with the p ro b ­ lem s of custom ers. In stea d , th e r e may ju s t be key p u n c h op erato rs staffing a Balch S ystem , set up by someone who h as long s in c e moved on. T h e poinl of a b atc h system (see p . f S ”) is to aave money and bo th er b y handling e v e ry ­ th in g in a controlled flow. T h is does not mean in p rin c ip le that things have to b e rig id and r e s tr i c t i v e , bul it usually m eans it in pra c tic e . (See "T he Punch C ard M enta lity," p . •) T he system is set up w ith only a fixed num ber of e v e n t ty p e s , and so only th o se eve nts are re co g n ize d ae o c c u rrin g . Most im portant, your problem is assum ed to be one that will be s tra ig h te n e d out in the c o u rs e of the s y stem 's flow . While th e re may be p ro v isio n for excep­ tio n s -- one c l e r k , p e r h a p s - - y o u r problem has not seem ed to him w orthy of m aking an excep­ tion for. Here is my solution. It h as worked s e v e ra l tim es, p artic u larly on book clu b s that ig n o re d typed letters and kept b illin g me in c o r r e c tl y . Get a roll of white sh elf p a p e r, two or th re e feet wide and twenty o r m ore feet long. Write a le tte r on Ihe s h e lf p a p e r in magic m a r k e r. Make it b ig , p e rh a p s s ix inches to a w o rd . Legibility is n e c e s s a r y , b u t d o n 'l make it too easy to re ad . Explain the problem c l e a r l y .

we should all p ra ctice and have ready a t the tip of o u r tongues: WHY THE HELL NOT? YOU'RE THE ONES WITH THE COMPUTERS, NOT ME! Let's froth up a little citizen indignation h e r e .

Now lake y o u r p u n ch c a r d - - you d id gel o n e . d id n ’t y o u , a bill o r som ething?-- and m utilate it carefully. T e a r it in q u a r t e r s , or cut it into lac e, o r som ething. But make s u re the s e r ia l nu m b er is still l e g ib le . Staple it lo v in g ly to y o u r nice b ig letter,. Now fold y o u r le tte r , a n d find an envelope b ig en ough for it to fil in , an d s en d i t . r e g i s ­ tered o r certified m ail, to ANY HUMAN BEING, ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT, o r w h a te v e r, and the com pany's a d d r e s s . T h is really works q uite w ell.

A O T jr k J O i^ In p rin c ip le we no longer need account num bers. Now lhat tex t pro c essin g facilities a r e available in moat (if not all) major com puter langua ges, the o nly excuse for not u s in g these features ia the p ro g ram m er's notion of h is own convenience— not lhat of the outside custom er o r victim. Exam ple. Someone I know got b r a n d new ^ ■^ ■n ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ a n d c re d it c a rd s . He m ade no note of th e ir n u m b e rs. Then he lost them b o th . Duly he re p o rted (he lo s s e s . Neither serv ic e could look him u p . they s a i d , without the n u m b e r s . Not having u s ed th e m , he had no bills to ch e c k . Even though he w as the only perso n at th at a d d re s s with an y th in g like that nam e. And w hy not, pra y tell? E ith e r b e­ cause they w e re fib b in g , o r because th ey had not seen fit to c r e a te a sim ple s tra ig h tfo rw a rd program for the p u rp o s e . (See Basic R ejo in d er, n e a rb y .) I have h e a rd of sim ilar cases in volving major life in s u ra n c e com panies. Don't lose the n u m b e rs . L e t's all dance lo it: When a n y th in g is issu ed to you, Write the n u m b er down.

T h e people who s en d it out like to call it personalized a d v e rtis in g and the lik e . But most of u s call it J u n k M ail. And its v a g a rie s are NOT THE POOR COMPpTER'S FAULT. What gets people angry d e r iv e s from the system buill around Ihe poor c om puter.

I am assum ing h e r e , now , that y o u r p ro b ­ lem h as m erit, and you have b e e n denied the attention re q u ire d to settle il. If w e want ju stic e we m ust o u rs e lv e s b e j u s t. T h e re is one f u r th e r s t e p , b u t , ag a in , to be u s ed only in p roportion to th e offense. This step is to be used only if a m eritorious commun­ ica tio n , like thal alread y d e s c r i b e d , has not been p ro p e rly re sponded to in a decent in terv a l. We assum e that th is u n ju s t firm h as sent you a re p ly envelope o r c a rd on which they must pay p ostage. Now ca re fu lly d ra ftin g a follow -up le tte r , explain once ag a in , in civil la n g u a g e , the orig in al problem , y o u r efforts at a tte n tio n , and so o n . Now p u t it in a package with a ten o r tw elve-pound r o c k , affix the re p ly envelope to the o u tsid e, and send it off. T he problem , you s e e , h a s b ee n to get out of the batch stream and b e tre ated a s an e x c e p tio n . F lagrantly d e s tro y in g the punch ca rd s e r v e s to remove you from the flow in that fash­ ion. (H owever, ju s t tea rin g it a little bit p ro b ­ ably w on't: a c a rd that is in tact b u t to m can sim ply b e put in a ce rtain slot of the ca rd -p u n c h and d u p lic a te d . Destroy it good a n d p le n ty .) ln all these ca ses rem em ber: the problem is not th a t you a re "b ein g tre a te d a s a n u m b er," w h a te v e r that m eans, b u t that y o u r case does not c o r re c tly fall in the c a teg o rie s that have bee n s e t up for i t . By forcing attention to your ca se a s an e x c ep tio n , you a re m aking them re alize that m ore categories a re n e e d e d , o r more people to handle exc eptions. If m ore people do th is w hen they have a ju s t com plaint, s ervic e will im prove ra p id ly .

You may w o n d e r why y o u get m ore and more seed ca talogs, o r g ift-h o u s e ca talogs, as time goes o n , even though you n e v e r o rd e r any­ th in g from them. O r why a d ec ea sed member of the household goes on g e ttin g mail y e a r in and y e a r o u t, re g a r d l e s s of y o u r an g ry post­ c a rd s . How does it kee p coming? T hro u g h the m agic of som ething called Ihe Mailing L is t. And especially the p e c u lia r way lhat mailing lists a re b o u g h t and s o l d .

Now, a m ailing list is a s e r ie s of names and ad d re s s e s of p o s s ib le cu s to m e rs , s to red on com puter tape o r d i s k . You can buy the u se of a m ailing l i s t . But you cannot b u y the m ailing list itself. Suppose you h av e a b r o c h u r e ad v e rtisin g pum pkin-seed re l is h , w hich you s u g g e s t has re juvenating p o w e rs . You w ant this b ro c h u re to go out to ric h college g r a d u a t e s . You go to a m a ilin g -list h o u s e . "I cannot sell you th is m ailing lis t out­ r i g h t ," say s the jolly p r o p r ie t o r , "for it is my b u s in e s s to sell its u s e again a n d ag a in , so I do not want anybody else to h a v e a copy of i t ." So you leave 2500 p u m p k in -s e e d re lish b ro c h u re s with the m ailing l i s t com pany, and p ay them a lot of m oney. And they sw e a r on a stack of b ibles th a t th ey h av e m ailed the b ro ­ c h u re s to th e ir spec ial list of r i c h college g ra d ­ uates. Well, l e t's say you g et 2S0 sale s from that m ailing. (10% is fan tastic ally g o o d .) But out of curio sity you go to a n o th e r m ailing-list house and have an o th e r m ailing s e n t o u t— this one to people who h av e low incom es an d little e d u c atio n . T h is time you g et 15% o r d e r s . Now g u es s w hat y o u a r e a c q u irin g . A m ailing lis t of y o u r v e r y ow n. ple who ea t p u m p k in -s e e d re l is h .

Of peo­

Mailing lis ts a r e , you e e e , g en e ra lly r e n ­ ted b lin d , w ith no c h a n ce to s e e the a d d ressee s o r check as to w h e th e r t h e y 'v e a lr e a d y been mailed to. And thal e x p la in s all th e duplicatio n s. If a n a d v e r t i s e r is go in g a f te r a ce rtain type of cu sto m er, an d goes to s e v e ra l m ailinglist houses a s k in g fo r m ailings to that partic u lar ty p e of custom er, ch a n c e s a r e som e people will be on s e v e ra l of the l i s t s . A nd s in c e th e r e 's no way to in terc o m p are the l i s t s . th e s e poor gu y s get s e v e ra l co p ie s of the m ailing. (A nother way th is can h a p p e n is if some che apska te h as h is own m ailin g lis t an d d oesn't check it for re p ea ts of the sam e nam e. Bul w ritin g the com puter p ro g ram to che ck for re p ea ts of the sam e nam e is not e a s y — there m ight j u s t be a R o b ert J o n e s a n d a Rob Jones at the sam e a d d r e s s — an d t h e s e th in g s a r e not usually checked m an u a lly . T h e y 'r e b i g . ) A nother p o s s ib ility e x is ts fo r elim inating duplications w hen y o u r e n t m a ilin g lia ts . You can b rin g in a m agnetic tap e w ith y o u r mailing lis l on i t , and they can s e n d o u t th e m ailing only to the m em bers of t h e i r ' l is t who a r e nol alread y on y o u r l i s t. T h a t w a y y o u still ca n 't steal th e i r lis t, s in ce th e ta p e ie o n th e ir p re m ise s. T he tro u b le i s , th e y can s tea l y o u r lis t, by m aking a co p y of th e t a p e . Oh d e a r.

O n e p o s s ib ility , nice and e x p e n s iv e , is to r e n t a n u m b e r of mailing lists from a s ingle m a i l i n g - l i s t h o u s e , with them g u aran tee in g that t h e y ’ll c o m p a re all the lists you choose and n o t s e n d to a n y perso n more th an o nce. B ut a s you may be su sp e c tin g , th is costs m o n e y . A ll th is s c re e n in g and inierc o m p arin g r e q u i r e s co m p u te r tim e, and s o , even though y o u a r e g e t t i n g a more and m ore perfect m ailing, y o u a r e p a y i n g reore and more and m ore money f o r i t . So y o u can see why reasonable b u s in e s s ­ m e n a r e w illin g to send out ad s even w hen they k n o w som e re c ip ie n ts will get s e v e ra l d u plicate s. A n o th e r in te re s tin g point. T h e re a re m a ilin g l i s t s fo r all k in d s of different possible c u s t o m e r s . T h e p o ssib ilities a r e e n d le s s. M in o r i t y - g r o u p do cto rs. People In te res ted in b o t h s ta m p collecting and flowers (y o u 'd have to g e t a com pany with both l is ts , and have them go t h r o u g h them for the d u p lic a te s . . . you get th e id ea ).

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N ote t h a t m ailing lis ts a r e p ric e d according to t h e i r d e s i r a b i li t y . Weeded m ailing l i s t s , fea­ t u r i n g o n ly Live O nes, people w ho've o rd e re d b i g i n r e c e n t tim es, a r e more e x p e n s iv e . Lists o f d o c t o r s , w ho b u y a lo t, .are m ore e x p e n s iv e t h a n l i s t s o f social w o r k e rs . And so o n . T h e n t h e r e ’s the m a tte r.o f the pitch . T h e a d 's p h ra s in g may be b u ilt around t h e m a ilin g p l a n . Some c ir c u la rs come rig h t out a n d t e ll th e re c ip ie n t h e 's going to g et s e v e ra l c o p i e s b e c a u s e h e 's such a wonderful p e r s o n . THEN t h e r e s r e those ad v e rtisem en ts that a r e a c t u a l l y p ri n t e d by the co m p u te r, o r at least c e r t a i n l i n e s a r e filled in with the re c ip ie n t's n a m e a n d p o s s ib ly some snazzy p h ra s e s to make him t h i n k i t 's a p ersonal le tte r. Who re s p o n d s to s u c h t h i n g s 1 d o n 't know. My favorite was t h e o n e - - I w is h I could find it to in clu d e h e re - - t h a t w e n t som ething like Y o u 'll re a l l y look sw e ll, M r. Nelson w a lk i n g dow n Main Street of New York i n y o u r s h a r p -lo o k in g new s l s c k s . . . 1 d o n 't kn o w w h e th e r I enjoyed the s p ac es o r t h e M ain S tr e e t m ore.

B ut y o u se e how th is w o rk s. T h e re 's t h i s b a t c h - p r o c e s s i n g p ro g ra m , s e e , a n d the n a m e s a n d a d d r e s s e s a r e on one long ta p e , and th e t a p e g o e s th ro u g h , a n d the p ro g ram takes o n e r e c o r d (a name a n d a d d r e s s ) , a n d d ec ides w h e t h e r to c a ll th e a d d r e s s e e " M r .," "M s." or w h a t e v e r , a n d th en p lu g s his nam e into the p r i n t o u t l i n e s th a t giv e it T hat P erso n a l Touch; a n d t h e n t h e m ailing envelope o r s tic k e r is p r i n t e d ; a n d t h e tape moves on to the next re co rd . We m ay look fo rw ard to in c re a s in g en ­ c r o a c h m e n t s on o u r time and tr u s t by the d ire ct m ail i n d u s t r y : esp e cially in b e tte r and b e tte r q u a c k l e t t e r s th a t look as though th e y 'v e really b e e n p e r s o n a l l y ty p e d to you by a re a l hum an b e in g . (It i s a p p a re n tly legal fo r le tte rs to be s i g n e d b y a fic titio u s p e r s o n w ithin a co m p a n y .) In t h e f u t u r e we may expe ct s u ch le tte rs to be s e n t o n fin e p a p e r , ty p ed in dividua lly on good t y p e w r i t e r s , a n d convincingly p h ra s e d to make u s t h i n k a r e a l p e rs o n a l pitch is b e in g ten d e re d .

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(B u t If y o u c h a n g e y o u r min d It m ig ht b e fu n lo b r o w s e . )

In a s e n a e . th e o t h e r a id e h a s b e e n a co m e-o n fo r t h i s a i d e . B ut i t ' s a n h o n e s t com eon: 1 f i g u r e t h e m o re y o u k n o w , th e r e a d i e r y o u 'l l b e f o r w h a t I'm a a y i n g h e r e . Not n e c e s s a r l ly to a g r e e o r b e na o l d . n but to t h in k a b o u l il In Ih e n o n - e im p le te r m s lh a t a r e g o in g lo be necessary.

"When you're dealing wilh media you’re in show businc-ii, you know, whether you like il or nol.* 'Show bminnt,* he said. "Aknolutcly. We’ve gotta be in iliow bmim-iv We've gotta pul together a Icjm llial will I'rl us ihere." I nude a mental nole lo m.’ iS-35.

ic-jcood Gould, C o r r e la t io n Freak ( T o u e r l, 2!.

If Ih e c o m p u ie r Is a p r o je c tiv e s y s t e m , o r R o r s c h a c h I n k b l o t . ae a lle g e d on Ihe o t h e r s i d e , th e r e a l p r o j e c t i v e s y s t e m s - - Ihe o n e s w ith p r o ­ je c t o r s in t h e m - - a r e all Ihe more s o . T h e th in g s p e o p le t r y to d o w ith m o v ie s , TV a n d th e more g la m o r o u s u s e s o f th e c o m p u te r , w h e r e b y it m a kes p i c t u r e s o n s c r e e n s — a r e s t r a n g e I n v e r s io n s a n d f o ld o v e r s o f t h e r e s t of th e m in d a n d h e a r t . T h a t 's Ih e p e c u l i a r o r ig a m i of Ihe se lf.

B u t th e " e x p e r t s " a r e not g o in g lo b e much h e lp ; th e y a r e p a r t o f th e p r o b le m . On b o th a ld e a , th e a c a d e m i c a n d Ihe i n d u s t r i a l , th e y a re b e in g p a in f u l ly p o n tif ic a l a n d b o m b a stic In th e j a r r i n g ne w J a r g o n s ( s e e "Babelfa in T o y la n d ," p. *7 ) . L ittle c l a r i t y la s p r e a d b y t h i s . Pew th ln g e a r e f u n n i e r lh a n Ihe p r e t e n s i o n s o f th o se w h o p r o f e s s to d i g n i t y , s o b r ie ty a n d p r o f e s s i o n ­ alis m o f t h e i r e x p e r t p r e d i c t i o n s ’-- e s p e c ia l ly w h en t h e y , loo a r e p o u r i n g oul t h e i r ow n p e r s o n a l < v le w a u n d e r t h e g u is e of te c h n i c a lity . Most p e o ­ p le d o n 't d r e a m o f w h a t 's g oin g lo h it th e fa n . A n d th e c o m p u ie r a n d e le c tr o n ic s p e o p le a r e lik e g e n e r a l s p r e p a r i n g for Ihe la s t w a r .

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S o in th e a e p a g e s I hope to o r i e n t y o u so m e ­ w h a t to v a r io u s of th e p r o p o s e d d r e a m s . T h i a ia m e a n t a ls o to r e c o r d th e e ff o rts of a few B r e w s t e r M c C lo u d s, e a c h t i n k e r in g to w a rd som e new flight of fanc y in h is own s e n s o a r iu m . B ut b e a r in min d th a t h a r d - e d g e d f an ta sy i 6 Ihe c o r n e r o f tom orrow . T h e g r e a t A m e ric an d r e a m of te n be com e s th e g r e a t A m e ric a n n o v e lty . A fte r w h ic h i t ' s a c hoic e of s t y l e , s iz e s n d f in ­ a n c in g p la n . T h e most e x c it in g t h in g s h e r e a r c those t h a l in v o lv e c om pute rs: n o ta b ly , b e c a u s e c o m p u ­ t e r s will e m b ra c e d in e v e r y p r e a e n ta tio n a l me dium a n d th o u g h tf u l me dium v e r y s o o n . T h a t 's w h y th is a id e ia w e d d e d lo Ihe o th e r: i f you w a n l to u n d e r s t a n d c o m p u t e r s . y o u c a n take t h e f ir s t s te p by t u r n i n g th e book o v e r . 1 f ig u r e t h a t th e more you know a bout c o m p u te r s — e s p e c ia l­ ly a b o u t m inicom puters a n d Ihe w ay o n - l i n e s y s ­ te m s c an r e s p o n d to o u r s li g h te s t a c t s - - th e b e tte r y o u r im a gin a tion can flow be tw ee n Ihe t e c h n i c a li­ t i e s , c a n a lide th e p a r t s to g e t h e r , c a n d i s c e r n Ihe s h a p e s o f what you w ould ha v e th e s e t h i n g s do . T h e c o m p u te r is nol a lim itle ss p a r t n e r , b u l 11 is d e e p l y v e r s a til e ; to w o rk w ilh il we muat u n d e r ­ s ta n d w hat ll can d o , th e o p tio n s a n d t h e c o sts.

I h a v e nol m e ntioned th e e m o tio n s. Movie6 a n d b o o k s . m usic and e v e n a r c h i t e c t u r e h a v e for a ll of u s b e e n p a r t of im p o r ta n t em o tio n a l m om ents . T h e sa m e i6 goin g lo h a p p e n w ith Ihe n e w m e d ia . T o w o r k al a h ig h ly r e s p o n s i v e c o m p u t e r d is p l a y s c r e e n , for I n s ts n c e . c an b e d e e p ly e x c i t i n g , l ik e f ly in g an a irp l a n e t h r o u g h a c a n y o n , o r t a lk in g to somebody b r i l l i a n t . T h ia i s aa it sh o u ld b e . ("T h e r e a s o n i s . a n d by l i g h t a o u g h t to b e , sla v e lo Ihe e m o llo n a ." - - B e r t r a n d R u s s e l l . )

F r a n k l y , 1 th i n k i t ' a a n o u tr a g e m a k in g it look a s If t h e r e ' s a n y k i n d of sc ie n tif ic b a a la to th e s e th in g s : t h e r e ia a n u n d e r le v e l o f te c h n i c a l i t y . b u t lik e th e f o u n d a ti o n of a c a t h e d r a l , it s e r v e s o n ly to s u p p o r t w h a t r i a e s fro m It. THE TE CH ­ NICALITIES MATTER A L O T , BUT THE UNIFYING VISION MATTERS MORE.

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B u t to d a y i al thia m om ent, w e c a n a n d m ja t d e s i g n Ihe m e d ia , d e a ig n th e m o le c u le s of o u r n e w w a t e r , a n d I b e lie v e Ihe d e ta i ls of t h ia d e s i g n m a tte r v e r y d e e p ly . T h e y w ill b e w ith u s for a v e r y lo n g tim e, p e r h s p s a s long a s m a n h a s left; p e r h a p s i f th e y a r e a s good aa th e y c a n b e . man m ay e v e n b u y more l i m e ' - o r th e o p e n - e n d e d f u t u r e most s u p p o s e r e m a in s . (Se e " E n d g a m e , ” P . t * .)

My s p e cia l c o n c e r n , all too lig h t ly fra m e d h e r e , i s th e u se of c o m p u te rs lo h e lp p e o p le w r i t e , th in k a n d s how . Bul I th i n k p r e a e n is tlo n b y c o m p u te r is a b r s n c h of show b i s a n d w r i tin g , nol of p sy c h o lo g y , e n g in e e r i n g o r p e d a g o g y . T h i s w ould b e Idle d is p u t a ti o n if It d i d n o l ha v e f a r - r e a c h i n g c o n s e q u e n c e s for th e d e s i g n s of th e s y s ie m s we a r e all g o in g to h a v e to liv e w ith . Al w o r s t , I fe a r th e se may lock u s in ; a t b e s t . I hope Ihey c an f u r t h e r th e in d i v i d u a l i s t i c t r a d i ­ tio n s of lit e r a t u r e , film a n d s c h o l a r s h i p . Bul w e m usl c r e a te o u r b r a v e new w o r l d s w ith a r t . z e s t , in te lli g e n c e , a n d Ihe h ig h e s t p o s s i b l e id e a l6 .

V er y w e l l . T h i s b o o k - - th is s i d e , D re am M a c h in e s- ■ i s m e a n t to le i you se e th e c h o ice o f d r e a m s . N o tin g t h a t e v e r y com pany a n d u n iv e r s l t y se e m s to I n s is t th a l Its sy s te m i s th e w av e o f th e f u t u r e , I th i n k il la m ore I m porta nt lh a n e v e r to h a v e Ih e a lte r n a tiv e s s p r e a d out c le a rly .

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A nd e a c h p o ssib le com b in a tio n y o u ch o o se h a s d if f e r e n t p r e c is e s t r u c t u r e s im p lic it in it, a r r a n g e m e n t s a n d u n its w h ic h (low from th e a e r a m i fi e d d e ta i ls . Im plicit in R a dio l u r k th e T im e S lot a n d th e P r o g r a m . But m a n y o f th e s e p o s s ib i liti e s rem a in u n n o tic e d o r u n s e e n , f o r a v a r i e t y o f soc ia l o r eco nomic r e a s o n s . Why d o e s il m atter?

rese rv e d .

T h e m a te r ia l h e r e h a s b e e n c h o s e n la r g e ly fo r Ita e x h i l a r a t i n g a n d i n s p i r a tio n a l c h a r a c l e r . No m a tte r w h a l y o u r b a c k g r o u n d o r te c h n i c a l k n o w le d g e , y o u 'l l b e a b le to u n d e r s t a n d som e of th ia , a n d n o t b e a b le to u n d e r s t a n d aome o f th e r e s t . T h a t 's p a r t l y fro m th e h a s ty p r e p a r a t i o n of I h is b o o k , a n d p a r t l y fro m Ihe v a r i e t y o f In­ t e r e s t s I'm t r y i n g to c o m p r i s e h e r e . I w a n t to p r e s e n t v a r i o u s d r e a m s a n d I h e lr r e s u l t i n g d r e a m m a c h i n e s , a ll le g itim a te .

F o r e v e r y d r e a m . m a ny d e ta i ls a n d i n t r i ­ c a c i e s h a v e to b e w h ittle d a n d i n t e r l o c k e d . T h e i r jo in t r am ifica tio n s muat b e d e e p ly u n d e r s t o o d b y I h e p e r s o n w ho i s t r y i n g to c r e a t e w h a l e v e r - l t ' i s . E a c h c o nfa bulation of p o s s ib i liti e s t u r n s o u t to h a v e th e most I n trica te a n d e x a c tly d e t a i l e d r e s u l t s . ( T h is i s w h y I am so ir r i t a t e d by t h o s e w h o t h in k " e le c t ro n i c media " a re all a l i k e .)

Till s hook has s e v e r a l s l n u l t,in«.-ous In tv n c l o n s : co o r i e n t ih e b e g in n e r In f i e l d s no rc complex and t i e d t o g e th e r th a n a lm o st anybody r e a l i z e s ; n e v e r t h e l e s s , co p a r t i a l l y debunk s e v e r a l r e a l o s o( e x p e r t i s e which I chin k d e ­ s e r v e s l i g h t l y l e s s a t t e n t i o n th a n th e y g e t; and t o c h a r t th e r i g h t way, which I t h i n k u n iq u e ly c o n t I n u e s th e Weste rn t r a d i t i o n s of l i t e r a t u r e , s c h o l a r s h i p and freedom. In t h i s r e s p e c t che book I s much more old - f n sh o n ed lh a n I t may soon a t t h e g e e- w h lz, v or y-n ov l e v e l . The main Id ea s of i h l s book I p r e s e n t nol aii my own, buc j s ,1 c u r io u s s p e c i e s o f r e v e a le d tru th . I i ha s .il l been ob vio us t o cie f o r some t i n e , and I b e ll e v .- It sh o uld he ob vio us a s well to anyone who has not been b lin d e d by e d u c a tio n . I f you u n d e rstan d th e prob lem s o f c r e a t i v e t h i n k ­ ing and o r g a n iz in g i d e a s . I f you have s e e n che had t h i n g s se ho ol so o f te n does to p e o p l e , If you u n d e rs t a n d che s o c io lo g y o f che I n t e l l e c t u a l w o r l d , and ha ve ever loved a m ach in e, th e n t h i s book sa y s n o th in g you Hn not know a l r e a d y .

In Ihe d e s ig n o r o u r f u tu r e m e d ia a n d s y s ­ te m s , w e sh o u ld not s h r i n k fro m t h i s e m otional a s p e c t s s a legitim ate p a r t of o u r f a n ti c ( s e e p . ) d e sig n . T h e s u b s tr a tu m of t e c h n i c a liti e s a n d (he m in d - b e n d in g , g u t- a la m m ln g e ff e c ts Ihey p r o d u c e , a r e two s id e s of th e sa m e c o in ; a n d lo u n d e r s t a n d th e one i s nol n e c e s s a r i l y to be a lie n a te d from th e o th e r . T h u s il Is for Ihe W holine ss o f t h e hum a n s p i r i t , th a l we m usl d e s i g n .

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AUTHOR'S COUNTERCULTURE CREDENTIALS W rite r , sh o w m a n . g e n e r a l i s t . G em ini, moon in L ib r a . Gem ini r i s i n g . O ne ’ime s e v e n th - g r a d e d r o p o u t . I have rela tiv e ly liille i n te r e s t in im p r o v in g ihe e d u c a tio n a l sy s te m w ilh in th e e x is tin g f ra m e w o r k . A u th o r o f w hat may h a v e b e e n w o r l d 's f ir st rock m u s ic a l, " A n y t h in g a E v e r y th i n g ." S w s r ih m o r e C o l le g e . N ovem ber 1957 (w ith R i c h a r d L. C a p l a n ) P h o t o g ra p h e r for a y e a r a t D r . L ill y 's do lp h in lab (C ommunication R e s e a r c h I n s titu t e . Mia mi. F l o r i d a ) . A tte n d ee of th e G re a t W oodstock F e s t i v a l ( like many o t h e r s ) , s n d it c h a n g e d my life (as o t h e r s h a v e r e p o r t e d ) . What we a r e all l o o k in g f o r is nol w h e r e we t h o u g h t it w a a . Lif el ong me dia nut M a gaz in e c o lle c to r ; h u n g a ro u n d TV stu d i o s a s a c h ild . Com puls iv e e x p l a i n e r . GimmicJsi by d is p o s i tio n , c o m p u te rr n a n b y s c c i d e s t l n y

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ALL YOU NEED DO I S CHECK THE NUMBERS ON THE 'COMPUTER L I B ' SIDE. They r u n s t r a i g h t t h r o u g h f r o m c o v e r t o c o v e r , e v e n th o u g h th e c o n t e n t s f l i p c a p r i c i o u s l y . I f t h e l e t t e r s "DM" a p p e a r a n y w h e re a m o n g s t t h e s e plain n u m b e rs , you g o t a l o n o n .

Gee w h i z 4 f o l k s , h e r e we a r e a t a n o t h e r p r i n ­ t i n g and a l r e a d y th e b i g c l o c k o n th e v a i l t e l l s us th a t a n o th e r ye ar ha s gone by . T h is s u p p le m e n t i s m a in ly th i n g s t h a t h a d t o b e m e n t i o n e d , b u t i t k i n d o f a s s u m e s y o u 'v e r e a d th e book i t s e l f o r a r e g e n e r a l l y f a m i l i a r w ith c o m p u t e r s . BOOKSTORE BROWSERS: a v o i d t h e s e f o u r pagesNEW OWNER OF THE BOOK: C he ck t h a t t h e pages a re r ig h t, T ijif. SORRY THE TYPE ST IL L I S N 'T BIGGER, b u t t h a t w i l l r e q u i r e t h o u s a n d s o f b u c k s i n new n e g a t i v e s — m e a n i n g a l o t more h a v e t o b e s o l d a s i s -

’’f a * u » c w * p o h $ e f i n m u m The r e d o u b t a b l e PCC i s now s i i i s s u e s a n d s i x d o lla rs a year. P e o p l e ' s C o m p u te r C o a p a n y , P .O .B o x 3 1 0 , M e n lo P a r k CA 9 4 0 2 5 . BYTE M a g a z i n e , $ 1 0 / y e a r i f y o u h u r r y , $12 l a t e r , f ro m G r e e n P u b l i s h i n g C o . , P e t e r b o r o u g h , NH. E d i t o r i a l : C a r l H e l m e r s , Bo* 3 7 8 , B e lm o n t MA 0 2 1 7 8 . H ard w are-o rien ted . C r e a t i v e C o m p u tin g : The M a g az in e of R e c r e a t i o n a l and E d u c a tio n a l C o m p u tin g . Ided m ecrics, P .O . Box 78 9- M, M o r r i s t o w n , NJ > 7 9 6 0 . W e ir d v a r i e t y o f s u b s c r i p t i o n r a t e s : s tu d e n t $6, " i n d i v i d u a l " $8, " i n s t i t u t i o n a l " $15. The Com pu te r H o b b y i s t . $ 6 / y e a r . Box 2 9 5 , Ca ry NC 27511. H a rd w are-o rien ted . Co m pu te r N o t e s ( f o r A l t a i r u s e r s ; f ro m H IT S ). M ic ro -6 N e w s l e t t e r , f o r p e o p l e r e a l l y i n t o th e In tel. H al S i n g e r , C a b r i l l o H ig h S c t o o l , 4 3 SO C o n s t e l l a t i o n , Lompoc CA 93436. and also S i m u l a t i o n a n d G am ing N e v a . Bo * 3 0 3 9 U n i v e r s i t y S t a t i o n , Mosc ow , I d a h o 8 3 8 4 3 . E l e c t r o n o t e s i a t h e m a g a z in e f o r m usic s y n t h e s i z e r fre ak s. B e r n i e H u t c h i n s , 60 S h e r a t o n D r i v e , I t h a c a NY 1 4 8 5 0 . and s o m e t h i n g e l s e e n t i r e l y , P r i v a c y J o u r n a l , a m o n t h l y n e w s l e t t e r on p r o b l e m s o f p r i v a c y , many o r m o s t o f w h ic h I n v o l v e c o m p u te rs. P . O . Box 8 8 4 4 , W a s h i n g t o n , D .C . 20003; $15 a y e a r .

A l l t h e DM n u m b e r s a r e su p p o s e d t o b e on t h i s a id e o n l y . T hey poop o u t a t number 5 9 , an d w e r e i n t e n d e d m e r e l y fo r cross-reference.

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One i n d i v i d u a l I k n o w , w ho r e l i s h e s h i s c o u n t e r c u l t u r e I m a g e , t o l d me w i t h a n g r y a n d sh a k in g v o ic e t h a t h e d o e s n ' t b e l i e v e i n copy­ r i g h t and t h a t a n y th in g t h a t g e t s n e a r h i s c o m p u te r b e l o n g s t o h i m . W e ll , d o n 't le av e your m an u scrip ts ne ar a u ch a p e rs o n . (Why i s I t a lw a y s t h e g u y s w i t h c u s h y a n d s e c u r e j o b s who t e l l yo u t w e e d l e d e d e e , i d e a s s h o u l d b e f r e e , an d p a t e n t s a n d c o p y r i g h t s a r e s e l f i s h ? ) A c tu a lly , f o r th e i n d i v i d u a l , on e o f th e s t r o n g e s t f o rm s o f p r o t e c t i o n a v a i l a b l e l a c o p y rig h t. F a r f r o s o b s o l e t e , th e c o p y rig h t makes p u b l i s h i n g , a n d t h e b e t t e r c o m p u te r s o ftw are, p o s s i b l e . ( I t i s n o t g e n erally known t h a t c o p y r i g h t v i o l a t i o n i s a f e l o n y .) (And r i p p i n g o f f a p r o g r a m y o u ' r e s u p p o s e d t o pay f o r i e n o t a b r a v e g u e r r i l l a a f f i r m a t i o n , l i k e h i t t i n g H aro ld G eneen w i t h a p i e , b u t grand la rc e n y .) Now t h a t A l t a i r s a n d L S I - 1 1 6 h a v e g o t a l o t o f yo u g u y s d r e a m i n g a b o u t s e l l i n g s o f t ­ w a r e , a n i m p o r t a n t q u e s t i o n i s how t o p r o t e c t y o u r w o rk . W e l l , y o u h a v e a c h a m p i o n . C a l v i n M o oe rs ( s e e p p . 1 6 - 2 1 ) i s n o t o n l y a g e n u i n e C c m p u te r P i o n e e r F rom T he F o r t i e s , b u t, a lo n g w ith Herb G ro s c h , p io n e e r e d t h e Co m puter C o u n t e r c u l t u r e . G ro sch fla u n t e d a b e a r d i n f r o n t o f o l d man W a t s o n , W ooers H tr o v e t o make c e m p u t e r s e a s y t o u s e — b a c k when t h a t w as u n h e a r d o f . One o f h i s c u r r e n t i n t e r e s t s i s i n w ay s t h a t sm a ll in d e p e n d e n t u n d e r g r o u n d -t y p e p r o ­ g ram m ers c a n p r o t e c t t h e i r d e v e l o j r o e n t s He a n d sa n e a s s o c i a t e s a r e e x p l o r i n g t h e p o s s i ­ b le fo rm atio n o f a g ro u p f o r t h e l e g a l p r o ­ t e c t i o n o f s m a l l s o f t w a r e p r o d u c e r s and o w n e r s I n c i d e n t a l l y , when y o u t h i n k seme t h i n g y o u 'v e w r i t t e n b e l o n g s t o y o u — a c o m p u te r p r o g r a m , poetn o r w h a t e v e r - - s l a p t h e f o l l o w i n g a t th e b e g in n in g , under t h e t i t l e : @

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I t be g a n w i t h a b a n g l a s t C h r i s t m a s : t h e c o v e r o f P o p u l a r E l e c t r o n i c s sh ow ed ' a c o m p u te r you c a n b u i l d y o u r s e l f f o r o n l y $ 4 0 0 ' I I t was r e a l . A y o u n g f i r m i n A lb u q u e rq u e c a l l e d M icro I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n and T e l m e t r y Sys­ t e m s , o r H IT S , ha d f i n a l l y d o n e i t : a c o m p u te r f o r w ell u n d er $1000. I n a b ox n o t muc h b i g g e r th a n a t y p e w r i t e r , a m ach in e co m parable t o th e U n iv a c I . T h e y c a l l e d i t t h e A l t a i r 88 0 0 . Of c o u r s e , i n a way t h i s was a n o b v i o u s ste p . The MXTS c o m p u t e r w a s s i m p l y t h e p a c k ­ a g in g , a s a co m p u te r, o f a s p e c i f i c In te g ra te d c i r c u i t c h i p t h a t had b e e n o n t h e m a r k e t f o r some m o n th s T h is c h ip , t h e I n t e l 8080, i s a m i c r o p r o c e s s o r , o r t w o - l e v e l c o m p u te r ( s e e p . 4 4 ) , g e n e r a l l y em p lo y e d f o r f i x e d p u r p o s e s i n c as h r e g i s t e r s , p i n b a l l m a c h i n e s , and th e l i k e . H o w ev e r, t o make i t a " g e n e r a l ” c o m p u te r — w i t h t h e e n g i n e e r i n g , h o o k u p s an d a c c e s s o r i e s t h a t e n t a i l e d — w ou ld be no s m a l l n i a t t e r i f t a k e n se rio u sly . ^ ^

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1 9 7 5 may b e t h o u g h t o f a s t h e y e a r I n w h ic h th e co m p u te r unde rg ro u n d s u d d e n ly a p p e a re d in f u l l fo rce. The A l t a i r w as p r o b a b l y t h e b i g c r y s t a l l i z i n g e v en t. Not th a t t h e r e w a s n 't a c o u n te r c u l tu r e be­ fo re. T h ere were th e g a m e s - p la y e r s a t e v ery u n i­ v e r s i t y , t h e p r a n k p r o g ra m m e rs ( s e e p . 4 8 - 9 ) , a n d , w h e r e v e r co m p u ters a r e t h e c e n t e r o f t h i n g s , a Shared e x p erien c e o f a i s c h ^ i e f an d b rea k th ro u g h . T h e r e w a s Co m pu te r p e o p l e f o r P e a c e , a c l i q u e y and u n a p p ro a c h a b le g ro u p w ith b o o t h s a t t h e con­ f e r e n c e s ( a t l e a s t , t h e i r b a c k s w e re a lw ays t u r n e d when you w an ted t o a s k q u e s t i o n s ) . T h e r e w as t h e h o h b y f r i n g e . B u t now i t ' s go ne d i f f e r e n t . In ste ad o f p r e t e n t i o u s company na mes m e a n t t o a p p e a l t o o b ­ tu s e b u s in e s s m e n , l i k e P e rfo rm a n c e M easurem ent S y s t o n s C o n s u l t a n t s G ro u p and B o t t o m - L i n e - T r o n i c s , t h e new c o m p a n i e s ha v e r o c k - g r o u p n a m e s l i k e G e n e r a l T u r t l e , I n c . , T h e S p h e r e a n d L o v in g G r a c e C y b e r n e t i c s . I n t h i s new c o m p u t e r c o u n t e r c u l t u r e , t h e m a i n c o m p u te r c a n p a n i e s a r e n o t IBM a n d H o n e y w e ll a n d U n i v a c , b u t DEC a n d H ITS a n d Gen­ e r a l T u r t l e ; t h e s t a n d a r d c o m p u te r i s n o t t h e 370, b u t t h e 11 ( o r p o s s i b l y t h e A l t a i r o r t h e 8 ) . The s t a n d a r d l a n g u a g e i s n o t F o r t r a n o r A l g o l o r P L / I , b u t BASIC. In ste ad o f t h e b ig c o lo r W t h a t m i d d l e A m e ri c a w a n t s , t h e u n d e r g r o u n d co n p u t e r n i k d r e a m s o f h i s own g r a p h i c s e t u p f o r e v e r r u n n i n g The Game o f L i f e i n c o l o r ( s e e p p . 4 8 - 9 a n d p i e p . DM26). (of c o u rse t h a t ' l l a la o re ­ q u i r e t h e c o l o r TV; s e e " B i t M a p s , ” p . Z .) In su c h a w o rld , co m p u te rs a r e n o t a t o o l b u t a way o f l i f e . T hu c o m p u t e r i s t o y , p e t , c h e c k e r b o a r d , m u s i c bo x a n d TV. C o m p u te r s a r e f o r m a k in g m u s i c , c o m p u t e r s a r e f o r g e t t i n g p e o p l e t o g e t h e r v i a c o o m u n ity memor y, c o m p u t e r s a r e f o r l e t t e r - w r i t i n g , c o m p u t e r s a r e f o r a r t a n d m o v ie ­ m a k in g a n d t h e a n i m a t e d d e c o r a t i o n o f t h e heme. C o m p u te r s a r e f o r g a m e s ; a v a s t number o f i n t e r a c t i v e g a m e - p r o g ra m s a r e p u b l i s h e d and sw apped a round. A lm o s t a l l a r e i n t h e BASIC la n g u a g e . (Bob A l b r e c h t ' s WHAT TO DO AFTER YOU HIT RETURN i s s a i d t o b e d e f i n i t i v e - - $ 7 . 5 0 f ro m P e o p l e ' s C om puter Com pany, 1 91 9 M e n a l t o A v e . , M e n lo P a r k CA 9 4 0 2 S . S e e a l s o t h e i r m a g az in e PCC, a s w e l l a s S i m u l a t i o n a n d G am in g N ewa.) PLATO g a m e s , a som ew hat d i f f e r e n t s u b s p e c i e s , a r e d i s c u s s e d o n p . DM27. T he u n d e r g r o u n d c o m p u te r m a g a z i n e s ha v e b e ­ come a b l i z z a r d ( s e e b o x ) . A l b r e c h t ' s s p r i g h t l y a n d s u c c e s s f u l PCC, o r i g i n a l l y o r i e n t e d to w a rd h i g h a n d g r a d e s c h o o l s , h a s now b r a n c h e d I n t o h o b b y i s t s a s w e l l . On t h e h a r d w a r e s i d e t h e r e i s T he C o m p u te r H o b b y i s t , a n d now a s l i c k new ho bb y m a g a z in e . B y te / w i t h a f i r s t p r i n t i n g o f 5 0 ,0 0 0 . On t h e e d u c a t i o n a l s i d e t h e r e i s a s w e l l new m a g az in e c a l l e d C r e a t i v e C o m p u tin g . T h e n t h e r e i s t h e C o n in u n it y Memory m o v a a e n t. T h e b a s i c i d e a o f Com munity Memory i s t o h a v e a co m p u te r re s o u r c e o f in fo rm a tio n and i d e a s , conm anly a v a i l a b l e . I n i t s mo re g l o r i f i e d a n d mys­ t i c a l f o r m , t h e i d e a se e m s t o b e t o h a v e a p l a c e , i n s i d e t h e c o n p u t e r , w h ere in f o r m a t i o n c an be s h a r e d b y The P e o p l e , f r e e o f I n s t i t u t i o n a l o b ­ s t r u c t i o n o r th e p r o f i t m o tiv e. T h is v is io n i s p e rh a p s u n c le a r t o o th e rs b e s id e s the a u th o r, b u t i t a t t r a c t s a v a rie ty o f p e o p l e i n t e r e s t e d i n some f o rm o f g r a s s r o o t s r e v i t a l i z a t i o n o f our o o c ie ty . Some o f t h e s e a r e d i s i l l u s i o n e d s i x t i e s r a d i c a l s w ho l o o k t o 'c o m ­ m u n ity o r g a n iz a t io n " a s a b u i l d i n g b lo c k f o r a new s o c i e t y ; o t h e r s a r e i n t e r e s t e d i n mo re n u t s a n d - b o l t s a p p l i c a t i o n s , s u c h a s t r y i n g t o make b a r t e r a v i a b l e e c o n o m i c f o rm a g a i n , i n a n u r b a n s o c i e t y w i t h many n o n s t a n d a r d l e f t o v e r s , s k i l l s and w ants( P r e s u m a b ly t h i s w o u l d w o rk b y h a v i n g t h e co m p u te r f i n d p a i r s o f p e o p le w i t h m a tc hing w a n ts a nd t r a d a b l e s ; o r even s e a r c h o u t p o t e n t i a l tr a d e s around m u lti-p e rs o n r i n g s . ) T h e f i r s t o f t h e s e s y s t e m s w as R e s o u r c e O n e, i n S a n F r a n c i s c o ; I saw a n o t h e r C oo nn un ity Memory i n V a n c o u v e r , w h ic h e e a n e d to b e i n p r a c t i c e a s o r t o f a n im a ted c l a s s l f i e d - a d s y s t o n . A u se r s i t t i n g a t t h a t e r m i n a l c a n p u t i n a d s o f h i s own, and c a n s e a r c h th ro u g h th e e n t i r e f i l e f o r key­ w ords o f i n t e r e s t . As t h e r e i s n o c e n s o r s h i p , scone r a t h e r s u r p r i s i n g t h i n g s g e t I n t h e r e , f o r w h i c h I w i s h we had r o a n . (A n e w s l e t t e r o f s u c h p r o j e c t s , C o m n un it y C o n n u n l c a t i o n B , i s b e i n g s t a r t e d b y L ee F e l s e n s t e i n . L o v in g G ra c e C y b e r n e t i c s , 1 8 0 7 D e l a w a r e S t . , B e r k e l e y CA 9 4 7 0 3 .) E v e n f o r t h o bo c o n i n g a new i n t o t h e f i e l d — t h e r a d i o hams a n d a m a t e u r t e l e s c o p e m a k e r s w h o 'v e l a i d t h e i r M a ste r C ha rge c a r d s o n t h e l i n e f o r t h e A l t a i r — c o m p u t e r s r e p r e s e n t a new s o c i a l l i f e . A m a t e u r c o m p u t e r c l u b s h a v e d r a w n s t a r t l i n g num­ b e r s : f o r i n s t a n c e , t h e L os A n g e l e s a n d San F r a n ­ c i s c o g r o u p s a r e c u r r e n t l y p u l l i n g 1 0 0 members to t h e i r w ee kly m e e tin g s . ( In San F r a n c i s c o , con­ t a c t Fred M o o r e , 5 58 S a n t a C r u z A v e n u e , Menlo P a r k CA 9 4 0 2 5 . ) T h i s b o o k ai*3 i t s s u r p r i s e s u c c e s s p r o b a b l y r a t e m e n t i o n o f some s o r t i n t h e w o r l d o f u n d e r ­ g r o u n d c o m p u te rd o m , ' 7 4 - 7 5 ; a l t h o u g h my u n d e r ­ g r o u n d s t a t u s may be i n j e o p a r d y . I had in te n d e d t o b y p a s s t h e co n p u ter e s ta b l is h m e n t, and c e r ­ t a i n l y n o t e x p e c t e d t o becom e a s s i m i l a t e d t h e r e i n ; so t h e d o z e n s o f u n i v e r s i t y c l a s s a d o p t i o n s h a v e come a s a c o n s i d e r a b l e s h o c k , a s h a v e t h e a c c e p ­ t a n c e a n d l e g i t i m a t i o n I ha d l o n g s i n c e g i v e n up on. My h e a r t f e l t t h a n k a f o r t h i s r e s p o n s e , and I ’ l l t r y t o l i v e up t o i t . (How i s d i s c u s s e d o n p . Z , l a s t c o lu m n . ) B u t f o l k s , t h i s a l l i s t h e m e re s t b eg in n in g . A s i t s a y s on d i a m e t r i c a l l y t h e o t h e r s i d e , p . 3, COMPUTERS BELONG TO ALL HANJOND-

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On page S3 of th ia took I aay> *1 hope te te able to rep art in future editlana of thle book th a t IW to* aoved firmly and credibly m a r t aaking it* syetm a c lea r and elaple te use, with­ out raqulrlng laborlou* attentio n te n e e d le a ^ a p llcatlona and oppressive r ltu a la .' Thl* haa ln fac t occurred, and I ao rep ort. In an earth-ehaking anteuncmaat la January, IBM to ta lly reversed the policy e f Ita u ^ n c a i dlvlalon for the le s t ten yeara. Tat te Jaded la tha preea th a t th le event te a not, 1 think, proparly recognised. Aatoundlng aa I t aay te frm tte c^^any that gave the world JCL and the m /ST, In January IW atepperi in to the world ef ea«y eo v u ters, bringing( out tha 6yatm/32, a a i n l e ^ u t e r fer buslnaaa. You een only rent I t ea as Interactive term inal, with a progcaa ereatad by IBH which cannot be mdj fled (called an Industry Application Package or 1AP). But tte e e l i t t l e png'*** praept users atsp-by-*tep throwfh what they are auppoaad to be doing, and apprently are very clear and helpful

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B i& t e l l , tte a n ti- tr u s t t r i a l of IW is undarmy. In an awkmrd s ta r t, opposing lead etto rreys aecuaed each othar e l professional aisconduct. placing both te n 's careers under s cloid as th* fight began. Tte way i t cmes through in th* trade preta th* coverteant a m * to be p ulling punches and Biasing the point e l what Ita own w l t n a a s *ay. A large-scal* boteh aay be in progress. (Tte cmpajter liduatry Association, or IBH-hater’s club, e tfa rs transcripts ef the IW t r i a l , aa m i l aa dally sia asrlss. Tte group's headquartera ere ibw a t 1911 N. Port Heyer Drive, teeel)

This about-face i s In aeny wsys gratlfyLi^ fer them of ua who have teen advocating easy, acreen-tesed *ystm s for y ters and years. At Ion la a t I t give* i n ’* "lagltiaacy" to B inicovuters * for bualneee, and I t helpe co^anies th at already provide such serv ices, such aa Baalc/Four. I t w ill ba in te restin g to a e if IW knows tew te Bake thing* elaple, conaldaring the ezperlenee they have lavished eallad tte Kiddy C ^ iu ta r. rm m ber). which any b right child can learn and which ha* ama awfully Thare have baan a le t o l cena in tha c o ^uter

H ill L u Kedgere' Think ia eut In paperback, wit) Datametlon devoted large a c tio n * ef ita Pebruai

Mien Xerox Cerperatlon entered t te c vputar Dutlneie a few yeere ego, i t am uncod that I t a a g e l* to ch allag e IW h*ad-to-l»ad for dmioatKai e f the P-11-tha mdel ?*-- haa boas anvailed, m a ilin g a lu ll 31-bLt a ichlnt, In tha huidred-tteoaanddollar claee, with cacb* am ery and tia a -a te r ite (hit what ol tha «van blggar PDP-11 aodal 65. aaan In the Harltere plant under yet aiethar operating syatte? w ill le Been that a l l tha tiae? Ah. pity that nothing can ha said about Hultlple oparating l y i t w aro. indeed. tha tana e l tha PDP-11 lin a. Hot only ara there Dec'a own. like RSTS, RT-11. DOS and RSa, idileh aufler f rm a lack of f l l a e ate atiblllcy and but m

thora haa arlaan a lac grander oparating

UNIX-- tha naae'e auggeatlveneea o l harm guard* la deceptive— la raa lly tha eon ol H ITICS Iaaa p. 45). But i t waa flniehed In Mich lese time. Like Hultlcs. i t ' a a teauty. Lika Kultlca, i t waa programed in a hlgter language: tha language i t '* programed In, tn o v a r, la called a itely *C*. Tte language waa c ra te d by Brian Kernlghan. author o l a wldoly-praleed cotract programing exaieplee frta othar p o d ia 's

Tte te v u tlll c y varalm tern* ta rub far ateat 112 aa te u r, tte Intaractlve Selemea v u e lea t a ^mwbat a n - but tte la tte r flea la iatareatad In « 111e9 wtele package*, net uaer-dlddllng.

'i n t n w » / # w s

• ie L iS 6 m i» (& c 'P E iw 1* a - t 1*1" you hear everywt e r *. Tte r«*te but la tte tey Chat tte standard ananor te queaBy 1i|aiiaam " Peopia feel thl* with * em tals b ittan a aa b a m a m aany ef DK’* fane laved It te r te t telag lik e IM- I t 's like te m Jackie

pu ttr, ae cm le^ to real Ire the laBeeelty of I t a ll aay te a gradual aw kenlni. with aany happy aoldarlo) eaperlaocea 00 the way, Othara aay ba b>ou(hc up abort aa thay aeoae what Ihey're |e t t l n | Into. Thia la p artly e problm ef NITS' cry In* to reach two eonauaer (roupa a t ooce: the k i t builder, who Bay have thought a c ^ ^ u te r waa a who looka at the b o ttm lin e lo r the coat of Indeed, KITS' low prlcea aroo’t that low, When i t come to p rlea . they are about SOI atead of tha conventional c e ^ e tltlo n . For Inatanca. th e lr $5000 aetup (with Caraloa) end dlak) olght ba taken aa roughly equivalent te the DEC Claeelc a t around $10,000 (aee p. Y). But what you uaually pay for in th ia H e ld I* earvlce end fringe b m e flle . Tbe fundamnta l eaet, I t eame to ae, le wtather you caa < a « hack co tbe co^any with your problm a. cuetm er*' c ^ u t e r cteublaa.) KITS' p rin c ip a l contribution le rae lly In the tteught they have given co th nlr m rkac. and the depth with which they ara aervlng i t . They no doubt e n tlc lpetad uadariall tb m (tea p. Y). But they aaa tha advantage In tb la : thay even give out th e ir Bailing H at te coapetltere who e a ll A lta lr for a quick buck; they appear co be thoroughly c om itted to full-apeccrm coavutar earvlea. In eight aontha, HITS haa gene frm twancy-flva to a hundred mployeaa and aeld OVOI m il THOUSAND COHPVmS, whlcb la am athlng like t a or three percent ef the cmpucere In Aaerlca. Today, the electronic nut*; to-

of s p littin g . Each prograa csn thnw off coplaa ef i t a l f . which mn Independently and t l ^ *

(ob Albrecht, caliph of countarculcura c m puterdm. highly endoreea A ltalr Extended BASIC. Say* 11'a te r r if ic .

■ogian language eallad S1WLA. and alae appaara In Alan Kay's m a lw ale languaga a t Xeroa PASO regrettably, there ia no n r a to dleeuaa thaaa hara, (For Simula, aaa Ole-Johan Oahl and C.A.R.

The nals aarvlce cotter for A lta lr . haa been cbe Albuquerque factory, but tha f l r e t o l th elr regional aervlce eentara ha* now opened in Nathvllle.

Dahl, Dl)kaLra Anl Hoara. structured Programing. Acad^ic Praia.) Thaaa iM turaa affectively change the character ol programing e o ^la te ly . For Inatance, te aivulate a niebtr of objacta I n te r a c t! ^ the p e g ra a can (pin o il a s p y el lta e lf lor every object, and t u h usyy (ilaleking the raal-aorld object). can then reapocd to Ita cvitlnually-changing e n v i n w n t aa required, in other word*. (Me typo of language aoaaa that aioiU ted than they ever did before. SDWU m eta $30,000, and, aa i t happna, tiona). Uolortunataly th ia raiaea certain grave gueetlone. eisea tha eal^hone cmpany (of tdileh M il u be le a branch) la not ruppoaad to ba Ln the c r^ u ta r programing bualnaaaj and theae who are in tbe butloeaa ara dlmayad by tM idea ol

Rather throw Ite corporate weight en­ tire ly behind the POP-11, BBC hae carved out a t t a i n areaa In tfiieh i t la trying te aarkat ita U -b lt aid IS-blt oachlnee. tha PDP-6 and Pnf-15. The POP-8 ia being puahad lor bualaeee a^lico tio o a, with D B'e c oB b-llke lai^uagai alao a vary nice veralen o l the 8 haa appeared, floppy dlake. keyicepe. and wot-printer optioni thia le the 'C laaalc.* a t M2.040. Tba 18-blt TOP-1S lin e le a t l l l balng oar-

CWPCT1TIVB KXWJktims On f i n , In tara ll. haa put the PUP-8 os a chip for erne #3®. IHoover, aa I t uaually tu n a out. by tfa tiao you gat a ll the porta to­ gether i t ooeta >3000 a lta r a l l , tu t In quan­ tity i t 'a anetboz aeory, and tha individual p ic a will drop b o b o m g b .t Isto rell haa alao lntlaa te d that they are working a a chip to e la ila te tha PDP-11. II ao, thle w ill of cowoe b r l ^ t h m ----- - ^ ag a in n the petaat th a t u a a to have kmrked out the DljlaU C^^otar Control* lookallke, tha Tnrlta ol 8uo (at lM at Ita direc t Barkatisg). anl aagodarod a lewoait ogalnat Cal data, lo t 11 loefeallke, a n t l a r f on p. r.)

rnU kH crti& Y « * . l& r M TM my t a , you e4“ | ^ Ia »»oaral Juat

teeer* haa recm tly received r e g le tr a t ln for

Tba price drop waa oot ae d r a m tlc aa 1c a lth t aem to the te o aral public: oor le tha c™puter quite ea cheap a* i t l a m a t f lre c fiance. Contrary to a public lap reaaion. c re a ta j by ISI a a l a Middled preaa over the yeare. chat cmputara ara toga aod coat a llllo o a ef dollara, very food coaputere have been a v a ila ­ ble lately lor e couple ol tbouaaod, oot cmindn g accaeaoilee. hit tha accaaaorlee preaeot a p reb lm . On th et ecere, tbe apparent rock-b ottm p rice of tha A ltalr m y have bees alaleadlng, aapaclally to U c-b u lld e re. A coapuiar I te e ll la a lla ^ dlahrag without eaaory, te ra ina l* aod program*-- a ll of which pad the ceec of tha packaae. By the tia e you’ve added 61 B»arry. a Caroloal aad BASIC aoftware to your k itbullc A lta lr, a tbouaaod d ellare hae (1mm (11400 if you buy I t already aeeeabled). Then 1< you want t te dlak (aad who d o e e e 't), th a t'e at laaat f ifte e n hundred m re. Kow k lt-bu lld era Juat e ta rc ln t my not aaa tha point of a ll cheae Irlp p erlea ; Cbey

aed in *C" by Xen T ta ^se n and Dennis Ritchie, unla ia a d ® n . Aaida f rm a ll tha usual

aarkat«l aa a *BadlwaUad* aaehine. with IWCR I K ' a data-taaa eyetm ). with virtu a l huge ■< ■ory, and with hot dleplaye. Tte TM^languege le ibw rumlng tlae-eterte, lo r general n a t m f t , on C ^ v u tillty (aa bbth tionad p. 21) , and in a fancier version offered by Interactive Sclw tae Corp., 66 Brooks Drive. Braintree, Ha**.. 617/84B-2«00. teoera has 11eenmd tte la tte r firm to run both hi a baalc ceseor and ‘Advanced DavelopMita" (ra tte r a e n t l in f ile (yatm a aid c ^ u t a r control. AptareotlT he haa ----- spectacular data-baae atuff in there, but you woe't te able to find A it a t e t I t directly jp^ -1.1 packagea ara tte apealalty e f Interactive Science*, aid with 1«AC thay mn oflar packagea with both tte data baa* stuff and o tte r uouaual eapabilltle*. Far ljiataiee, thle tia e -atiar ing TMC can lta e lf c a ll vp ether ^ v * t a r a and sign Into thm , respond ing te maaagea aa I f I t m n a

But HITS took I t aerloualy, and o lte ra d with tha A ltaic e m a l l te c esaplete llo a of i n f l a l f , dlak*. p r lo ta re , Interface* , aed, m e t Iaportant, a e rrlc e f a c lllt le e . Tbe ( I n bad lm ovated before, notably whao chay brought out tho l l r e t teBd-beld c elcu laco r aoveral yeara te ro r e . Juet ae thay c o rre c tly antlcipB e^ cbat dmaad, tbay foraaaw th le ooe. They alao cteea uo errli^ ly cbe r lfb c a r kat to b q lo 00: e lec tron ic bobbylete aod k l t bulldere. The klt-aakac enjoy* tbe challenge or b ulldlof e m cblaa (roa only a d la ir m and a boa ef p a ita ; aod co be far fro a a ropalraan to Ida m te rre ra for bla, for (>a ^e the r a p a lr -

lor it* fo il porchaaa prlco> aioee the la llia g islcaa e l o ^ u t a r a aaan I t w ill probably have m aarket value io a few yoare. I M 'a great et^B la large part f rm ta lig tha a d r w ^w tor o v u r big aaoogh te n o t . ) M l , good old U g l u l tq u ifM st A r^ r a tl a n tea flaally gotta*. Into tba loaelag bualnaaa:

An A ltalr aaamblar la running on che FLAT0 H i l a (aee pp. B 06-7).

4

in

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HITS prleoa ara qu ite roamnahle. I f you buy a k it lor anything le tha A ltalr lin e , I t 'a gen­ e ra lly about JS* laaa than the eeem fel^ and luJ ly-cbaeked^ut veralon. The te elc e u ^ u ta r k it cneta $ 4 » (C631 *ee«tf>lal), but ignore that 1 i t '* lik e e car without an m gioe. a a u or wteal. A d e l e t e package (tbalr ’Beale 1* e a t) . w ith tha o ^ u ta r , ar of n a o ry . terminal aid 8K BASIC lan­ guage le 11)91. A m r e hlgh-puwered i y e t « v ltb 131 e f fact a m r y aed double eidrov dlak la IMJ4, c o l l a t e with t t e l r to tn d e d M a le. Thare are aany aaparate I t a e , pLana and op­ tional i t la peaaltola, o t eouree, to buy a package eywtm f r m chm lo r aa aueh aa you want te epand.

" ‘ A t U i n .f f c n t . v c w u e r ■e tu ra lly i t had te te in Lea Angelee. The f l r a t •e r^ w te r etere,* i t T r * . 1* a t 116S6 Pico (at Sarrin gto a), w*et b.A.. ^ a lle vaat of tha San Diego rraeeayi 21 V 4? e -lie s. Neure are 2 to 8 Milr111iy t s Friday, 10 n 6 on S a t­ urday and Sunday. I t '* c alled the Aro s c k e line ef A ltaire.

Airtre* J . Slogor (Me aay* ha 1* now *eoneulta n t te a m a ll f i n e f actrolagara*), anmuneae

s w ' « ® m u m x **

Be haa emly p n la a for t te BkSlC -orlasM bualnaaa ayatm e offered by BAslc-FOOB Corp.. to ba found la m}or c ltle a . Bet only done t te c m e n c t e p o ii oot whet f w g e t La ^ a r k l l t e d a ta ll, but t t e aanual le w x ltt* la t e l l i h . A ^ Aadrvw h lA m lf m a ld a 't a a A tte eyetm . (The Baale-FOor * « t^ - - — a »« f r m 11 cm data terparatlOB. M n A t i I t m l f m U a a f a r in g b a l na t - q ^ a n * c a l M n u n , Mileh 1* highly p n la e d by Jo te b. i«v1m , n a t t e r yowag tfery n b la t t e BUIC la . -V -. thoy o flar e e y n m with U , a BUIC la ta rp r a ta r Ha l l m e n l . dlepU y aad m a m tte fo r w ^ r i u m ■ aag baa cI ovbtI , l«cm d t t e l ^ a l p r = ^ * i p r ^ l m n t t t i te em rk of B l t a n t e u a a a , __ h r a p u l b l i ta I ta o u b m h for t t e l r _______

ta l Leamlag, La m l l a ln n t lo i with c . i . u ia tig . Tart < lil leaaa CMC e q a lp e a t B ladlvldaBle oI good credit ■ tacm 9 ta a n a |M n . C u r a t rate m a T-yaar lwao la 3 .) paromt a ^ t h .

^ « e lM r

ta a e t * v o W < « , K a brigh t g u y la a m York.

A wicka lly f«aay daaarl^tioa e l MC'e hme facory, fairly M v a u , oan t e (M ri is a m t « r b a lle triatle to e t a l l d Travola La

do good w a audio m k . rtey a re ' alao aa e n t e M TUC r ^ a i r e ta tlo n . ■ J tla e W B le a . 3 la /» J - 0 H * . s»» ». 43 (n a n ta t t e r ^ l s ta a ).

T I W .Y ^ a n c - H C One o f th a buys o f ctaeputar h i s t o r y I s w aiti r q up a t A aerlcan Used C e ^ u t e r . in B oston, 617/261-1100. H o o re x , fo r t o t u n f a th n a b le re a s o n , b u i l t in th e e a r ly 70a a a ^ u t e r inte n d e d to be upwerdc o n p a tlb le h a th a 360/20. But I t was r o t a 360. W>y d id they do th la ? Th* kin d o f p e o ple who shop around would not buy 360/20e, and th e kind o f p e o ple who buy 360/20* would sc a r c e ly le a v e IBM'a a k l r t e a t upgrade t l a e . Thus th e Meaorex 40 hae, q u ite u n de rstan da bly , be en d ia co n tln u ed . And a l l tha ones th e y had l e f t a r e w aitin g fo r you hrand new up a t A ae riea n Used C oaputer fo r $he h e a rt-sto p p in g p r ic e o f

HITS' new c d ^ u t e r w ill be b a sed on Oil motorola 6800, end s e l l in k i t f e n f o r around $300. But t h e i r a a ln 1* t o th e A lta ir , a lin e based on th * I n t e l SOSO, and the c u a tm e r a a lre ad y in to th a t a a c h in e w ill not be in any way l e t down, they aay. A c « p u t e r k i t based on th a M o u r o la 6800, with 21K b y te s o f c o re , e a e s e tt e r e c o rd e r and TV d isp la y (32 eh ara. by 16 lin e s ) l a o f f e r s fo r $ l a,4S by th e SPHSIE. 96 E aat S00 South, B o u n tifu l, Utah 84010. T w c o p u t a r k l t a , one b u i l t a round th a PACE and a n o th er a Nova lo o k a lik e , )uve eean a n n ou nce by B i l l Godbout E le c tr e n ic e , Box 2355 Oakland A ir p o rt, Oakland CA 94614. Ha a la o p la n a an 11 le o k a lik a .

fzsoo.

T h at p r ic e in clud ea 4Bk b y te s • How fo r th e bad news. I t c o i l ba re -kc nee , w ith ■» a o ftw a re , and no hardw are su p p o rt. You g e t th e w irin g d ia g ra a w ith i t , and a l i e t o f o th e r owners, and y ou ’r e on your own. AUC does hava spare p a r t s , however. And p e r ip h e r a ls , a o s tly v r e expensive. H r. Honeson o f AUC to ld ae on tlt t phoM th a t i t had 1S8 in s t r u c tio n * , in c lu d in g 6 4 - b lt f lo a tin g p o i n t , 3 2 - b it b in a ry . On stud yin g th e l i t e r a t u r e , however, i t app ears to ae t h a t th e in s t r u c t i o n - s e t he d e e c rit e d i s a lcro p ro g ra aa ed , w ith th e a ic r o code in te n d e d to be read in a t s t a r tu p t i a e . (Thera a r e 6S B ic r o In s tru c tio n * .) Haybe you ean g e t th e alero co d e f o r th e se 1S6 I n s tr u c ti o n s a id Bayba you c a n 't . Haybe you d o n 't c a r e , i f you’re w e ll enough fix e d to handle ona o f th e ee . I t c a e * in b a sic b la c k , 2aSs4 f e e t , f l t e in a v a n , and supposedly does n o t need a irc e n d l tio n in g . Supposedly p l t ^ - c v p a t l b l e w ith 370 p « r ip h e r a le : I t ' s r e a l l y a s ix t e e n - b i t m achine, and i t haa e ig h t s e ts o f e ig h t r e g i s t e r s , having been d e sig n e d to p e tf o t a up t o e ig h t f u n c tio n s s l a u l ta n e o u sly . So. 64 a a ln r e g i s t e r s , 4K dy n a alc a lc r o s to r s , 48K o f a e a o ry , fo r about th a p r ic e o f a uaed n)P1 1 /10 w ith 4K. S a e llin g s a l t s , anyons?

il

Or you a ig h t g a t an L SI-11. An LSI-11 buying p ool ia taalng fo ra e d by Hal L aahley, Southern c a l Coaputer S o c ie ty , P.O. Box 967, S. Paaadsna CA 91030.

Pro ceaeor Technology, 2465 4 th S t . , Berkeley 94710, Bakes a t e a t d ia p la y k i t f o r th a A lta ir fo r $160 (you supply th a TV a o n lto r and e v id en tly tha key bo ard). 64 c h a r a c te r p a r l i n a , 16 lln a a .

B o o tstrap E n te rp r is e s , Ann A rbo r, a re a l w working on a e i a i l a r u n i t , e a lla d *The Duab Tar* ■ l n a l , ‘ w ith a e o lo r o p tio n .

T,lJ)lftgL04fc,

HITS la c ^ s i t t a d now a b u ild in g a video t a n i n a l , th e CT-6096, t h a t w ill p ro v id e both te x t and g ra p h lc e . Follow ing apeea a re n o t f i n a l .

r t J « IJ i » 8 ft hS/»°r / f o o o . I t w ill have a keyboard and v id e o a o n ito r , plr« s u it a b le than d la k o r c a s s e t t e f o r th e se e f u s concerned about p o r ta b l e r i g e and vaneou ntin g. C a p u te r O p eratio n s, I n c . , 10774 Tucker S t . , B e i u v l l l e MD 2070S. (The bad newei softw are c o sta $300 f o r th e d r i v e r , p lu s S7S0 to dec i f you want o p e ra tin g f y i t v RT-11.) o r le s , I n c ., c le v e r l y s e l l s K>ry banks fo r th e 11 which can a tta c h to t o two r u - l L i i t o n e e - - th u s c o n n e c tin g th e two aac h in es w ith ou t uaing DEC'S e x p en siv e Unibus c o up ler. Aleo fo r l l s i P o r a a tio n , I n c . , s e l l s a c u rio us p r e g r a a a e r 's c onsole t h a t t r a p s and d ls playa th e l a a t a lx te e n Unibus a ld r e iM * r e f e r ­ enced; and Fabrl-Tek o f f e r s a c ach e a M o ry fo r th e PDP-11/45.

A a l a a r p r i n t e r , th e eodal 3600, which p r in ta a t 13,360 l i n e s p e r a ln u te . 1-ike a o a t o f t h e i r p r in tin g a a c h in e s . I t ' s good. I t i s b a s ic a lly aa e l e c t r o s t a t i c dr>» c o p ie r , lik e the o r ig in a l Xerox 914. en which th a p a te n ta have run o u t. (Even T oshibafax new a ak e s o n e .) Anytay, t h i s spec ta c u la r b e a s t w r i te s with a scanning la s e r on th e e l e c t r o s t a t i c d r o . But I K has c le v e rly found th e way around t h s p r o b l a e f s p o ila g e o f th e d n a su r fa c e i in s t e a d o f Juat a p o lis h e d a e ta l su r fa c e , i t ' a a renew able s u r ­ f a c e , which ia I t s e l f changed a u t ^ a t l c a l l y when r a q u lr a l fo r new la ag a s. Moreover, you can hava up to 18 ty p e r e n ts , d s fin a d In 16a24 d o t a a t r i c e s . (THESE ARE H R CM A PLCPFT DISK, AND UP TO POUR KAY BE CUMBHT AT AMY OSE TIKE.) P onts a re u a e r -d e s ig n a b ls . A f la e h - p ro je c to r can p u t b u s in e s s f e r a s on th e d r w . Now f o r th e bed newsi baaa p r ic e i a $310,000, plu a e xten slT e e x tra c h a rg e s. A lso i t d o e s n 't aake c a r to n e ep lsa , and need* a new t e i o f paper s p li c e d on th e e id e v ery 20 a im ite a . (Canon, o f Ja pan, ha s o u t a v r e a o d e st la s e r p r in te r th a t goes a t only 4000 l i n e s per a io u te . And i t a ls o p l o t s . Burroughs i s sa id to be tr y in g to g e t th a b i^ s o u t e f a a i a l l a r d i v i a .)

"Diabolc" u a s a gwne o f the tu s n tia a t h i t in ­ v o lv e d poking a sp in n in g o b je c t. O ddly, Chat's uhat to d a y ’s D iablo in v o lv e s. Redoubtable Hax Pal eveJcy, who b ro ug ht you S c i e n t i f i c d a ta S y s tv s (which Xerox bo ught and r e c e n tl y sh u t down). R olling Stons and th e a ev ls *Harjoe*— h ss another w inner, which h e 's a lso

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T his i s th e Diablo c ^ p a n y . which f i r s t a ad e dla ka and now Bakes a se n s a tio n a l p r in tin g a ae h ljie . i t has a w h irling p l a s t i c 'd a ie y wheel* o f ty p e . In terc h an g e ab le , and c an type 30 c h a r a c te r s p e r second in e ith e r d i r e c t i o n , as a s w ell as draw p ic tu r e s — o f a s o r t. The b a sic d if f s re n e s between th e e e p r in ­ t e r s snd conv en tio nal ty p e w rite r s , l i k e th e S e le c t r l c , i s t h e i r use o f a r v o s r a th e r th a n r a t ­ c h e ts . T his aeans t h e i r e h a r a c te r a c an be p o si­ tio n e d In aany In term ed iate p o s it io n s , u n lik e t h e fix ed p o sitio n * a v a ila b le on an o rd in a ry ty p e w rite r . For in s ta n c e , th e D iablo can p o si­ t i o n th e type to 1/60 e f an inch h o r iz o n t a ll y and 1/48 of an inch v e r t i c a l l y . (Hice f o r j u s t i ­ f ie d ty p e s e ttin g .) There a re new a nuaber e f a ac h in es of th i s k in d . F i r s t case th e D iablo p r i n t e r , o f f i c i a l l y th e IlyType I : then the e n gin eers who b u i l t th a t w ent o f f and c re a te d a c n p e t l t l v e p r i n t e r c a lle d th e QUME ( p r o n . 'k y n a ') ; now t h e r e 's an iaproved D ia b lo HyType H i In te r d a ta aakes a c o m p etitiv e u n i t , th e C aroussl p r i n t e r , w ith a l i t t l e p r i n t c upi and to aake thln ga t o t a l l y c o n fu se d , t h e r e 's a s p e c ia l nodel Diablo c a lle d th e 800, which c a n 't be connected to c o ap u te rs b u t i s s o ld for o f f i c e u a aa a ‘word p r o c e s s o r ." A nuabsr o f eonpanies Bake te rm in a l* In the $5000 hallm ark • b r a c in g one o r th e o th e r o f tlt ts e p r i n t e r s . Gen-Coa S y stea s aakee ona around th e D labloi Afrierson-Jacobson aakee one around th e QUME. Hero* aakes i t s own c o ap u te r te r a i n a l , th e 3010, around th a D iablo I — w hich, i t should be n o t« i, can be ren te d fo r a s l i t t l e a s th re e a e n th s , a t $190/aonth. The one everybody w ants fo r t h e i r c tn p u ta rs I s c a l M th e Xertta 800, b u t eo f a r t h a t i s not a v a il a b le a s a c t ^ u t e r t a n i n a l . i t goea f a s t e r t t a n th e e th e r D iablos and e f f s r s ty p e fa c e s th a t lo o k b e a u tifu l fo r ty p e s e ttin g ) au d \ n i c e r , i t s m s , than th s types e u r r s n tly a v a il a b le fo r th s o th e r D iab los. For tle a a in te r e s t e d in ju e t hooking up th e p r i n t e r a ec hanla n. fo r s u b s ta n tia lly l e s s ■ » y th a n a whole te r a i n a l , in te r f a c e s f o r hooking t l a D iablo o r QUHE p r in te r * to PDP-B o r PDP-11 a r e a v a il a b le f rc a Data S y a t a s D ssig n. I n c ., 1122 U n iv e rsity Avenue, Berkeley CA 94702.

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SUGGESTIONS TO XBR0X C0RCERNI8G DIABLO PRINTERS. He e>viTQt. . S « ll tt* 800 a s a te rm in a l, f o r goo&isae ta k e. 2. F a ilin g th a t, ”a ke th o se p r e tty ty p e fa c e s a v a ila b l* f o r the o th e rs. 3. Already you o f f e r b la c k and re d ribbona; a blu e and ysll& J ribbon wauId p e rm it p r in l lr y PJCTUIES IX FULL COLOR, a developm ent o f g re a t i n te r e s t tc th s n a n / co n p u ter graphics fre a k s . t , g guever, th a t uould r e q u ire s&neuhat fin e r p o s itio n in g o f the p la te n ; sa y , 1/120 in both d ir e c tio n s . S. . . . f a i l i n g wh ie h , you co u ld p u t o u t a "gt\tp h ta d a isy v i t h in te rm ed ia te d o t p o s itio n s a a u ia a le n t to d o t p o s itio n * b e tu ee n those n a i aoaiiabTe. S. Could tfm D iablo «o*ehtni be mad* to sound le s s l i k e a d e n t i s t '» i r i l l l ?. Bov a b out a porta b le?

M n H i l l l s and Aadia P e rlaa n , o f th e L0GD g ro up a t MIT, e r e working on a s p e c ia l * p r s l l t s r a ta * t e r a i n a l to allow n on -readare ( p o ssib ly in ­ c lu d in g c h ia p s and g e r il la s ) to p r o g ra a in LOB, e s p e c ia l ly on th e G ei»ral T u r tle 2500 (see 'Min­ s k y 's c o ^ u t e r , ' nearb y ). P l a s t ic a e d l t cards w i l l lu v e syahol* fo r th e v a rio u s p ic tu r e and ■ u s l e - b e x fu n c tio n s. To w rite a p r o g ra a , or e c e a te a B v l e on th e scope, th a ua er w i l l lA se rt fu n c tio n eard s in s l o t s . Color ceding w i l l bs u sed f o r prog raa tr a n s f e r i a red s a rd Beans t o th e red su h r m tin e .* Sines t h i s i s MIT, the f u l l re c u rsiv e p a a r o f th e s y s t a t w i l l e f eourse be a v a ila b le - (My hope i s th a t c h i^ a n s e a a and o th e r l i t t l e e lo tn ik s can be ta u g h t re c u re lv s p r o g r a d e f in i tio n . T ten w ill th e p u b lic wake 19 to c x ^ u t e r s being easy?)

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The g re a t H aruin Minsky i s reno&isd on fi v e c o n tin e n ts. Dean o f th e ancrphoue f i e l d o f "a r ­ t i f i c i a l in t e l l i g e n c e ," and r e fe r r e d to u ith o u t am biguity ae "Marvin" throughout o c p u te r l a n i, he i e a th e o r e t ic i a n 's th e o re tic ia n . But a t th e h e a rt o f every th e o r e tic ia n , I th in k , burnt th e d r e a t th a t he v i l l scmeday prove th e o u tr ig h t, u o r ld ly vnpcrtance o f h is tto u g h ts. L ike Deaery, a t l a s t he v i l l go to h is su ito a se and g e t ou t h ie g uns, and th e audienae v i l l cheer.

The a o e t g la ao ro u s o n p u te r * being b u i l t today a l l H a i to be o p e n ly c a lle d by t h e i r devel°P*r * b“ e e : th e G re e n b ls tt e’mpMKtt. H insky's e—p u te r, th e Aadahl a a c h in e , th s Crsy c oaputer.

The g re a t Marvin Minsky hat come out G eneral T u r t l e , In co rp o ra te d , i s a toy coepany th a t th e te a a o f Hlnaky and P a p e rt put to g e th e r to a a r k e t t h e i r e d u ca tio n a l R a p u ce r a c c e s s o r ie s . (Sse p . 57.1 T hey've s o ld a few, b u t th e ia p a c t has been B d e e t . And, a s a a a l e r e f the p r o je c t p u ts I t , "W* wanted to g e t ou r Ideas fo r e du catio n o u t to the w o rld .' So they d e cid e d to b u ild a te r a i n a l . But i t grew, aa t e r a i n a l dssig n* w i l l , i t i s now th e GTI 2$00. R « n b e r t h s to r t o i s e and th s h ars? T his i s th e h e i r l e s t t o r t o i s e on fou r w heels. F i r s t d s li v e r le s t h i s f e l l . And h e r e 's w het you gee fo r your f iv e thou­ sand d o lla r s —

m e B u e R .C H W W A il — a 1 6 - b it a n p u t e r l i k e rone you ever taw. 8 working r e g i s t e r s , in a d d itio n to PC. 32 sc ra tc h p ad r e g ia te r a (70 naieaeco nd ). 2SO-nano second 1/ 0 . 4K o f a a in OMDry, 250 nanosecond. (Expand­ a b le , o f c eu ree .) IK OP MICROPROGRAM H»0RY, 40 NANOSECOND, DYNAMICALLY ALTERABLE. (Expandable to 4K.) Likewise 16 b i t s .

h b v P p M W W K .e W

AM DAHL The Aadahl c o ^ u t e r o r S y a t a 470, a euner« ■ p u te r o f th e 360 a e r ie e by one o f th e e uv iw ho d esigned t h « o r ig i n a l l y — a>* p « i— k* a v a ila b le f n » Aadahl C o rp o ra tio n , 12S0 East Arques Avenue. Sunnyvele CA 94086. (They a re now a d v e rtisin g fo r s y e t m p e o ple who know th e in ­ s id e . o f OS/XVT. VS, e t c . ) . The f i r s t 470 i s up snd n i M i q a t NASA's I n s t l t u t s f e r Space s tu d ie s . C o lw b l. u. But IM i s s a id to be read yirq one o f t h e ir faaous 'k nockout* aac h ln ss to do i t In (D staa stio n, J u ly 75, 94 .)

O C T o (iT O | Of co u rse y ou 'v e t> e « ^ h t th a t hardwired se tu p s were fo r ilo p p y a n alog typ es of th in g , b i t h e re tom m hsve THE CHESS MACHINE, unter e tra lg h tf a c e d c o n s tr u c tio n e t th e h it Al u b , which w ill prov ide HARDWIRED THREAT ANALYSIS. Yee, I t s advanced p e rc e p tro n a rc h ite c tu r e w ill siiroossdly be cspable o f a n aly sin g th r e a ta to any given p o s it io n in a GRAND PARALLEL PLASH. The la p ac t o f th le a s to n is h in g d e v e lo ^ a n t on th e world e f E le c tr o n ic C ta e s , or anything a ls s , p r e d ic t.

C a se ette ndsw ry, 1 d riv e . A lphafcatical d ia p la y , standard vid e o , with B xl6-dot c h a ra c te r g e n e ra to r, 64 ch ar­ a c t e r , DYNAMICALLY ALTERABLE. Also expandable. V ectoring g ra p h ic d isp la y w ith 2D r o ta tio n (’ t u r t l e g e o u tr y '* * lin e s a re s p e c i­ f ie d n ot by endpoints h i t by a n g les and le n g th ) . 512x512 re s o lu tio n , 1 B i llio n a n d p o in ts/a e c r e f re s h .

Over a very niae luneh a t R oditys in Chicago, P rof. Minsky and I d is ­ cussed p o ssib le s ty lin g f o r h is &*vputer. He p a r tic u la r ly lik e d the a rro n g n g n t suggested in th is sketch: a fo ld down keyboard and the d isp la y s s o r t o f on poles so they could be seen e a s ily through a croud o f ty eto n d ers. The fon­ d le uould only uork, o f course, v i t h the ecopee rtnoved. V e 'll see Li m t uhat i t f i n a l l y looks lik e .

I aaked Dan H i l l i s , a mstiln* e f th e grot?), about th e p o s s i b i l i t y o f I n s ta llin g th a 2500 in a van. 'T h in k o f i t a s a r e c re a tio n a l v e h ic le w ith the van o p tio n a l,* ha s a id .

Wiat Bakes p o u l b l e the co ep uter co u n ter­ c u ltu r e and e v ery th in g e ls e i e , o f e o u rse , th e sp e c ta c u la r d e v e l o ^ e n t o f e le c tr o n ic ch ip te c h ­ nology, th e te ch n iq u es e f shrinking g r e a t e lec ­ tr o n ic c i r c u i t s to a l » t no s ia s . E le ctro n ic r ig s th a t were sho ebo a-eize te n y e ars ago a re ty p ic a lly now e tch e d on ch ips th s s ic e of your t h t n t e a i l and s o ld fo r s few d o lla r s , no B a tte r what they c o n ta in . A few y e a r s ag o, th e chlpa only co ntain ed b u ild in g b lo c k s, such as r e g is te r s — u n its fo r h olding i n t o n a t i o n t a ^ o r a r l l y . But now in th s a ld -s e v e n tie e they havs co a l to co n tain whole c tv p u te re , o r la rg e s e c tio n s o f th w . (The d i s t i n c t i o n betw een aiero p ro ca eso ra and c oapu tera i a ta k en up en p. 44.) The f i r s t b lg g ls s wars f m I n t e l : th e 8006 snd then th e 8080, a ch ip th a t haa b a c a e the h e a r t s f th a A l t a i r (eea p. X), aa w ell ae r i v a l c c a p u te rs. Hew e ce p u ter c h ip s kssp cealng o u t j p « ip le keep te l l i n g a e to a en tio n s p e c if ic o nes, b u t I c a n 't keep tr a e k o f th e a . Tha Motorola 6800 * • « * pop ular 1 I t w i l l eoon be the h e a r t o f new computers f r a HITS and SPHERE (aee p.W end Y) . (An a u g a a te d and f a a te r copy o f the 6800 la r e ­ p u te d ly being s o ld by H05 Technology fo r $20.) Another I n te r e s tin g e o ^ u t e r ch ip i s th e PACE a ic r o p ro c e sso r f r o N ational S a ic o n d u c to r, w ith fo u r working r e g i s t e r s snd a te n -ie r d sta ck ; w ith 16K a o D r y i t c o s ts $500. (The PACE is h ld dsn in sn a u t m a t i c d rin k a ljia r and booxa In vsn tory c o n t r o l l e r f r a e le c tr o U n its Corp., San Jo se , C a l i f . Adjuata p r ic e s to hours and can svsn w ater th e d rin k s p r s c l s s ly . C laiaed to aake a b a n t e e ownerehip o f h a rs p r a c tic a l.) Becauea o f c h ip s , th e p r ic e e f cca p u ter a s in w r y i s c o lla p s in g apace. S c a th in g l i k e a d o lla r a word in th e a lx tle a , i t i s so aeth in g lik e lik e a din e a word now. t i t I n t e l new o f f e r a a s to ra g e chip h old in g 16X b i t s fo r $55, which is 3« s b i t , and a f rie n d e f a ina e s t i a s t a s th a t aMDry c hip* w i l l c o s t 1/10 e f a c a n t pe r word in 1976. These c o s t e o lla p s s s causa aany to p r e d ic t th e «id of d is k and ta p e . But t h a t ’s p r w a tu r s . W ills th e w s a p p ie r chip s hold a l o t fo r a l i t t l e , t h e i r c o n te n ts d la ap p a ar when th e lig h t a go o u t. U n til la ser-p u n ch e d ta p e ceaes s lo n g , d isk snd a a g n e tie ta p e w i l l be vary auch w ith us a s longt e n a id nackup s to r s g s de vicss. M cauaa o f th e a e tic n in chip te chnology, a p o te n tia l) la p o r t a n t aav^ e n t In e a p u t e r desig n aey hava been p a ssed o v e n th e * a ac ro v d u le s* dev e lo p ^ a t Washington U n iv e rsity lo S t . lo u ts by a s s C lark ( f a th e r o f th e o r ig in a l DEC a o d u le s ) , and a s s o c ia te s . Ths b s s lc id e a o f the a ac R M d u le approach waa to have e n p u t e r su b se ctio n s th a t ware p le te ly in ta r p lu g g a b le . w ith t h « you ean b u ild any c ^ q u t a r , to your own daaig n, in a couple o f d a y s. The s y s t a e x i s t s now snd i t w r k s j u s t f in e i c o u n te rs, r e g i s t e r s , a « e r i s t can be a t ­ tach ed q u ic k ly by c a b le . U n fo rtu n a te ly , th e c o s t i s high and they haven’t fo u n l a a a n u f a c tu r e r . w ith ch ip p r ic e s f s l l i n g , and e h ip know-how w idespread, i t ’a hard to j u s t i f y c h arg in g te n o r so t l a s s a s auch fo r o p p o n e n ts j u a t because they can be plugged to­ g e th e r f e s t a l . ( J u a t a s u n f o rtu n a te ly , every­ t h i n ; in the a a c r v e d u l e « y s t « i s b u i l t en sec­ tio n s e f tw elve b i t s . ) For t h i s reason th e S t. U>uls f o lk a r e having tr o u b le g e ttin g c < B e r c le l spon sorship . Itowaver, perhsp s boh b r ig h t hun­ g ry eh ip c t*p any , rea d ing t h i s , w u ld lik e to g e t In to th e M c r a e d u l e geae. An) p re e w a b ly w h ittl e th s Module down to

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U n ea tia fied w ith th e e tru c tu r e o f no re a l c w p u te r* . they s r e b u ild i n g s t HIT'a Al Lab a c ta p u ta r whoas n a tiv e language le LISP- I t w ill have 32 b i t s w ith v i r t u a l a a o r f , and axscute LISP lik e a b a t o u t o f h a l l . In a re fre a h ln g r e v e r s a l e f tren d s . I t w ill be fo r one ueer a t a t i a e . *T iae-aharlng la an idea w tess t l a s has g on e,* chuckles ons p a r t i ­ c ip a n t. (P ro je c t MAC. where tla e -e h a r ln g grew

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Seyaour Cray, Beater cca p u ter b u ild e r , c re a ­ te d th a 6600 e y s t v f o r C o n tro l D sts. Indeed, he had th a au d ac ity to re« iuire CDC to b u ild the ccap u te r fac to ry on th e p r o p e r ty a djo inin g hi* own s s t a t s In Chippews P a l l s , M innesota. Mow th a t h s ’s broken o f f to e t a r t h ie own ecapany (with aoney f n * CDC, a a n g o t h e r s ) , th e new cosgmter f a c to ry ad jo ln a h ia e e t e t e en the o th e r s id e . The Cray-1, an other su p e rc o sp u te r, is neerln } c ts p le tie n th e re .

P a te n t 13,875,932 haa m been lasu ed for How Machapress' e le c tr o n ic eez aachine o r what­ ever i t ia (you saw i t f i r s t on p . m i ) . In tha i l l u s t r a t i o n we see i t t i c k l i n g a a lK rt. A fter you eend Mecheprsss h is f ifty -b u c k ro y a lty , you can e ith e r buy th e k i t o r a pre­ b u i l t a o d al. Coneava o r convex, a s th a poet sa y s. (Etchinga a re a n te d ilu v ia n and w atarteds a re c tn o n p la c e j as an in v i t a t i o n , what so re ln c la lv a cseu p p e n ce c ou ld be p roffere d?)

Speaking e f M achspress, i t l e a s th a t the unusual 1/0 e q u lp n n t o f f e r e d by th e Federal Screw itorks (Trey, M ich.) i s only s voice outp ut S u r p risin g ly , a v o ic e in p u t deviee i s now c ^ B o r c la l ly a v a ila b le tr im Threshold Technology, I n c ., Cinnaaineen. MJ. r o r $10,500 you g e t a dev iee th a t w ill re c o g n ise 32 spoken w r d s , and ■lc ro p h e n aa . (Each u se r h a s to t r a i n i t on h ia 32 lo r d s , b u t s s p s r a te v o c a b u la rie s asy be s to r s d on th e ^ n t e i f o r d i f f s r s n t u se rs or purposes. T his i s s t i l l a t «ny f ro a the fab le d 't a l k i n g c s p u t e r * — se a pp. DM 13-14 f e r p r c b la is a id o b je c t io n s - - b u t i t ’s undeniably a u se fu l ste p .)

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M i l l i o n s o f p e o p le saw c o n p u te r g r a p h i c s f o r t h e f i r s t tim e on t h e PBS ‘A c c e n t o f Man" s e r i e s , where a s c r e e n draw in g o f E a r l y Ma n's s k u l l was se e n t o r o t a t e and g r a d u a l l y change i n i t s f e a ­ t u r e s . T h is waa s t a r t l i n g even i f you know a b o u t com pute r g r a p h i c s , s in c e it s e o ae d to b e p r o c e e d ­ ing frcsn complex d a t a c o n c e r n in g th e e n t i r e s k u l l s and t h e i r changes. Not so . A c t u a ll y what you saw was a s e r i e s o f s k u l l draw in gs by P a t e r F o l d e s , a P a r i s i a n a r t i s t , w ith th e c o a p u te r g e n e r a t i n g t r a n s i t i o n a l draw in g s betw een t h a n . ( In d e e d , though you saw P r o f . Bronowskl n e x t t o th e s c r e e n , you d i d n o t s e e him n e x t to th e s c r e e n a t t h e same tim e th e draw in g s were c hangin g— b e c a u s e t h a t ha d t o be f ilm e d v e r y s lo w ly .) The s y s ta o was c r e a t e d b y N e s t o r B urtn yk and M a r c e l l l H ein, o f th e N a t io n a l Re se arch C ounc il o f Canada. I t currently r u n s only On a n SEL 840A. ( I t was a l s o used by t h e N a t i o n a l F ilm Boa rd o f Canada f o r c r e a t i n g F o l d e s ' s p l e n d i d f i l m "Hun­ g e r . ” ) They can p r e v ie w b y r o l l i n g t h r o u g h b i t ­ map v id e o on a mov in g-head d i s k . (See Burtnyk and Mein, " Ceoputa r G e n e ra te d Key-Frame Anima­ t i o n , " J . SKPTE, March 71 , 1 4 9 - S 3 .)

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The main de v elo ]K en t in c a i u t e r g r a p h i c s i n th e l a s t y e a r ha s been the sudden u p s u r g e o f th e b it- m a p a ppro ach to c « p u t e r d l e p l a v . While th e a p p ro a ch , and e q u lf n e n t f o r i t - - l i k e t h e Data D isk s y s t m — have be an a round f o r some tim e , th e f a l l i n g p r i c e o f e l e c t r o n i c s , e s p e c i a l l y in t h e maaory a r e a , have made i t a b r u p t l y th e c h e a p e s t and th u s th e most popula r t y p e o f c o a p u te r d i s ­ p la y f o r g rap h ic s. A " b i t map" i s a s e r i e s o f d o t p o s i t i o n s , o r b i t s , r e c o rd e d i n soae form o f f a s t mes»ry and r e a d Out i n sync to a c o n v e n ti o n a l scanned v id e o s y s t n ( se e pp. 0 H 6 -7 ) . Th* one b i t s s ta n d f o r d o ts o r l i t t l s s q u a r e s , th e z e r o e s f o r n o th in g , and th e vid e o s y s t a a b r i g h t e n s th e c o r r e s p o n d i n g z ones on th e s c r e e n . T h i s method h a s c e r t a i n d is a d v a n t a g e s — p a r t s o f p i c t u r e s c a n n o t be a u t o a a t i c a l l y d i s t i n g u i s h e d o r sepa­ r a t e l y a nim a ted, a s w ith s u b r o u tin ln g d i s p l a y (see "Tha M in d's E y e ," e s p . p . 0 K 2 3 )-- b u t f o r t h e money i t ' s g r e a t - S i z e s g iv e n r e f e r t o th e number o f s q u a re s i n th e r e c t a n g l e o f t h e p i c t u r e . BLACK-AND-WHITE

The h a l f t o n e s y s te m o f KUMRRO, rumored on p . DM36, i s r e a l , c l e v e r in d e ed ! i t d i v i d e s t h e h a l f - t o n e p roble m i n t o two p a r t s , one t h e o r i g ­ in a l p ic tu rin g o f th e sc en e, th e o th e r i t * p res­ e n t a t i o n I n t h e t e r m i n a l . T hat means t h a t t h e i r s y s t a a p e r m i ts o n e c e n t r a l image g e n e r a to r to se nd o u t p i c t u r e s t o a s many t e r m i n a l s a t de­ s i r e d . U n lik e th e W atk ins Box (see p . DM37), whose h a l f - m l l l i o n - d o l l a r op u le n ce c an be poured o n l y on a s i n g l e u s e r a t o n c e , in t h l e s y s te a th e c e n t r a l r e s o u r c e c an b e d i s t r i b u t e d among v a r i o u s u s e r s , w ith each o n e ' s p i c t u r e changed i n t e r m i t t e n t l y , o r p o u r e d o n a s i n g l e u se r f o r f u l l a n im a tio n . C u r r e n t l y i t runs in F o r t r a n , t r a n s m i t t i n g encode d p i c t u r e s t o t h e unusua l t e r ­ m in a ls r e q u ir e d ( b u i l t a ro u n d T r i n i t r o n s ) . But a S p e c ial c e n tr a l p r o c e s s o r l e fo reseen . The ays ta n i s c a l l e d CHARGE, and Ron Swallow, i t s d e v e lo p e r, i s in d e ed a h a rd c h a r g e r . ( S o f t­ ware: B i l l U n d e r h i l l and Roger Gunw ald se n.) S w a llo w 's game I s n ’t m o v ie s o r e n g in e e ri n g g r a ­ p h i c s ; h e w an ts CHARGE to compete h e a d - to - h e a d w ith PLATO (see p p . DM26-7). And a t t h e p r i c e s h e ' s t a l k i n g a b o u t - - $SOQO p e r te r m i n a l and $150,0 00 f o r t h e c e n t r a l p r o c e s s o r - - who knows?

UHP.F.AL ESTATE: f o r r e la jz '.i o n , Ron uo rka or. th e "dream h o u se ” he kn ep e in ttid e th e e y a te n .

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Sin ce th e f o r t i e s , th e r e have been c o n t i n u a l announcements t h a t v id e o d i s k s — movies you p l a y on y o u r TV o f f a r e c o r d — w ere r i g h t a ro und t h e c o r n e r . E a r l i e r t h i s y e a r th e y w ere suppose dly g o in g to be a v a i l a b l e b e f o r e C h r istm a s. Now th e y n i g h t be on s a l e , "on a l i m i t e d b a s i s , " i n 1976. (TV Guid e, 1$ Aug 7 5 , p . 7 . ) Because o f th e g r a v e d i f f i c u l t i e s o f e n g i n e e r i n g - - i n a c c u r a c i e s in pun­ c h in g th e c e n t e r h o le mean th e t r a c k c a n ’t h e l p b e in g o f f c e n t e r , f o r I n s t a n c e — sane o f u s a r e sk e p tic al. Two sy stems ha v e be en c o n f i d e n t l y announced. P h i l i p s , th e f ir m t h a t g ave ua th e a u d io c a s s e t t e , h a s a s y s ta a t h a t w i l l f o llo w th a s p i r a l t r a c k on th e d isk f r a n u n d e rn e a th w i t h a l a s e r . The d i s k t u r n s a t 30 r e v o l u t i o n s p e r s e c o n d , o r one t u r n p e r TV frame, so i t c a n suppo se d ly f r e e z e On one fra me when d e s i r e d . The o t h e r s y s t a a i s from r c a , w hic h h a s a lo n g h i s t o r y o f m e-t oo announcemen ts, b u t a t l e a s t two o f them made i t b i g ( th e 45 re c o rd and t h e c o l o r TV s y s t a a now u se d i n t h e USA), s o RCA sh o u ld n o t b e d is m is s e d o u t o f hand. T h e i r d i s k e y s t m w i l l su p p o se d ly go a t 450 r p s (7 .5 r e v o l­ u t i o n s / second) , b u t t h e y s t i l l mean t o t r a c k i t w ith a n e e d l e . The man fro m TV Guide s a y s h e ' s se en I t and I t w r k l p e r f e c t l y , b u t I 'would p e r ­ s o n a l l y look f o r h id d e n w ir e s . (MCA, an e n t e r t a i n m e n t c o n g lo m e ra te , h a s h i t c h e d up w ith P h i l i p s and p r i n t e d a c a t a l o g o f a l l th e s o v ie s t h e y w i l l s u p p o se d ly make a v a i l a b l e on d is k f o r th e "MCA-Phllips" syste m — Huch a s D e s t ry Rides Again f o r a round te n b u c k s . T h is i s p ro b ab ly j u s t a b l u f f ) w i t h t h o p r i c e o f a u d io r e c o rd s what th e y a r e , no way i s a movie g o in g to c o s t te n bucks- B u t i t makes RCA look weaker, which i s p r o b a b ly th e p u r p o s e .)

The p r o s p e c t s u r p r i s e d th e n , b u t MAGI ( s e e p . DM36) a llo w s aa how th e y m ig h t l e t you make m ovie s on t h e i r o v e r - th e - p h o n e movie-making s e t u p (s k etch e d o n p . DM36). P r i e s t o c a p a b le o u t d e r s , i f th e s o f tw a r e mesh ed, would b e a b o u t $50 an h o u r. (Six h o u r s makes one min ute o f f i l m , n o t c o u n tin g t h e phone b i l l . Cheap i f you know movie e c o i m i c s . ) Me anwhile , Jo hn l^>wry, a t D i g i t a l Video Lab­ o r a t o r i e s i n T o r o n to , h a s be en d e v e lo p in g h i g h q u a l i t y v id e o s u i t a b l e f o r t r a n s f e r to t h e a t r i c a l f ilm . He and t h e y have dev elo p e d a 6 5 5 - lin e c o l o r e y s t « — w i t h heavy d i g i t a l e n h a n c s ttn t (aee " P i c t u r e P r o c e s s i n g ,* p . DM10). I s c a r c e l y b e l i e v e By n o t e s , b u t I saw I t , and wro te down t h a t i t was co m p arab le to 35aaa s t u d i o c o l o r . T he d ay o f " e l e c t r o n i c cam e ra s" — t h a t i s , f i l m q u a l i t y v id e o -- may be upon us soon. AtDUt 197 2, t h e r e wae announced an e l e c t r o n ­ i c a l l y - c o n t r o l l e d c o l o r f i l t e r t h a t c ould chareje t o an y hue i n n a n o s e c o n d s . T hat would t o j u s t ■ h a t we a l l need f o r c o l o r movies f r o a 03Ms— b u t what happened t o i t ?

What a b o u t th e a n im a ted f i g u r e t h a t t a l k s to J o e G a r l a g l o l a b e f o r e b a e e h a l l games? Ha ha ■ T h a t 's a rubber p u p p e t m a tte d i n f re s i a b l a c k toX) t h e guy who does th e v o ic e w orks th e mouth.

Many u n lik e ly in d iv id u a te h a ve sto rm e d th a t h e a rtb re a k toon o f H o llyw o o d , le a v in g e a d d e r b u t u ia e r — b u t Iva n S u th e r la n d , d e a n o f e o n p u ts r g ra p h ic s? W ell, h a v in g fo u n d th a t th e n w i e m akere a re n o t rea d y f o r im age s y n th e s is — th e dreamanrithB u n p re p a red , a e i t u e r e , f o r th e T o ta l F orge— he ia s o jo u rn in g a t th e Hand C o rp o ra tio n .

A f e l l a named C h a r le s McCarthy, o f suburban C hicag o, ta u g h t the " C oa puter Eye* f r o # S p a tia l D at a S y s to n s , and w i l l do m a i l - o r d e r p i c t u r e con­ v e r s i o n s . H e ' l l c o n v e r t yo ur f a v o r i t e sn a p sh o t t o a p r i n t o u t o f th e same s u b j e c t made o f l i g h t a nd da rk l e t t e r s . I f y o u ' r e i n t e r e s t e d i n h aving t h e a c t u a l g r e y - s c a l e d a t a f o r p r o c e s s i n g in your own c o a p u t e r , i n q u i r e . The t £ b i u s Gro up, I n c . , P .O . Box 30 6 , Win­ f i e l d IL 60190.

Kant a c o m p u te r - c o n t r o ll e d v i d e o c a s s e t t e r e c o rd e r? The model to a s k f o r i s th e Sony 2850, c o s t i n g (gasp) seme s i x th o u sa n d bu c k s. An i n ­ t e r f a c e t o t h e PDP-11 i s made b y CKX Syste m s, 635 V aqueros, A v e ., S unnyvale CA 94086I n c i d e n t a l l y , sc ale d-dow n CKX e d i t i n g s e tu p s a r e b e g in n in g to g e t a ro u n d . F o r i n s t a n c e , they hava a sm a ll se tu p I n th e p l e a s a n t o f f i c e s o f DJN F ilm & T ape, 4 E a s t 46, NYC: t h r e e o f th e above Sonye and th s D1X Model 50 c o n t r o l s e t u p , u sin g a PDP-11 and key s c o p e . Though p r i c e s a r e by th e j o b , th e b a s i c c h arg e i e $ 7 5 /h o u r . (Nots t h a t t h a b ig o ra se tu p , w ith a d i s k , i s th e model 300.)

An o f f - t h e - s h e l f b it- m a p s y s t a a f o r the PDP-11 o r th e Nova I s a v a i l a b l e from I n te r m e d ia S y s t o a s , 20430 Town C e nte r L an e , C u p e r tin o CA 95014 (52750 or $2500 r e s p e c t i v e l y ) . May be ganged f o r g r e y - e c a l e o r c o l o r . I t ' s 2S6*2S6. Fo r t h e A l t a i r , th e f o r t h c o a i n g 80 96 d i s p l a y ( see p . Y) w i l l have 120*120 o r 240x240 b it- m a p g r a p h i c s , f o r p r i c e s s t a r t i n g a ro und $1 000. COLOR E x tr a b i t maps, p l u s e l e c t r o n i c s , c a n g e t you c o l o r ) I f you double th e number o f b i t * you can double th e nuaber o f a v a i l a b l e r o t o r s on your d i s ­ p l a y , ad i n f i n i t e . On th e sm a ll s i d e , 64x64 c o l o r w l l s h o r t l y be a v a i l a b l e f o r th e A l t a i r f r c a t h e D i g i t a l Group, D enver. A 128x120 e o lo r b it- m a p s y s t a a f o r t h e 11 h a s j u s t been announced by DEC ( f o r " n u c l e a r medi­ c in e " O f a l l t h i n g s — b u t th e y w i l l p a r t w ith i t t o anybody f o r 8 o r 10 th ousa nd ( n o t y e t f i x e d ) ) , 'i hey s t r e s s t h a t t h i s w i l l b e th e f i r s t o f a modu­ l a r s e r i e s o f b it- m a p d i s p l a y s , w ith p l u g i n s f o r d i f f e r e n t d e g re e s o f r e s o l u t i o n and d i f f e r e n t c h a r a c t e r g e n e r a to r s . Ramtek and C oa ta l b o th make 256x256 h it-m a p s y s te m s , p r ic e d i n th e $ 16 ,0 0 0 a r e a . Above t h i s r s s o l u t i o n s p e c i a l TV s y s t o s te nd to b e n e c e s s a r y . Both Ramtek and Comtal make ve ry e x p e n a iv e s y s to a s f o r th e p u r p o s e , u s i n g s o l i d - s t a t e and d i s k r e s p e c t i v e l y . You may o r may n o t have h e ard o f th e Advent TV p r o j e c t o r , t h e most g l o r i o u s TV t h i n g t h e r e i a . I t c o s t s $3500 and p r o j e c t s a f o u r - f o o t p i c t u r e i n t h e b e s t TV c o l o r you c a n f i n d . A l o t o f gu ys a r e b it- m a p p in g t o i t . A t MIT th e y 'v e g o t b it- m a p c o l o r on tho Ad­ v e n t a t b e t t e r t h a n 400*500 r e s o l u t i o n . (An o p tio n p la n n ed f o r th e F l y in g T u r t l e ( se e p . Y) w i l l a l ­ low i t s c o re nOTory t o be use d w ith t h e Adv en t a s a b it- m a p d i s p l a y r e f r e s h e r . ) A t C e o t a l t h e y 'r e g o in g f o r 1000*1000 on th e A dvent, r e j i g g e r i n g t h e e l e c t r o n i c s frcxa s c r a t c h . The most s p e c t a c u l a r d e m o n s tr a t io n o f b it- m a p c o l o r s o f a r ha s no doubt be en th e f i l m done by Dick Shoup e t a l . a t Xerox PARC ( s e e p . X ), show­ ing th e su p e r a nim a tion t h a t ' s p o s s i b l e when b i g compute r r e s o u r c e s are g iv e n ov e r t o b it- m a p a n i ­ m a tio n . T h e i r sy stem i s 600x800.

iB C F K p s r L W At tho h ig h end o f t h i n g s , a f ir m c a l l e d T hree R i v e r s Coap&ny h a s come i n w i t h a 3D ve c­ t o r i n g s y s t a a (c o m p e tit o rs d i s c u s s e d p . DM30). Supposedly th e y can pa ck a l o t more l i n e s On ths The p r i c e o f t h e GT40 d i s p l a y (see p . DM21), which a l l i n a l l ie one o f t h e b e s t d i s p l a y s on t h e m a r k e t, has j u s t dropped t o $6500. To d i s ­ g u is e t h i s p r i d e d r o p , DEC g i v e s you t h e s m a lle r t u b e and no keyboard. And a t th e low and, a f i r m c a l l e d Hegatek in San D ie go o f f e r s li n e - d r a w i n g COT c o n t r o l l e r s f o r $1000 t o $3000. A l l p e r m i t a n im a tio n . You ha ve t o Supply th e o s c i l l o s c o p e . T h e i r e q u i i n e n t p lu g s i n t o t h e PDP-11 o r th e Nova, o r i n one c a se c o n n e c ts in tandem t o a n ASCII tim e - s h a rin g te rm in al ( ! ] . The 11 and Nova m ode ls w ork d i r e c t l y from BASIC; your program i n B a s ic p u t s l i n e l i s t s in t h a d e v i c e 's b u f f e r m e nory. The tim e - s h a rin g model c o n v e r ts incomin g l i n e l i s t s f r o a ASCII to b i n a r y and s t o r e s them i n t e r n a l l y . 2S6 l i n e s w i t h 8 - b i t r e s o l u t i o n c o s t $19 0 0 , S llcP an d $1600 f o r 1 1 , Nova and t ~ s r e s p e c t i v e l y ; 1024 l i n e s w ith 10- b i t r e s o l u t i o n c o a t S2BO0, $2000 and $2500 r e s p e c t i v e l y . (Nova and 11 m odels c an be c o a p l e t e l y update d i n two r e f r e s h c y c l e s , y i e l ­ d in g a s much an im a tio n a s anyone can d e c e n t l y e x p ec t f o r th e p r i c e . S o f tw a re i s s u p p l i e d to p r o v id e d i s p l a y O u tp u t from Nova, PDP-11 o r tim e ­ s h a ri n g BASIC; a l s o t - * F o r t r a n . ) M eanwhile, f o r th e ha n d s-o n e l s c t r o n i c s guy, O p t i c a l E l e c t r o n i c s , I n c . makes a l l k i n d s o f r o ­ t a t i o n modules. You c a n b u i l d y o u r own 3D r o t a ­ t i o n s e tu p o u t Of t h e i r module s f o r a c o u p le o f th ousa nd) b u t , o f c o u r s e , t h e f a n c y d i g i t a l I/O f o r h ig h - s p e e d r e f r e s h m e n t i s n o t a v a i l a b l e An i n t e r e s t i n g c a p a b i l i t y o f t h e 0E I equip aenl', th o u g h , i s t h a t you c a n b u i l d 4 0 - o r e v e n SPr o t a t l o n a y sto n s o u t o f t h e i r m odule s, w n .

E x c e l l e n t ma nuals on th e PLATO s y s t a a and TUTOR language a r e now a v a i l a b l e from CERL, Uni­ v e r s i t y o f I l l i n o i s , U rbana. The n e x t g e n e r a ti o n o f PLATO te rm in a l s i s c o o in g down th e l i n e . The m ic r o f i c h e p r o j e c t o r i s w ith e ri n g away, a s was e a s i l y f o r e s e e a b l e ) meantime, s te p s a re b e in g ta k e n toward a s r e h igh-perform anc e t e r m i n a l , b y p u t t i n g a c m p u te r i n I t . T h is i s b e in g done b o th by J a c k S t i f l e , who ha s done i t w ith th s I n t e l c h i p , and Roger Jo h n so n , who has th a p a n e l i n t s r f a c e d to a n 11. (11 f a n s p l e a s e n o t e t h e i m p l i c a t i o n : i t i s pos­ s i b l e t h a t the i n t e r f a c e may ba m a rk e te d .) Meanwhile, PLATO-like te r m i n a l s ( th e model AG-60) a r e a t o u t $5000 (r

A s u r p r i s e s o a e t h i n g - o r - o t h e r from DEC, th e VT5S, r e p r e s e n t s a b rea k th ro u g h o f some s o r t . But w hat were th e y th in k i n g o f ? " G raphic c a p a b i l i t y " h a s be en added t o an o r d i n a r y up p e r- c a se keysc ope. S p e c i f i c a l l y , the a b i l i t y t o make two g r a p h s , i . e . , two w ig gly l i n e s (no Bxsre) soewwhere between th e l e f t and r i g h t S i d e s o f t h e s c r e e n . You can a l s o shade i n under th em , and add c o o rd in a te g r i d s . I t ’* $2500, and o b v io u s ly g r e a t I f you’r e b o n k e rs f o r 2D grap h s.

Q iO S IBM, which did not ta k e p a r e i n i t * develo p­ m ent, 1s spon so rin g a $100,000 CHARGE i n s t a l l a t i o n a t t h * U n i v e r s i t y o f W ate rloo, I n Canada.

I n h a n g in g t o g e t h e r t h i s volume o r i g i n a l l y , 1 f i t t e d th a n k in g Heeh W iener, b r a z e n t b r a s h young o l d - f a s h i o n e d new e d i t o r o f Coa pute r D e c is io n s , who h a s ch an ged t h a t p u b l i c a ­ t i o n f r o a s t o l i d to peppery. Than ks a l s o to a y good f r i e n d R o b e r t W. F i d d l e r , E s q . , p a t e n t a t t o r n e y and s t i l l a n e x -p h ilo so p h y p ro fe sso r a t h e a r t , f o r many d e l i g h t f u l and w i t t y c o n v e r s a t i o n s on p r o b lo a s o f p a t e n t , c o p y rig h t and th e v a g a r i e s o f i n t e l l e c t u a l pr op­ e r t y . Any h a re b ra in e d id e a s o n th e s e t o p i c s e x p re ese d h e r e , how ever, a r e alm ost a s s u r e d ly F o r much o f t h e inform a­ t i o n i n t h i s supplement I am g r a t e f u l to Bob A lb r e c h t o f PCC i m e n tio n e d h e re and th e r e F i n a l l y , s p e c ia l th a n ks to Comaander Hugo McCauley, b e t t e r known t o you a s H ugo's Book S e r v i c e , f o r h i s yeaaan p e rf o rm a n c e In sh ip p i n g o u t t h e b o o k s - - n o t to men tion c a r ­ r y in g them up and down s t a i r s , t y p in g t h e m a ilin g l a b e l s , c h e c k in g f o r bad o n e s, and s e n d in g o u t a l l th ose n o te s o f ap o lo g y when we were O ut o f books a g a i n and a g a in and a g a in . And t o l o n g - s u f f e r i n g t o l a amj Megan McCauley, my e s p e c i a l g ra titu d e . WHATEVER T he s e a - t o - s h i n l n g - s e a N elson Empire now c o n s i s t s o f a l o t o f u n s o ld books, a IK Al­ t a i r a n d a second p a i r o f sh o e s. My scheme f o r ta k in g o n Appren­ t i c e G e n e r a l i s t s may have to w a i t a w h i l e . So may C f p u t e r I l h , t h e f i l m . But j u s t w a i t. S p e a k in g o f w hic h, what a b o u t t h i s book, h e y , now? E v e n t u a l l y th e r e w i l l be a new e d i t i o n . Yes, t h e ty p e l e h o r r e n d o u s l y s m a ll, and t h a t w i l l h a v e t o be f i x e d . But t h a t i n v o l v e s new n e g a ti v e s f o r e v e r y p a g e , an e x p e n d it u re o f th o u s a n d s o f d o l l a r s , and some r e c o n s i d e r a t i o n of how t h i s s h o u ld a l l be s e t up. T h e r e have been se v er al i n t e r e s t i n g p l a n s . One was to s p l i t t h a c o n te n t * o f t h i s book i n t o t h r e e b o oks, add m a t e r i a l , e n l a r g e t h e ty p e and have them eac h t h i s s i z e and p r i c e . Ten­ t a t i v e t i t l e s were Computer Lib /D ream M a ch in e s, Computers A r i s e !/ C o a p u t e r s A r o u s e , and G u e r r i l l a C o a p u tln q / E l e c tr e n lc M onke yshine s. Sample c o v er, f o r G u e r r i l l a Computing: King Kong c lim b in g th e f r o n t p a n el o f a 37 0 h o ld in g P a tty H e a rs t. ( I a l s o daydreamed a t o u t p u t­ t i n g o u t a 10- v o l i s e en cy c lo ­ p e d ia i n th e same f o rm a t, em­ b r a c i n g p s y c h o lo g y /s o c io lo g y , b i o l o g y / e v o l u t i o n a r y s tr a t e g y , h i s t o r y (as s tr a te g y ) /m o r e h i s ­ t o r y ( a s mood and f e e l i n g ) , r e v o l u t i o n v e rsu s c o n t i n u i t y (a tw o - s id e d p o s i t i o n p a p e r ) . . . th e G o -M a n ia c a l E n cy c lo p e d ia™ . But r e a s o n h a s p r e v a i l e d , and suc h f o r a y s have been po stponed In d e fin ite ly . The p r e s e n t p la n i s f o r C o a p u te r L ib t o be r e w r i t t e n a nd r e s e t in b ig g e r t y p e , a t l e a s t 256 p a g e s , w ith a t l e a s t 8 c o l o r p a g es and c o lo r covtz. (W e're t a l k i n g about f a l l '7 6 o r l a t e r . ) P r i c e w i l l have t o be $15. I f you t h in k t h a t ' s a r l f S f f you c an * t l l l g e t t h i s o n e . (A nua ber o f p e o p le have c t n p l a i n e d to ae about t h e $7 p r i c e ta g o f t h i s volume. Have th ey e v e r b ought o th e r book s? ) La t e r I would l i k e t o p u t Out an a n th o lo g y of By f a v o r i t e a r ­ t i c l e s in th e f i e l d , u s in g th e Computers A rise V C e g u t e r s Arouse I t i t l e and fo rm at, and w ith so a e good 3D I f p o s s i b l e , i n an y c a s e , I want t o s t a y i n th e p u b l i s h i n g gamei I h a v e n 't had so much fun in y e a r s . O th­ e r p r o j e c t e d volumes in c lu d e The I n n e r Beyond, b y S h e ila McKenziei D i r t y D riv in g an d th e S t r a t e g y o f T r a f f i c b y " D riv e r E dr" and The Nelson Co a p u te r G l o s s a r y . Soon I hope to b e a b l e t o t y p e s e t f r o a my own c o ^ u t e r , and p o s s i b l y to sh a re tM s f a c i l i t y T h is has been a most i n ­ t e r e s t i n g y e a r . I have been p l e a s e d to m eet, and o th e rw is e e n jo y , t h e v a r i e t y o f c l e v e r , charmin g a n d / o r lu h r ic o u a p e r ­ s o n s wto have soug h t me o u t s i n c e t h e book f i r s t a p p ea re d ; a s w e ll a s a l l th e sp eakin g en~ g a g m e n t s , s o i r e e s and whatnot. I am d e l i g h t e d to r e c e iv e r e l e v a n t m a t e r i a l and communi­ c a t i o n s o f any k in d , a lt h o u g h proble m s o f tim e , d is o r g a n i z a ­ t i o n and B e d o f t e n p r e c lu d e a P e r s o n a l Type Re ply. I t ha s been a r e a l l i f t f o r my m o r a le to sh a re a t o f th e s e I d e a s and enth u sia sm s w ith a w id e r p u b l i c a t l a s t . I t i * y o u , f i n a l l y , who have t o c a r e ; and I am v e r y g la d you do. Aa t o th * e o s t im p o rta n t m a t t e r s , t h e r e i s a news b l a c k ­ o u t f o r th a i n d e f i n i t e f u t u r e . P l e a s e ■ Land by. Next y e a r in Xanadu.

T h i a b o o k ( b o t h e i d a a ) i a b a s e d l n p a r e on my t a l k s a e o r b e f o r e t h * A m e r ic a n C h e m ic a l S o c i e t y , th a A m e r i c a n D o c u m e n t a t i o n I n s t i t u t e t h a A n a r l e a n Manag emen t A s s o c i a t i o n , t h e A s s o c i a t e d P r e s * , t h e A s s o ­ c i a t i o n f o r C o m puting M a c h i n e r y , t h e C e n t r a l I n t e l l i g e n c e A g e n c y , t h l I n a t i t u t e o f E l e c t r i c a l and E l e c t r o n i c s E n g i n e e r * , t h e P r i m i n g a o d Pub I t ah l a g A s s o c i a t i o n , t h e Hand C o r p o r a t i o n , t h * S o c i e t y f o r I n f o r ­ m a t i o n D i s p l a y , t h a S o c i e t y o f M o t i o n P i c t u r e and T e l e v l a l o n E n g l n e e r a , TIME I n c o r p o r a t e d , U nio n T h e o l o g i c a l S e m i n a r y ( t h a A u b u rn l e c t u r e s ) X e r o x P a l o A l t o R e s e a r c h C e n t e r , and v a r i o u s a r t s c h o o l . , c o l l e g e s . ’ u n i v e r s i t i e s aod J o i n t C o a p u t e r C o n f e r e n c e s .

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS E v e r y b o d y a t C h i c a g o C i r c l e Campus has been v e ry s p o r t i n g abour t h i s p r o j e c t . I aa g r a t e f u l n o t o n ly £o t th e e n c o u rag e ­ ment and a s s i s t a n c e o f v a r i o u s i n d i v i d u a l s ( e s p e c i a l l y J o s e p h I . L i p s o n , D a v i d C. M i l l e r and Samuel S c h r a g e ) , b u t f o r th e a t m o s p h e r e o f s u p p o r t w h i c h h a s made t h i s p o ss ib le . My t h a n k s t o t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f A r t a n d t h e O f f i c e o f I n s t r u c t i o n a l Re­ s o u r c e s D e v e l o p m e n t f o r f r e e i n g me fro m l e a c h i n g d u t i e s , t o t h e C o m p u te r C e n t e r and th e D e p a rtm e n t o f C h e m is try f o r l e t ­ t i n g ae u s e p i c t u r e s o f t h e i r e q u ip m e n t, an d e v e r y b o d y f o r t h e i r e n c o u r a g e m e n t . I w o u l d l i k e t o t h a n k t h e W a lt D i s n e y o r g a n iz a t io n f o r th e iT p e rm issio n to d e ­ p i c t t h e i r w o n d e r f u l c h a r a c t e r s , an d e v e r y o n e e l s e who f u r n i s h e d m a t e r i a l s a n d p e rm issio n s fo r th e th in g s h e re in . T h a n k s a l 9 o t o t h o s e who l o o k e d o v e r some o f t h e m a t e r i a l , e s p e c i a l l y H e r b e r t G r o s c h o f C o m p u t e r w o r l d , Dan McGuTk o f t h e C o m p u t e r I n d u s t r y A s s o c i a t i o n , and W illiam R o d g e rs. 1 am p a r t i c u l a r l y g r a t e f u l t o t h e many who h a v e e x p l a i n e d c o m p u t e r s t o me o v e r t h e y e a r s , e s p e c i a l l y Dave D e n f i i s t o n , R o b e r t F e n i c h e l , A n d re w J . S i n g e r , J o h n R. L e v i n e . My t h a n k s t o T o n B a r n a r d f o r so m e o f th e e a T ly t y p i n g , and f o r th e P o rta -X a n .

Pe rsons of sa gacity have b e e n s a y in g for some time lhat we a re m e ie rie lia U c . In an Important se n se this la not so . The machines, and to y s, a nd Involvementa wa b u y Into , are In but a small prop o rtio n of c a se s owned sim ply aa sc o re s, for th e i r eoet a s consumption symbols. R a th e r, we buy th in g s lha t REPRESENT IDEALS, hopin g o u r se lv e s lo p a rta k e o f some a bstr ac tion or Im age-- th e P layboy ro an , th e Smart B usinessm an, the C lev e r Hom emaker. Each product tr ie s to tell ua It Is lha key­ stone of a way of life, and Ihen, at le ast a t that moment of p u r c h a s e , we ste p In to , w e embrace thal Way of Ufa, co v erin g o u r s e l v e s wilh tha f ee ling, th e a u ra , the magic we sa w In I t a com­ mercia l . T h is Is not m a te ria lis m . It la wishful g r a s p i n g st mi asm a. (Following s e n te n c e op­ tio n a l.) It la communion, with th e o bje ct se ized sim ply ihe Objective C orrela tive of a hoped-for tr a n s a u b sla n d a tlo n . ( S o r r y . ) It’s a se e k in g , not to p o s s e s s ,4 to belo ng.

I am g r a t e f u l t o C o m p u te r D e c i s i o n s m a g a z i n e f o r t h e i r g oo d w i l l , a n d h e l p in r e s e a r c h i n g c o m p u te r im age s y n t h e s i s . My r o o m m a te Tom D e F a n t i , m e n t i o n e d e ls e w h e r e i n t h i s b o o k , h a s been c o n s i d ­ e r a te beyond th e c a l l o f du ty in g iv in g o v e r a l l t h e f i r s t - f l o o r r o om s o f o u r h o u s e to t h i s p r o j e c t f o r s i x m o n t h s . My t h a n k s f i n a l l y t o t h e many o t h e r s w ho se g o o d w i l l h a s k e p t me g o i n g , i n p a r t i c u l a r my f o r m e r w i f e an d e t e r n a l fT ien d , D eborah S to n e N elson. S p e c i a l g r e e t i n g s t o my f r i e n d a n d n e i g h b o r , M r s . J o h n R. N e i l l : I h o p e y ou e n jo y th e u s e s w h ich y o u r h u s b a n d 's i l ­ l u s t r a t i o n s o f T i k - T o k t h e M a chin e Man ha v e f o u n d h e r e . L a s tly , f o r h er c o n trib u tio n s to m o rale (an d f o r n o t f o o t p r i n t i n g th e p a s t e u p s ) , l e t ' s ha v e a warn hand f o r Pooky t h e W o nd er Dog.

D.W. GRIFFITH-- look th e m ovle -box and cre ste d the photo p la y , no lo n g e r a tw isted stage p r o d u c ti o n . WALT DISNEY— c re ate d a hypnotic pa nth eon of kin d ly and Innocent se m i- a n i m a l s . se nti­ mentally u n iv e rs a l, g e n e r a lly a cc epta ble . JOHN W. CAMPBELL-- aa auth or and th e n editor of A sto u n d in g , tu r n ed A m erican acienceflction from Ihe Buck R o g e rs s p s c e Opera lo th e human s t o r y , b u ilt a r o u n d thought out prem ises and s t r u c t u r e s . IVAN SUTHERLAND-- progra m m e d and syatematlzed a c om pute r se tu p for h e lp in g people think and w ork with d e e p ly - s lr u c l u r e d plclorlal I nformation. (See p .) b ,Z j.) DOUG ENGELBART-- fore saw th e u s e o f computer sc re e n s a s a w ay of e x p a n d in g th e mind, and ove r the la st decade and a h a lf haa brought aboul Ju at th st.

r e e d I**

A nd m ore, and o n .

-M Th e o c ca sio n al Oz Illustr ations a re ail b y John R. N eill, from v a rio u s oul- of-c opy right Oz book s b y L . F r a n k B a u m , e specia lly Qzma of O i a n d T lk - T o h o f O t . T U c-T o k . the Ma chine Man, Is the f ig u r e to whom o ccasio n al allegorical s i g ­ nificance Is a tta ch e d h e r e by Juxtaposition. T h e O* p ic tu r e In Ih ls s p rea d Is from The P a tc h w o rk O lr l o f O s.

ANOTHER QUICKIE Com pare A lice, when she gets to W onderland ("Deary me! C u r io se r and c u r io s e r ’ ") with Dorothy G al e, tr a n s p o rte d to Oz ("How do I ge t ba ck to K a n sa s? ! ! ! " ) F a nta sy ties In with e v e r y th in g , in c lu d in g American gil- o u l- n - d o -H .

T h o u g h t y o u might w o n d er.

OOT THE DOOB I S

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I a lre ad y sa id on the oth e r side t h a t the com puie r Is a R orschach, and you make of It some w ild reflection of what you are y o u r s e l f. T h e r e is more lo It lhan thal.

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Am erica is the land w here the m a ch in e Is an in ti m ate pa rt of our fantasy life. G erm ans are too lite r a l, th e y c sn g e t off on w ell- oile d cogs. The French are loo v a gue, ( I'v e notic e d that German Bclence-flclion m a ga ­ zin es had covefB of machines and p la nets; French scien c e-fictio n m agazin es, of d ragons and people with w in g s . O u r scle nce-flc tlo n c o v e r s sh ow people w ith m sc hlne s. Intim ately, e m otiona lly.) German fanta sy la Icy end Im perso nal, F r e n c h fanta sy loo p e rsona l, and American f an ta sy le aplat i n th e mid dle, u niting both: man and m achine, means and en d s, emotion and d e ta ils.

2 4 6 6 a B 9 10 11 12 12 IS 15

Men alw ays longed to fly , bul It w a s h e r e lhat th e y f ir st d id , T h is Is the land of Ihe MOVIE. a fanta sy fabric ate d with e n d le s s dif fi­ culty u s in g various kin ds of equip m ent.

16 20

T h e mad tin k e r e r i s a fabled c h a r a c te r In o u r fiction.

24 26 28

T h i s is the land of the kandy kolo r hot ro d , th e Hell's A ngel c h o p p e r , the d r i v e - i n movie. And th e wild ho t- r o d , In fact, la jusl Ihe f lip side o f the deep-ca rpe te d Cadillac: eac h l £ a f a n ta s y . an extension of Ita o w n e r 's im age of h im s elf in th e w o rl d ,

30 31 32

T h u s It was nol an historical a c c id e n t , but utte r ly p redete rm ined, lhal In th e h a n d s of A m e ric ans th e computer would become s w a y of rea liz in g e v e r y con ceiv able wild fanta sy tha l was d e a r lo th em.

34

T h i s i s pe rfec tly all r ig h t, T his Is a s It should b e . T h is i s the beat pa rt of o u r cuH ureNot "Let a hu n d red flowers bloom.* b u t "Let a h u n d r e d gizmos c lan k ." This has spe d Immeasu r sb ly th e Imaginative development of many dif­ ferent th in g s we might w a n l. I t r y h e r e fairly to e x p lain a few differences among th em.

41 42 42 43 43 44 46 48 S2 56 58 59

37 39 40

T h er e Is Juat one problem with all th ls . Now that all these th ings e x is t, or come n e a r e r to e x is tin g , which ones will oth e r pe ople want? What will it be po ssible for ev ery o n e to ha ve? And how can we tie all the se th in gs to g e th e r? (N o te: t h i s t h e s i s ia b e in g a dvanced o n ly h a l f - a e r l o u a l y . T here h a v e b een a n u a b e r o f e x a c t l y - d r a a a f u l P r a n c h a n t , and f o r t h i s t h r e e - n a t i o n a l i t y S p l i t to bo r e a l l y t r u e , t h e y w o u ld a l l h a v o t o h a v o c o n e f r o a A ls a c e , n e x t t o G erm anyi J u l o s V e rn e , D a g u e rre , th e b r o th e r s H o n tg o lf l e . ', t h e b r o t h e r a L u w i e r e , t o name a f e w . )

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T h e f i n a l l n * p l r a t l o o f o r t h l e b o o k c am e f r o m a o m e t h l n g e a l l e d c h e D om ebook. t h a t t e l l s you e t r a i g h t f o r w a r d l y how t o m ak e G e o d e e l c Domes. And o f e o u r e e I ' m b l a t a n t l y I m i t a t i n g , l n a w ay , ehe w o n d e r f u l W h o le E a r t h C a t a l o g o f S t e w a r t B r a n d . Ae I t h i n k b a c k , t h o u g h , c h e t o n e a l a o c o a e a l o p a r e fro m P e t e S e a g e r ’ * w o n d e r f u l b a n j o b o o k , a n d Tom M c C a h i l l ’ e a u c o m o b l l e r e v l e w a I n M e c h a n ic I l l u * e r a c e d . Aa co c h e l a e c a e p e c t , c h a t o f t a k i n g my c a a e co t h e p u b l i c b e c a u e e t h e e x p a r t * w o n ' t l i s t e n , t h e o o l y p r e c e d e n t I c a n t h i n k o f l e K s j . A l e x a n d e r d e S e v e r s k y ' e V i c t o r y T h r o u g h A i r P o w e r , t e l l i n g eha c o u n ­ t r y how h e t h o u g h t we a h o u l d w in W o rld War I I . T h l* p r o j e c t , s im p le i n p r i n c i p l e , h aa beeo i n f i n i t e l y b o th e r* o m e . S * 1f - p u b 11 c a t 1 on waa n e c * * * * r y b e c a u s e n o p u b l i s h e r c o u l d h a v e c o m p r e h e n d e d t h e c o n c e p t o f t h i a b o o k ; I h e a r t i l y rec om mand H i l l H en d e rs o n ( e d . ) ' * Tha P u b l l e h - I t ~ Y o u r * a l f H a n d b o o k . $4 f ro m The P u e h c e r e Book P t e e s , Bo* 8 4 5 , Y o n k ers ■T 10701. p r e e e n t p r o d u c t i s o o t th e book I had m eant t o w r i t e . Moat 1* f l r e t - d r e f c ; how eh* e e n e e n c e * do r»N j o . ( B e l i e v e i t o r n o t , 1 do o o t l i k e u n d e r l i n i n g t h i n g s - - e f i r s t - d r a f t e x p e d i e n t . ) Fa c tc h e c k i n g a n d b i b l i o g r a p h i e s h a d t o b* l a r g e l y a b a n d o n e d . B e tte r p la n n in g c o u ld hav e in c rs s e e d ty p e a l i a ; and ao o n . H a l f t h e m e n u e c r i p t , an d t h e g l o e e a r y , had co b e k i c k e d a a l d e ; I n c l u d i n g s e c ­ t i o n * o n m o v i e * , " m u l t i - m a d i a , " m i c r o f i l m , t r a i n i n g e l n u l a c o r a , a u g m e n te d s t a g e p r o d u c t i o n s o f che f u t u r e , a n d g o o d n e * * kno w* w h a t . S o rry f o r a l l e h ac.

— K enneth Cavander, ’'Voyage o f th e Psychenaut a . " H a rper‘e . Jan 74, p . 74.

WITH A LITTLE HELP PBOM MY FBI ENDS

T h i a p r o j e c t c o u l d n t v e r h a v e b e a n c o m p l e t e d w l t h o u c e h* d e d i c a t e d e n d e x t r a o r d i n a r y e f f o r t * o f my w i* e an d w arm f r i e n d * S h a l l * M cK enzie and U ade F r e e m a n , b o t h f a c u l c y member* a e C i r c l e , who he v e ay d a e p e a t g r a t i t u d e . T h ey g a v e m oocha a n d w eek* o f t h e i r g o o d ti m e t o c h e t e d i o u s a s p e c e e o f e h l* p r o j e c t ( w h i c h I c o o t l n u o u a l y u n d a r a s t imae e d . ) 1 h o p e I t h a a b e e n w o re h e h e l r w o rk a a w e l l a* ay own. Ma. I f c l a o z l e , w h o s e c o n c e r n ( o r I n t e l l i g e n t c h a n g e l o e d u c e e l o n d r o v e h e r c o b o u n d l e s s e f f o r t s on e h l * p r o j e c t , - h a a a l a o my d e e p e a e a d m i r a t i o n . T h a a a d t h i n g abOuC i t a l l i s C h a t 90Z o f t h e a e e f f o r t a a r e u n n e c e s s a r y . A d e c e n t c o m p u te r Cext *y*e*m ( o f w h i c h o n l y a c o u p l e e x i s t a a y e t ) w o u ld h a v e o b v l a c e d a l l ehe f l n d l n g - a n d - r e t y p l n g p r o b le m a . I f e e l d e e p l y f o r e v e r y o n e who ha a t r o u b l e w r i t i n g by c o n v e n t i o n a l m e a n s , a n d who w o u l d n ’ t I f o n ly

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In ihc ruiUMd oi iKeir ubjK ts, which they lad are thr prauraaix of new artritic i n | a lhat will in tom adiuluB thrrmtlm a* amriha f r o of bring, Maalcn and Hnotion n a mrw hoe Ggarc rrw nfiilhy m a n in |. 7>it* m hae Ii b ! ihc old “hero of « lhooi«nd (ana,* lha jndiridailnl who a lie n , die*, and t* iriu u , ■liu th loin | and conquering along lh« way. IbUhq, he is Protean, capable of mfinil* chauum ia appearance and tlylc, a magician, a Bahherar bringing gif la. Ht rnpfom categorin n d cailimm ihe r w . and in doing ao he holda ooi ihe promis- of fusion m a hignej leaeL If nch a hero were to become Ihc model for tie approaching age. he wmld probably im he the founder 01 a mam rnuitiiiriil or ihe god of a new rrligicai. He wmld he nwtr ekxtvr. m ehangefol lhan hi* p n d o i a i L He wmild be a amieici who treat* ilw mental r a id aad the Internal wtrid on equal ten**, grrmg ^jirit la the T erm and Be*h u> the laner. He weald ba a naata of paradox and a player of gnaw, n a U a a a new language. Hm one payer aright be ihe b n of Sake: Mrr GrJ u inp rnmoM fUwinm Amd VoUa’l tiacp.

I h a v e w a n t e d t o w r i t e a o i n t r o d u c t i o n t o c o m p u t e r s , a n d a a e p a r a t e b o o k on F a n t l c e , f o r y e e r e . But t h a I d a a o f b i n d i n g cham b a c k - t o - b a c k i n a W hole E a r t h f o r m a t , w i t h l o t * o f m i a c h l e v o u * E n r l c h a a o t m a t e r i a l , d i d n ’ t h i t ma t i l l J a n 7 3 . I h a v e t r i e d t o add a l l t h e s t i m u l a t i n g a n d e x h i l a r a t i n g • t u f f 1 c o u ld f i n d , e s p e c i a l l y p e r s o n a l ( s a t l o n s , as on t h e o t h e r a i d e ; c o m p u te re a re d e e p ly p e rs o n a l ■ S C h l n e a , c o n t r a r y t o l e g e n d , and ao a r e a h o w l n g - a y s t e r n s . I r e g r e t h a v i n g to t h r o w ao many o f my c o n c e r n * i n t o c o m ic r e l i e f , b u t I h o p e t h a t some r e a d e r s w i l l s e n s e e h e * e r l o u e n e t » b e lo w .

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DREAM MACHINES APPARATUSES OF APPARITION VIDEO LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: THE CATHODE-RAY TUBE HOLOGRAPHY S a n d i n ' s Im age P r o c e s s o r 3 0 DY ELECTRONICS PICTURE PROCESSING AUDIO G COMPUTERS THREE COMPUTER DREAMS: Al ( a r t i f i c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e ) IR ( i n f o r m a t i o n r e t r i e v a l ) CAI ( c o m p u t e r - a s s i s te d in stru c tio n ) "N o M ore T e a c h e r s ' D i r t y L o o k s." Till: MIND'S F.YE (co m p u ter d is p la y ) COMPUTER MOVIES PLATO "L aw s o f th e U n iv e rse H y p er-C o m ic s" THE MIND’ S EYE MOBE: 3D LINE SYSTEMS D c F a n t i ’ s Coup de GRASS HALFTONE IMAGE SYNTHESIS 1. P o l y g o n S y s te m s 2. Shades o f R e a lity ( n lc c r groys) 3. H ard e n in g o f th e A r t i s t r i e s ( s p e c i a l ha rd w are ) 4. C o m p u ie r Im age C o r p . TIIL MIND'S EYE MORE: n D im e n s i o n s The C i r c l e . G r a p h i c s H a b i t a t The T i s s u e o f T hought How t o L e a r n A n y th in g On W r i t i n g The H e r i t a g e HYPERMEDIA, HYPERTEXTS lin g e lb a rt FANTICS TIIINKERTOYS XANADU WHAT NELSON IS REALLY SAYING FL IP OUT

grandfather, Theodor Holm.

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W ould y o u b e l i e v e t h e r e w aa t e l e v i s i o n b r o a d c a s t i n g o v e r th e a irw a v e s i n t h e n i n e t e e n - t w e n t i e s ? The t h i n g i s , i t u s e d b i z a r r e s p i n n i n g e q u l p n e n t b e c a u s e t h e r e w e r e no CRTs ( s e e " L i g h t n i n g i n a B o t t l e , " n e a r b y . ) O n ly w i t h t h e d e v e lo p m e n t o f r a d a r i n W o rld War I I d i d t h e r e a l s o c a n e a p r a c t i c a b l e C a t h o d e Ray T u b e , m a k in g h o n e t e l e v i s ­ io n f e a s i b l e . But th e b i g c o m p a n ie s w ere a t f i r s t v e r y c o n s e r v a t i v e l n t h e i r m a r k e t i n g , f i g u r i n g t e l e v i s i o n w o u ld b e a l u x u r y ite m o n ly . I t t o o k a man named Madman H u n t s , who c a r i c a ­ t u r e d h i m s e l f i n a N a p o l e o n h a t , t o a e e t h a t m i l l i o n s w ould b u y t e l e v i s i o n l f t h e p r i c e w as r i g h t . S o h e cam e o u t w i t h H u n ts TV I d t h e l a t e f o r t i e s . As I r e c a l l , t h e H u n t s TV c o s t $1 00 a n d h a d o n e t u n i n g k n o b . (T h is w as l e s s I n t i m i ­ d a t i n g t h a n t h e row o f k n o b s on more e x p e n s i v e s e t s . ) I d o n ' t know how H u n t s c a a e o u t on I t a l l , b u t h i s o p e n i n g o f t h e mass m a r k e t made t h e b i g g e r c o r p o r a t i o n ! r e a l i s e i t was th e re . ( T h i s sa m e t h i n g may y e t h a p p e n a g a i n l n n e w e r m e d ia .) O r i g i n a l l y a l l t h e r e w as waa K ra s y K a t a n d F a r m e r Brown c a r t o o n s . But b e h o ld , so o n er th a n you c o u ld say " v e r t i c a l h o l d , ” t h e r e w e r e S i d C a e s a r a n d Im o g en e Coca on t h e A d m ir a l Sh ow , a n d we w e r e o f f . A q u a r t e r o f a c e n tu r y l a t e r , th e b e e t o f t e l e v i s i o n l a no b e t t e r a n d th e b u l k o f t e l e v i s i o n i s a b o u t a s bad a s i t e v e r w as. We " u n d e r s t a n d " t e l e v i s i o n . T h a t i s , we know w h s t a TV show i s , how i t f i t s t o g e t h e r and e o o n . ICECUBES But w h a t p e o p l e d o n ' t r e a l i s e a b o u t TV i s t h a t t h e g o v e r n i n g f e a t u r e i s t h e t i m e - s l o t . I n a n y m ediu m w i t h t i m e - s l o t s , w h e t h e r TV, r a d i o o r c l a s s r o o m e d u c a t i o n , th e tim e -s lo t r u le s b e h a v io r. W h a te v e r c a n h a p p e n i e a s c o n ­ s tr a in e d as ic ec u b es in a tr a y . T h i s l a t h e l i m i t i n g f a c t o r when o p t i m i s t s t r y t o u s e TV f o r t e a c h i n g . I f I t ’ s c om in g o v e r a c a b l e , e v e r y ­ t h i n g h a s t o b e s c h e d u l e d a r o u n d I t , and t h e c o n t e n t s a r e c l i p p e d an d c o n s t r a i n e d t o f i t t h e t i m e - a l o t . I t may be b e t t e r w ith v id e o ta p e . CABLES I n t h e l a s t d o s e n y e a r s , C a b le TV, o r CATV, h a s become b i g b u s i n e s s . A V id e o C s b l e i s a h i g h - c a p a c i t y e l e c t r i c a l c a r r l e T t h a t r u n s th r o u g h a g i v e n n e i g h b o r ­ ho o d o r r e g i o n . B u s i n e s s a n d i n d i v i d u a l s may " s u b ­ s c r i b e " an d g e t t h e i r own s e t s hooke d o n t o t h e c a b l e .

I n r e c e n t y e a r s , many yo u n g f o l k s h a v e ta lc sn t o v i d e o a s a w ay o f l i f e . I n t h e m o s t e x t r e m e c a s e s t h e y s a y t h i n g s l i k e " t h e w r i t t e n w o rd i s d e a d , " p r a p t e d p e r h a p s b y McLuhan. I have found I t r a t h e r d i f f i c u l t t e t a l k to v id e o f r e a k s . ( I t may b e t h a t some o f th e m a r e a g a i n s t s p o k e n w o rd s a a w e l l . ) I r e a l l y j u s t d o n 't k n w w hat t h e y 'r e a b o u t. T h e w o rk o f t h e s e p e o p l e i e a s e x u b e r a n t a a i t i s s t r a n g e . 1 h a v e n ' t s e e n much o f I t o r u n d e r s t o o d much o f w h a t I ha v e

I n so me c a s e s , " a l t e r n a t i v e t e l e v i s i o n " s im p l y means d o c u ­ m e n t a r i e s o u t s i d e t h e n o r m a l fra m e w o r k o f o w n e r s h i p a nd r e p o r t ­ in g . I n o n e e x a o p l e c i t e d b y Sha m be rg ( s e e b i b l i o g r a p h y ) , v i d e o f r e a k s d i d e x c e l l e n t c o v e r a g e o f t h e 1966 R e p u b l i c a n c o n v e n tio n . P e o p le w ere allo w ed to sp e ak f o r th e m s e lv e s , u n lik e " n o r ­ m a l" TV j o u r n a l i s m w h ere " c o m m e n ta to r s " t e l l you w h a t th e y s e e . Now, t h i s i s h a r d l y r e v o l u t i o n a r y ; i t i s j u s t good docum en­ t a r y - m a k i n g t h a t s h u c k s dumb t r a d i t i o n s a r t i s t i c a l l y , much l i k e t h e P e n n e b a k e r f i l m s . H ow ever, v i d e o e n t h u s i a s t s c l a i m I t i s somehcw d i f f e r e n t , a n d in d e e d c l a i m t h a t v i d e o i e d i f f e r e n t i n p r i n c i p l e f ro m f i l m s . I ha v e b e e n u n a b l e t o g e t a s a t i s f a c t o r y c l a r i f i c a t i o n o f t h i s id e a . V id e o i s b e i n g u s e d i n o t h e r w a y s , h a r d e r t o u n d e r s t a n d , by a r t i s t s ( b e s t d e fin e d a s p e rs o n s c a l l e d " a r t i s t s " w ith in th e a r t w o r l d t o d a y ) . V e r y odd " v i d e o p i e c e s " h a v e b e e n shewn a t a r t s h o w s , w h e r e t h e o b j e c t se em s t o b e t o c o n f u s e t h e v i e w e r — o r k n o c k h im i n t o a c o n d i t i o n o f E n l a r g e d P e r s p e c t i v e , s h a l l we s a y . And a v a r i e t y o f n o n ^ b j e c t i v e v i d e o t a p e s a r e now b e i n g c r e a t e d . (A g a l l e r y sh ow i n 19 69 w as c a l l e d " V i d e o a s a C r e a t i v e Medium" — im p l y i n g s a r c a s t i c a l l y t h a t i t h a d n o t b e e n b e f o r e , on t h e a i r w a v e s .) Saae v id e o fre a k a th in k o f v id e o a s i n t r i n s i c a l l y r a d i c a l o r R e v o lu tio n ary . I n t h i s r e s p e c t th e y d i f f e r i n t e r e s t i n g l y f r c n , s a y , t h e e d i t o r s o f t h e N a t i o n a l | -*mp o o n . T he e d i t o r s o f t h e N a t i o n a l Lampoon a p p e a r t o b e p o l i t i c a l r a d i c a l s , b u t do n o t s u g ­ g e s t t h a t t h e v e r y m e d ia o f c a r t o o n a n d j o k e - p l e c e a r e th e m s e l v e s r e v o l u t i o n a r y . Scute v i d e o f r e a k s a p p e a r t o b e p e r s u a d e d t h a t t h e medium o f t e l e v i s i o n i t a e l f 1 s I n h e r e n t l y a v e h i c l e f o r c h a n g e . I c a n u n d e r s t a n d o n e i n t e r e s t i n g s e n s e i n w h ic h t h i s may b e t r u e s Sh a m b e rg t a l k s a b o u t v i d e o a s a m e th o d o f a e l f - d l a c o v a r v . S e e i n g y o u r s e l f on TV d o e s , o f c o u r s e , c o n f e r c e r t a i n I n s i g h t s . B u t Sh a m b e rg s u g g e s t s i t may e x p a n d p e o p l e ' s c o n s c i o u s n e s s i n l a r g e r w a y s -- a llo w in g p e o p le t o s e e th e b l e a k n e s s o f c e r t a i n p u r s u i t s (h e u s e s t h e ex am p le o f S h o p p i n g ) , f o r I n s t a n c e . B ut i f t h i s d o e s h i t h o n e t o p e o p l e , i t d o e s n ' t se em t o me t o b e t h e n e d iu m t h a t ' s d o i n g i t b u t t h e s e l e c t e d c o n t e n t — a s i n a l l p r e ­ v i o u s m e d i a . Maybe I ' v e m is s e d t h e p o i n t i n seme w ay. T h ese d e v elo p m en ts a r e a l l v e ry i n t e r e s t i n g . I t c an be h o p e d t h a t t h o s e t r y i n g t o d e v e l o p new f o rm s o f c a n u n i c a t i o n w i l l make a n e f f o r t t o c c n a u n i c a t e b e t t e r w i t h t h o s e who, l i k e t h e a u t h o r , o f t e n c a n n o t c o m p re h en d w h a t t h e y a r e d o i n g .

What t h i s d o e s f l r e t o f a l l 1s Im p ro v e r e c e p t i o n . The f o u l e d - u p v i d e o p i c t u r e c a u s e d by s u c h e x t r a n e o u s o b j e c t s a s t h e W o rld T r s d e C e n t e r I n New Y o rk c a n be c o r r e c t e d b y h o o k i n g I n t o t h e v i d e o c a b l e : you g e t a n ic e , sharp p ic tu r e .

B ut d e c e n t r a l i z e d t r a n s m i s s i o n o f i n f o r m a t i o n s h o u ld b e d o m i n a n t , n o t f u g i ­ tiv e . Eac h c i t i z e n o f M e d ia - A m e ric a s h o u ld g u a ra n tee d a s a b i r t h r i g h t acc ess t o t h e means o f d i s t r i b u t i o n o f i n f o r m a -

In a d d i t i o n , th o u g h , th e c a b le o f f e r s e x t r a c h a n n e ls . Now, t h e b u s i n e s s m e n who h a v e b e e n t h r o w i n g t o g e t h ­ e r t h e s e v i d e o c a b l e o u t f i t s a r e a im in g f o r s o m e t h i n g . They h a v e b e e n t h i n k i n g t h a t t h e s e e x t r a c h a n n e l s w o u ld n e t them a l o t o f m o n e y : b y s h o w in g t h i n g s on th e m t h a t c a n ' t b e o f f e r e d o n t h e a i r — h ig h b r o w d r a m a , o r p e r h a p s X -ra ted s t u f f — th e y c o u ld g e t e x tra rev e n u e . ( Y o u 'd pa y e x t r a to w atch i t by b u y in g a n u n e c r a m b l e r , o r w h a t e v e r .) T h le I s t u r n i n g i n t o som ew hat o f a d i s a p p o i n t m e n t . T he c a b l e p e o p l e h a d f o r e s e e n , e v i d e n t l y , t h a t p e o p l e w o u ld s t a y home i n d r o v e s t o s e e t h e new o f f e r i n g s o n th e c a b le . I n Show B u s i n e s s I t ' s e a s y t o f o r g e t , t h o u g h , t h a t e verybody h a s o n ly tw e n ty fo u r h o u r s l n a d a y , a n d f a r l e s s t h a n 26 h o u r s t o d i s p o s e o f f r e e l y ; ao e v e r y l e i s u r e o c c u p s t i o i r i s c o m p e t in g w i t h e v e r y o t h e r l e i s u r e o c c u p a t i o n . H o r e o v e r , t h e r e s i d u a l l e i s u r e o c c u p a t i o n , w hen t h e r e ' s n o ­ t h i n g e l s e t o d o , i s TV. I t w o u ld se em t h a t few p e o p l e w o u ld w a t c h m o r e t e l e v i s i o n I f i t w e r e b e t t e r , b u t many w o u ld w a t c h l e a s l f t h e y c o u l d a f f o r d t o g o o u t . EXTRA CHANNELS I n r e c e n t y e a r s , a num be r o f e x t r a c h a n n e l s h a v e b e e n made a v a i l a b l e b y l a w . T h e s e a r e t h e UHF, o r U l t r a H ig h Frequency c h a n n e ls . T hese, lik e c a b le s , r e p r e s e n t a con­ s u l a r b r e a k th r o u g h b u t w i l l ha v e o n ly n e g l i g i b l e im p a c t.

( S h a m b e r g , p . 67) ”

W e l l , we w e n t down t h e r e w i t h o u r P o r ta - P a k and t r i e d t o ta k e i t i n s i d e . A g u a r d came o v e r a n d s a i d we c o u l d n ' t a n d e v e n t h r e w o n e o f u s o u t o f t h e b o o th w h i l e t h e o t h e r wae i n s i d e . A gua rd t e l l i n g you w h a t t o d o i n a c y b e r n e t i c e n v ir o n m e n t? "

Some p e o p l e , I w o n ' t a a y w ho, ha v e g o t t e n a l o t o f money f o r s o m e t h i n g t h e y c a l l " i n t e r a c t i v e t e l e v i s i o n . ” What t h i s t u r n s o u t t o mean I s a n y form o f c o m p u t e r ti m e ­ s h a r i n g t h a t w i l l u s e home TV t e r m i n a l s a n d v i d e o c a b l e s . Th e q u e s t i o n s a r e why u s e home TV t e r m i n a l s a n d v i d e o c a b l e s , i n s o f a r a s t h e y w o u ld se em t o p r o m i s e o n l y com­ p a r a t i v e l y l o w - g r a d e p e r f o r m a n c e ; a nd w h e t h e r t h e s e p e o p l e h s v e th o u g h t o u t a n y t h i n g a b o u t t h e p o t e n t i a l c h a r a c t e r i s ­ t i c s o f th e v a r i o u s m e d ia th e y pro p o se w i t h s u c h abandon. N oth in g I ha v e s e e n o r h e a r d a b o u t t h i s i s r e a s s u r i n g .

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H A b o u t t h e o n l y g e n e r a l i s a t i o n t o be made i s t h a t c o m s u n ity v i d e o w i l l b e s u b v e r s i v e t o a ny g r o u p , b u r e a u c r a c y , o r i n d i v i d u a l w h ic h f e e l s t h r e a t e n e d by a c o a le sc in g o f g ra s s ro o ts c o n scio u a n sss. B e c a u s e n o t o n l y d o e s d e c e n t r a l i s e d TV s e r v e a s an e a r l y w arn in g s y s te m , i t p u ts p e o p le i n to u ch w ith one a n o th e r about connon g r ie v a n c e s ."

BIBLIOGRAPHY M ic h a e l S ham berg a n d R a i n d a n c e C o r p o r a t i o n , G u e r r illa T e le v is io n . ( H o l t , 5 4 .) TUBE, a n u n d e r g r o u n d TV m a g a z i n e . $ 8 / y r . TUBE, 1B26 S p a i g h t S t . , M a d is o n , WI 5 3 704. C a b le R e p o rt, $ 7 /y r . 192 N. C l a r k S t . , Rood 6 0 7 . C h i c a g o . S a m p le s $ 1 . "SCANDAL IS RAMPANT i n t h e c a b l e t e l e v i s i o n I n d u s t r y . O nly C a b l e Re ­ p o r t f o l l o w s c a b l e TV d e v e lo p m e n ts from t h e c i t i z e n ’ s p e r s p e c t i v e and t e l l s y o u w h a t ’s h a p p e n i n g a n d w h a t 's g o in g w r o n g ." Ad i n C h i c a g o READER. N i c h o l a s J o h n s o n , How t o T a l k Back t o Your T e le v is io n S e t. B a nta m , 95#

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T h is beam of e le c tro n s is c a ll e d , m o r e o r le s s for h is t o ric a l r e a s o n s , a c a th o d e r a y . T h in k o f it a s a s tra w th a t can be w ig g le d in th e b o ttle . A c t u a l l y t h e b o t t l e i s s h a p e d s o a s to h a v e a l a r g e v i e w i n g a r e a a t t h e b o tto m ( t h e s c r e e n ) , a n d th is sc re e n is co ate d w ilh so m e th in g th a t g lo w s w h e n e l e c t r o n s h it i t . S u c h a c h em ica l i s c a lle d a phosphor.

N o w , tw o u s e f u l t h i n g s c a n b e d o n e w i t h t h i s beam . 1)

It c a n b e m a d e b r i g h t e r b y i n c r e a s i n g th e v o lta g e , w h ic h i n c r e a s e s th e n u m b e r o f e le c tr o n s in th e b e a m .

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T h e be a m c a n b e m o v e d ? T h a t i s . i t can be m ade to p la y a r o u n d th e fac e of th e tu b e Ihe w a y y o u c a n s lo s h th e s t r e a m o f a g a r d e n h o s e b a c k a n d f o rt h o n t h e l a w n ; o r w i g g l e a s t r a w in a c o k e b o t t l e . T h e beam can be m oved w ith e i t h e r m a g n etism o r s ta tic e l e c t r i c i t y . T h is is a p p lie d in Ihe n e c k o f t h e b o t t l e — o r e v e n f ro m o u t s i d e t h e n e c k — b y d e f l e c t i o n p la te s, w hose e le c tric a l p u lsa tio n s d e te rm in e th e p a tte r n t h e be am t r a c e s on t h e s c r e e n . (N ote th a t th e beam c a n b e m o ve d o n (h e s c r e e n at g reat s p e e d .)

T h e v e rtic a l d e fle c tio n p la te s c a n p u ll th e b e am u p o r down on th e s c r e e n , c o n tro lle d by a s i g n a l to them ;

( S h a m b e r g , p . S3)

(S h a m b e r g , p . 57)

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THE PROBLEM OF ORGANIZATION W h a te v e r e l s e y o u may s a y a b o u t th e m , t h e n e t w o r k s a n d TV s t a t i o n s a r e a t l e a s t o r g a n i s e d a s g o i n g c o n c e r n s w ith in th e I n s t i t u t i o n a l s t r u c t u r e s o f th e c o u n try . Id ea s o f "co m m u n ity t e l e v i s i o n " a n d o t h e r s u c h s c h e m e s w h ic h c a l l f o r some new f o r m o f s o c i a l o r g a n i s a t i o n t o s p r i n g f o r t h a r e a b o u t a s p l a u s i b l e a s " co m m u n ity c o n t r o l " o f s c h o o l s an d p o l i c e — o r a t b e s t l i k e l y t o b e a e I n f l u e n t i a l a s " c o u u n lty s o c ia l c e n te re ."

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t h e h o r i z o n t a l d e fle c t io n p l a t e s c a n p u l l t h e b e a m s id e w a y s on th e s c r e e n , c o n tro lle d b y a s ig n a l t o th e m .

B y s e n d i n g c o m b in e d s i g n a l s to b o t h h o r i ­ z o n tal a n d v e rtic a l d efle ctio n p la te s , w e c a n m a k e th e e n d o f th e beam *- a b r ig h t do t o n th e s c r e e n , s o m e tim e s c a ll e d a Q y i n g s p o t — j u m p a r o u n d in a n y p a t t e r n on t h e s c r e e n . A r e p e a t e d p a t t e r n o f t h e b e a m on th e fa c e o f ih e C R T i s c a l l e d a raster. F r o m th e s e tw o c a p a b i l i t i e s - - b r i g h t e n i n g a n d m o v in g t h e b e a m - * a n u m b e r o f v e r y s p e c i a l te ch n o lo g ies em erge: TELEVISIO N u s e s s s i g - s a g s c a n n i n g p a t ­ t e r n w h ic h r e p e a l s o v e r a n d o v e r . T h i s z ig z a g p a t t e r n i s a l w a y s th e s a m e , n ig h t a n d d a y .

You c a n u s u a l l y s e e th e l i n e s c l e a r l y on a b la c k -a n d -w h ite s e l . T h e p ic ­ tu r e c o n sists o f th e c h a n g in g p a tte rn of b rig h tn e ss o f th is b e am , w h ic h c o m e s in o v e r t h e a i r w a v e s a s th a tele v isio n s ig n a l.

RADAR DISPLAY u s e s a CRT to show re flec­ te d im ages a ro u n d w here the r a d a r a n te n n a is s ta n d in g . Thia u s e s a s c a n n in g r a s t e r of a s t a r s h a p e , b r i g h t e n i n g the beam when reflected im ag es a r e re c e iv e d .

As the beam c r is s - c ro s s e s the faceplate in the z ig -z a g television r a s te r , th e n , a continuously c h a nging o u tp u t s ignal from the faceplate show s the b r i g h t n e s s e s all ac ro ss lhe s u c c e s s iv e lin e s of the sc a n . And th at i s the television s i g n a l . T o g e th e r with s y n ch r o n iz in g Information, i t 's w hat goes out o v e r the a ir w a v e s , down y o u r ante n n a and into y o u r s e t . Y our s e t, o b e y in g - th e .s y n c h ro n ­ izing inform ation, b rig h te n s and d a rk e n s its own beam in p ro p o rtio n to the b rig h tn e s s of the in d iv id u a l te e n y re g io n s of the faceplate in the television c a m e ra . And this p ro d u c es th e s c i n ­ tilla tin g su rfa c e we call television.

COMPUTER CRT GRAPHICS gen e ra lly u s e t h e CRT in s till another way; the beam i s moved around the s c r e e n in s t r a i g h t lin e s from point to p oint. (B etw een diffe re nt p a rts of th e p ic ­ t u r e the beam is d a rk e n e d , t u rn e d v e r y low so you d on'l see i t .)

B ec au se the image on a normal CRT fa d e s q u ic k ly , the com puter m ust o rd i n a r i ly d ra w the p ic tu re aga in and a g a in a n d ag a in . (Methods fo r this a r e d is c u s s e d on p . pH £2*5.)

SPECIAL KINDS OF CATHODE-RAY TUBES T h e CRT is n o t m erely a s ingle in v e n tio n , b u t an e n t i r e fam ily of in v entions. T h e o rd in a ry CRT, w h ich we h av e d is c u s s e d , is .v ie w e d at one e n d b y a h um an b e i n g , has an im age w hich fades q u ic k ly , an d can h av e its flying spot d riv e n in any k in d of r a s t e r o r p a ttern . H e re a r e som e o th er k inds of CRT: T h e p i c t u r e t ra n s m itte r, w hich h as d iffe re n t v e r s io n s an d n am es: V idicon, Image O rth icon, P lu m b ico n . e t c . THIS IS THE MAGICAL DEVICE THAT MAKES THE TELEVISION CAMERA WORK. AND Y ET, BY GOSH, IT'S JUST ANOTHER CRT. Except In s te a d of th e p ic tu re coming into i t as an e l e c tric a l s i g n a l an d out of it as an optical im ag e, th e p i c t u r e com es into it as an optical im age an d goes out of it as an ele ctrica l s ig n a l: How c a n t h i s be? T h e tu b e s i t s In sid e th s television camera-, w hich is an o r d i n a r y cam era, lik e , With a le n s p ro je c tin g a p i c t u r e th ro u g h a d a r k cham ber onto a s e n s itiv e s u rf a c e . But In stea d of the s u rf a c e b e i n g a film , the su rface is the faceplate of a CRT w ith some k in d of a spec ial pickup p hosphor:

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T h e e le c tro n b ea m , which is j u s t lik e any o th e r ele c tro n b ea m , is made to zigzag ac ro ss the fa ce pla te in a s ta n d a rd television r a s te r . And th e s p e c ia l p h o s p h o r of the tube m ea sures the b r i g h t n e s s of th e p ic tu re at the sp o t the beam i s h ittin g . I have no idea how th is h ap ­ p e n s . b u t i t 's chem ical and electronical and m y s­ t e r io u s , an d is b a s e d on the way the p h o s p h o r i n te ra c ts w ith th e lig h t from erne side and the e le c tro n s from th e o th e r sid e at the sam e tim e. A nvhow . a m e a su rem en t s ignal comes out of the f a ce p la te, in d ic a tin g how b rig h t the pro je cted p ic tu re i s in th e v e r y spot the ele ctro n beam is now h i t ti n g .

T h e sto rag e CRT comes in two flavors: view able a n d n o n-vie w able. But w hat it does i s v e r y neat: it holds the p ic tu re o n the scre e n . T he m echanism s for th is a re of v a r io u s t y p e s , and i t 's all w e ird and e le ctro n ic, b u t the idea is that once som ething is put on th e s creen by the e le c tro n beam , it s tay s find s t a y s . Up to s e v e ra l m in u te s, u s u a lly . The m ain manufac­ t u r e r s a r e T e k tro n ix , P rinceton E lectronic Pro­ d u c ts , a n d Hughes A ircraft; each of ihese ihree h a s a p ro d u c t that works by a d iffe re n t melhod. Note: T e ktronix' tu b e b u ilt in to a num­ b e r of d iffe re n t com puter d is p la y s , and is re c ­ ognizable b y its Kelly g reen s u rf a c e . They them selve s make complete com puter term inals aro u n d th is scope fo r $4000 and u p , b u l lots of o th er people put it in th e ir p ro d u c ts also. It show s w h a te v e r has alread y bee n p u t on the s c r e e n , an d the electron beam d o es not have to repeat the action. However, it u s u a lly only sta y s lit fo r about a m inute. P rince ton Electronic P roducts (gue ss where) is a m uch sm aller outfit, so p e r h a p s it is ap p ro ­ p ria te th at they make a much s m a lle r s torage tu b e. It i s about one in ch s q u a r e at its storage en d , a n d you d on't look at it d ire c tly . Instead, an image can be s to red on it e ith e r w th a TV ra s te r o r by com p u ter-d riv e n lin e d ra w in g . After th e im age is stored on i t , th o u g h , it func­ tions a s a TV cam era: the p ic tu re s to re d on the plate can b e re ad out with a s c a n n in g ra s te r, exactly as i f it w ere a p ictu re tra n s m itte r in a television cam era. The P rinceton folks have built a q u ite ex p e n siv e, b u l q uite sp le n d id , com plete term inal around this device: it can hold both v ideo and com puter-draw n p i c t u r e s , s u p e r­ im posed o r com bined, an d s en d s them back oul in s ta n d a rd b lac k -an d -w h ite TV. $12000.

T he co lo r tu b e is a w eird beast in d e e d . T h e re a r e s e v e r a l ty p e s , b u t w e'll only talk about the s im p le st (and many think the b e s t ) , S o n y 's T rin ilro n (T M ) tube. T h is is an o rd in a ry CRT which h a s , i n ­ stea d of a uniform coating on the fa c e p la te , tiny v e rtic a l s t r i p e s o f th re e p rim ary colors— r e d , blue and g r e e n . (You thought the p rim ary col­ o rs w e re r e d , b lu e and yellow , d id n 't y o u . If y o u 're m ixin g pigm ents that happens lo b e t r u e . F or some u n g odly re a s o n , h ow e ver, if y o u 'r e m ixing l i g h t s , th e colors that yield all o th e r s t u r n out to b e r e d , g reen and blue; it t u r n s out that yellow lig h t can b e made oul of re d and g re e n . If you d o n 't believe me go to a chintzy h a r d w a r e s t o r e , get a re d and a g reen b u l b , t u rn 'em on an d see what happens in a w h ite walled room .)

CRTS which b r i n g in a p ic tu re one way (suc h as a video ra s te r) and s en d it back out a n o th e r w ay (such as by letting a com puter sea rc h out individual points) are ca lle d scan c o n v e rte rs. A w ord about this last m ethod. It is often d es ire d by com puter people to tu r n a picture into some form of d ata (see p . )(_,). Scan c onve r­ t e r s , u s u a lly by the th re e m an u factu re rs named above, can be hooked up to let the com puter p ro ­ gram p oke aro u n d in the p ictu re an d m easure the b r i g h tn e s s of the p ictu re in a r b i tr a r y p laces. A device w hich exam ines the b r ig h tn e s s of some­ th in g in a r b i tr a r y places is called a flying spot s c a n n e r . ) Here a re some different k in d s of O y ing-spot scanners:

At any ra tp , color television u ses a d d i­ tional color s i g n a l s , and in the T rin itro n th ese control the r e s p o n s e of the faceplate. If the color s ignal s a y s "gre en" as the electron dot c ro s s e s a c e rta in p a r t of the s c r e e n , the color s ig n al tells th e g re e n s trip e s lhat t h e y 'r e free to light up w hen h i t . If i t 's Yellow T im e, the s ig n al tells b oth the red s trip e s and the g r e e n , and so side by s id e they light up red and g r e e n , as the beam c r o s s e s lhem , but the total effect from m ore lh an a few inches is Yellow. Most A m erican color TV s e t s , h o w e v e r, at lea st u p till th is y e a r , used som ething v e r y dif* fe re n t, s om ething en tire ly w eird called the Shadow Mask T u b e . I'll s p a re you the p i c t u r e , but th e r e w e re s e v e ra l different electron beam s — often r e f e r r e d to jokingly as the " re d ele ctro n b ea m ," " blue ele ctro n beam" snd "g re en ele ctron b ea m ," though of c o u rse they w e re identical in c h a ra c te r. T h e s e hit a perforated s ie v e , up n e a r the s c r e e n , called the shadow m a s k , and the co lo r s ig n a l tw eaked the unwanted beam s so they did n o t h it different-colored p h o s p h o r dots that w e re in tric a te ly a rra n g e d on th e s c r e e n . I’m s o r r y I s t a r t e d to explain th is. Multi gu n tu b e s have more than one ele ctro n gun and m ore th a n one electron beam . T h e y can b e u s ed in d ifferent w ays (aside from the old shad o w -m ask TV tu b e , mentioned a b o v e ). F or in s ta n c e , one gun can be d riv e n in a video r a s t e r , lo show television, while an o th e r gun can be u s e d as a com puter d is p la y , d ra w in g ind iv id u a l lin es w ith no re g a rd to the TV p a tte r n .

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V uA D a n i e l J . S a n d in ( p ro n ou nc ed san-DEEN) haa epent th e l a s t s e v e r a l year* p u t t i n g to g e th e r a d e v i c e h e c u r r e n t l y c a l l o t h e IP (Im ag e P r o c e s ­ so r). I t ' s a syste m o f c i r c u i t s f o r c hanging and c o l o r i z i n g TV. What f o l l o w s I s t h e f i r s t p u b lis h ed d e s c r i p t i o n o f I t . I r e g r e t t h a t t h e follo w in g I s p ro b ab ly one o f t h e D o s t d i f f i c u l t s e c t i o n s o f t h i s b o o k . ( I f you know n o t h i n g a b o u t v i d e o , r e a d E tm z n p p o ^ ........ T ^ . . f i r s t . ) 01 1 6 -7 The i d e a I s b a s i c a l l y t o c r e a t e a c o m p l e t e ­ l y g e n e r a l i z e d s y s t e m f o r s l t e r l n g t h a c o l o r and b r i g h t n e s s o f v i d e o im a g e s. ( I . e . , t h e s y s te m d o e s n o t move the m on t h e s c r e e n . T hu s I t d i f f e r s fro m t h e Computer Image l i n e o f v l d e o t w i a t l n g g r a p h i c s s y s t e m s , which a l t e r p o s i t i o n s o f o b j e c t s ; s e e p . DM . Note a l s o t h a t t'ath e r s i m i l a r f a c i l i t i e s e x i s t a s p a r t o f , e . g . , t h e S c a n im a te s y s t e m , f . DM 3 1 •) T h i s mean s t h a t b a s i c a l l y S a n d i n ' s s y s te m p l a y s w i t h t h e p a r t o f t h e TV s i g n a l c a l l e d £ , o r b r i g h t n e s s ( a s d i s t i n c t from ■ o r y , t h e s i g ­ n a l s f o r h o r i z o n t a l sn d v e r t i c a l movement o f t h e S .. Now, a s a p h y a l e i s t and f l e l d - t h e o r e t l c i a n , Sa nd in a p p r o a c h e d t h l e a s a pro ble m i n g e n e r a l i t y ; an d in d e e d , t h e e t y l e o f g e n e r a l i z a t i o n e h o u l d b e a p p re cia te d . S a n d i n r e p e a t e d l y c h o se f l e x i b i l i t y and power r a t h e r t h a n o b v io u s n e s s i n t h e p a r t s he c re ate d . The r e s u l t i n g s y s te m I s b o t h p s r s l m o n lo u s s n d p r o d u c t i v e .

H o lo g r a p h y i e on e o f t h o s e M o d e m M i r a c l e s t h a t we r e a l l y c a n ' t g e t i n t o . I t le m in d -b lo w in g . I n f l u e n t i a l , and o f u n c l e a r i m p o r t a n c e . The c h a n n e l A I n p u t s a r e a d ded t o g e t h e r and- Mul­ t i p l i e d by C; t h e c h a n n e l B I n p u t s a r e a d d e d t o g e t h e r a n d m u l t i p l i e d by t h e r e v e r s e o f Cj b o t h r e s u l t s a r e a d d e d t o make t h e o u t p u t . (NOTE: t h i s u n i t I s u se d among o t h e r t h i n g s , f o r f a d e s an d k e y i n g . ) 2 . COMPARATOR. T h le i s l i k e K o d e l i t h f ilm , m a k ­ i n g a n im a ge I n t o s t a r k b l s c k an d w h i t e . I t s o u tp u t l e p u r e b l a c k o r w h i t e . One I n p u t S i g n a l ( t h e v id e o ) l a co m par ed w i t h a n o t h e r I n p u t s i g n a l ( r e f e r e n c e l e v e l , o th e r v id e o , w h atev e r). W hile one l a g r e a t e r t h e o u t p u t g o e s a l l b l a c k , and w h ile th e o th e r I s g re a te r I t goes a l l w h ite . 3 . VALUE SCRAMBLER. T h le I s a s i n g l e module d iv id i n g th e p ic tu r e in to e ig h t le v e l s . I t msy be th o u g h t o f as e i g h t o f th e sbove c o m p arato rs, d i v i d ­ i n g t h e b r i g h t n e s s s p e c tr u m by qu antum j u m p s . The f l o o r and c e l l i n g of th e s i g n a l t o be d iv id e d a re s p e c i f i e d by t h e two c o n t r o l c h a n n e l s , b u t t h e d i v i d ­ i n g l i n e e b e tw ee n them a r e t h e n a u t o m a t i c a l l y d e t e r ­ m in e d . Eac h c o r r e s p o n d i n g o u t p u t l e v e l n a y be co n­ t r o l l e d by a k nob.

B a s i c a l l y , t h e I nc omin g v i d e o Image i s " s t r i p ­ p ed" o f I t s s y n c h r o n i z i n g i n f o r m a t i o n , s o t h a t a l l s i g n a l s t u r n i n g u p i n t h e g u t s o f t h e m a c h i n e msy b e f r e e l y m o d i f i e d . Only a t t h e f i n a l o u t p u t e t a g e a r e t h e J o t s and t i t t l e s o f t h e v i d e o s i g n a l p u t ba ck

Thu a t h e f i r s t and l a s t b lo c k s o f t h e Image P r o c e s s o r a c t l i k e b o o k e n d s , b etw ee n w h ic h t h e o t h e r m od ules h a v e t h e i r f u n . The f i r s t b l o c k ma kes t h e in c o m in g s i g n a l i n t o " n a k e d " v i d e o , t h e l a a t b l o c k d r e s s e s i t up r e s p e c t a b l y a g a i n .

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Y et i t i s a m a rv e l. A b a s i c ho lo g r am ( — a c t u a l l y i t s h o u l d be c a l l e d a l a s e r ho lo g r am o r L e i t h - D o a t n l e k a h o l o ­ g r a m , b u t w e ' v e no ti m e f o r s u c h d i s t i n c t i o n s — ) I s o n e o f t h e s e smudgy p i c t u r e s w h i c h , w h en v i e w e d u n d e r a p r o p e r l a s e r s e t u p , s h o w s y ou a t h r e e d i m e n s i o n a l p i c t u r e . Worse t h a n t h a t : a s y o u move your head, th e p ic tu r e changes c o r r e s p o n d i n g ly . I t l o o k s , no t l i k e the f l a t s u r f a c e l e 1 s , b u t l i k e a l l t - u p box w i t h a model I n i t .

The o n l y p r o b le m : o r d i n a r i l y t h e y h a v e t o b e . u s e d w i t h l a s e r l i g h t , w h ic h I s s p o o k l l y o n e c o lo re d . N o te e fro m a l l o v e r : a r t a t y l l s t S a l v a d o r D a l i p r e s i d e d s t an u n v e i l i n g o f " t h e w o r l d ' s f i r s t 3 6 0 ° h o lo g r a m " a t a New York g a l l e r y n o t l o n g a g o . The a u b j e c t was s o n g s t y l i s t A l i c e C o o p e r .

T hu s from a r a n g e o f I n p u t v a l u e s , we g ee an o u t p u t s t e p - f u n c t i o n e a c h o f whose b r i g h t n e s s e s I s I n ­ d iv id u a lly a d ju sta b le.

The H au nt ed House a t D is n e y W orl d I n F l o r i d a w i l l r i d e you th r o u g h a b u i l d i n g f u l l o f h o l o g r a m s . T h a t ' s one wsy t o move t h r o u g h g h o s t s , a l l r i g h t . T h e r e i e a New York S c h o o l o f H o l o g r a p h y .

N o te t h a t th e e e d e v i c e s may be a r r a n g e d In p a r e l l e l , t h u s d i v i d i n g th e b r i g h t n e s s s p e c tr u m I n t o a s many l e v e l s a s d e e l r e d . 4 . OSCILLATOR MODULE ( v e r y u n u s u a l ) . S a n d l n ' s o s c i l l a t o r s a r e v o l t s g e c o n t r o l l e d . J u s t l i k e t h e ones i n m u sic s y n t h e s i z e r s . However, i f g i v e n any k in d of a sy n c s i g n a l , t h e y l o c k i n t o t h e n e a r e s t m u l t i p l e (o r s u b m u ltip le ) w ith in th e s p e c if ie d ran g e . (But t h e n t h e c o n t r o l s i g n a l , i f a n y , tw eak e i t h i g h e r o r l o w e r . ) S t a n d a r d i z e d o u t p u t c o o e s i n s i n e , s q u a r e and sa w tooth.

6. FUNCTION GENERATOR. T h i s d e v i e e i s h a r d e s t t o e x p l a i n . L e t ' s do I t I n te rm s o f t h a t f i r s t m o d u l e , t h e A d d e r - M u l t l p l l e r . Know how t h e A d d e r - M u l t l p l l e r p u t s o u t e i t h e r a p o s i t i v e o r a n e g a t i v e p i c t u r e , d e p e n d i n g on w h ic h i n p u t you s e l e c t ?

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B a s i c a l l y a h o lo g r am i s an a l l - a r o u n d p i c t u r e . I t d o e a n 't lo o k l i k e a p i c t u r e , b u t lo o k s l i k e a smudged f i n g e r p r i n t o r o t h e r m l a t a k e o f some k i n d .

What d o e s t h e h o lo g r am do? A c t u a l l y i t r e ­ c r e a t e s , n o t a s i n g l e vie w , bu t th e e n t i r e t a n g l e of l i g h t r a y s t h a t a r e r e f l e c t e d fro m t h e r e a l o b ­ je c t. Even down t o b r i g h t r e f l e c t i o n s , w h i c h s c i n t i l l a t e i n t h e u s u a l way, a e f ro m c h ro m i u m .

H is f i r s t i m p o r t a n t d e c i s i o n was t h a t a l l p a r t s o f t h e s y s te m sh o u ld be co m p atib le a nd i d i o t p r o o f , eo t h a t a n y u a er c o u ld f ri v o l o u s l y p lu g i t t o g e t h e r a ny way a t a l l w i t h o u t b u r n i n g o u t t h e c irc u its . I n d e e d , S a n d i n d e c i d e d t o b u i l d i t l i k e a m u sic s y n t h e s i z e r : by m a k in g a l l sy s te m s e l e c t r i c a l l y com­ p a t i b l e ( a a t h e y a r e on t h e Moog and I t s p r o g e n y ) , an y s i g n a l c a n b e u a e d t o a l t e r o r I n f l u e n c e a n y oth e r s ig n a l. T h i s i s a v e r y p r o fo u n d d e c i s i o n , whose f a r - f l u n g r e s u l t s h s v e n o t y e t b e e n f u l l y e x ­ p lo r e d e v e n among S a n d i n ' 8 r a t h e r f s n s t l c a l s t u d ­ e n ts .

T h e o r e t i c a l l y p r e d i c t e d by D e n n is G a b o r, t h e h o lo g r a m ( C r e e k "whole p i c t u r e " ) w as f i n a l l y ma de t o w ork i n t h e l a t e f l f t l e e b y L e i t h a n d U p a t n l e k s . S in c e th e n dozens o f o th e r ty p e s o f h o lo g ra m s h a v e been e xperim e nted w ith , in c lu d in g c o l o r h o lo g r a m s , m o vie h o l o g r a m s , v i d e o h o l o g r a m s , a u d i o h o l o g r a m s a n d g r a c i o u s know w h a t .

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For F o r t h e sa a k e o f cr l a r i t yv we w i l l r e f e r t o t h e o u tp u ts a s p i c t u r e s , o r a s b la c k , w h ite o r g re y , wh ic h t h e y w o u ld b e i f t h e y wen t s t r a i g h t o u t t o a s c r e e n ; b u t t h e y may b e t u r n e d ba ck i n t o t h e s y s t e a and f u n c t i o n a s i n p u t a a a w e l l . " W h it e " me ans + . 5 v o l t s , " b l s c k " m e ans - . 5 v o l t s . L e t u s c o n s i d e r , t h e n . S a n d in ’ s m o d u le s a n d w hat t h a y do i n d i v i d u a l l y t o t h e b r i g h t n e s s s i g n a l z_. C o m b in a t io n s a r e be yo nd t h e eco pe o f t h i s a r t i c l e What Dan ' a p r o c e s s o r c a n do t o t e l e v i s i o n i s not to be b e lie v e d . S a va g e c o l o r s o r d e lic a te o ff- w h ite s , s o l a r i s a t i o n s and p i c t u r e s on t o p o f p i c t u r e s . T h e n th r o u g h " v id e o f e e d b a c k " ( p o i n t i n g a TV c a m e ra a t a TV s a r e e n ) , t h e s y s te m e a n g e n e r a t e th ro b b in g an im a te d o c b u eb s a n d s p i r a l s o f i t s oun. Shaun.

W e ll, th e F u n c tio n G en e ra to r d iv id e s t h e in p u t b r i g h t ­ n e s s e s i n t o t h r e e r a n g e s , and m u l t i p l i e s e a c h r a n g e p o a l t i v e c n e g a t i v e . I n p r o p o r t i o n t o i t s own k no b s e t t i n g . The two p la n n ed u s e s w ere A) w i t h s s y n c , t o g e n e r a t e f i x e d p a t t e r n s , sn d B) w i t h o u t a a y n c , to g e n e r a t e m ovable p a t t e r n s . I f b o t h i n p u t s a r e u s e d , i t b eco me e s s tu b b o r n l o c k - o n v o l t a g e - c o n t r o l l e d o s ­ c i l l a t o r , w hic h t e n d s to g r a b a t p a s s i n g s u b w l t l p l e s . 5 . DIFFEREHTIATOR. B a s i c a l l y t h i s s e e s ed gee In t h e p i c t u r e , o r s n y o t h e r p a r t o f a s c a n - l i n e whose c o lo r i s c hanging. I t s ou tp u t i s p r o p o rt io n a l to change o c c u r ri n g in th e b r ig h tn e e e of a s c a n - l i n e , Ae t h e i n p u t g o e s from b l a c k t o w h i t e i t s o u t p u t i s l i g h t ; a s t h a I n p u t go es from w h i t e t o b l a c k i t s o u t ­ put ia d a rk . (Tbs i n p u t h o le s e l e c t e d d e t e r m i n e s th e amount o f m u l t i p l i c a t i o n . )

T hu s t h e combined s e t t i n g o f t h e t h r e e k n o b s g e n e r a t ­ es a " f u n c t i o n , " o r c u r v e , from t h e e l o p e a o f t h e I n d i v i d ­ u a l s e t t i n g s . See g r a p h . What in p h o to g r a p h y I s e a l l e d " e o l e r l z e t l o n " r e p r e s e n t s J u s t one o f t h a a e c o m b in e d s e t ­ t i n g s . The o t h e r s s r e na m elea s.

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7. COLOR ENCODER MODULE. T h is I s t h e l a s t b l o c k . I n t o i t go t h r e e s i g n a l s , t h e d e s i r e d r e d , b l u e e n d g r e e t and o u t cornea e t a n d a r d BTSC v id e o .

Even i f t h a t w e r e n 't a p ro b le m , t h e r e i s th e moTe s i m p l e m i n d e d q u e s t i o n o f who i n t h e e x i s t i n g sy s te m w ould u s e such t e c h n i q u e s . I t tu rn s o u t, o f c o u r s e , t h a t th e y w ould b e added t o w h at i s la u g h a b ly c a l l e d the C o r r e c tio n a l S y ste m , o r even mo re l a u g h a b l y c a l l e d t h e J u s t i c e S y s t e m . A ll t h e s a d i s t s you c o u ld p o s s i b l y w ant work t h e r e . (And n o d o u b t so m e v e r y n i c e g u y s - - b u t e x p e r i ­ ments h a v e d e m o n s tr a te d h o r r i f i c a l l y t h a t d e c e n t p e o p le , tu rn e d in to " guards" even f o r a s h o r t tim e, a d o p t t h e p a t t e r n s o f b r u t a l i t y we h a v e known f r om tim e im m em o rial.) S o , l i k e t r u n c h e o n s and e l e c t r i c s h o c k t h e r ­ apy and s o l i t a r y c o n f in e m e n t and e v e r y t h i n g e l s e , th e se te c h n iq u e s - - i f they a re u s e d -- w i l l e n te r th e re a lm o f A v a ila b le P u n ish m en ts, n o t to be used w ith c l i n i c a l p r e c is io n b u t w ith g r a tu ito u s ly b ru ­ t a l i z i n g i n t e n t , new t o o l s f o r p u n i t i v i t y a n d sadism . The " c o r r e c t i o n a l " sy stem w o u ld hav e to be m a g ic a lly c o r r e c te d i t s e l f b e f o r e s u c h t o o ls c o u ld b e em p lo y ed w ith o u t sim p ly m aking th in g s w orse. And t h e p r o s p e c t i s n o t g o o d .

$J> Y E u e n s N i^ s " I e i n g t h e b o d y e l e a t r i e . . . " — W a lt W hitman

T h e r e a r e v a r i o u s p e o p l e who w a n t t o a t ­ tach e l e c t r o n i c s t o p e o p l e 's b o d ie s and b r a i n s . T h e r e a r e b a s i c a l l y tw o s t a r t i n g p o i n t s for th is a m b itio n . On e i s a u t h o r i t a r i a n , t h e o th er is a l t r u i s t i c . 1 an not sure b o th sch o o ls a re n o t e q u a l l y d a n g e r o u s , how ever. L e t’s c o n s i d e r f i r s t the a u t h o r i t a r i a n s . P ro f. D e lg a d o o f Y a le h a s d e m o n s tra te d t h a t any c r e a t u r e ' s b e h a v i o r c a n be c o n t r o l l e d by j o l t s ' to th e b r a i n . D elgado has d e a lt e s p e c ia lly w ith the n e g a t i v e c i r c u i t s o f t h e b r a i n , t h a t i s , p la c e s w h e re a n e l e c t T i c & l im pulse c a u s e s p a i n (or " n e g a t i v e r e i n f o r c e m e n t " ) . In D e lg a d o 's n o st s t u n n i n g d e m o n s t r a t i o n , he sto p p e d a c h a r ­ ging b u l l w i t h j u s t a te e n y r a d i o s i g n a l . En­ t h u s i a s t i c a l l y D e l g a d o t e l l s u s how f i n e t h i s s o r t o f t h i n g w ould b e f o r c o n t r o l l i n g U n d e s ir ­ a b l e Human B e h a v i o r , t o o . Now, l e t ' s c o n s i d e r j u s t w h a t w e ' r e t a l k i n g about. I n t h e s e e x p e r i m e n t s , n e e d l e s a r e im ­ p lanted i n th e c r e a t u r e 's b ra in . T his can i n ­ volve re m o v in g a s e c t i o n o f th e s k u l l , o r i t can be don e m e r e l y b y h a m m e rin g a lo n g h o l l o w n e e d l e s t r a i g h t i n t o t h e s k u l l and th u s t h e b r a i n . T h e r e s e a r c h e r , o r w h a t e v e r we w a n t t o c a l l h i m , h a d b e t t e r kn o w w h a t h e i s d o i n g . But due to th e r e m a r k a b l e m ass a c t i o n o f th e b r a i n , th e d e s tr u c tio n c a u s e d by such n eed les w i l l have n o t ob serv ab le e f f e c t s i f done p ro p e rly . T he h o l l o w n e e d l e , o n c e i n p l a c e , b e c o m e s a tube f o r s h i e l d e d e l e c t r i c a l w i r e s , w hose b a r e m e t a l l i c t i p s may t h e n b e u s e d t o c a r r y l i t t l e e l e c t r i c a l j o l t s , t o w hatever b ra in tis s u e is re a c h e d b y t h e t i p o f t h e n e e d l e , w h e n e v e r t i n y sig n als a re a p p lie d . Now t h e r e a r e r e g i o n s o f t h e b r a i n , d i s t r i ­ buted i r r e g u l a r l y th r o u g h i t s m y ste rio u s c o n t e n t s , w h ic h a r e l o o s e l y c a l l e d t h e " p l e a s u r e " a n d "p ain " s y s t e m s . They a re c a lle d th a t b ecau se o f w ha t t h e o r g a n i s m d o e s w he n y o u j o l t i t i n t h o s e p laces. (We d o n o t kn o w w h e t h e r j o l t s t o t h e s e areas r e a l l y c a u s e p l e a s u r e or p a in , because t h e s e t h i n g s h a v e n ' t b e e n d o n e t o huma n b e i n g s . Y et. The c r e a t u r e s i t h a s b e e n done t o c a n ' t t e l l u s j u s t how i t f e e l s ; t h u s " p l e a s u r e " a n d "p ain " a r e i n q u o t a t i o n m arks. For now .) Anyway, w h a t h a p p e n s i s t h i s . I f you s t i m ­ u la te a c r e a t u r e i n t h e " p a in " sy stem i t te n d s to sto p w hat i t i s d o i n g - - t h i s i s c a l l e d n e g a tiv e r e i n f o r c e m e n t - - a n d i f you s t i m u l a t e i t i n t h e p l e a s u r e s y s t e m , i t t e n d s t o d o m o re o f w h a t i t was d o i n g . P o s i t i v e rein fo rcem en t. Now, t o s o m e p e o p l e t h i s p o ssib ilitie s.

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D elgado, f o r i n s t a n c e , b e lie v e s th a t t h i s t e c h n o l o g y g i v e s u s e v e r y t h i n g we n e e d f o r t h e co n tro l o f A n t i - S o c i a l T endencies. C rim inals, p s y c h o p a t h s a n d B a d G uy s l n g e n e r a l - - a l l c a n b e e f f e c t i v e l y " c u r e d " ( i . e . , p u t on t h e i r b e s t b e ­ havior) by t h e s e te c h n iq u e s . A l l we h a v e t o d o , he h h e h , i s g e t i n t o t h e i r h e a d s , h e h h e h , h a b i t s of p ro p e r b e h a v i o r . And w i t h t h e s e ne w t e c h n i q u e s o f r e i n f o r c e m e n t , w e c a n r e a l l y t e a c h 'e m . U n fo rtu n ately

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In p r i n c i p l e t h i s i s j u s t a d r a s t i c form o f b e h a v io r c o n t r o l on t h e B .F. S k in n e r model ( d e p i c ­ ted a l s o i h N i n e t e e n E ig h t y - F o u r and A C lockw ork Orange) , T h e n e w s y s t e m i s m or e s t a r l t a n d s t a r t ­ lin g because o f i t s v io la tio n of the in d iv id u a l's body i n t e r i o r , b u t n o t i n p r i n c i p l e d i f f e r e n t . S k i n n e r h a s t h e sa m e n a i v e , s i m p l e m i n d e d s o l ­ u tions f o r e v e r y th in g . A l l " w e" h a v e t o d o - u s in g "w e" t o m ean s o c i e t y , t h e good g u y s , good g uy s a c t i n g o n b e h a l f o f s o c i e t y , e t c . - - i s c o n ­ t r o l t h e b e h a v i o r o f t h e bad g u y s, and e v e r y t h i n g w i l l be b e t t e r , a n d "w e" can a c c o m p lish a n y t h i n g "we" d e s i r e . T h e r e a d e r ma y s e e s e v e r a l p r o b l e m s w i t h t h i s . In t h e f i r s t p l a c e (and th e l a s t ) , t h e r e i s t h e o b v i o u s q u e s t i o n o f who we a r e , a n d i f we a r e g o i n g t o c o n t r o l o t h e r p e o p l e , who i s g o i n g t o c o n tro l u s. A t a t i m e w h e n o u r " h i g h e s t " l e a d e r s sh o w t h e a s e l v e s p r e o c c u p i e d w i t h low r e t a l i a t i o n s a n d l o w e r i n i t i a t i v e s , we c a n w o n d e r i n d e e d i f i t i s n o t more i m p o r t a n t t o p r e v e n t anyone f r o a e v e r g e t t i n g t h i s k i n d o f c o n t r o l o v e r humans t h a n t o fa c ilita te it.

Such sc h e m e s grow, o f c o u r s e , from a c a r i c a ­ t u r e o f t h e m a l e f a c t o r - - t h i n k i n g h i m t o b e some s o r t o f m i s w i r e d c i r c u i t , r a t h e r t h a n a huma n b e i n g c a u g h t up i n a n g e r , p a i n , h u m i l i a t i o n a n d une m­ p lo y m e n t. (T h ere a r e a ls o a l o t o f c a n a rd s a b o u t Free W i l l , b u t t h e s e d o n o t h i n g f o r e i t h e r s i d e ‘i n t h i s c o n tro v e rsy .)

PSVC^O-ACDOSTld J>|Lj)0HICS I o rig in a lly h a d n 't in t e n d e d to inclu de a n y ­ t h i n g lik e thia ln th e b o o k , w a n ti n g It to b e a f am ily - st yl e ac c e ss catalog a n d all tha t, b u t this p a r t i c u l a r item see ms fa ir ly I m p or ta nt . Re member how we la u g h e d at the O rgasmoi r o n ln Woody Alle n's Sl ee pe r ? Well, it tu r n s o u t not to b e a joke . An in div idu al named How (not Howard) W a c hs pr e a s, e le c t r o n ic k e r - in - r e a l d e n c e at a San F r a n c is c o r a di o st ati on , ha s b e e n de ve lop ing juat t h a l . ex c e pt th at he ha s more e le va te d pu rp o se s ln m in d. Th e se c r e t w as b r o k e n to the world i n Oul ma gazine e a r l i e r thle y e a r ; bu t He fner, th e p u b l i s h e r , e vi de ntl y h e ld b a c k the more s t a r t l i n g p h o to gr ap h s of a mod el In el ec tn m lc all yin d u c e d ec sta ay . Wach spr es s' d ev ice s tr a n s p o s e sou nd (aa a u d io si gn a ls ) into fe e lin gs ; y o u touch yo u r b o d y wi th an o p e n - e n d e d t u b e o r o th er soft f i x t u r e atta ch ed to h is d e v i c e - - whic h in tu rn ie atta che d to a hi-f i.

NEW FACULTIES S t a r t i n g fro m an e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t o u t l o o k , v a r i o u s d e s i g n e r s and b i o - e n g i n e e r s a r e t r y i n g t o a d d t h i n g s t o t h e human b o d y a n d n e r v o u s s y s ­ te m , f o r t h e v o l u n t a r y b e n e f i t o f t h e r e c i p i e n t . A num ber o f r e s e a r c h and d e v e lo p m e n t e f f o r t s a r e aim ed a t h e l p i n g th o s e w ith s e n s o r y i m p a ir ­ m e n ts, and e l e c t r o n i c s o b v io u sly i s g o in g to in v o lv ed . An e x a m p l e : a f i r m c a l l e d L i s t e n i n g , I n c . i n B o s t o n , f o u n d e d b y Wayne B a t t e a u (whom J o h n W. C a m p b e l l c o n s i d e r e d o n e o f t h e G r e a t Men o f O ur T im e), d e v ise d a sy ste n fo r h elp in g th e t o t a l l y deaf to h ear. Sup p o sed ly t h i s c o u ld t r a n s m i t the a c tu a l s e n s a tio n o f hearing in to the nervous s y s ­ tem b y s om e s c a r c e l y - u n d e r s t o o d f o r m o f e l e c t r i ­ cal in d u c tio n . Th e m a c h i n e w as s o l d o f f ; w h e t h e r i t e v e r g o t a s a f e t y r a t i n g I d o n ' t k n ow . T h is i s t h e s o r t o f th in g p e o p le w ould l i k e to do f o r t h e b l i n d , as w e l l . Now, i n p r i n c i p l e , i t m i g h t b e p o s s i b l e t o t r a n s m i t a n i m a g e i n some way t o t h e a c t u a l v i s ­ ual area of the cerebral cortex. ( T h is m ight or m ig h t n o t i n v o l v e opening th e s k u l l . ) S o m e b o d y 's w o r k i n g on i t . In a r e l a t e d t r e n d , numerous d e s i g n groups a re a t t e m p t i n g t o ex te n d th e c a p a b i l i t i e s o f the huma n b o d y , b y m e a n s o f t h i n g s v a r i o u s l y c a l l e d p o s s u m s . w a ld o e s and t e l e f a c t o r s . "Possum s" (from L a tin " I can") a r e d e v ic e s t o a i d t h e h a n d i c a p p e d i n m o v i n g , g r a s p i n g an d co n tro llin g . W h atev er m o tio n s th e p e r s o n can ma ke a r e e l e c t r o n i c a l l y t r a n s p o s e d t o w h a t e v e r realm o f c o n t r o l i s needed, such as t y p e w r itin g or gu id in g a w h e e lc h a ir. ("W aldo" i s H e i n l e i n ' s term f o r a possum t h a t can be o p e r a te d a t a d i s ­ ta n c e .) I n t h e s p a c e p r o g r a m , t h o u g h , t h e y c a l l th e m telefa c to rs. A t e l e f a c t o r i s a d e v ic e w hich con­ v e r t s o r a d a p t s b o d y mo ve m e nt s by m a g n i f i c a t i o n o r rem ote m im ick in g . U nlike possum s, th e y are m e a n t t o b e o p e r a t e d by p e o p l e w i t h n o r m a l f a c u l ­ t i e s , b u t t o p r o v i d e , f o r exam ple, superhum an s tr e n g th : c r a d le d in a la r g e r t e l e f a c t o r body, a man c a n p i c k u p imm en se l o a d s , a s t h e m o v e m e n t s o f h i s a r m s a r e c o n v e r t e d t o t h e m o v e m e n ts o f t h e g r e a t e r r o b o t arm s. T e l e f a c t o r s c a n a l s o w o r k f r o m f a r , f a r a w a y. T h u s a man s i t t i n g i n a b o o t h c a n c o n t r o l , w i t h t h e m o v e m e n t s o f h i s own a r m s , t h e a r t i f i c i a l a r m s o f a r o b o t v e h i c l e on a n o th e r p l a n e t . ( T h is w h o le realm o f s e n s o ry and m o to r mechan­ i c s an d t r a n s p o s i t i o n i s an i m p o r t a n t a s p e c t o f w h a t I c a l l " F a n t i c s , " d i s c u s s e d on p p . M y S - fr ). T h e n t h e r e a r e t h o s e wh o , l i k e How W a c h s p r e s s ( s e e n e a r b y ) , w a n t t o expand m an 's s e n s e s beyond t h e o r d i n a r y , i n t o new s e n s o r y r e a l m s , b y h o o k i n g him t o v a r i o u s e l e c t r o n i c s . THOUGHTS T h e r e a r e two p r o b l e m s i n a l l o f t h i s . The f i r s t n n d w o r s t , o f c o u r s e , i s who c o n t r o l s a n d w h a t w ^; .' h o l d t h e m b a c k f r o m t h e m o s t e v i l d o i n g s . R e c e n t h i s t o r y , b o t h a t home a n d a b r o a d , s u g g e s t s the answ ers a r e d isc o u ra g in g . The s e c o n d p ro b le m , w i s p i s h and t h e o r e t i c a l n e x t t o t h a t o t h e r , is w h e th e r in t u r n i n g tow ard b i z a r r e new p l e a s u r e s a n d i n v o l v e m e n t s , we w i l l n o t l o s e t r a c k o f a l l t h a t i s hu m a n . (O f c o u r s e t h i s i s a q u e s t i o n t h a t i s a s k e d b y so m e b o d y w h e n e v e r a n y th in g a t a l l changes. Bu t t h a t d o e s n ' t mean i t i s alw ays i n a p p r o p r i a t e .) I n t h e f a c e b o t h o f p o t e n t i a l e v i l a n d d e hu m ­ a n i z a t i o n , t h o u g h , we c a n w i s h t h e r e w e r e some b o u n d a r y , so m e g o o d a n d c o n s p i c u o u s s t o p p i n g p l a c e a t w h i c h t o s a y : no f u r t h e r , l i k e t h e t h r e e - m i l e l i m i t i n ' i n t e r n a t i o n a l law o f o l d . 1 personally t h i n k i t s h o u ld be th e huaan s k i n . Perhaps th a t's o l d - f a s h i o n e d , b e i n g lo n g b re a c h e d by t h e P a c e ­ m aker. B u t w h a t o t h e r l i n e s c a n we d r a w ? The p r o s p e c t s

T h e se n sa ti o n s , it is c la i m e d , a re p ro ­ f o u n d and moving. You may ta k e them an yw h e re on y o u r body; the effect la d e e p l y r e la x in g and emotionally e n g r o a si n g . W a c h s p r e s s th in ks he h a s r e a c he d an e n ti r e ne u ro lo g ic a l syste m that w a s n 't known b ef or e, much l i k e Olds' di sco ve ry o f th e " pl e a su r e c e nt e r " in th e b r a in ; he a ee s it a s a new modality of e x p e r i e n c e a nd a g e n e r al ­ iz a tio n of music an d t o u c h . T h a t la the main p o in t . "H yp e r -r e al ity " is w h e r e he s s y s It gels you: a point cu r io u s ly c o n g r u e n t with the a u th or 's o w n notions of h yp e r t e x t a n d h y p e r m e di a aa e x ­ t e n s io n s of the mental life. T hi a s a id , we can c o n s i d e r the p ru ri e n t a s p e c t s of W ac hsp re ss' A udl tac a nd Telelac de vic e s (which he in te nd s to m a r k e t In a couple of y e a r s as h i- fi ac c e s so r ie s , b ' g o s h ) . When p l a y e d with the ri g h t au di o , in the rig h t p lacea, a n d a good op e r a t o r at th e c o n tr o la , they pro vid e a s e x u a l e x pe r ie nc e sa id to b e o f a high o r d e r . W a ch spr ess ' wor k tie s in i n te r e s tin gl y with t o d a y 's "a w a re n e ss " movement, o f which Esalen i s th e sp ir itu a l c e n t e r , w hi ch h o ld s that we have gott en oul of (ouch with o u r b o d i e s , o u r fee lings, o u r n a tiv e p e rc e pt io ns . As s u c h , the Wachapreas m a c hi ne s may b e an unf o ld ln g- m e c ha nt sm for the u n fe e l i n g ti ght ne ss of M o d e m M a n - - as well as a l e s s profo und treatment for " m a ri ta l difficulties" a n d W hy -C a n 't- Jo h n ny -C o m e -L a te ly . In sc ru ta b le San F r an c is c o! Wachapreas g a v e a nu m be r of d e m on s tr a tio ns o f his devices in Bay A r e a c h u r c h e s , until h e beca me d is t u r b e d at Immodest u se s of the p ro b e b y female communi­ c a n t s who h ad stood In lin e to t r y the machine. ( Audltac . L t d . . Dept. CLB, 1940 Wash ing ton S t . . San F r a n c is c o CA 94109.)

H a r r y M e n d e l l , a g o o d f r i e n d o f m i n e , r i g g e d an i n t e r e s t i n g e x p e r i m e n t w h i l e h e w a s s t i l l l n h i g h BCho ol. He u a e d a l i t t l e H e w l e t t - P a c k a r d m l n i c w p u t e r , w h ic h t h e m a n u f a c t u r e r had g e n e r o u s l y l o a n e d t o h i s K n i g h t s o f C olu m b u s C om p u ter C l u b o f K a d d o n f i e l d , N . J . H a r r y ho o k e d t h e H e w l e t t - P a c k a r d up t o a CRT d i s p l a y (see p p . t h e t o p o f t h e CRT. f o l l o w i n g h i s p ro g ra m , th e c o a p u te r c o n t in u o u s ly d i s p l a y e d th e l e t ­ te r s o f th e a lp h a b e t. A l i t t l e m a rk e r (ca lle d a c u rs o r) w o u ld a k i p a l o n g u n d e r n e a t h t h e l e t t e r s , a c t i n g a s a m a r­ k e r f o r e a c h o f th e m i n t u r n . H a r r y r i g g e d o n e more e x t e r n a l d e v i c e : a s e t o f e l e c tro d ea . T h e s e w ould be s t r a p p e d , h a r m l e s s l y , co t h e h e a d of a s u b je c t. H a r r y ’ s c o a p u te r p ro g ra m u se d th e a e e l e c t r o d e a t o M a a u r e a l p h a r h y th m , o n e o f t h e a y s t e r i o u a p u la e a l n th e b r a in th a t cone and g o . E v e r y tim e t h e s u b j e c t f l a s h e d a l p h a , H a r r y ’ s p r o g ra m w o u ld c o p y t h e l e t t e r a b o v e t h e c u r s o r t e t h e b o tto m o f th e sc re e n . S i t t i n g ln t h i s r i g , s u b je c t s w ere a b le to le a r n , r a t h e r q u i c k l y , TO TYPE WORDS AND SENTENCES. J u a t b y f l a s h i n g a l p h a rh y th m w hen t h e c u r s o r w as u n d e r t h e r i g h t le tte rs . J u b i l a n t , H a r r y show ed t h i s s e t u p t o a n e n l n e n t n e u r o ­ p h y s io l o g is t f r » a g re a t u n iv e r s ity nearby, a nan s p e c ia l­ i z i n g i n e l e c t r o d e ho ok up e. H arry w as a h ig h s c h o o l s tu d e n t and d i d n o t u n d e rs ta n d a b o u t P r o f e e s l o n a l l s a . ‘ W h a t's s o g r e a t a b o u t t h a t ? ” a n i f f e d th e em in e n t p ro fe ssio n a l. " I can ty p e f a s t e r . * So H a rry d rop ped t h a t and w e n t on t o o t h e r s t u f f *

a r e h o r r o r s h o w , me d r o o g i e s .

BIBLIOGRAPHY T .D . S t e r l i n g , E .A . B e r i n g , J r . , s . v . P o l l a c k a n d H. V augha n, J r . , V i s u a l P r o s t h e s i s ! T he I n t a r d i » g » lH H m tiH W H tfM lfK M M B ........... i m t n w n m t n i m i i " " • i ■ ■ ................. • t m i n n m m m i M n 4i i 4 fii«i« i i f m

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w u u iw w K m w titw w i H l k K H M H H M M W I H K t H M I H H I H I'll! I I f 141 I f W l l t M I M M t m i i m i i i u u iD iiiit n iiu m u u if t iiw K H im iiiu ii r te r tm i

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( [ c t i t m o c i r N H n i i t i i 11 11 H l l W H ' J H I H l H t f l l l M t u i l l i l l M M i x m i m i I CL'WUIH i 114141 > » t < i » i < * i i i r n r t i ( ( i i n » « » " " ........... — — ....................................... ’ *>■■.* ■ f u «l m i v j j .o v u j » i l U i t t l F i ii i i M 'H t ii K N .................. .. K iim n r w r w ti> m iin i(iin ((m iu ii:n r» H v .f m tn tm a iitic jiifin r n n m m n a i i M d i i i i h i i i i m i i ► ►» i h w w m h h i i p i ' W m m

EXPLOR m ay b e t h o u g h t o f a s a h i g h l y g e n e r a l i z e d v e r s i o n o f C o n w a y ’s gam e o f Life ( s e e p . 4 f ) . Y ou s t a r t w i th tw o - d im e n s io n a l p a t t e r n s a s y o u r d a ta s t r u c t u r e ; th e s e c a n b e a b s tra c tio n s o r e v e n c o n v e rte d p h o to g ra p h s, a s in a r e c e n t K n o w l to n - S c h w a r t z film s h o w in g M u y b r id g e ’s R u n n i n g M a n . In y o u r EXPLOR p r o g r a m , y o u m ay t h e n c a u s e t h e p a t t e r n to c h a n g e b y d e g r e e s , e a c h c e l l o f th e p a t t e r n r e a c t i n g to th e c e ll s a r o u n d i t o r to ra n d o m e v e n t s a s s p e c if i e d b y th e p r o g r a m m e r . EXPLOR, r u n n i n g w i th o u t e x t e r n a l d a t a , co m e s u p w ith so m e e x t r a o r d i n a r y s n a k e s k i n a n d J a c k F r o s t p a t t e r n s . B u t its u s e s in tr a f f ic s im u la tio n a n d v a r i o u s o t h e r s t u d i e s o f p o p u ­ la tio n s i n s p a c e c o u l d b e v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g . EXPLOR h a s o b v io u s a r t i s t i c a p p l ic a t io n s . L illia n S c h w a r tz is u s i n g i t e x t e n s i v e l y i n film m a k in g . I t’s now r u n n i n g o n a m in ic o m p u te r f e e d i n g to a m od ified So n y T r i n i t r o n c o lo r T V . ( T h is c o lo r s e t u p w aa c r e a t e d b y M ike Noll a n d i s d e s c r i b e d in a r e c e n t i s s u e o f th e C A C M , th o u g h o n ly fo r b l a c k - a n d - w h i t e TV ; t h e c o lo r is m o r e r e c e n t. It s t o r e s th e c o lo r p i c t u r e a s a lis t o f s e q u e n tia l c o lo r s r e p r e s e n t e d i n th e c o m p u te r ’s c o r e m e m o ry , e a c h d o t b e i n g r e p r e ­ s e n te d . Cf. " B o y e ll's T e r r a r i u m , " p . > K 3 l - ) Knowlton h a s u s e d EXPLOR f o r te a c h in g c o m p u te r a r t at th e U n i v e r s i ty o f C a lif o r n ia ; th e la n g u a g e is a v a ila b le p r o g r a m m e d in " m e d iu m s iz e " F o r tr a n from H a r r y H u s k e y , D e p t. o f Info rm a tio n a n d C o m p u te r S c i e n c e . U. o f C a l. a t S a n ta C r u z , S a n ta C r u z , C a li f o r n i a .

SPEECH BY COMPUTER You may have heard about various kinds of talking computer." Thia deserves some explanation. Computers may be made to "talk" by various means. One la through an output device that simply stores recordings of separate words or syllables, which the computer selects with appropriate timing. (Machines of this type have been sold by both IBM and Cognltronlce for a long time.) A deeper approach ia to have the conputer synthe­ size speech from phonemes, or actually make the tones and noises of which speech is composed. These are very tricky matters. Bell Labs, and others, have been working on many of these approaches. The real problem, of course, ia how to decide what to say. (This was discussed under Artificial Intelligence, p. )

This ie a non^gimple picture conversion. The original photograph uos converted into measured points; but these were in turn made into groutogether patterns by a program in the EXPLOR language. (£) K n o u lto n & Harmon.

AUDIO ANALYSIS AND ENHANCEMENT

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The problem of analyzing audio ia very like the problem of analyzing pictures (see p.f^iO), and indeed some of the same techniques are used. The audio goea into the computer as a stream of measurements, and the selfsame technique of Fourier Analysis is employed. This reduces the audio to a series of frequency measure­ ments over time— but, paradoxically, loses little of the fidelity. Once audio is reduced to Fourier patterns, it can be reconstituted in various ways: changed in tining and pitch independently, or enhanced by polishing techni­ ques like those used in image enhancement (see ). This haa been done with great success by Tom Stockham at the University of Utah, who has reprocessed old Caruso records into improved fidelity. In the picture we see him with equipment of some sort and an old record.

M J)IP Wish there were room to calk about plain regular audio here— matters like "binaural" recording, and Why don't they make hi-fi systems based on a Grand Bus (see p M 2 )? But there’s no room here. AUDIO AND COMPUTERS People are occasionally still startled to hear thdt computers can make sound and music. They can Indeed. First of all, note that an Incoming sound Is a fluctuating voltage and can thus be turned Into a data structure, i.e., a string of measurements.

In the easiest case, the computer can just sefid back out the voltages It originally got in. This is rather ridiculous— using the computer just as a recording device— but it's a clear and simple example. The question after that is what next: how to have the computer make interesting streams'Joutput measurements, i.e., sounds and tones. There are numerous methods we can’t go Into. Max Mathews, at Bell Labs, has for years been doing music by computer; his current systea Is called GROOVE. Heinz von Foerster, at the University of Illinois (Urbana), has been doing the same. An­ other lab at MIT has just gotten a PDP-11/45 (see p. *or the 8ame purpose. (The problem is: can the computer keep up with the output rate needed to make music in real time? maybe the 11/45 can.) Another approach is to relieve the computer itself from making the tones, and use other de­ vices-- music synthesizers— for this, controlled by the computer. This is essentially the approach taken with General Turtle’s Music Box (see p. S”7 )► and at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Cen­ ter where their RCA Mark II music synthesizer— an immense one-of-a-kind jobbie— is under more general computer control.

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To make sound by computer is the obverse. If the coaputer can be set up to send out a string of measurments, these can be turned back into a fluct­ uating voltage, and thus make sounds.

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(Stockhaa has been in the news lately, bb one of the panel puzzling over the notorious 18-Minute Gap.) (The author has proposed the name Kitchensynctm ^ for a system to synchronize motion pictures with "wild1 sound recording l>y these means.)

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Thomas G. Stockhaa, Jr., "Restoration of Old Acoustic Recordings by Means of Digital Signal Processing. Audio Engineering Society preprint no. 831 (D-4), presented at Audio Engineering Society 1971 con­ vent ion.

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»4*!MUSICAL NOTATION Note that the computer handling of musical notes, ae symbols, is another task entirely, closely resembling computer text handling (mention­ ed variously in the book). A high-power structured-text system or Thinkertoy (see p.fi*ft5) is fine for storing and presenting written music. And, of course, such stored musical notation (a data structure) can obviously be played by the hookups mentioned.

Prentiss H. Knowlton, "Capture and Display of Keyboard Music," Datamation May *72, 56-60. Describes a setup he built at U. of Utah thst allows pianists to play music on an ordinary keyboard, and converts the input to symbolic representation in tbe com­ puter. It uses an organ, a PDP-8 and a couple of CRT displays. Heinz von Foerster and James Beauchamp, Music b£ Computer*. Wiley, 1969. HAS RECORDS IN BACK. Some of the early Bell Labs work may be heard on an excellent Decca LP with the misleading title "MUSIC from MATHEMATICS." (Decca DL 79103). (The mathematical myth Is discussed on p. 8*“).)

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... S O ft of " A r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e " I s a t once th e e e x ie e t a nd a o s t om in ous t e r n i n t h e w o r l d . I t c h l l l e and im p r e s a e e a t che s a n e t i a e . I n p r i n c i p l e I t meana th e s i m u l a t i o n o f p r o c e s s e s o f m in d , by sn y m e sas a t a l l ; b u t i t g e n e r a l l y t u r n s o u t t o b e some f o r a o r a n o t h e r of c o a p u te r s im u la tio n (see " S im u la tio n ," p . 7 9 ) . A c t u a l l y , " a r t i f i c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e " h a s g e n e r a l l y be» come a n a l l - i n e l u e l v e t e r n f o r s y s te m s t h a t a m aze, a s ­ t o u n d . m y s t i f y , and do n o t o p e r a t e a c c o r d i n g t o p r i n ­ c i p l e s w h ic h c a n b e e a s i l y e x p l a i n e d . I n e way, " a r t i ­ f i c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e " i s a n e v e r - r e c e d i n g f r o n t i e r : ae t e c h n i q u e s b e c o a e w e l l-w o r k e d o u t a nd u n d e r s t o o d , t h e i r a p p e a r a n c e o f i n t e l l i g e n c e , t o t h e e o p h l a t l c a t e d , con­ tin u a lly recedes. I t ' s l i k e t h e o c e a n : ho w ev er much you t a k e o u t o f i t , i t a t l l l s t r e t c h e s o o — a a U m l t le aa as b e fo re.

T h e s e a r e t h r e e t o p i c s o f g r e a t im p o r t a n c e ; o f I m p o r t a n c e , u n f o r t u n a t e l y , l e a e for w h a t th e y ha v e a c tu a lly a c c o m p lish e d th a n fo r th e d e g re e t o w h ic h t h e y h a v e c o n f u s e d a n d I n ti m i d a t e d p e o ­ p l e w h o w a n t lo u n d e r s t a n d w h a t 's g o i n g o n . M e re ly to m e n t i o n lh e m c a n b e o n e - u p m a n s h i p . A ll t h r e e t i t l e s m e a n s o m u c h , s o m a n y d i f f e r e n t s p e c if ic t h i n g s , a s to m e a n a lm o s t n o t h i n g w h e n l u m p e d t o g e t h e r a s a w h o l e . A ll t h r e e h a v e d e ­ v e l o p e d a w e b o f i n t r i c a t e te c h n i c a l f a c ts ( a n d s o m e tim e s t h e o r e m s ) , b u t th e a p p l i c a b i l i t y o f t h e s e e l e g a n t f i n d i n g s i s in a l l t h r e e c a s e s a m a t t e r o p e n to c o n s i d e r a b l e s c r u t i n y .

U n f o r t u n a t e l y la y n e n a r e eo i m p r e s a e d by c o a p u t e r s I n g e n e r a l t h a t t h e y e a a l l y s u p p o s e c o m p u te rs c a n do a n y t h i n g i n v o l v i n g I n f o r m a t i o n . And p u b l i c u n d e r s t a n d ­ i n g l e n o t f o s t e r e d by c e r t a i n t y p e s o f e t u p i d demon­ s t r a t i o n . One y e a r I h e a r d from nu m e ro u s p e o p le a bout how " t h e y ' d s e e n o s TV a b o u t how c o m p u te rs w r i t e TV s c r i p t s " — w hat h a d a c t u a l l y b e e n ehown wee a hokey en­ a c tm e n t o f how t h e co m p u te r c o u l d r e a d o n l y d e c i d e whe­ t h e r t h e Bad Han g e t s s h o t o r t h e Good Cuy g e t s s h o t — b o t h o u tc o m e s d u t i f u l l y e n a c t e d by guya i n cowboy o u t f l t e . Duh.

S ince e a c h of th e s e f ie ld s h a s d e v elo p e d a c o n s i d e r a b l e b o d y o f te c h n i c a l d o c t r i n e , t h e r e a d e r m ig h t w e l l a s k : w h y a r e n ' t th e y o n th e o th e r s id e o f th e b o o k , th e c o m p u te r sid e ? T h e a n s w e r i s t h a t t h e y a r e c o m p u t e r m a n 's d r e a m s , d ream s of c o n s id e ra b le In trica cy and p e rs u a s ­ i v e n e s s , a n d w e a r e n o t c o n s i d e r i n g th e t e c h ­ n i c a l i t i e s h e r e a n y w a y . A s o n th e o t h e r s i d e , t h e p r o b l e m I s to h e l p y o u d i s t i n g u i s h a p p l e s f ro m o r a n g e s a n d w h i c h w a y i s u p . F o r m o r e g o e l s e w h e r e , b u t I h o p e t h i s o r i e n t a t i o n w ill m ake s o r tin g th in g s o u t q u ic k e r for y o u .

I t s h o u l d b e p e r f e c t l y o b v io u s t o anybody w h o 's b r u s h e d e v e n s l i g h t l y w i t h c o m p u t e r s , how eve r— f o r The B r u s h , a e e t h e o t h e r a i d e — t h a t th e y j u s t d o n ' t w ork l i k e a l n d e . But t h e a n a l o g y h a n g s s r o u n d . (Ed­ mund C. B e r k e l e y w r o t e a bo ok I n t h e f o r t i e s , I b e l i e v e , w i t h t h e m i s l e a d i n g t i t l e o f G i a n t B r a i n s . o r Machines T h a t T h i n k . The I d e a l a s t i l l a r o u n d . )

T h e s e th r e e t e r m s - - " a rtific ia l in te llig e n c e ," " in f o r m a tio n r e t r i e v a l , " " c o m p u t e r - a s s i s t e d i n s t r u c t i o n " - - h a v e a n u m b e r o f th l n g a in c o m ­ m o n . F i r s t , th e n a m e s a r e s o p o r t e n t o u s a n d f o r m id a b l e . Second, if you rea d o r he ar a n y ­ t h i n g in t h e s e f i e l d s , c h a n c e s a r e il w ill h a v e a n a i r o f u n f a t h o m a b l e t e c h n i c a l i t y . Bo th s t r a n g e t e c h n i c a lis m a n d d e e p m a th e m a t ic s may c o m b in e to g iv e y o u a s e n s e t h a t y o u c a n 't u n d e r s t a n d a n y o f i t . T h i s ia w r o n g . T h e fact t h a t t h e r e a r e o b s c u r e a n d D e e p T e a c h i n g s in e a c h h a s n o b e a r in g on th e g e n e r a l c o m p re h en s ib ility o f w hat t h e y a r e a b o u t . M o r e I m p o r t a n t l y , th e q u e s t i o n o f how a p p l i c a b l e a ll th e t h i n g s th e s e p e o p le h a v e b e e n d o i n g i s g o i n g to b e Is a q u e s t i o n o f c o n sid e r a b le I m p o r ta n c e , e sp e c ia lly w hen s o m e o f th e s e p e o p l e w a n t to t a k e s o m e t h i n g o v e r . D o n 't g e t s n o w e d .

H e r e ' s a v e r y s im p le e x a m p l e , th o u g h . C o n sid e r a n a z e draw n on a p i e c e o f p a p e r . J u a t by lo o k i n g , we c a n n o t e l m u l t a n e o u a l y com pre hend a l l i t s p a th w a y s ; we ha ve t o poke a ro u n d on i t t o f i g u r e o u t t h e s o l u t i o n . C om p ute rs e r e s o r t o f l i k e t h s t , b u t more e o . W hile our e y e s c a n t a k e i n a s im p le p i c t u r e , l i k e a s q u a r e , a t o n c e , t h e c o a p u t e r progra m m ust poke a r o u n d i n I t a d a ta r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a t l e n g t h t o s e e w het we saw a t on c e. The p r i n c i p l e h o ld s t r u e i n g e n e r a l . The human mind c a n do I n a f l a s h , a l l a t onc e ( o r " i n p a r a l l e l " ) many t h i n g s t h a t must be t e d l o u e l y c h e c k e d and t r i e d by t h e h i g h l y a e q u e n t i a l c o m p u te r p r o g ra m . And th e more we know a b o u t c o m p u te r s , t h e a o r e im p r e s s i v e th e human b r a i n b e com e s. (The s e e m in g c l e v e r n e s s o f so a e s im p le p r o g ra m s d o e s n o t p r o v e t h e s l o p l l c l t y o f th e phenomens b e i n g i m i t a t e d . )

E ac h o f t h e s e f a s c i n a t i n g te r m s i s a c t u a l l y a r o o f o v e r a v e r i t a b l e zoo o f d i f f e r e n t r e s e a r c h e r s , o f te n o f ( h e m o st e c c e n t r i c a n d i n t e r e s t i n g s o r t , e a c h g e n e r a l l y w i t h h i s o w n d r e a m of how h is o w n r e s e a r c h w ill b e th e b r e a k th r o u g h for h u m a n ity , o r fo r so m e th in g . It w o u ld t a k e a L em u el G u l l i v e r to to s h o w y o u th e c o l o r f u l n e s s a n d f a s c in a tio n o f t h e s e f ie l d s : a g a i n , w e j u s t s c r a t c h th e s u r f a c e h e r e .

N e v e rt h e le s s , i t i s I n t e r e s t i n g t o t r y th in g s w i t h c o a p u t e r s t h a t a r e more l i k e w hat t h e mind d o e s ; a nd t h a t I s m o s t ly what a r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e I s a b o u t. In v a rio u s case s t h i s has r e s u l te d in h e lp fu l t r i c k s t h a t t u r n o u t t o be u s e f u l e l s e w h e r e i n th e c o n p u ter f i e l d . In th is senae, a r t i f i c i a l in te llig e n c e l a a o r t o f l i k e m e n th o l: a . l i t t l e a a y im prove t h i n g s h e r e sn d t h e r e . But ( i n my o p i n i o n ) , t h a t does n o t mean a w h o le l o t o f i t would make t h i n g s b e t t e r s t i l l .

A n o t h e r i n t e r e s t i n g t h i n g th e s e t h r e e f ie l d s n a v e In c o m m o n : th e f r e q u e n t u s e of a c l a s s i c a l c o m p u l e r m a n 's p u t d o w n o n a n y b o d y w h o d a r e s q u e s t i o n w h e t h e r t h e i r s u p e r - u l t i m a t e g o a ls c a n e v e r be a ch ie v ed .

N e v e r t h e l e s s , some a r t l f i c i a l - l n t e l l l g e n c e en­ t h u s i a s t s t h i n k t h e r e l e no U n i t on w hat m a ch in es can d o . They p o i n t o u t t h a t , a f t e r a l l , t h e b r a i n l a a aac h in e. But s o l e t h e u n i v e r s e , p r e s u m a b ly ; and w e ' r e n e v e r g o in g t o b u i l d one o f t h o e e , e i t h e r .

T h e l i n e i s , "WE D O N 'T KNOW HOW T O DO T H A T Y E T ."

PATTERN RECOGNITION

If s o m e b o d y p u l l s it o n y o u , th e r e p l y Is s i m p l y , "H ow d o y o u k n o w y o u e v e r w ill? "

T h la l e one o f th e most a c t i v e a r e a s I n s r t l f l c l a l i n t e l l i g e n c e , p e rh a p a b e c a u s e o f D efense D e p a rtm e n t a o n e y . ( I t n i g h t be n i c e , g o e s th e r e s s o n l n g , t o he v e guns t h a t c o u l d r e c o g n i s e t a n k s , a a c h i n e s t h a t c o u ld lo o k o v e r a e r i a l T e c o n n a l e e s n c e p i c t u r e s , r a d a r s t h a t c o u ld r e c o g n i s e a l e e l l e s . . . )

CWtfW f€WGooj)

What i t b o l l s down t o I s t h e s t u d y o f c l u e s sa d g u e s s i n g a aong a l t e r n a t i v e s . I o some c a a e s , w e l l d e f i n e d c l u e s can b e fo u n d f o r r e c o g n i z i n g s p e c i f i c th ln g a , l i k e p a r ts o f p i c t u r e s (even s t r a i g h t l in e a c a n n o t be r e c o g n iz e d by c o n p u t e r w i t h o u t a co m p le x p ro g ra a) or l i k e h a n d w r itin g ( s e e b e lo w ) . In th e w o rs e c a s e s , th o u g h , c a r e f n l s t u d y o n l y r a i s e s t h e n o a t h o r re n d o u s t e c h n i c a l p r o b l e n s , a n d t h e p u r s u i t o f t h e s e t e c h n l c s l p r o b l e n s i s i t s own f i e l d o f s tu d y ( a r t l c l e a ha ve t i t l e s l i k e " S e n s i t i v i t y P a r a a e t e r s l a t h e A d ju stm e n t o f D i s c r l n l n s t o r s , " m e an in g I t S u r e I s Hard t o Draw The L l o e ) . But I n some f e l i c i t o u s c a a e s , r e s e a r c h e r a a c ­ t u a l l y b o l l a r e c o g n i t i o n p r o b l a down t o a m a n ag e ­ a b le s y s te n of c l u e s . For I n s t s n c e , ta k a th e pro b ­ lem o f w r i t t e n I n p u t t o c o m p u t e r s . (S o n e p e o p le d o n ' t l i k e t o ty p e a n d w ould r a t h e r w r i t e by h an d on s p e c i a l in p u t t a b l e t s . ) B ut how c a n a p r o g ra m r e c o g n ise tb e l e t t e r s ? Aha: t h e a n s w e r , k i d a , l a i n your t e x t . The Led eeo C h a r a c t e r R e c o g n i z e r ( d e s c r i b e d I n d e t a i l i n Newman and S p r o u l l , P r i n c i p l e s o f I n t e r ­ a c t i v e Computer G r a p h i c s , A p p e n d ix 0) I s s m e th o d by w hic h a program c a n lo o k a t a h a nd-^ lrsw n c h a r a c ­ t e r and t r y t o r e c o g n i z e i t . T he p r o g r a m e x t r a c t s a s e r i e s o f " p r o p e r t i e s " f o r t h e c h a r a c t e r an d e t o r e a t h e n I n aa a r r a y . E v e r y c h a r a c t e r i n a g iv e n p e r e o n ' s b lo c k l e t t e r i n g w i l l t e n d t o h a v e c e r t a i n p r o p e r t y s c o r e e . But t h e L ed e en r e c o g n i z e r m u st s t i l l be t r a i n e d , t h a t i a , t h e a v e r e g e p r o p e r t y s c o r e s o f t h e l e t t e r s t h s t e e c h i n d i v i d u a l draw a muet be p u t I n t o t h e s y s t e n b e f o r e t h s t i n d i v i d u a l ' s l e t t e r i n g c an be r e c o g n i z e d . E ven t h e n I t ' s s q u e s ­ tio n o f p r o b s b i l l t y , r a t h e r th a n c e r t a i n t y , t h a t a g iv e n c h a r a c t e r w i l l be r e c o g n i z e d .

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I f we w ant to a a k e a c o m p u te r do w h a t we know p e r f e c t l y w e l l how t o do o u r s e l v e s , t h e n a l l we do l e w r i t e a program . Aha. But what i f we w ant a c o n p u t e r t o do s o m e th in g we do n o t know how t o do o u r s e l v e s ? We must s e t up i t e p r o g r a a t o b r o w s e , an d a e a r c h , a nd s e i s e on w hat t u r n s o u t t o w o rk . T h is Is c s lle d h e u r i s t i c s . What I t am ounts t o b a s i c a l l y l a t e c h n i q u e s f o r t r y i n g th l n g a o u t , c h e c k in g t h e r e s u l t s , end c o n t i n u ­ i n g t o do a o r e and more o f w h a t a e e n s t o w o rk . Or we c o u ld p h r a s e I t t h l e w ay: l o o k i n g f o r s u c c e ssfu l s t r a t e g i e s In w hatev e r e r e a w e 're d e alin g w i t h . As a h e u r i s t i c p r o g re m t r i e s t h i n g s o u t , I t k e ep e v a r i o u s acoreB o f how w e l l I t ' a d o i n g — a s o r t o f a e l f - c o n g r e t u l s t l o n — and n a k e e a d j u e t M n t S I n f a v o r o f what w orks b e s t . Thus t h e G r e e n b l a t t C h e ss P r o g r a m , n e n t l o n e d u n ­ d e r " C h e s s ," n e a r b y , c a n " I n v e n t " c h e s s s t r a t e g i e s and " t r y t h a o u t " — w h a t I t a c t u a l l y do e a i s t e s t s p e c i f i c p s t t e r n s o f moves f o r t h e o v e r s l l g o o d n e ss of t h e i r r e s u l t s (In te r n s o f th e u s u a l p o s l t l o n s l a d v an ta g es in c h e a s ), and d i s c a r d th e s t r a t e g i e s th a t d o n ’ t g e t a nyw he re . I t d o e s t h l a by c c n p a r l n g I t s " s t r a t e g l e e " ( p o s s i b l e move p s t t e r n s ) a g a l n a t t h e re c o rd 'a o f c h e a s m a tc h e s w h ic h a r e f e d i n t o I t . ( I f y o u 'v e r e a d t h e o t h e r a i d e o f t h e b o o k , h e u r i s t i c s a a y be t h o u g h t o f a a a f o s n o f o p e r a t l o n e r e s e a r c h ( p . T t ) c a r r i e d on by t h e c o n p u t e r I t s e l f . ) I n s o a e ways h e u r l e t l c e i s t h e n o e t m s g l c s l s r e e o f a r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e : I t s r e s u l t s a re th e a o s t im p r e s s l v s t o laymen. B u t . l i k e a o many o f t h e c o m p u t­ e r a a g l c e , I t b o l l s down t o t e c h n l c s l l t l e s w h ic h l o s e t h e roman ce t o a c e r t a i n e i t e n t .

a w T e it JO K E S I llu s tr a tin g a ls o c e r ta i n p ro b lem s o f A rtificial In tellig e n ce . A v e r y l a r g e a rtl fic la l- ln te U ig e n c e sy ste m (g o e s th e s t o r y ) h a d b e e n b u ilt fo r th e m ilita ry to h e l p i n l o n g - r a n g e p o lic y p l a n n i n g ; f i n a n c e d b y A R P A , w i t h p e o p l e from M . I . T . , S t a n f o r d a nd so on. " T h e s y s t e m i s n o w r e a d y lo a n s w e r q u e s ­ t i o n s , " s a i d t h e s p o k e s m a n f o r th e p r o j e c t . A f o u r - s t a r g e n e r a ] b it off th e e n d of a c i g a r , lo o k e d w h im sic a lly at h is c o m ra d e s a n d sa id — " A s k t h e m a c h i n e th is : Will It b e P e a c e o r W ar?"

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J - r n

CYBERNETICS

GORDON PASi: G o r d o n P a s k i s o n e o f t h e m a d d e s t mad s c i e n t i s t s I h av e e v e r m e t, and a l s o on e o f th e n i c e s t . An e l o q u e n t L n g l i s h l e p r e c h a u n w ho d r e s s e s t h e E d w a r d i a n d a n d y , T a s k s o w s awe w h e r e v e r h e g o e s . A form eT d o c t o r and t h e a t r i c a l p r o d u c e r , Task i s on e o f t h e g r e a t in te r n a ti o n a l f a s t - t a l k e r s , c o n fe re n ce -h o p p in g round th e g lo b e from U ta h to W a s h i n g t o n to h i s p r o j e c t a t t h e B r o o k ly n C h i l d r e n ' s M useun. T h is s p r i n g , 1974, he has been a t th e U n iv e r­ s i t y o f I l l i n o i s a t C h icag o C i r c l e , b u t soon he g oe s b a c k t o E n g la n d a nd h i s l a b o r a t o r y . In a f ie l d f u ll o f b r i l l i a n t e c c e n tr ic s , Pask h a s no d i f f i c u l t y s ta n d in g o u t.

G o rd o n P a s k c a l l s h i s f i e l d C y b e r n e t i c s . T he te rm " c y b e r n e t i c s ” i s h e a r d a l o t , and is o n e o f t h o s e te rm s w h i c h , i n t h e m a in , m an k in d w o u ld be b e t t e r o f f w i t h o u t ; a lth o u g h a f t e r t a l k i n g t o P a s k I g e t t h e s e n s e t h a t t h e r e may b e so m e th in g to i t a f t e r a l l . T he t e r m " c y b e r n e t i c s " w a s c o i n e d by N o rb e r t W ie n e r, th e fa m o u s ly a b s e n t- m i n d e d m a th ­ e m a t i c i a n w ho ( a c c o r d i n g t o l e g e n d ) o f t e n f a i l e d t o r e c o g n i z e h i s ow n c h i l d r e n . ' W i e n e r d i d p i o n e e r i n g w o rk i n a n u m b e r o f a r e a s . A s p e c i a l c o n c e rn o f h i s w as t h e s tu d y o f th in g s w h ic h a r e k e p t in c o n t r o l by c o r r e c t i v e m eas­ u r e s , o r , a s he c a l l e d i t . F e e d b a c k ■ T he te rm " c y b e r n e t i c s " he made o u t o f a G re e k w o rd f o r s te e r s m a n , a p p ly in g i t to a l l p ro c e s s e s w h ic h in v o lv e c o r r e c t i v e c o n t r o l . I t tu rn s o u t t h a t alm o st e v e r y th in g in v o lv e s c o rr e c tiv e c o n t r o l , so th e te rm " c y b e r n e tic s " s p re a d s out a s f a r and as t h i n l y as you c o u ld p o s s ib l y w ant (The p u b lic i s u n d e r th e g e n e r a l im p re ssio n t h a t " c y b e r n e t i c s " r e f e r s t o c o m p u te r s , and th e co m p u te r p e o p le s h o u ld be c a l l e d " c y b e r ­ n e tic ia n s ." T h e re seem s t o b e n o th in g t h a t can be done about t h i s . See "cy b e rc ru d ," p. g . T h is i s an e v e n w o rs e te rm m eaning " s t e e r i n g p e o p le in to c r u d ," s p e c i f i c a l l y , p u t t i n g th in g s o v e r on p e o p le u s in g c o m p u te rs.) P r o p e r l y , t h e c o r e o f " c y b e r n e t i c s ' seem s to d e a l w ith c o n tro l lin k a g e s , w h eth er in a u to m o b ile s , c o ck ro ac h es o r co m p u te rs. How­ e v e r , p e o p l e l i k e P a s k , v o n F o e r s t e r , Ashby (a n d so on) a p p ea r to e x te n d th e c o n c e p t g e n ­ e r a l l y to th e s tu d y o f form s o f b e h a v io r and a d a p ta tio n c o n sid ere d in th e a b s tr a c t. The v a l i d i t y and f a s c i n a t i o n o f t h i s w o rk , o f c o u r s e , i s q u i t e u n r e l a t e d t o w h at you c a l l i t .

P ask i s one o f th e A r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i ­ g e n c e r s w ho i s w o rk in g on t e a c h i n g b y c om pu­ t e r , a b o u t w h i c h m ore w i l l b e s a i d ; b u t t h e o r i g i n a l c o re o f h is i n t e r e s t i s p e rh a p s th e p r o c e s s o f c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n and a b s t r a c t i o n .

Chomsky an d o t h e r s ha va d is c o v e r e d t h a t s e t s o f t r a n s ­ f o r m a t i o n r u l e s ( o r i t r i r s . p r a i s e be ) v a r y c o n s i d e r a b l y . I t l a p o s s i b l e t o I n v e n t la ng uag e s whose s u r f s c s e t r u c t u r e s a r e e a s y t o t a k e a p a r t , o r p s r s s : s u c h la n g u a g e s s r e c e l l e d c o n t e x t - f r e e l a n g u a g e s . (Moat c a ^ u t e r l a n g u a g e e , s s e o t h e r s i d e , s r s o f t h i s t y p e . ) U n fo rtu n a te ly n a t u r a l la n g u a g e a , I l k a E n g l i s h a n d F r e n c h and Ravaho, a r e n o t c o n t e x t - f r e e . I t t u r n s o u t t h a t t h e hu a an b r a i n c s n p i c k s p a r t la n g u a g e s t r u c t u r e s b e c a u s s I t ' s s o good a t a a k l n g s e n s i b l e g u e s s e s a s t o w h a t I ' m e a n t— and i f t h e r e 1s one t h i n g h a r d t o p ro g ra m f o r c o m p u te rs , i t i s s e n s i b l e g u e s s in g . (B ut s e e " H e u r i s t i c s , " n e a rb y .)

5.-

D IR E C T IO N S F O R U S IN G : F o r T H I N K I N G : — W i n d lh e C lo ck - w o rk M a n u n d e r h is left a r m , (m arke d N o. 1.)

We a a y t h i n k o f a la n g u a g e - g e n e r a t i n g co m p u te r s y s ­ tem a S f o l l o w s :

SENTENCE RECOGNITION

(E veryb od y s a y a t h a t o f c o u r s e w h a t we wan t 1s t o be a b l e t o e o M l c i t c w i t h c o m p u te rs by s p e e c h T “ s pe e k i n s p e r s o n a l l y . I c e r t s l n l y d o n ' t . E x p l s i o i n g my p u n c t u a t i o n to human s e c r e t a r i e s i s h a rd e no ug h, l e t s l o n e t r y i n g t o t e l l i t t o s c o a p u t e r , when i t ' s e a s y enough t o ty p e I t I n . )

The c « p l e K l t y o f t h e p r o b le m s h o u l d by now b s c l e a r .

« I d o n ’t k n o w ," answ ered D o r o t h y , w h o bad m o re t o re a d . " L i s te n to this, B i llin a :”

R e s u l t : t o p r o g ra m s com p ute r t o g e n e r a t e e p a e c h — t h a t l a . I n v e n t a e n te n c e s about a d a ta s t r u c t u r e and ty p e t h a a o u t — l a c o m p a r a t i v e l y e a s y , b u t t o ha v e i t r e c o g n i z e in c o m in g s e n t e n c e s , and b r e a k t h e a up i n t o t h e i r k e r n e l a e a n ln g s ,is n o t.

2.

A few a t t e m p t s ha ve been made t o a a r k e t d e v i c e s which would r e c o g n i s e l i m i t e d sp e ec h and c o n v e r t I t t o sym bols t o go i n t o t h e c o m p u te r. One o f th e m , w h ic h su p p o s e d ly csn d i s t i n g u i s h aaon g t h i r t y o r f o r t y d i f f e r e n t spok an w ord s, i s s u p p o s e d l y s t i l l on t h e m a r k e t . S p e c i f i c u s a r s h ave to " t r a i n " i t to the p a r t i c u l a r s of t h e i r v o ic e s . J >»«« rum o rs o f " d i c t a t i o n m a ch in es" which w i l l t y p e what you s s y t o them. I f s u c h t h i n g s e x i s t 1 ha va b e e n u n a b l e t o c o n f ir m I t .

AUTOMATA " Autom ata” , as th e t e n l a used In t h i s f i e l d , i s J u s t a f s n c y word f o r I m a g in ary c r i t t e r s . p a r t l c u l a r l y l i t t l e t h i n g l e s t h a t behav e i n a s s e t w ay a. (T he Game o f L i f e , s e e p . 1 8 , i s an a u t o a a t o n i n th le a en se-)

SPEECH INPUT TO CCMPUTEHS BY ACTUAL SOUND

we h ave be en t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e c o m p u te r 'e m a n i­ p u l a t i o n o f la n g u a g e a s a n a l p h a b e t i c a l c o d in s o r a l m l l a r r e p r e s e n t a t i o n . To a c t u a l l y t a l k a t a com pute r l e e n o t h e r S e t t l e o f f i s h . T h i s mesns b r e a k i n g down t h e so und i n t o ph one mes an d t h e n b r e a k i n g i t I n t o a d a t a a t r u c t u r e whic h can be t r e a t e d w i t h t h e r u l e s o f g r a * a r — a w ho le n o th e r d if f i c u l t ste p .

P a s k h a s d o n e a good d e a l o n t h e m a t h e ­ m a tic s o f s e lf -c o n te n p la tin g sy ste m s, th a t i s , sy m b o lic r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o f w h at i t m eans f o r a c r e a t u r e ( o r e n t i t y om ega) to lo o k a t t h i n g s , s e e th a t th e y a re a l ik e , and d iv in e a b s t r a c t c o n c e p t i o n s o f th e m . A c ro w n in g m om ent i s w h e n Omega b e h o l d s i t s e l f a n d r e c o g n i z e s t h e c o n tin u ity and se lfh o o d . (P a sk s a y s s e v e r a l o t h e r s - - s c h o l a r s from A r g e n t i n a , R u s s i a and e l s e w h e r e - - h a v e h i t o n t h e sam e f o r m u l a t i o n . ) M o d e l s a n d a b s t r a c t i o n , t h e n , a r e w h a t we may c a l l t h e f i r s t h a l f o f P a s k ' s w o r k . G ordon P a s k u i l l

bo o o n t i n u e d o n p . 4 M 7 *

THE TUBING MACHINE I s t h e i w t t c l s n l c s l a b s t r a c t A uto m st o n. A T u r i n g N ac hin e , nanmd a f t e r I t s d i s c o v e r e r . I s a h y p o t h e t i c a l d e v ic e w h ic h h a s s n I n f i n ­ i t e r e c o r d i n g t e p e t h a t I t c a n s o v a ba ck sn d f o r t h , and t h e a b i l i t y t o make d e c i s i o n s d e ­ p e n d i n g on w h e t 's w r i t t e n t h e r e . T u r in g p r o c e e d e d t o p o i n t o u t t h a t no m a t t e r how f a s t you 90 s t e p - b y - s t e p , you can t e v e r o u t r u n c e r t a i n r e s t r i c t i o n s b u i l t I n to a l l s e q u e n t i a l p r o c e s s e s a s r e p r e s e n t e d by t h e T u r in g Mach ine. T h is l a y s h e a v y l i m i t s on w hat c an e v e r b e done s t a p - b y ~ * t « p bY c o m p u te r . ( I t means w have t o lo o k f o r n o n - s t e p - b y - s t e p m e th o d s, w h ic h much o f A r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e Is a b o u t . )

DO WE MAHT TALKIBG STSTEMS?

THE THREE LAWS OP ROBOTICS

I had one q u i t e i r r i t a t i n g e x p e r ie n c e w ith a ''c o n v e rs a ti o n a l" ’ a y ate m , t h a t l a , computer p r o g ra a c h a t was su p p o se d t o t a l k ba ck t o a e . I v a e su p ­ pose d co ty p e co 1c I d E n g lis h aod I t vaa supp o se d ly g o in g t o ty p e ba ck co a e I n E n g lla h . 1 found t h e ex­ p e r ie n c e t h o r o u g h ly I r r i t a t i n g . Ky a id e o f che con­ v e r s a t i o n , w hic h I s i n c e r e l y c r ie d to ke ep s im p le , produce d r e p e a t e d a p o l o g i e s and c o n fu sio n from t h e p r o g ra a . The guy w h o 'd c r e a t e d che p r o g r a a k e p t e x ­ p l a i n i n g c h a t t h e p r o g r a a w ould be im proved, ao Chat e v e n C u a lly I t c o u ld h a n d le re s p o n s e s l i k e v i n e . My r e a c t i o n w a s , an d l a , Who neede l e t

1— A r o b o t may not I n ju r e a h u m a n b e i n g , o r , th r o u g h in a c t io n , allow a h u m a n b e i n g to come to h a r m .

The r e a l q u e s tio n l a , can a aet^ o f p r o c e d u re s p la y c h e s s ? Because C h a t's what t h e c om pute r p r o ­ gram r e a l l y d o e s , e n a c t a s e t of p r o c e d u r e s .

1 - - A r o b o t m u st ob ey th e o r d e r s g iv e n It b y h u m a n b e i n g s e x c e p t w h e r e a u c h o r d e r s w o u ld c o n flict w ith Ihe F i r s t Law .

And t h e answer l a y e s , f a i r l y w e l l . Now, a cheBa p r o g r a a i e n o t s o a e t h i n g you Joe down on ehe ba ck o f a n envelo pe one a f t e r n o o n . I t ' s u s u a l l y an Im ae nse , conv o lu te d t h i n g Chat p e o p le have worked on f o r y e a r s . (A lth ough I v a g u e ly r e e a l l Chat second p l a c e l n th e 1970 I n t e r c o m p u t e r c h ee e c o n t e s t waa won by a p r o g r a a t h a t oc cupie d o n ly 2000 lo c a t i o n s l n a 1 6 - b i t m in ico m p u ter— ln o t h e r w ords , a compact a nd e r i c k y s n e a k e r . )

Many p e o p le i n t h e c o a p u te r f i e l d s e e a Co t h i n k we want t o b e a b l e t o t a l k t o c o a p u te rs a nd have t h e a c a lk back t o u a . T h ia l a by no Beans a s e t t l e d B a t t e r .

3 - - A r o b o t m u st p r o te c t ils ow n e x i s t e n c e aa l o n g a e 9uch p r o te c tio n doe s n o t c o n flict w ith t h e F i r s t o r S e c o n d Law. - - H an d b o o k of R o b o tic s , 56th E d iti o n , 20S8 A . D . . q u o te d in I . A s im o v , R obot.

Now, s im p le games ( l i k e t l c - t a c - t o e and Nlm and e v e n C u b ic) c an be worked eue e l l Che wey: a l l a l t e r ­ n a t i v e s c s n be examined by th e program and t h e b e e t one fo u n d . Not eo w ith c h e ss.

T a l k in g p r o g r a a a a r e c o m p lic ated and r e q u i r e a l o t o f a p ac e I n th e m a ch in e, and (ac re i a p o r t a n t l y ) r e q u i r e a l o t o f t i a e by p r o g r a M e r e who c o u ld a c h ie v e ( I t h in k ) s o r e I n l e a a ClM by o th e r me ana. M oreover, c a lk in g p r o g r a a s p ro d u ce an i t T l c a c l n g s t r a t e g i c a l parad o x . I n d e a l i n g v i c h huaan b e lo g e , we knew vhec w e 'r e d e a l i n g w i t h , and can a d j u s t what we eay a c c o r d ­ i n g ly ; t h e r e l e no wav co c e l l , e x ce p t by a l o t o f e x ­ p e r im e n ti n g , what t h e p r l n c l p l e e a r e i n s i d e a p a r t i c u ­ l a r t a l k i n g p r o g r a a ; so t h a t c ry in g t o a d j u e t co i t l a a s c r a l n and ao I r r i t a t i o n . (C oapare: t a l k i n g t o a s t r a n g e r who a ay o r a a y n o t Curn o u t Co be your now b o s s . ) Now, so a e p r o g r a a o e r s keep e e y in g t h a t e v e n t u a l l y t h e y ' l l have l c a c t i n g J u e t a e e a a rc aa a r e a l p e r s o n , eo we n e e d n 't a d j u e t ; b u t t h a t ' s r i d i c u l o u s . We alwave a d j u s t t o r e a l p e o p le . I n o t h e r w o rd s , th e huaan d is c o m f o rt and i r r i t a ­ t i o n o f p a v c h ln a t h e s v s t m o u t can n e v e r be e l i a l n a t e d .

M

A d i f f e r e n t s p p r o s c h I s ta k e n by th e G r e e n b l s t t c h e s s p rog ra m . T h is 1s b a s i c a l l y a b i g H e u r i s t i c prog­ r a a . I t " l e a r n s " b e s t s t r a t e g i e s l n c h e s s by " w a tc hin g" t h e game. T h a t l e , your po ur h l e t o r l e e l c h e s s matc hes th r o u g h i t , and l c t r i e s o u t s t r a t e g i e s - - m aking v a r io u s t e n t a t i v e r u l e e a bout what klnde o f a o v e s a r e good, th e n s c o r i n g th e e e u v e i a c c o rd in g to t h e r e e u l t e o f making C h e i ^ s s s e e n l n p o s i t i o n a l a d v a n ta g e s t h a t r e e u l t e d ln a c t u a l l y cham plonahlp p la y .

T h is i s n o t t o e ay u n d e rs t a n d a b ly r e e t r l c t e d t a l k i n g s y s t e a s s r e b a d . I f you know and u n d e rs t a n d th e s o r t s of r esp o n se th e sy ste m makes Co what k in d s o f t h i n g , th e n an E n g l l e b - l l k e r e s p o n s e i s r e a l l y s c l e a r m eeaag e. F or I n ­ a ta n c e , th e JOSS sy ste m ( t h e f i r s t Q u ic k ie la n g u ag e — s e e p . IS) had en e lo q u e n t message: eh?

O b v io u sly t h i s i s a f i e l d lo I t s e l f , You w o n 't g e t g r a n t e f o r I t , b u t Co th o s e who r e e l l y c a r e a b o u t b oth c h e s s and c o a p u t e r s , I t ' s th e o n ly t h i n g t o be d o ing.

which a c t u a l l y a e a n t , What you have J u s t tg ge d I n doee_jiot_ f i t t h e r u l e e o f a c c e p t a b l e I n p u t f o r t h i s s y s t e a . But I t was s h o r t , i t was q u i c k , I t waa s im p le , and i t wee a lm o st po lite.

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS CYBERCRUD

S i m i l a r l y , t a l k i n g a y a te a s t h a t use a n e x a c t voc abu­ l a r y , whose l l m i t e and a b i l i t i e s a r e k n w n to th e p e r s o n , a r e okay. (W ln ogred, eee B i b lio g r a p h y , ha e a n i c e e x a a p le o f t e l l i n g a co m p u te r t o s t a c k blockS) where t h e eyetem knows words l i k e b e tw ee n, o n , sbove and ao o n .) Where t h i s i s u n d e rs t o o d by che human, 1C c an be a ge n u in e con­ ve n ie n c e r e t h e r th a n a a p u rlo u e one.

Fred B rooks, t h e ke ynote e p e s k e r s t t h e IEEE coa­ p u t e r c o n f e r e n c e l n F a l l 74, seems Co have e a l d t h s t HAL 9000 ( t h e u n c tu o u s , c r s l t o r o u s P r e s e n c e l n th e a o v le 2001) waa th e way compute rs sh o u ld b e . (Comguter D e c i s i o n s , Apr 74, 4 . )

I f l i k e t h e a u t h o r you a r e beau eed by ehe g r e a t d i f f i c u l t y o f g e t t i n g a lo n g v i t h human b e i n g e , th e n th e c r e a t i o n o f e x t r a n e o u s b e in g e o f I m p e n e tr a b le c h a r a c t e r w ith v a g u e ly human q u a l l t l e e can o nly a la r m yo u , and th e p r o s p e c t o f th e e e e d d l t l o n a l c r y p t e - e n t l t l e s whic h n e t be fend e d and p l a c a t e d , c la w in g a t ua f r m t h e i r n ic h e s a t e v e r y t u r n , l e b o th d l e t a e t e f u l and a l a r a i n g . A r t i f i c i a l I n te llig e n c e e n th u sia sts u n fo rtu n ate ly t e n ! t o ha v e a m a g i c i a n ' s o u tlo o k i t o make c l e a r how t h e i r t h i n g s work w ould s p o i l th e ehow. Th u s, f o r a r a t h e r p e c u l i a r a r t show h e l d a t New Y o rk 's Je w i s h H uee ua i n 1970, a group f r a MIT b u i l t a la r g e d e v i c e t h a t s t a c k e d b lo c k e un d e r c o n t r o l o f a m i n l e e ^ u t e r ( I n t e r d a t a b r a n d ) . Now, t h e f a c t t h a t i t c o u ld s t a c k and r e * « t a c k b lo c k s w ith j u s t a m ln i e o s ^ u t e r waa r e a l l y q u i t e an a c c tm ^ llsh m e n t. b u t t h i s was n o t e x p la i n e d . I n s t e a d , ehe b l o c k - e t a c k i n g mechanism waa e n c lo s e d i n a l a r g e g l a s s p e n , i n which numerous g e r b i l s - - hoppy l i t t l e r o d e n t s - - w ere f r e e t o wander a b o u t. When a g e r b i l eaw t h a t a b lo c k was a b o u t t o be s t a c k e d on him , he would s e n s i b l y a o v e . Now, i t i s f a i r l y hum orous, and n o t c r u e l , t o p u t g e r b i l s I n t o a b l o c k - s t a c k i n g machine. B u t t h i s was o f f e r e d t o th e p u b l i c a s a d e v ic e p a r t a k i n g o f a f a r more g l o b a l a i s a l o n , t h e e x p e r im e n ta l I n t e r a c t i o n o f l i v i n g c r e a t u r e s and a dynamic s e lf - im p r o v i n g e n v iro n m e n t, b la h b l a h b l a h . P a s s e r s b y w ere awed. "Why a r e th o s e a n im a ls i n t h e r e ? ” o n e w ould s a y , and t h e more in fo rm ed one w ould u s u a l l y s a y . ' I t ' s s< ne k i n d o f s c i e n t i f i c e x p e r i m e n t . * W ell, t h i s i s a t w i l i g h t a r e a , be tw ee n s c i e n c e and w h im sica l h o k u a , b u t one c a n n o t h e l p w is h in g s im p le and h ta o r o u s t h i n g s c o u l d be p r e s e n t e d w ith t h e i r s i x p l l c l t y and humor l a i d b a r e .

1

remember w atch ljig one g e r b l l who s to o d m o ti o n le s s on h i s l i t t l e k a n g a r o o m a tc h s tic k l e g s , w a t c h in g th e G re a t G ra p p le r r e a r r a n g i n g h i e w o r l d . G erblLe a r e a i » ewh a t i n ­ s c r u t a b l e , b u t I h ad a c e n s e t h a t he wae w o r s h ip in g i t . He d id n o t move u n t i l t h e b lo c k s t a r t e d coming down on top o f him. I t a k e t h i s a s an a l l e g o r y .

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A c c o r d i n g t o A r t h u r C. C l a r k e ' s r e t r o a c t i v e n o v e l 2 0 0 1 : A S p a c e O d y s s e y ( S i g n e t , 1 9 6 B , 9 S < ) , t h e HAL 9 0 0 0 c o m p u te r s e r i e s B egan a s f o llo w s :

B ut a l l i t i s i s a bag o f t r i c k s . I t h a s a l o t o f canned p h r a s e s I t c a n th row o u t , l i k e PLEASE TELL ME YOUR PROBLEM. Then i t s p o t s c e r t a i n ty p e s o f e e n t e n c e s and t u r n s them a ro u n d . I f th e pe rson t y p e s a e e n te n c e b e g in n in g w ith " I a m . . . " , th e ELIZA program t u m e i t a ro u n d w ith HON LONG HAVE YOUR BEEN. . . ? And i t lo oka f o r s p e c i f i c w ord s w hic h i n d i c a t e a s e n ­ te n c e c an be tu r n e d a ro und f o r a c o n v in c i n g r e a u l t . P o r i n ­ s t a n c e , i f th e p e rs o n u se s th e word " e v e r y o n e ," t h e program S l a p l y r e p l i e s , MHO IN PARTICULAR CAN YOU THINK OP?

TELL HE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY. Now. do n o t be f o o le d . T h e r e I s no G h o st in th e Machin e. The program does n o t " u n d e r s ta n d " t h e u s e r . THE PROGRAM IS MERELY ACTING OUT THE BAG OF TRICKS THAT JOE WE1ZENHADM THOUGHT UP. C r e d i t w here c r e d i t I s due: n o t t o The C o a p u te r 'e t e n l s c l e n c e , b u t t o W eiE e nb aia 's c le v e rn e s s . (Look a t t h e above sample d i a lo g u e a n d s s e l f you g u e s s w hat t r i c k s th e program waa u s i n g . ) The th i n g i s , many p e o p le r e f u s e t o b e l i e v e t h a t i t ' s a p rogra m . Even when th e p r o g r a m 's t r i c k s a r s e x p la i n e d . And even b o m who u n d s r s ta n d &U2A l i k e t o c a l l i t up f rca*n t h e i r te r m i n a l e f o r com panionship , now and th a n . tr BIBLIOGRAPHY T e r r y W lnograd. "When H i l l C o ^ u t e r e U ndersta nd People ?" Psycholo gy Today May 7 4 , 7 3 -9. (Weizenhaum'j f u l l a r t i c l e on O.IZA a p p ea re d in th e C— ■ m l c a t l o n a o f th e API e o M tlm e l n th a mid o r l a t e s i x t i e s ; a f lo w c h a r t r s v e a l e d I t s a a j o r t r i c k s .

I d o n ’ t kn ow w ho G o o d i s , b u t t h e s e a r e am ong t h e l i n e s M in s k y h a s b e e n w o rk i n g a l o n g f o r y e a r s , s o 1 h o p e h e ' s e n c o u r a g e d by th e news o f w h at h e 's g o in g t o a c c o m p lis h .

I ha v e s tr o n g h u n c h e s a b o u t th e I n n e r w o rk ­ in g s o f men w ho g e t m illions o f d o lla r s from the D ep a rtm en t of D efense a n d th e n s a y in p r iv s te tha l r e a lly th e y 'r e g o in g to u s e it to c re a te a m a ch in e so in te llig en t it c a n p la y w ith th e i r c h il­ d ren . (Nol to name n a m es o r a n y t h i n g . ) An o b v io u s qu e stio n i s , do th e y p l a y w ith th e ir c h ild r e n ? No. th e y p lo y w ith c o m p u te rs .

A n y h o w , s o o k a y t h e y g r o w t h e UAL 9 0 0 0 i n a t a n k . T h e n how c o n e i n t h e D e a t h - o £ * H a l s c e n e w e s e e K e i r D u l l e a b o b b in g a ro u n d lo o s e n in g c i r c u i t c a r d s , j u s t a s i f i t w e re a p l a i n o l d 1978 c o m p u te r? I t i s ru m ored t h a t C l a r k e 's r e b u t t a l to K u b ric k 's f i n a l f ilm .

P o s s ib le answ er *2. H A L 's t a n k s c o n t r o l l e d b y P D P - l l s , one t o a c a r d . in

o f n e u ra l

. , T le K ft

The f a s c i n a t i n g t h in g a b o u t t h e ELISA pr ogram i s t h a t i t s e a t s s o l i k e a r e a l pers on*— t h a t i a , a psycho­ a n a l y s t o f t h e n o n d i r e c t i v e , C a r l Rogere s c h o o l .

" I n t h e 1 9 9 3 s , M i n s k y a n d G ood h a d s h o w n how n e u r a l n e tw o rk s c o u ld be g e n e r a te d a u t o m a t i c a l l y - - s e l f .r e p l i c a t e d - * i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h a n y a r b i t r a r y le a rn in g p a tte rn . A r t i f i c i a l b r a i n s c o u l d b e grown by a p r o c e s s s t r i k i n g l y a n a lo g o u s to th e d e v e lo p m e n t o f t h e hum an b r a i n . " (P. 9 6 .)

P o s s ib le answ er *1. r e t r o - n o v e l w a s C l a r k e 1^

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And c e r t a i n h ig h ly - c h a r g e d w ord s a r e a l g n a l s t o throw In a s i n g e r , r e g a r d l e s s o f what t h e u s e r may ha v e s a i d . P o r i n ­ s t a n c e , i f th e p e rs o n u se s th e word " m o th e r ," th e a ae h in e re p lie s:

I f i n d i t h a rd t o b e l i e v e t h a t anybody c o u ld th i n k c h a t . N e v e r t h e l e e s , th e r e a re t h o s e a r t i f l c i a l - l n t e l l l ge nce f r e a k s whose v ie w lc i s t h a t t h e p u r p o se o f a l l t h i s le e v e n t u a l l y ( s ) co c r e a t e s e r v a n t s t h a t w i l l read o u r mlnde and do o u r b i d d in g , (b) s e r v a n t s who w i l l ta k e t h i n g s o v e r end w i l l implement human m o r a l i t y , r e g a r d l e e s o f ou r b i d d i n g (th ough we h i o i n i s r e m f r e l l t o do s o — a s In A sim o v 's I_, R o b o t); or even ( c ) c r e s t e m s s t e r s who w i l l t a k e e v e r y t h i n g ove r aod run e v e r y t h i n g a c c o r d in g to t h e i r own p r i n c i p l e s aod th a h e l l w i t h u e . ( I met e men in s b s r , a f t e r en ACM m e etin g , who c lelm ed t o b e l i e v e t h i s was Che purpose o f I t a l l : t o c r e a t e t h e m a s te r r s c e t h a t would r e p l a c e u e . )

(The p ro b leB o f r u d e n e ss in computer d i a lo g u e h a a not been auch d i s c u s s e d . T h is l e p a r t l y b e c a u se a a n y p r o g r a a a e r a a r e no c f u l l y aware o f I t , o r , I n d e e d , some s r e so s k i l l e d in c e r t a i n s u b t l e form s of r u d e n e ss th e y w o u ld n 't even know chey w e r e n ' t a c c e p t a b l e . The r e s u l t i s t h a t c e r ­ t a i n ty p e s o f putd ow n, p o ke , p e re m p to r in e s s and lm portu na cy can f in d t h e i r way i n t o c o a p u te r d ia lo g u e a l l to o e a s i l y . O r , t o p u t i t a n o t h e r way: nobody l i k e to be t a l k e d b a c k t o . Cf. Those e t u p l d g r e e n TRANK YOU l i g h t * on a u to m a tic c o l l b o o th s .)

If t W

PLEASE TELL ME YOUR PRDBLDi. I am f e e l i n g d e p r e s s e d . HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEM FEELING DEPRESSED? Ever s i n c e a y a e t h e r l e f t . TELL HE MORE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY. My f a t h e r i s ve ry s t r i c t . PLEASE GO ON. L a s t n i g h t I dream t h e spa nked me . WHAT MOULD IT MEAN TO YOU IP HE SPANKED YOU? D i d n 't yotl e v e r g e t epan ked? HE WEHE DISCUSSING YOU, NOT ME. Y o u 'r e j u a t a d i a b machine anyway. DO COMPUTERS PRIQ1TEN YOU? (quote d i n W ln ograd, 74-5)

B a s i c a l l y Chere e r e two e p p ro e ch e s t o th e d e sig n o f c h e s a p r o g r a a s . In one e p p ro a c h , t h e programmers l o o k f o r s p e c i f i c c h r e e t s sod o p p o r t u n i t i e s I n t h e d s t a s t r u c t u r e r e p r e s e n t i n g th e b o s r d , snd t r y t o f in d good s t r a t e g i e s f o r s e l e c t i n g good moves en th e b a s i s o f t h a . T h i s i s t h e a ppro ach ta k e n i n CORO, th e "C oo pe r-K os"c hess progra m . The pr ogrammers s e l e c t i v e l y cope w ith l n d l v l d u e l problem s and a t r s t e g l e s s s th e y t u r n e u t t o be n e c e e s a r y . ( T his meana t h a t i t la l i k e l y t o ha v e s p e c i f i c A c h l l l e e ' h e e l e ; w h ic h , of c o u r s e , t h e a u t h o r s o f t h e p r o g re a ke ep t r y i n g t o r e ­ p a i r by a d d in g s p e c i f i c c o r r e c t i o n s . )

M oreover, h a v in g t o ty p e i n whole E n g lla h p h r a s e s c an be i r r i t a t i n g . (We c a n ' t even gee in c o th e p r o b l e a o f havin g t h e c o n p u te r p ic k a p a r t Che a u d io l f you c a lk i t in .)

IH

(Hhat th e ELISA program ty p e s , we r e p r e s e n t a s a l l c ap si w hat t h e p e rs o n ty pe s i s n o t . )

The s t r u c t u r e o f bran c h in g p o s s i b i l i t i e s i s a t r e e *(eee p . ) i 00 t h a t me thods o f “p r u n in g " Che c r e e t u r n o u t to be c r u c i a l .

F u r th e r m o re , on to d a y 'e s e q u e n t i a l e q u lp a e n t and w ith f e a e i b l e b u d g e t s . 1 p e r s o n a l l y th i n k t h e l i k e l i h o o d o f Baking p r o g r a a s c h a t a r e r e a l l y g e n e r a l t a l k e r s i e a f o o l i s h g o a l . T h ere a r e many s l a p l e r waye of t e l l i n g c o a p u te r sy ste m s w h at you want to t e l l t h e a — l i g h t pen c h o ic e , f o r e x am p le.

Now, c h l e l e n o t to s s y t h a t r e s e a r c h in th e e e a r e a s l e wrong , o r even t h a t r e e e a r c h e r e ' hope s o f some b r e a k ­ through ln ta l k l n g - e y a t e m s i a m le guld ed. I em s a y i n g , b a s i c a l l y , t h a t t a l k i n g syste m s c ennot be te k e n f o r g r a n t ­ ed ae th e p r o p e r g o e l l n c om pute rs t o be uaed by p e o p le ; t h a t th e p ro b le m a o f r u d e n e e e , and I r r i t a t i n g th e human u e e r , a r e f a r g r e a t e r th a n many o f th e s e r e s e a r c h e r s sup­ p o se ; sn d t h a t t h e r e may be a l t e r n a t i v e s t o t h l e p o c e n t l a l ly e t e r n a l le p r e c h a u n - c h a s i n g .

” ** to &

EMZA WHL se t you MoU

C hess b s s l c a l l y in v o l v e s , b e c a u se o f I t s ve ry many p o s s i b i l i t i e s , a " c o m b i n a to r ia l e x p l o s i o n " of s l t e r o a t l v e e ( se e p . 4 f ) : Chat i s , t o lo o k s t " a l l " th e p o s s i b i l i t i e s o f a a id g a a e w ould ta k e f o r e v e r ' ( p e r h a p s l i t e r a l l y — che T urin g p r o b le m ), and th ue means w e t b e found f o r d i s c a r d i n g some p o s s i b i l i t i e s .

g lo p a re

(O f c o u r s e , i f y o u t a k e t h e l e t t e r s a f t e r H, A a n d L 30S ) t h e a l p h a b e t , y o u g e t 1 , B a n d M. So m aybe t h o s e a r e 1 1 3 0 s . )

B ut Ihe po in t h e r e i s not lo h a s s le the d r e a m e r s , Juet to s o r t o u t th e d r e a m s a n d pu l them on h a n g e r s so y o u c a n t r y th e m o n . and m aybe choose sn e n s e m b l e f o r y o u r s e l f .

BIBLIOGRAPHY DEUS EX MACH1NA O b v io u s ly suc h b e l i e f s a r a o u t s l d a t h e r e a l s of s c l e n c s o r e n g i n e e r i n g . They b s lo o g Co pu r e s p e c u l a t i o n ; a nd w h ile v a r i o u s mechaolsma have i n f a c t b e e n p r o g r a m e d to c r o a k , s t a g g e r , s t a c k b l o c k s , c o sp o se s e n t e n c e s and so o n , to su p p o se t h s t we s r e i n any r e a l s e n s e anywhere n e a r m im ic king human i n t e l l i g e n c e , l e t a lo n e s u r p a s s i n g aod s u p e r s e d i n g i t . I s s l t h e r to be t o t s l l y f o o l e d o r t o hanker a f c e r s o m c u r i o u s dream from i n s i d e y o u r s e l f . As we s s l d on Che oc her s i d e o f Che b o ok, everybody ln c o a p u t e r s h a s d e ep e r m o ti v a ti o n s and i n t e r i o r t w i s t s t h a t f o r a h i s own s p e c i a l d e e to th e s e m a c h in e s; and when i t c o m s t o o u r c h o ic e s o f f a n t a s y m a c h i n e s , o b v io u s l y an even d e e p e r l e v e l o f p s y e h ic im p r in t i s p r o j e c t i n g I t s e l f i n t o cbe w o rld . ...E X KENSA P e o p le vbe f a n t a s i z e abouc wondrous c r e a t u r e s and d e i t i e s they want t o make o u t o f th e com puter o b v io u s l y ha v e s e e t h i n g i n ­ t e r e s t i n g i n t h e i r own he ads from whic h t h s t comes. Perhaps i t c ones f r c * s d e s i r e f o r Im ag in ary p la y m a te s , o r an ambi­ v a le n c e coward a u c h o r l c y , o r goo d n e ss knows whac; Chere a r e so many odd p e o p le a t d i f f e r e n t e nds o f A r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e t h a t t h e r e may be a l o t of d i f f e r e n t p s y c h o l o g i c a l sy ste m s s t w ork. Or maybe a r t i f i c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e I s j u s t where Cbe m ost b r i l l i a n t , de term in e d aod e c c e n t r i c d rea m ers g o . Anywsy, I c s n o n ly a s k t h e ^ u « s t l o n , n o t g i v e t h e a nsw e r.

T e r r y W ln ograd, "When W ill Computers U ndersta nd Pe op le ? ” Psycholo gy Today May 74, 73-79. P a r t i c u l a r l y r ea d ab le a r t i c l e . N ic h o la s Negroponte , The A r c h i t e c t u r e M achin e. MIT P r e s s . Tskee th e view t h a t compute rs sh o u ld be made l o to m a g ic a l a e r v a o ts which n o t o nly h a n d le b o t h e r s n e d e t a i l s , b u t more or l e e e rea d o u * m in ds a s w e l l. L eonard llh r, P a t t e r n R e c o g n itio n . L e a r n in g and Thought: Comcuter-P-"f, r »™*fl Models o f H ig her M enta l P r o e s s e s . P r e n tlc e - H a ll . A rt h u r V. H o lt, " A l g o r i c ta f o r a Low CosC Hand PrlnC R e a d e r ." Computer Deaign Feb 74, 85-89. Edward A. Felgeobaum and J u l i a n Feldman ( e d s .) i Computera and Thought. McGraw-Hill. Old but a t l l l good f o r e r l e n c a d o n . A j o u r n a l : A r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e (N orth -H olla nd P u b l is h in g C o., J o u r n a l D iv is i o n ; P.O . Box 211, Amsterdam, The N eth erlan d a . Was $26 .5 0 a ye ar l n 1973. T h i s ' l l ahow you what t h e y ' r e t h i n k i n g about now. Roger L in d , "The Robots Are Coming, The Robote Are Coming." O ut. Feb 1974. T y p ic a l la ym an's hype. You d o n ' t g e t t o l d u n t i l th e second page t h a t a t y p i c a l i n d u s t r i a l " ro b o t " le a huge mechanlem w ith one g r a p p li n g a r a . Edward W. Koadrowlcki and Dannie W. C oope r, "COCO I I I : th e Cooper-Kos Cheas P rogram ." CACH J u l y 73, 411-427. G r e e n b l a t t , R.D ., E a e tla k e , O .E ., and C r o c k e r , S .D ., “The G re e n b l a c t Chess Program ." Proc PJCC 6 7 , 001-810 . R.C . G a * l l l , "An E xaaln acio n o f T lc - T a c - T o a - lik e Games." P r o c . NCC 74, 349-355.

IHfORWCN trrEie^L

L ik e A r t l f l c l s l I n t e l l i g e n c e and I n f o r m a t i o n R e t ­ r i e v a l , C o m p u t e r - A s s i s t e d I n s t r u c t i o n s o u n d s l i k e some­ t h i n g e x a c t an d i m p r e s s i v e b u t I s i n f a c t a s c a t t e r i n g o f te c h n iq u e s t i e d to g e th e r only nom inally by a g e n e r a l Id ea .

" I n f o r m a t i o n R e t r i e v a l " 1 b one o f t h o a e te r m s t h a t la ym e n th r o w a r o u n d a s 1f I t w er e a ma nh ole cover. I t eo unda a s t h o u g h I t means bo n u c h , bo v e r y * »ich. And eo yo u a c t u a l l y h e a r p e o p le s a y t h l n g a l i k e : "But t h a t wo uld m e a n . . . ( p r e g n a n t p a u s e ) . . . I n f o r m a ­ tio n R e tr ie v a l! ! ! " S i m i l a r l y , some o f t h e ho k e y new c o p y r i g h t n o t i c e s you a e e In b o o k s f ro m W i t h - I t p u b l i a h e r a I n t o n e t h a t s a i d b o o k s n a y n o t be " p l a c e d I n a n y I n ­ f o r m a t i o n r e t r i e v a l s y s t e m . . . " I t a k e t h i s t o mean t h a t t h e p u b l l e h e r a a r e f o r b i d d i n g yo u t o p u t t h e b o o k on a b o o k s h e l f , b e c a u s e " I n f o r m a t i o n r e t r i e v a l " s i m p l y means an y way a t a l l o f g e t t i n g b a c k I n f o r m a t i o n f r o * a n y th in g . A b o o k s h e l f , a ln c e I t a llow s you t o r e a d t h e s p in a s o f th e b o o k s . I s Indeed an In fo r m a tio n R e t r i e v a l Sy s te m . I t h a p p e n s , i n c i d e n t a l l y , t h a t th e p h r a s e " i n f o r m a ­ t i o n r e t r i e v a l " was c o i n e d I n t h e f o r t i e s by C a l v i n H o o e r s , i n v e n t o r o f TBAC*“ L an gu a ge ( s e e p p . 1 8 - 2 1 ) . ( I f W ie ne r bad c o i n e d i t be m i g h t h a v e c a l l e d i t G e t b a c k . I f D l e b o l d ha d c o i n e d i t i t m i g h t ha ve b e e n T h n u g h t o m a t l o n . ) Anyhow, nu m e ro u s e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t t h i n g s g o o n I n t h e f i e l d , a l l u n d e r t h e name o f I n f o r m a t i o n R e t r i e v a l . Here a r e some. 1 . No n- C omp ute r r e t r i e v a l . ( See B e c k e r a n d H a y e s , A u t o m a t i c I n f o r m a t i o n R e t r i e v a l . ) Thes e t h i n g s a r e k i n d o f o l d - f a s h i o n e d f u n — c a r d s w i t h h o l e s pu nc he d a l o n g t h e e d g e , f o r I n s t a n c e , t h a t you s o r t w i t h k n i t t i n g n e e d l e s , o r t h e m or e r e c e n t s y s t e m s w i t h h o l e s d r i l l e d i n p l a s t i c cards. T r o u b l e I s , o f c o u r s e , t h a t c o m p u te r s a c e be co m i n g ■ i c h m or e c o n v e n i e n t a n d even l e a s e x p e n s i v e th a n t h e s e , c o u n t i n g y o u r m m ti m e a s b e i n g w o r t h s o m e t h i n g . 2. D ocument R e t r i e v a l . T h i s b a s i c a l l y i s a n a p p r o a c h t h a t g l o r i f i e s t h e o l d l i b r a r y c a r d f i l e , e x c e p t now t h e a t u f f i s s t o r e d i n c o m p u te rs r a t h e r th a n o n c a r d s . B u t w h a t ’a s t o r e d I s S t i l l t h e name o f t h e d o c u m en t , who WTOte i t , w he re I t was p u b l i s h e d and so on. O b v i o u s l y h e l p f u l to l i b r a r i a n s , b u t s c a r c e l y e x c i t i n g . 3- A u t o m a t i c do cu me nt i n d e x i n g . Some o r g a n i s a t i o n s f i n d i t h e l p f u l t o ha v e a co m pu te r t r y t o f i g u r e o u t v h a t a book 1 b a b o u t , r a t h e r t h a n hav e a p e r s o n l o o k a t i t and check. ( I d o n ' t a e e why t h i s s a v e s a n y t h i n g , b u t t h e r e yo u a r e . ) A nyway, t h e t e x t o f t h e doc ument ( o r s e l e c t e d p a r t s ) a r e p o u r e d th r o u g h a c om pute r pr o g ra m t h a t s e l e c t s , f o r i n a t a n c e , k e y w o r d s , t h a t l a , t h e moBt i m p o r t a n t w o rd s i n i t , o r r a t h e r w or ds t h e pr o g ra m t h i n k s STe m o s t I m p o r t a n t . T h en t h e s e ke yw ord s c a n go on t b e h e a d i n g s of l i b r a r y f i l e c a r d s , or w hatever. T h e r e a r e v a r i o u s r e l a t e d s y s te m s by w h ic h p e o p l e s t u d y , f o r i n s t a n c e , t h e c i t a t i o n s b e tw ee n a r t i c l e s , b u t we wun’ t g e t i n t o t h a t . C o n t e n t r e t r i e v a l . Kow w e ' r e g e t t i n g t o t h e s e x y a t u f f . A s y s t e a f o r c o n t e n t r e t r i e v a l I s on e t h a t somehow s t o r e a i n f o r m a t i o n I n a co m p u te r and l e t s y o u g e t I t b a c k

T he t r i c k o n b o t h c o u n t s I s o f c o u r s e how. H a l l , a s we s a i d on t h e o t h e r s i d e o f t h e b o o k , a n y in f o r m a tio n s to r e d in a conputer has a d a ta s t r u c t u r e , w hi c h s i m p l y means w h a t e v e r a r r a n g e m e n t o f a l p h a b e t i c a l c h a r a c t e r s , num be rs and a p e c l a l c o d e s t h e c o m p u te r h a p p e n s t o bs s a v i n g . In s u b je ct e ve n by i t back get it?

a c o n t e n t - r e t r l e v a l s y s te m , I n f o r m a t i o n on some i s somehow ja m a ed I n t o a d a t a s t r u c t u r e — p o s s i b l y human c o d e r s — and th e n s e t up s o p e o p l e c a n g e t o u t a g a i n I n aome w ay . L o t of p o s s i b i l i t i e s h e r e ,

The r e a l name f o r i t s h o u l d be A u to m a te d D ia lo g u e T e a c h i n g . T h a t would l m i e d i a t e l y a l l o w y o u t o a s k , s h o u l d c o m pu te r t e a c h i n g u se d l a l o g u e a ? But t h e y d o n ’ t wan t you t o ask t h a t . I n t h e c l a s s i c f o r m u l a t i o n of t h e e a r l y s i x t i e s , t h e r e w er e g o i n g t o be t h r e e l e v e l s o f CAI: " d r i l l - a n d - p r a c t i c e " s y s t e m s , much l i k e t e a c h i n g a a c h i n e s , t h a t s i m p l y h e lp e d s tu d e n ts p r a c t i c e v a rio u a s k i l l s ; a m iddle l e v e l ( o ft e n i t s e l f c a ll e d , co n fu sin g ly , "co m p u ter-a ssisted in s tru c tio n " ) : and a t h i r d l e v e l , t h e S o c r a t i c s y s t e m , w h i c h would s u p p o s e d ly be I d e a l . S t u d e n t s s t u d y i n g on S o c r a t i c s y s t e a s w ou ld be e l o q u e n t l y ond t h o u g h t f u l l y I n s t r u c t e d a n d c o r r e c t e d b y s p e r f e c t b e i n g i n t h e m a c h i n e . "We d o n ' t know how t o d o t h a t y e t , " th e p e o p le keep sa y in g . Y e t , in d e e d .

All these things are very technical.

(My p e r s o n a l v ie w o n t h i s s u b j e c t , e x p r e s s e d i n a n a r t i c l e ( f o l l o w i n g ) i s t h a t C o m p u t e r - A s s i s t e d I n s t r u c t i o n i n many ways e x t e n d s t h e w o r s t f e a t u r e s o f e d u c a t i o n a s we now know i t I n t o t h e new r e a l m o f p r e s e n t a t i o n by c o m p u t e r . )

The reader must decide for himself which, if any, are misguided.

J)0tS Tftt NMC PMiOV £>Mm 22 5 0 4 o r

Imlac ros-l. (The lest erf these costs only S I 0 .0 0 0 mjwi by 1975 such ■ unH will probably cost Si.OOO tx less.) No* only will computers be much ch eaper, b ut their inability will i n p o w : a small computer w ith a fair amount of uicumj y will be ibie to do much m o re th is it can now, mduding operite ■ cncifdex d isp lay frrm its owa axnpfc* data base. ll is generally s u p p w d tha t systems like Ifaeae big com ru ters aod n m r m r m o n o n c T h a is o o t true if we use tbe ctjurpmciM wefl, o rganize s t o r a g e deverty. a nd integrate d a la a n d display f u n c t k n s u u f e r a compact o n y x T h is ts the go a l a# T h e N e l s o n O rgamzauon's Proje ct X an a d u , a syste m m t e i x k d t o

oompotB witb disk aod tape.

Discrete hyperlexis “ H y p e r t e x t " m e a n s f o r m s o f writing w h ic h b r a n c h or p e r fo rm o n r e q u e s t ; t h e y a r e best p re s e n te d o n c o m ­ pu ter d i s p l a y s c r e e n s . In o r d i n a r y w r it i n g t h e a u t h o r m a y b r e a k s e q u e n c e for fo o tn o te s o r i n s e ts , b u t th e use o f p rin t o n p ? pr m ak e s s o m e b a s i c s e q u e n c e essential. T h e com puv display s c r e e n , h o w e v e r , p e r m it s fo o tn o tes o n fo o t n o t e s on fo o tn o te s , a n d p a t h w a y s o f a n y stru c tu r e th e a u t h o r wants to c r e a te . D is crete, o r c h u n k s ty le, h y p ertex ts c o n sist o f s e p a ­ ra te pieces o f t e x t c o n n e c t e d by links. O r d in a r y p r o s e a p p e a r s o n th e screen' an d m a y b e m oved f o r w a r d a n d b a c k b y throttle. A n as te ris k o r oth er key in t h e l e x t m e a n s , n o t a n o rd i n a ry fo o tn o te , but a jump — t o a n e n t i r e l y n e w p re s e n ta tio n o n th e screen. S u c h j u m p a b l e in te rc o n n e c tio n s b e c o m e p a r t of th e w riting, e n t e r i n g i n t o t h e prose m e d iu m itself as a new w a y t o p r o v i d e e x p la n a tio n s and details t o t h e seeker. T h e s e lin k s m a y b e artfully a r ra n g e d a c c o r d in g to m e a n in g s o r r e l a t i o n s in th e subject, a n d p o s s ib le tange nts in t h e r e a d e r ’s m in d .

W e lc o m in g n e s s a n d control C H O IC E POIN T GO ON I D O N ’T UNDERSTAND S O FAR I’M BORED EXPLAIN T H E BIG PICTURE DETAILS PLEASE TIE T H IS IN WITH SOMETHING I KNOW

T h e r e a r c a s c r e e n an d t w o th r o t t l e s . The first th ro ttle m o v e s th e lext fo r w a r d a n d b a c k w a r d , u p and d o w n o n th e s c r c c n . T h e s e c o n d ih ro tilc c a u s c s ch a n g es in t h e w r itin g itself: th ro ttlin g t o w a r d y o u cause* the text l o b e c o m c lout; , r b y m i n u te d e g r e e s . G a p s a p p e a r b etw e en p h r a s e s ; nu.v w o r d s a n d p h r a s e s p o p into the gaps, an item a t a time. Push hac k o n t h e th ro ttle and the w riting b e c o m e s s h o r t e r a n d less d e t a il e d . T h e s t r e t c h te x t is sto re d as a text s t r e a m w ilh extras, co d e d t o p o p in a n d p o p o u l at th e d e s i r e d altitudes:

S tr e t c h t e x t is a fo rm of writing. It is re ad from a screen. The user c o n tr o ls it w ith thro ttles . It gets longer and shorter on dem and.

J S tr e tc h te x t, a kind o f h y p e r te x t, is basically a form of writing closely re lated to o th er prose. It is read b y a user or s tu d e n t from a c o m p u te r display screen. The user, or s tu d e n t, c o n t r o ls it, and causes it to change, w ith t h ro ttle s con n e cted to the c o m p u te r . S tretch te x t gets longer, by a dding words and phrases, or s h o rter, by subtractin g words and phra ses, on dem and.

D i s s e c ti o n on Ihe scrccn T h e s tu d e n t of a n a t o m y m a y use his light-pen a s a s c a lp e l for a d ec ea sed c r e a t u r e on the screen. As he c u t s , th e tissue parts. H e c o u l d also tu rn the lig h t-p en i n t o h e m o s ta t o r fo rcep s , a n d fully dissect the c r e a tu r e — o r p u t it b a c k to g e th e r a g a in . ( T h i s nee d not be a c o m p l e x s im ula tion. M a n y k e y relatio n sh ip s c a n be s h o w n by m ea n s of fairly sim p le s che m atic picture s, n e e d i n g a d a t a stru c tu r e n o t p ro h ib itiv ely c o m p lic a ic d .)

LET S G O BACK TO LAST CHOICE PO IN T GIVE ME M ORE CHOICES

H y p e r m a p z ip s u p o r d o w n T h e s c r e e n is a m a p . A s te e rin g d e v ic e p e r m its the u s e r l o m o v e t h e m a p a r o u n d th e w o r l d ’s s u rfa c e : a thro ttle z o o m s it in. N o t b y d is c re te j u m p s , b u t ani­ m a te d in s m all c h a n g e s , the m a p g ro w s a n d gro w s in scale. M o r e d e ta ils a p p e a r as the m ag n ific atio n in­ crea se s. T h e u s e r m a y re q u es t a d d itio n a l d i s p l a y m o d es o r “ o v e r la y s ,” s u c h as p o p u la tio n , c l i m a t e , a n d indus­ try. S u c h a d d i t i o n a l fe atu re s m a y p o p i n t o view on request

I l y p c r - c o m i c s sire fun H y p e r-c o m ic s a r e p e r h a p s th e sim plest an d m ost s tra i g h t fo r w a r d h y p e r -m e d i u m , l h e screen holds a c o m i c strip, b u l o n e w h ich b ra n c h e s o n the s tu d e n t's r e q u e s t . F o r instance, d ilferen t c h a ra c te rs could be used lo e x p l a in things in different w a y s , with the s tudent ab le l o c h o o s e w hich ty p e o f e x p l a n a t i o n he w a n te d ;ii a s p e c ific lime.

M O R E C HOIC ES I T E ST ME I DRILL ME R ID D LE ME I DRAW ME A DIAGRAM T ELL ME A RELEVANT JOKE I CH A N G E TH E SUBJECT S U R P R IS E ME

P erform ing h v p e r g r a m s A h y p e r g ra m is a p e r fo rm i n g or b ra n c h in g p ictu re : for in s tan ce , th is an g le , w ith the b a r -g ra p h of its r e ­ lated t r i g o n o m e t r i c fu n c t io n s . T h e s tu d e n t m a y t u r n the angle u p o n t h e s c r e e n , seizin g it with th e lig h t- p e n , and w a tc h t h e re l a t e d trig o n o m e tric fu n c tio n s , d is ­ played as b a r c h a r t s , c h a n g e correspondingly. H y p e r g r a m s m a y a l s o b e p ro g r a m m e d to s how th e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f a u s e r ’s p ro d — w h a t follow s o r a c ­ c om pa nie s s o m e m o t i o n o f t h e p ictu re t h a t h e m a k e s with a p o i n tin g t o o l , l ik e t h e h e a rtb e a t sequence.

S lr c lc h le x t^ ills in lh e d e t a il s T h i s fo r m o f h y p e r t e x t is ea sy lo use w ith o u t g ellin g lost. A s a f o r m o f w r iiin g . it h a s special a d v a n ta g e s for discursive a n d lo o s e ly s t r u c t u r e d m aterials— for in­ stance h isto rical n a r ra tiv e s .

‘T e c h n i c a li t y ’ is not n e c e s s a ry

Q u e ria b le illu s lra lio n s : a fo r m of h y p e r g r a m A “ h y p e r g r a m ” is a p ic tu re t h a l c a n b r a n c h or p e r­ fo r m o n re q u e s t. In th is p a r tic u la r e x a m p le , we see o n th e sc re e n a lin e-d raw in g w ilh p r o t r u d i n g labels. W h e n th e s t u d e n t p o ints at a label, it b e c o m e s a sliding d esc rip tiv e r i b b o n , ex p la in in g th e th in g labe lle d. O r a ste risks in a n illustra tion m a y signal ju m p s to d etailed d i a g r a m s and ex p la n a tio n s , as in discrete hypertexts.

P r o p o n e n t s o f c a i w a nl u s t o believe th at scientific t e a c h i n g re q u ires a c c rta in s e t u p a n d fo r m a t, in c o m ­ p r e h e n s ib le to the laym an a n d lo be left t o experts. T h i s is sim ply not true. “T e c h n i c a li t y " is a m yth. T h e p r o b l e m is not o n e of te c h n ic a l rightness, bul w hat .should be. T h e suggestions l h a t hiivc b e e n given ar e th in g s th at s h o u l d b e, they will be b r o u g h t a b o u t. □

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The technique, of melon, computer, present thing, lnler.ctl.ely on le computer dl.pl.y- (Some esy "Inter,,!,, com­ puter graphic;" this 1, „0, to. bu, loo restrictive as mil: lmersctlve ten •re not "graphic" or pictorial. bui'tSy „ „ tol. to be a profoundly import.™ an,. of computer display.)

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C B T . or cafhoda-rey tube, diaplaya; ihese are sty b n r t u be a Dal pnel. Theee a ™ going to be cropping up all over. (Tha pictures can't aore nuch. but tbe devices sre fotng U> te chaapP \m . too. toe* peopla think lhat's vary kmpona)l.)

You will note that com puter diaplay la w hat makea possible the com puter termin als with s c r e e n s lhal we saw on the o th e r side . All th a l a screen -term in al la is some e o n of com­ p u te r d is p la y , to which a key b oard haa been added.

It w as e x p la in e d o n th e o th e r aide th at com puters h a v e no fixe d p u r p o s e o r sty le of o p e ra tio n . b u t can b e se t In motion on d eta ile d an d re p e titiv e ta s k s In any realm of human In ­ t e r e s t— as lo n g as th o se ta sk s a r e exactly specifiable In c e r ta in h um drum w ays.

j-D diaplaya, especially c t lha C B T type. NOTE ihls ter* reiers M b i g x m e l y lo two different thlnge: setups which prasanl O* views of three -dinenskeial scenes. aid those which prwent sisreoeo^ic views a i 1-D sc«tee; Iheee are much rarer.

Now, if y o u h a d a m achine like that b u r n in g a hole in th e c o m e r o f y o u r office, w hat would you r e a lly wanl to do w ilh it? You c a n 't d r iv e it on the road. You c a n 't make love to it.

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laap aynihaala or halftone tochniquee and systena. Theee are naputer i which r phocographllke pictures. (This happens to be a favorite topic of mine. m d *> there’e qulla s bli on it here, s lot a i ehidi la nol widely k m n in tha field.)

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T o g et it lo c o n trol elabo rate e v e n ts in th e re a l w orld r e q u ir e s a lot of e x p e n siv e e q u ip ­ ment and in te r f a c e s , so c ro a s that o ut.

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And we a r e a lso s u p p o sin g (from an e a r ­ li e r p a r a g r a p h ) th a t you h a v e a com puter. What s o r ts of th in g would you do w ith it? T h in g s that a r e im aginative and d o n ’t re q u ir e too m u c h e l s e . I am h i n t i n g at s o m e t h i n g .

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So b s coaputer displays have to be deoply attached to a conputer and soae don't. Those latter we call display terminals.

A display terninal is like an ordinary coaputer terainal (see p ): that is, fundaaentally a device by which a computer and a person can type at each other. However, dis­ play terainal3 have screens. Now, soae display terminals only show te*t, just like ordinary printing terainals (described on the other side). But manufac­ turers are free to add any other features, and so different manufacturers aake it possible to do various kinds of pictuTe-aaking with their particular display terainals, if appropriate prograas are running in the coaputer that con­ trols thea.

W l V Two major types are the storage tube and the panel. These in turn have separate subtypes, etc. Refreshed displays have to have some other kind of of symbolic (digital) memory, whose contents repeated­ ly go to the screen:

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The computer diaplay screen la the new frontier of ou r lives. That auch eyutems should (snd will) be fun goes without sa y in g . Thai they will also be a place to w ork may be less obvious from lhe lone of this p u b lic a tio n , so I want to stress It h ere.

Soae dpvices are sold as display terainals but actually, to further confuse the issue, contain coaplete minicomputers. (The fact that the aanufacturer may not stress this is simply a marketing angle he has chosen.) Siailarly, certain terainals contain microprocessors (see p. V*J), which means they can be prograamed to behave like various other terminals, but ordi­ narily they cannot be prograamed to do much else by themselves. Without getting into it deeplv, there are two main types of display terainal: those that are refreshed and those that are not. A refreshed display Is one whose viewing surface fades and must be continually re-£illed; a non-refreshed display somehow stores the presentation in the viewing surface itself. Non-refreshed displays simply take the symbols from the computer, blaa them onto the screen, and that's it until the screen is erased (by either the computer or the user).

Most refreshed displays use an actual television screen-- that is, a CRT (see p.ft*t-7) whose entire area is repeatedly re-painted by the elctron beam. Since computers send text out to terminals as in­ dividual alphabetic and punctuation codes, each terainal must contain circuitry to change the character code to a visible alphabetical character on the screen. Such a piece of circuitry is called a character generator. There are various kinds, they go at various speeds, some offer more different characters than others. Display terminals generally have a little marker, or cursor, that the user or the computer can move around the screen. The computer can sense what the user is pointing at by the motion codes it gets, telling where the user has moved the cursor. I had intended here to print a little directory of display terminal manufacturers, but there simply is not time. See section on terminals, other side. Note that the term video terminal is often used, in­ correctly, for any display terminal. The term "video" should only be used when the screen is refreshed by an actual video raster. (See ’’Lightning in a Bottle," p.***-}.) Text terminals (also called alphabetic terminals, character terminals or keyscopes) simply show written text, put in either by the computer or the user. (Soae terminals, called transaction terainals, can be divided up into specific areas that the user may and may not type into-- for banking and stuff. However, whether that form of terminal is necessary may also be a matter of taste in the progTan design.) Text terminals range in price from, say, $1500 on up to $6 500. (This last is the price of a remarkable color text terminal demonstrated by Tec, Inc., at the 19 74 National Coaputer Conference. Each alphabetic position could con­ tain a letter and/or a bright color; altogether the screen could hold big colorful pictures made up of these bright spaces. Ostensibly just a text terminal, actually the de­ vice could be regarded as an Instant Movie Generator for television animation. But it may take Tec, Inc. awhile to realize what they have created.)

T h ia h o n e y i a th a G T -4 0 f r o m DSC ( $ 1 2 , 0 0 0 , i n ­ c lu d in g o o m p u te r -- th e th in g w ith t e e t h , b a lo u ) . I t ' s a eu b ro utin in g d i a p l a y ( a e e p . DM S 3 ) .

Graphic terainals offer some kind of pictures on their screens. TKese cone in a great variety: line-drawing, some without, some with levels of grey. Of interest to the be­ ginner are: "The Tektronix." (Also called "the greenie," or "the green screen.") Tektronix, Inc., makes a display based on a pale green storage tube they aake. (So does Computer Displays, Inc.) Such displays allow you to put more and more text and pictures on a screen, crowding it all up-- but you can't take the lines or words off individually.

M an i a p l a y i n g N o o n m m . m -m mm m la n d e r gam e: c o n t r o l ­ lin g a oreen a o tio n u ith lig h tp e n . C o n p u t e r s i m u l a t e s r e a l moon l a n d e r . R eversed u h ite - to - b la a k fo r r e a d a b ility here.

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"The PEP." Excellent (but veTy expensive) display that comes out to a video screen from a high-re­ solution storage tube. Permits grey scales and selective erase. Princeton Electronic Products. The IDlgraf (Information Displays, Inc., Mount Kisco, NY). Allows line pictures with aniaation; interest­ ing unit; somewhat less than J1 0 ,(fifth

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A PLATO-like terminal (see PLATO terainal, nearby, and p p i s now available for use with STANDARD com­ puter interfaces and software. "Less than JS000" from Applications Group, Inc., P.O. Box 444A, Maumee, Ohio 43537,

mTOMjCTNF fctfPUiy If you have not seen interactive coaputer display, you have not lived.

REFRESHED HI Gil-RESOLUTION COLOR SYSTEMS. A number of companies manufacture computer displays allowing com­ plex grey-scale pictures, including color. They are expensive but very very nice. Indeed, if you buy then in clusters, these fancy-picture scopes can cost as little as text terminals. Soae manufacturers are:

Except for a few people who can laagine it-and I'a trying to help you with that as hard as I can-- aost people just don't aet it till they see it. They can't imagine what it's like to manipu­ late a picture. To have a diagram respond to you. To change one part of a picture, and watcIT TKe rest adapt. These are some of the things that can hap­ pen in interactive coaputer display-- all depending, of course, on the prograa.

Data Disk. (Disk refresh.) Note: I once recommend­ ed them to a consulting client of mine, who later expressed complete satisfaction with their equipment. Rantek. (iw&MucV Adage, Inc. Their model 200 is a video system re­ freshed from semiconductor storage. Costal. (Disk.) Spaflal Data Systems■ (Disk.) DlcomeiT. (Disk.) Extremely high resolution.

For soae reason there are a lot of people who pooh-pooh coaputer display: they say it's "not necessary," or "not worth it,” or that "you can get just as good results other ways." Personally, I wouldn’t thing of trying to Justify coaputer display on "practical" grounds. So what if it offers you faster access to inforaation and pictures and aaps anldiagraas, the ability to siaulate extreaely complex things by modifying pictures, the ability to go through complex transactions with the system in very little time, the ability to create things in the world almost instantaneously (say, by creating fabric patterns which are then automatically woven, or design 3D objects which are then auto­ matically milled by machines), and never mind that It enables the user, say, to control entire oil refineries by the flick of a lightpen. As far as I'm concerned, the»« matters aren't very important coapared to changing the world: aaklng education an exciteaent, rather than a prison; giving scholars total access to writings and notes, in new complex fora; allowing people to play laaginatlvely, and raising human minds to tne potentials they should have reached long ago; end helping people think at the deepest level about very heavy and complex alternatives -which confront us more ominously today than ever.

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The Ihing about diaplay s creen s— especial' ly the h ig h -pe rfo rm a n c e , sub routining Kind­ is lhal the screen can become a place from which lo control events In the outside world, Example: I believ e a town In N .Y . State has Its electrical system hooked up to an HJIIOM subroutlning display (made b y Information Dis­ plays, I n c .. snd coupled to a Vsrlan 820 mini­ computer). Instead of having a wail with s big painted map having sw ltchee set Into it, like many such control c e n te r s , the sw itches a re linked directly lo the minicomputer, and a pro ­ gram in the minicomputer connects these circu its to the pictures on the s c r e e n . Thus to throw a sw itch In the real w o rld , the operator points with M s lightpen al th e p ic tu re o f the sw itch , and the minicomputer thro w s the aw ltch, T here are oil re fln e rle a lhat work the same way, The op erato r can control flows among pipes and tanks b y pointing al th eir pic tu re s , or at symbols connected with them, and bingo, it happens Out T h e re . In another case, a person designing some­ thing at a s c re e n can look across the room and see a machine p ro d u c in g what he Just finished designing a few m inutes ago. I wish 1 could say more sbout lhat p a r tic u la r setup. T he tru e problem lhat 1 think Is emerging, th ough. Is Lhe problem of system response and s ty le . Okay, so y o u 're controlling widget sasem bly, or traffic light g r i d s , at Lhe CRT screen. The real queatlon la, how does lhe screen behave and re sp o n d ? Thia la not, dam it, a technical issu e . It's psychological and then aome. T he desig n of acreen activities which will enjoyebly focus the u a e r's mind on his proper co n c e rn s-- no m atter how peraonal these may be— Is the new frontier of desig n , of a r t. and of a rc h ite c tu re . Bul more of that la te r . Now, the Xerox Corporation haa said lhal they Intend to replace p a p e r (or, tha way I heard it, "Somebody ia going to replace pap er with s c re e n s, and It will be either IBM o r ua, so l e t's have It be u s,"^ Well and good. Save the trees and stem lhe grey menace. But the question la: what will lhe system* be lik e? How should Ihey p e r ­ form? What forma will information take? What conventions, s tru c tu re s , diagram a. animations, ways to sign thin g s, waya to view things . . . HOW SHALL IT BE? I fuddled with Who profess apec laity by la c k in g dme a motto;

am afraid that aa lo n g as people are be­ tech n icalities, o r confused by those that theae considerations are ihelr r ig h t, we will nev er get s tr a ig h t. for the full discu ssio n , I give you

IF THE BUTTON IS NOT SHAPED LIKE THE THOUGHT , TH E THOUGHT WILL END UP SHAPED LIKE THE BUTTON.

SAVING ENERGY WITH COMPUTER DISPLAY

Student progixumner Alan Mafieil, an art " a jo r , ponders s&m thing o r other. I t may be th e program fo r t h a llova apace-game he and Pete Rouell are b u ild in g . Alan also made a film sharing who* may have been the n a tio n s o f the c o n tinents, shooting s tr a ig h t o f f the PLATO screen. S am PLATO p u r is ts p o in t o ut that th is is n o t ex a a tly uhat FUTO uas o rig in a lly in tended fo r . So 7 PLATO p a a a l .

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criticism of computer display is electricity. But (as mentioned saves paper, and, importantly, it energy as well.

IF WE SWITCH TO COMPUTER SCREENS FROM PAPER, PEOPLE WON’T HAVE TO TRAVEL AS MUCH. Instead of commuting to offices in the center of town, people can set up their offices in the suburbs, and share the documentary struc­ ture of the work situation through the screens. This view has been propounded, indeed, by Peter Goldmark, former director of research for CBS Labs, the man who brought you the LP record.

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YOUR BASIC TYPES OF COMPUTER DISPLAY (Note: the term "display" is also used in this field to re fe r to num bers and letters that can be made to light up in fixed positions, like on your pocket calculators. Those will not b e discussed h e r e . If y o u 're interested see an article on the subject by Alan Sobel, Scientific Am erican, ea rly 1973 sometime.)

EARLIEST SYSTEM: A LITTLE PROGRAM TO MAKE DOTS

Th e e a rlie s t s etup connected a CRT to a com puter b y th e sim ple st p o ssible m ea ns, and made its p i c t u re s with dots on the s c r e e n a so rt of tattooing p r o c e s s . It was simple because all the com puter did was fu r n is h to th e connecting c ir c u itry (o r interface) sym bols s pecifying how fa r u p , and how fa r a c r o s s the s c r e e n , the n ex t dot should b e. T h e se sym bols w e re actually coded num bers, and the i n terface tu rn e d them into voltages which then moved th e beam co r re s p o n d in g ly . (This p ro c e s s of m aking a m easured voltage out of a coded n u m eric al symbol is called digital-to-analog c o n v e rs i o n , s in ce (a s explained on the o th e r side) the main m eaning of "analog" th e s e d a y s is "in a m ea sured v o lta g e ." )

2.

LINE-DRAWING HARDWARE

The next step in des ig n is to get the com­ p u te r pro gram out of the b u s in e s s of dra wing lines by a succession of d o t s . So we build a piece of hardware that the computer program may simply instruct to draw a lin e . As an interface, il looks to the com puter lik e four separate devices: re giste rs that tell w h e re on the screen the line must start ("flrat X" and "first Y") and re g iste rs thal tell it w h e re to stop ("end X" and "end Y").

Now, t h is h a s s e v e ra l d r a w b a c k s . One ie lhat the lin e s a r e dotty; nobody lik es t h a t. A more im portant a nnoya nce , th o u g h , is thal the com puter sc a rc e ly h as time for an y th in g e l s e . Here ie a flow chart of what the com puter h as lo do in its p ro g r a m . (Even if yo u d i d n 't look at the o th e r s i d e of the book, flow charts a r e nothing s c a r y . T h e y 'r e j u s t m aps of w ha t h a p p e n s .)

THE FORKED LIGHTNING " Because t h e ir words have fo rked no lightn ing they Do not go gentle into that good n ig h t." — Dylan Thomas

This speeds things up considerably, and allows the computer program to display on the CRT simply by telling the device what lines it wants draw n. M oreover, the program is free to do other things while each line is being draw n, though this involves the problem of how the pro gram is to know when it's time to send out another line— and we n ee dg't go into that h ere.

The most b a s i c , and yet eventually the most versatile, com puter display ie that of the CRT, o r bottled lig htning (a s 1 like to call i t ) . It i s , you know: a beam of ele ctrons, ju s t like lightning in a storm , b u t from the neck of a very empty bottle to its flat bottom, whose chemically coated s u rfa c e we watch. As m anip­ ulated by the com puter, the CRT stabs its beam to all corners of the faceplate: forked lig h tn in g .

(Incidentally, it is a puzzlin g fact that such a device is available nowhere, although lots of people end up bu ild in g one for themselves. The re was such a thing on the market a couple of y e a rs ago-- lin e -d r a w in g hardw are with no interface and no CRT-- b u t it was withdrawn because of reliability pro b le m s . A just price, if anybody wants to go into t h a t, would be five hu ndre d to a thousand d o la r s — this y e a r.)

Computer d isplay began in the late fo rtie s. Computers them selves w ere completely n e w , and so was Mr. Dumont's magical Cathode Ray Tube o r CRT (see p.**&), developed on a cr a s h basis d u ri n g the w ar so we could have r a d a r , and as long as it was around a fter the w a r, we gol television. But the lig h tn in g bottle, o r CRT, can be used in a v ariety of w ays. Its control pla te s , which move th e ra y of electro ns around on the s c r e e n , can be given various different ele c ­ tronic s ig n a ls , ca u s in g the beam to move around in different p a t t e r n s . In normal video, the signals move the bea m in a zigzag p attern , where the zigs a r e v ery close together a n d the zags are invisib le; the carpel of zigs covers the screen o v e r and over in a repetitive p a tte r n , and the beam 's c ha nging intensity paints the picture. But we can d r i v e the CRT differe ntly, by using differe nt control s ig n als . For instance: we can apply a m easured voltage to the height o r "Y" plates of the CRT, moving the beam to a given v ertic al positio n, and another m eas­ u re d voltage to the sidew ays or "X" plates, controlling its horizonta l p o sitio n .

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EVOLUTION FROM THIS: TWO OPTIONS

T here are b asically two ways to go from this basic s ta rtin g point. Either we can keep the display device intimately and integrally con­ nected to the com puter, o r we can say the hell with it and cut the display device loose as a sepa rate e n tity .

F u rt h e rm o r e , and h e r e was the indignity of i t , th is system took far too l o n g . To draw a line with t h irty dots in it took th irty times around the loop in the flow c hart, and since each box in the flowchart takes at lea st one of the m achine's ro ck-b ottom in s t ru c t i o n s -- usually m ore -- then the main loop of th is d isplay routine take s fo u r s ep a rate operations p e r d o t , o r 120 o p erations for a stu p id 30-dot lin e . Plainly t h ere h a s to be a b e t t e r way to u se an expensive com puter. Actually it w a s n 't ju s t the ignom iny of it, bu t the fact that il took so l o n g , that made this a poor m ethod. T h e amount of stuff the compu­ t e r could d ra w ln l/4 0 th of a s ec o n d — end Ihis t u r n s out to be how fast the whole p ictu re has to be m a d e -- was too liltle. After l/4 0 th of a second th e human eye can see the lin es on the CRT s t a r t to fa de, and so the p ic tu re has to be re d ra w n to make it b rig h t aga in before that h a p p e n s . If y o u r eye sees th e p ic tu re fading, then w he n the com puier draw s' the p ictu re again you will se e it get suddenly b r i g h t aga in— and it will s t a r t to D icker. T his is d is tra c tin g , u n ­ h ea lth y , a n d d is ag re ea b le .

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Note that the mo 6 l im portant com puter in the M alory of com puter d isplay u s ed th is tech­ nique1, " o 'h i s was the TX-2 at Lincoln Labora­ to ri e s , a h i g h ly -g u a r d e d installation outside Bos­ ton w hich is formally p a r t of MIT. T h e TX-2 was one of the fi rs t tra n sis to riz e d com puters-p e r h a p s Mie first; an d on it w e re program m ed a nu m b er of milestone s y s t e m s , in clu d in g S uther­ l a n d 's S k etch p a d , J o h n s o n 's Sketchpad IV, and B a e c k e r 's GENESYS animation system (discussed s o m e w h e re ).

Ivan S uth erland h as cannily noled that there Is a certain tra p involved in these designs: as we build additional "independent" structures lo take the b u rd e n of display away from the computer, we a r e tempted to keep adding fea­ tu re s which make the "independent" structure a computer in its own rig h t. This paradoxical temptation S uth erland ca lls "the great wheel of Karma" of computer display architectu re. It is tempting to cut the display loose from the computer. It means the computer can be fully occupied with o th er matters than refreshing the s c r e e n - - p re p a rin g the next displays, p e r ­ h ap s . Many com puter people believe this is the right way to do i t , and it is certainly one valid approach. But unfortu nately it also drastically re duces the immediacy of the system's reaction, making interaction with the system less intimate and wonderful. Approaches which put display refreshment and maintenance in a sepa rate device are less interesting to me, and so that discussion contin­ ues separately n e a rb y .

On th e o th e r e id e o f .th e book, I explained th at a com puter la b a s ic a lly a zippy device, ne v e r mind how c o n s tr u c te d , w hich follows a pro g ram somehow s to r e d sym bolically in a co re mem ory. Such a d e v ic e w e call h e re a program follow er. While p ro g ra m s may be In many com­ p u te r la ng u ages— all of them c ontrived system s for e x p r e ss in g th e u s e r 's w is h e s , in different sty le s and with d iffe re n t g e n e ra l in te n t-- u n d e r ­ neath they all tra n s la te to an in n e r language of b in a ry p a tte r n s , w h ich may Juat be thought of aa p a tte rn s of X an d O , o r ligh t b u lb s on an d off. The innerm ost p ro g ra m follow er of lhe computer goes down lists of b in a r y p a tle m s stored in the c o re memory, and c a r r i e s them out as specific in stru c tio n s . I t also c h a n g e s its sequences of operations u n d e r co n ditio ns that the program m er haa told it to watch f o r . . The most pow erfu l a n d respo n siv e com­ p u te r d isplays a r e th ose w h ich b u ild a second p rogram follower w hich g o e s down lista of p ic ­ tu re -d ra w in g in s tru c tio n s also store d in the same c o re memory.

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We may call th is a lso a "list-of-lin es" s y s te m , sin ce the com m ands recognized by the diaplay p rogram follow er a r e typically p a tte rn s that tell it what lin es to d ra w . Typically also it h a s its own way of Jump­ in g around In a p ro g ra m , and may jump to a specific Hat of Unea, o r a u b p lc tu r e , from n u m e r­ ous other pa rta of Its p r o g r a m , always re tu r n in g each time to the point from w hich it had Jumped. T hia -allows the same s u b p ic tu r e to ap p e a r in numerous p laces on th e s c r e e n al the same time. (A program that can be Jumped lo by o th e r p r o ­ grams which th en resu m e op eratio n is called a su b rou lln e; (hue the r e a l, o r most p re stig io u s, name for auch a device is a su b rou tin in g disp la y ■)

T h is d e sig n h a s some e x tra o rd in a ry a d van ­ tag es. One Is th a t s in c e th e com puter's p rogram follower and the d is p la y 's program follower both s h a re the same c o re memory, they can work to ­ gether moat intim ately. When the u s e r dem ands so methin g new— b y typ in g , sa y , o r poin ting with a l ig h t- p e n - - th e computer can step In and take va rio u s a c tio n s. Its program can compose a new p ic tu re for th e u s e r , get someth ing from a d isk o r tape m em ory, o r sw itch the d is p la y 's pro g ram follower o v e r to a new p ic tu re il ha® alread y p r e p a r e d . Moat im p o rta n tly , the computer can move images on the s c r e n , allowing Interactive an i­ mation on the s c r e e n u n d e r the u s e r 's control. Each time th e d is p la y s ta r ts to show the same p icture again, th e compute r simply s u p p lie s it with a new s ta r tin g p o in t. Since the list of lin es is typically in th e form of sequences o f lines relative to one a n o th e r , the p ic ture la draw n in a new place each tim e -- and thu s seen to move on the sc re e n . Fin a lly, th e com puter itse lf is fre e most of the tim e-- f r e e , that i s , lo do o th e r th in gs, w hich typically i s alw ays d e sira b le . Ju s l how much the com puter can o r should do in such a p a r tn e r s h ip is a m a tte r of d ispu te. (O rdinarily such devlcea a r e s p lic e d onto minicomputers; and minic om puter fa n s , such as the a u th o r, see no reason not to p erfo rm all se rvic e s for the d is ­ play th e r e in th e minicomputer— and a pox on the big m achines. O th e rs, for various re a so n s, aee the s u b r o u d n ln g display and its host mini as n e eding the te n d e r min istratious o f a b lgcom puter v ia some s o r t of communications line. T h e re a r e v a rio u s re a so n s for holding th is en­ tirely le gitim ate view . People who a r e devoted to the hig h n u m b e r-c ru n c h in g capacity of b ig c o m p u te rs, o r to la n gu a g e s which re q u ire great big com puters to r u n in , have a rig h t to th e ir opinion. M oreover, it is c u rre n tly feasible lo store la rg e bo dies of data only on b ig computers - - not b ecause b ig d isk and tape memories c a n 't be e asily attached lo lh e small ones, for they can, b u t they u s u a lly are n't; and o lh e r ways to tie m inic om puters lo b ig stores of data a re n 't available y e t .) S u b ro u tln in g d isp la y s often have commands allowing them to d is p la y text a s well a s lines and d o ts. In the d iap lay of lext they can use the same te c hn iq ue of "moving the pic tu re " by sta rtin g ita diaplay at su ccessiv ely c reepin g points: th is will c a u s e , sa y , whole p a ra g ra p h s to elide on the s c r e e n . The im portance of th is feature in the d isp la y in g of text cannot be o ve re m p h a siz e d. A s more and more people have experience with d is p la y s of different k in d s , they are b e ginn in g to re a liz e how confusing and d is ­ orien tin g it is fo r a s c re e n lo cle ar and be filled with som ethin g new to re a d . You don't know where you a r e . On su b rou lin in g disp lays, moving lhe lexl can g iv e the r e a d e r the same sense of o rientation he gels from tu rn in g p ages -- an im portant th in g lo replace.

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Seldom h a a a n e v e n t I n a new f i e l d had a u c h power and I n f l u e n c e aa w ha t d o u r I v a n S u t h e r l a n d d i d a a a you ng man Y th e p e r i o d 1960-64. * The SKETCHPAD s y s te m ,w h ic h was b a s i c a l l y h i a t h e e l a work ac HIT. was a t on c e I n v e n t i v e , p r o f o u n d , o v e r w h e l m in g ly i m p r e s s iv e to la y me n, and d e e p l y e l e g a n t . Simply f o r t h e u n i v e r s a l I n f l u e n c e I t h aa had In t h e c o a p u t e r f i e l d . I t d e s e r v e s o u r c l o s e a t t e n t i o n . S u t h e r l a n d waa o n e o f t h e f l r a t p e o p l e t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e uae o f t h e co m pu te r I n h e l p i n g p e o p le v i s u a l i z e t h i n g s t h a t w e r e n ' t f u l l y c l e a r y e t — t h e o p p o s it e , of c o u rs e , o f th a c o n ventional n o t i o n o f c o m p u t e r s . W hile c o m p u te rs had b e e n made t o do s n l m s t l o n s a s e a r l y a s t h e f o r t i e s , and c om pu te r g r a p h i c s ha d be en p u t t o work­ ad ay d u t i e s I n t h e o l d SAGE sy st e m ( d e f e n d i n g u s a g a l n a t b » b t r » l o t h e f i f t i e s — remember t h e good o l d d a y s ? ) , S u t h e r l a n d tu r n e d com­ p u t e r d i a p l a y f ro m s n e x p e n s i v e c u r i o s i t y i n t o a t r u e d r s s a Ma chine. SKETCHPAD r a n on t h e 3 6 - b l t T X - 2 , a o n e - o f - a - k i n d e x p e r i m e n t a l ma chi ne ac L i n c o l n L a b o r a t o r i e s (a m i l i t a r y r e s e a r c h p l a c e n o m in a ll y a p a r t o f MI T). I t ha d a d i a p l a y s c r e e n , l i g h t pe n and l o t a of handy sw itc h es . SKETCHPAD was b a s i c a l l y a d r a w in g s y s te m . B ut r s t h e r th a n s i m u l a t i n g p a p e r ( a s some p e o p l e m ig h t ha v e d o n e ) , i t fou nd s p l e n d i d ways t o t a k e a d v a n t a g e o f t h e c o m p u t e r ' s s p e c i a l c a p a b i l i t i e s . I n t h e S k e t c h p a d s y s t e m , S u t h e r l a n d lo o k e d f o r ways t h a t a r esponding c o n p u te r d is p l a y sc re en c ould h e lp pe o p le d e sign th in g s . He p i o n e e r e d m e th o d s o f d r s w ln g on s c r e e n s , w i t h s u c h t e c h n i q u e s a s t h e “ r u b b e r - b s n d l i n e " ( s s t r a i g h t l i n e o n t h e s c r e e n , one snd o f w h ic h f a l l o w s y o u r l i g h t p e n w h i l e t h e o t h e r r e m a i n s f i x e d ) , and t h e " I n s t a n c e " — a s u b p i c t u r e s t o r e d I n c o r e memory wh ich co ul d I a la rge r p ic tu r e ) .

T h i s p i c t u r e v a g u e ly a im u l a t e e t h e " i n s t a n c e 1 f a c i l i t y o f S k e ta h p a d , b y u h 'ia n a n o v e r a l l p i c t u r e may b e c r e a t e d o u t o f r e p e titio n s o f a s in g le m a s te r p a tte r n .

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HELPING PEOPLE SEE AND MANIPULATE PICTURES AMD TEXT IN ANY STYLE, AND FOR ANY PURPOSE. Since p ic tu re s can b e o f a n ythin g , and text can be about a n y th in g , th is effectively comprehends the e n tire mental an d w o rking life of m ankind.

Moat im p o rtantly, th e com puie r can move Images on th e sc r e e n , allow ing interactive an i­ mation on the screen u n d e r the u s e r 's control. Each time the disp la y ia about to show the same p icture again, the com puter simply su p plies it with a new sta rtin g p o in t. Since the list of lin e s 1s typically in the form of se q u e n c e s of lines relative to one a n o th e r, th e p ic tu re is d raw n In a new place each time— a n d th u s seen to move on the screen .

T h e u n its mentioned above a r e o f th e most b aaic type: "tw o-dim ensional." whose p ic tu re s al any giv en instant c orre sp o nd to flat draw in g s - - b u t, of c o u rse , d eriv e th e i r excitem ent and magnific ence from th e ir capacity to in te r a c t, change and anim ate what you are lo oking at.

S i m u l a t e d u i t h GRASS la n g u a g e ( a e e p . 3 1 ),

It must be a t r e s s e d h ere th a t, Juat aa comp utera them selves h a v e no fix ed mode o r style of o p era tio n , n e ith e r do computer d isp lay s; and so the p u rp o se o f a u c h devices is almply

This design h as some e x trao rd inary advan­ tages. One la th a t sin c e th e com puter's program follower and the d ia p la y 's p rog ra m follower both s hare the aame co re m em ory, they can w ork to­ gether most Intimately. When the u s e r demands something new — by t y p in g , s a y , o r ^totaling with a lig ht-p e n — the co m pu ter can atep in and take various actions. Ita p rog ra m can compose a new pic ture for th e u s e r , g e t something from a dlak o r tape mem ory, o r sw itch lhe d isp la y 's p rogram follower o v e r to a new p ic tu re it has already p re p a re d .

T h eee e a rlie r machines are b e in g replaced by new v e rs io n s with b e tte r-d e s ig n e d in stru c tio n s (see "C om puter A r c h ite c tu re ," p . 3 2 ., for a sense of what w ell-desig ned instructions a r e ) . An e s ­ pecially One unit is DEC'a GT40, w h ich b uck les on the exceptionally One PDP-11 m inicom puter (see p . *'#1). The GT40 ia illu s tra te d n e a r b y . ( f $ l ) Il goes fo r some $12,000 in cluding th e com puter. (T ha t's to d a y , we re p e a t. Co n sid er n ot the price at th is in s ia n l. b u t how Cast i t's g oing d o w n .)

Many re a d e r s w ill scoff, sup po sin g thal com puter diaplay sy ste m s will alw ays cost Iona of money. T h is is not the case. You can aJready gel a b e a u ty , w ilh its m inic om pute r, for ae little aa $13,000; a n d this p ric e sho u ld fall to th re e o r four th o u sa n d w ithin a few y e a r s — aa soon as th e m inicom puter m anufacturers realize lhal the m arket f r o n tie r Is not in the office or fa c to i^, bu t in Ihe home. But w e 're g e td n g a b it ahead of o u rs e lv e s h e re . TYPES OF SUBROUT1NING DISPLAY Some e a rly su b ro u tln in g displays used a scree n -d o ttin g te c h n iq u e , but took lhe b u rd e n of il off lhe com puter itself: it would extract from core memory the in stru c tio n s telling it to draw in div id ual lines an d show text. (I re fe r h ere lo the DEC model 338, introduced about 1965; this attached lo a PD P-8 computer (see p .* f3 ) and cost about $50,000 in cluding the c om p uter.) O th ers drew lines as s tra ig h t zips of lig ht acrosa the sc re e n; an exam ple is the IBM 2250 d is p la y , introduced about 1966. (The model 1 of this device b uck led d ire c tly to the 360, and cost, f believe, something lik e $75,000; its su c c e s so r, lhe model 4, b uckled to their 1130 minicomputer, the package coaling some $150,000, and then you w ere su pp o sed to attach It to an IBM 360.) The 2250 was a good m achine, but in performance su ffers g re a tly from the re striction s of the 360 com pute r itse lf (see p .V j ) .

The m i n d - b l o w i n g t h i n g a b o u t Sk e tc h p a d was t h e way you c o u ld move and m a n l p u l s t e t h e p i c t u r e on t h e s c r e e n , w i t h a l l i t s p a r t s . One o v e r a l l p i c t u r e c o u ld be c o n s t r u c t e d o u t o f s h u n d re d c o p ie s o f a b a s i c p i c t u r e ; t h e n a ch ang e t n t h e b a a l c p i c t u r e would Im­ m e d i a t e l y be shown I n a l l h u n d r ed p l a c e s . Or yo u c o u l d ex pan d y o u r p i c t u r e u n t i l I t waa e f f e c t i v e l y t h e s i z e o f a f o o t b a l l f i e l d ( w i th you l o o k i n g a t a t i n y v ie w I n t h e h a n d k e r c h i e f - s i z e d s c r e e n ) . Or y o u c o u ld d r sw m e sh in g g e a r s on t h e s c r e e n , a n d w i t h t h e I l g h t pen (an d th r o u g h t h e " c o n s t r a i n t ” f a c i l i t y ) siake o n e g e a r t u r n by tu rn in g th e o th e r! T h i s e l e g a n t t e c h n i q u e , t h e c o n s t r a i n t . d o e s n o t seem t o hsve be en I m i t a t e d e v e n now. A " c o n s t r a i n t was a r e s t r i c t i o n p la c e d on s o a e p a r t o f t h e o v e r a l l s t o r e d p i c t u r e c o m p le x . Tha u s e r c o u ld move o r m a n i p u l a t e v a r i o u s p a r t a o f t h a p i c t u r e on t h s s c r e e n , b u t t h e p a r t s t h a c ha d c o n s t r a i n t s c o u l d o n l y move I n c e r t a i n d i ­ r e c t i o n s , o r a c c o rd in g to c e r t a i n fo rm u las, o r d r a g g in g o th e r pares a lo n g , e t c . , a s s p e c if ie d . T h i s waa a p r o f o u n d i d e a , b e c a u a e I t m e an t t h a t any r u l a e f o r t h e m a n i p u l a t i o n o f p a r t i c u l a r o b j e c t s on t h e s c r e e n c o u ld be added t o S k e tc hp ad a s n a r t l c u l a r a w i t h i n t h e l a r g e r p r o g r a m , r a t h e r th a n h a v i n g t o be p r o g r a m e d i n from a c r a t c h . (One e x t r e m e l y I n t e r e s t i n g a s p e c t o f S u t h e r l a n d ' s t h e s i s , wh ich moat p e o p l e seem t o h a v e m is s e d , d e a l t w i t h d i s p l a y i n g a a t r u c t u r e o f c o n s t r a i n t s : t h a t 1 s , show ing w h at e l e m a n t a d e p en de d on what o t h e r e l e m e n t s , i n s h i g h l y s b s t r a c t e d d ia g ra m t h a t th e sy st e m c o u ld show y o u . T h i s f o rm o f d i s p l a y h a s r e m a r k a b l e p o s a l b l l l t l e s . A f t e r h i s b r i l l i a n t SKETCHPAD w o rk , S u t h e r l a n d was made head o f AHPA's c o n p u t e r b r a n c h ( s e e " M i l i t a r y , " p . 8 9 ) • Th er e he was I n v o lv e d I n many o f t h e co m pu te r f u n d i n g d e c i e l o n e o f t h e l a t e s L a c i e s , wh ich c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h e i m p e tu s o f c « * p u t e r d l s p l s y . ( Hi s p r e d e c e s s o r . L l c k l l d e r , ha d b e e n a p i o n e e r I n t i m e - s h a r i n g , and much o f t h e f o r w a r d *>ve ment i n t h e c om pu te r f i e l d i n r e c e n t y e a r s may J u s t have ha d t o do w i t h t h e s t r a t e g i c p o s i t i o n of t h o s e two men when t h e y were a t ARPA/IPT.) S k e tc hp ad w en t o n a s a c o n t i n u i n g r e s e a r c h t r a d i t i o n a t L in ­ c o l n L ab s . T im o th y J o h n s o n , f o r i n s t a n c e , made a v e r a l o n o f I t t h a t a l l o w e d t h e d r aw in g o f t h r e e - d i m e n s i o n a l o b j e c t s ; t h i a became t h e f o re ru n n e r of th e v a r lo u a th ree -d im e n sio n al l i n e system s d e scrib e d h e re ab o u ts. From ARPA, S u t h e r l s n d wen t on t o t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f U ts h , wh ence he s l i p p e d o f f w i t h t h e Com puter S c i e n c e d e p a r t m e n t c h a i r ­ man t o foun d t h e E van e and S u t h e r l a n d Com pute r Co-paoy, ma ker a ol t h e t o p - o f - t h e - l i n e c om pu te r d i s p l a y a ys te m a ( a e e p . J K V and p - J A ) ? ) S u t h e r l s n d 1s w or k h s s shown s n e l e g a n c e a n d I n v e n t i v e n e s s o u tstan d in g in th e f i e l d . ( F o r I n s t a n c e , I believe one i s s u e of C o m i n l e a t i o n s o f t h e ACM had two u n u a u a l a r t i c l e s by him : one de­ s c r i b i n g an e c c e n t r i c ^ i n c s e a u c t i o n " s y s t e m w o rk e d o u t f o r s c h e d u l i n g u s e o f a c a s p u t e r , wh ic h b e n e f i t e d ■ o c * ch* “ *“ y p r e v i o u s m e th od ; a n d t h e I nfa mo us " G r e a t Wheel o f Karma a r t i c l e , where h e co mpared t h e d e s i g n o f g r a p h i c a l c o m p u t e r s t o th e Hindu s y s te m of r e i n c a r n a t i o n — I f you keep ad d in g d e s i r a b l e ” t h e d e s i g n , so o n you h s v e a n o t h e r p r o g r a a f o l l o w e r an d a n o t h e r com p u t e r i n t h e same b o * — o v e r and o v e r . )

|e y

JoHh) to u rn e y

H ow do co m pu t er s make movies? Well, first of all, computers do n ot make m o vi e s unless tho r ou g hl y provoked. In fact, only p e o pl e make movies. But computers, if s u f fi c ie n tl y provoked, w il l do a lot of it: en act the movie and p h o t o gr a ph it, f rame by frame. There is no s in g le method. A ll forms of c o mp u te r display and comput e r graphics may be us e d to make c om puter movies. "Computer anim a ti o n" is any m e t ho d of m a k ­ ing movies in w h i c h a computer succ es s iv e ly d raws or paints the successive individual frames, w hich may be d o n e by any of the m e thods m e n t i o n ­ e d in this book. Now, since there are numerous methods of m a ki n g p ic t ur e s by computer, t hen any m e t h o d of m aking d i ff e r e n t individual pictures, in a succession of changing frames, is computer animation. S o a " c om p u t e r movie" is any film m a d e by, or wi t h the p icture-making a id of, computers. In other wo r ds - -

JOHN

L il l i a n Schwartz

H ere are a few stills from some o t h er movies, mor e humanistic. BI ULIOGRAPilY N e wm a n 5 Sproull, Interactive Computer G ra p h i c s . McGraw, SIS . This is the textbook. Anyone interested in comput e r display should get this immediately. An expensive journal, Computer Graphics and Image Process m g , comes from Academic Press.

In the forties, he built a special tion stand-- us ing ana l o r computers.

anima­

Deeply concerned with music, ■Whitney h a s in his images emphasized rhythmic and c o n t r a ­ puntal mo v ement of shapes and lines.

it's no one thing.

Now, there al r eady e xist hundreds, if not thousands, of c om p u t e r movies. So far m o s t of them have been on technical topics-- the m e c h a ­ nics of s at e llite o r b it stabilization, the m ec h anics of ex p lo s io n s and so on.

WHITNEY

John W h it n ey is the ancestor of us a l l , probably the first computer m o v i e - m a k e r . He is also a gr i pping speaker.

W h it n ey films available from: P y r a m i d Films, Box 1040, Santa Monica CA 90406. A talented artist wi t h a feel for tech­ nology, Ms. Schwartz has bee n w o rking for s ev eral years with Knowlton a nd others at Bell Labs. Her films wit h Knowlton, me n tion­ ed elsewhere, are marvelous. She now works at a mor e permanent setup, a minicomputer that runs successive images on a color TV screen, employing a m od i f i e d form of Knowlton's E X P LO R language. The w o r k is immediate­ ly viewable. This allows rapid film co n­ struction,- n ot previously p o ssible w he n the w o r k h a d to go t hr ough a slow animation c amer a before she could see the result. For Knowlton-i-Schwartz films contact: Martin D u f f y , AT&T, 195 Broadway, NY NY.

Sherwood Anderson,'' Computer Animation: A Survey. Journal of Micrographics. Sep 71, 13-20. Lists nineteen eomputer-animatlon languages of that time. Ken Knowlton, "Computer-Made Films," Filmmakers Newsletter Dec 70, 14-20.

John Whitney

J Instructions for the desired movie enter the computer as a deck of punched' cards.

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V intage K nowlton, u sing BEFLIX. (T h is language used the COM q u ite e f f i c i e n t l y : d o ts were a c tu a lly o u t- o f- fo c u s l e t t e r s . )

O G O O O , both im t e U s t mtd tltrim h. » iia aaya i t I s t i e U r t t s am tf s w poking am im i M s m it* ria t.

ao f e i PLAID lermlmala, lh a t m i e f th e te rm in als H t u ba f a ir ly a tr i c tl y rentroIIm d■ ( T h e ig ht te rm lM la ac the University of I l l i a e i * a t Chicago C i r c le , a t Whlcb B a t of theae p l r t e r m w i e l a t a , g-------■ ■ J H i t aa elght-hoer day.) The rims wmm e t e pmmple c a U Jose M lk l e , s i t t a n a t a te rm inal n d do efcat tk a r liked; now. eadly, each M r M et havn ea "accmMt* Bel tbe rabble le t a m l l ^ a t lha g a i « ta y r - - ‘--------v t to a a I t le taka r a t e e m tsrts a f • t r i a l s h i to play I t a r u n | a a i ( h b a ) m d timber with m l a u r a t l i * symCM e f I t s p M l la d a a a . M M of ( I m w ill hmea t e a e U . r u n ' i eerricee sre ~frae.* f a r m . That l a , i f ymmr school tae PLATO te im la a la. aed IP I t w ill pay for tbe t ^ ^ B l c e i l a a e l i m e , I B th a a a n u s s e f tbe cemtrsl c < ^ t e r s n T r e e - — tha » M l e e l gel I PaMdatlta U l a l n l l l i Ita ^ e r a t l a la v • c m ^la of yaera m re. I W . haage, PUIO t r a l n g i l i a bmJ w i t e give T— m U a . U a f I LaI lam 1ira to Orbeea fet Circle ' a a ' a e l ^ s t a n l a a l e i m ■ t i w 110 .OOP a rmsr ■ i m thamm n a u m | U km lag sharply; It la U a FTIce e / t a l i ^ a fee wheteeer Ihe PUIO h s « i la F l a g le be. a f a r . PW'10 (em p’ < ■ ) to gm b a . k

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Thls la s l l s fas e r r . ad o n e , f r a U t a n ' e claim a t e ^ e eg> t a t PUTO r n e l a l i m i l t h e s t r u c t u r e on th e s c r e e n . I f you c a n ’ t t u r n I t y o u c a n ' t r e a l l y p e r c e i v e t h e 3D s t r u c t u r e , b e c a u s e t h e a rr a n g e m e n t o f l i n e s c o u ld b e a n y t h i n g -

T h e ir first p ro du c t was an extrao rdin ary piece of h ard w are called the LDS-1, which they said Innocently stood for Line D rawing System. (To anybody from Utah, ho w e v e r. LDS means L atter-D ay-Saint, and d o n 'l you forget it. Evans, indeed, is a Mormon, b u t I'v e been told it may h ave been S u th erlan d's se n se of humor that c hose the acronym .)

However, s y s t e m s l i k e t h e Adage an d t h e V ec to r G e n e r a l and t h e E van s and S u t h e r l a n d d e v i c e s a ll o w yo u t o t u r n t h i n g s on t h e s c r e e n a s e a s i l y a s I f t h e y wer e on t u r n t a b l e s b e h i n d a pa n e o f g l a s s . T h a t ' s how you s e e , you e e e .

It should be pointed out that a special ad­ vantag e o f digital p e rs p e c tiv e calc ula tion la that view ed coordinates can be read back by the com­ p u te r , and s e rv e as new d a la , if you go for that sort o f thing.

T h i s I n t e r a c t i o n i s w h a t makes c o a p u t e r d i s ­ p l a y a u g u r a new e r a f o r m a n k in d , I f w e ' r e l u c k y . ( I t ' s s l s o why we u s e t h e t e r m c o m p u te r d i s p l a y I n t h i s b o ok , r s t h e r t h a n " c o m p u t e r g r a p h i c * , " s i n e s p e o p le who mske c o a p u t e r s draw w i t h p e n s a r e a le o doing "conpute r g r a p h ic s " — a r e l a t e d a c t i v i t y , b u t n o t one t o c h an g e t h e w o r l d . )

D /Iw ir -

Basically a three-dim ensional system of th is typ e s to r e s th e lines as coo rd inates in threes: e ndpoints of lin e s in a m ythical three-dim ensional s p a c e . Each point’s location in Ihe sp ace is told by Ihree n um bers (example show ing a house may be seen on p . ); a line in a space is r e p re s e n te d in the data s tr u c tu r e by two such p o in ts , and a code o r something tyin g them to­ g e th e r.

UNFORTUNATELY, just to get through the basics, there is only room to discuss stick-figure graphic display here. But curved surfaces may also be depicted, though usually not interactively. See below, and pp.

T he Adage Diaplay Is iso m e tric . meaning that lines dp not get s h o r te r as ihey get farth er away o r longer as they get c lo s e r . While thia ia marvelously im p ressive, most people want re a l perspective; and it was th is lhat Evans and Sutherland set sbout to make available in real lim e, i . e . , In d irect re s p o n s e to the v iew er's ac tion s. T he LDS-1, w eighing in at half a million d o lla rs o r so , buckle d to th e PDP-10, a big 36-bit com pute r from DEC (aee p . ^ O ) . Its view calculator worked sym bolically (digitally), a n d thu9 could work lo Ihe h ig h e r precialo n necessary for tru e persp e c tiv e calc ulation.

T he second p rogram follower in su c h a d evice behaves much as it d oes in th e 2D sy s te m . b ut w ith c e rta in add itio n s. Like the 2D system , il pro ceed s down its ow n prog ram one step al a tim e. Like th e 2D sy stem , it find9 in its p ro g ram the coordinates of a line to diaplay and c r e a te s electronic signals re p re se n tin g its e n d ­ p oints. Bul it does not diaplay th e se d irectly, sinc e theae a r e th ree-dim ensional coordinates. Instead it rouleB these sig n a ls lo what we may call a view c a lcu lato r, a p a r tic u la r piece o f h a rd ­ w are that h as been prim ed with the angle from w hich you want lo view th e o b je c t. T h is view c a lc ula tor, automatically an d by m ysterious means w hich v a ry among machines, p ro d u c e s lhe view, and it9 signals go lo the s c r e e n . L et's say we want to disp la y a poin t. The d is p la y 's program follower p u lls thre e num bers from ils d isplay list and notes th e code th at says i l's a spatial point and nol th e end of a lin e . T h e s e th re e nu m b ers slide on into the view cal­ c u la to r, a lread y prim ed w ilh the angle of rota­ tion; and th e view calculators fig g ers where on th e sc re e n that point sho u ld be d is p la y e d . The coordinates for the sc re e n — telling w here the point goes in lhe d e sire d p ic tu re — go to the Bcreen c o n tro ller, and the point is b rig hten ed . How a r e these coordinates calculated? Well, some commercial u n its do it electronically ("in analog") and some do it symbolically ("in d ig ita l" ). T h e result is th e same. (If you wanl the equations for th i s , th e y 're in the Newman and Sproull b o o k .) Then how does the view calculator handle a line? Same thing. The program follower p u lls th re e num bers from its diaplay list and notes Ihe code lhat says i t's a line, so il takes th re e m ore. Then the view coordinates of both points a r e calculated and fed lo the screen con tro lle r. The screen c o n tro ller now he6 two p oints on ita sc re e n — so it dra w s a line between themThe f i r s t d e v i c e o f t h i s t y p e w as, I t h i n k , t h e s o - c a l l e d Kludge ( p r o n . " K l o o j " - - com pute r s la n g f o r a r i d i c u l o u s m achine, b u t i n t h l a c a s e a p p lie d a f f e c t i o n a t e l y ) b u i l t a t M IT 'a E l e c t r o n i c Sys ceoa L a b o r a t o r y i n th e e a r l y s i x t i e s . T h ia d e v ic e was a o n e - o f - a - k i n d , b u i l t o u t o f DEC c i r c u i t c a r d s and h o o k in g to a b i g g e r m a ch in e. The ESL K ludge showed v i v i d l y how good I t was t o have I n s t a n t a n e o u s view c a l c u l a t i o n u n d e r a u s e r ' s c o n tr o l *

The first of these system s lo be offered com m ercially, I believe, w as th e "Adage D isplay," made by A dage. Inc. of B oston, w hic h u sed Iheir u n u s u a l Ambilog computer (see p . *f.3> t0 f®4* " o bje c ts on the sc re e n . I v a guely recall thal it cost about $00,000 with com puter bu l without ac­ c e s so rie s .

Among the ex citin g demonstrations that you can se e altting at an LDS-1 a r e a map of th e United States you can zoom in o n . bringing you in to a map of New J e r s e y , then Atlantic C ity , then a specific inte rse c tio n , all in one smooth continuous motion. Also a simulated lan d in g on th e flight d eck of an airc ra ft c a r r ie r — with you flying th e a irp la n e , so you can go o v e r il, to the sid e , into the d r in k or straight at the c a r r ie r . In all c ases the ghostly ship will move, turn and change p ersp e c tiv e on the sc re e n as if somehow it w e re re a lly th ere.

Drawing by Ruth W e ia a ’ BE VISION program, done a t B e l l L a b o r a t o r i e s , m i d - s i x t i e s . ( © W a l t D ia n ay P r o d u c t i o n s . ) T h i s p ro g ra m r e p r e s e n t e d t r u l y cu rv e d s u r f a c e s I n I t s d a t a s t r u c t u r e , aa "q u ad ric s u r f a c e s " — t h a t I s , Invol­ v i n g po wer s o f two I n t h e ma th— and c a l c u l a t e d t h e v i s i b l e l i n e s ta n g e n t t o t h e ed g ea from t h e v i e w p o i n t , t h u s draw ­ i n g t h e e d g e a . Removing t h e hidd en p a r t s o f t h e c u r v e s l a o f c o u r s e one of t h a g r e a t e s t p r o b le m a . (From Ruth A. We l a s , ''BE VISIOH ." JAQ1 Apr 6 6, 19420 4, p . 2 0 1 . *

Several LDS-Is w e re so ld . Meanwhile a little new firm o f young guys in Southern California, V ector G eneral, came up with a line of termin als lik e the Adage line, e x ­ cept that they could bu ckle to the 16-bll minicom­ p u te r of y o u r choice. (In pra c tic e most of them have been attached to PD P-U s; see p . VL-) T he Vector General display Is isometric, a nd makes its calculations in analog , like the Adage Display. It has been v e ry successful among both u n iversities an d priv a te corporations. In addition, a highly in teractiv e and welldesigned language is available for lhe creation of da ta stru c tu re s rep re se n tin g 3D objects, as well as for ge n e ra l-p urp o se programm ing and the creation o f whole e n vironm ents. And it's free to individuals o r companies thal have Vector General d isplays attached to P D P - lla . (See "Coup de GRASS," p.5H3/*) But wait. Evans and S uth erlan d h as now d ropped the LDS-1 and given u s - - n o , not LDS-2, b ut something called T he Picture System— also b uilt onto the PDP-11, bu t th is one w o rk s sym­ bolically (d igitally) and in full p ersp e c tiv e . The p ric e s ta rts at eighty g ra n d . Since the Pictu re System w orks out of Ihe PDP-11 core memory, the commands it follows a r e 16 b its long, since th a t's lh e size of a slot in PDP-11 co re. But w ait. T h e y 'v e designed the thing to convert to 36 b i t s , so that coordin­ ates a re moved to a p riv a te sto re o r buffer be­ tw een the program follower and the display. T h is means lhe display can zoom and zip around in th e sc e n e without b o therin g the computer.

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Another Important feature o f The Picture System: it will do, not ju s t o rd in a ry perspective, out such w eird view calculations as wideangle b a rre l distortion, pincushion distortion and s im ilar stuff.

Evans Courtesy U. o f Utah

The ru le s of p erspective have been u nd e r­ stood since the R enaissance. In olden computer times (up till about 1B65) people u sed to do three-dim ensional view calcula tion by angle s relative to a three-dim ensional data s tru c tu re . T hen L arry Roberta at MIT noted lhat th e re was a more appropriate mathematical m ethod, long molderlng in obscure te x ts. The idea is this: If you sdd an e x tra dimensio n lo the d a ta . It's e a sie r to p ro g ra m . I t's e a s ie r because it be­ comes a simple matrix m ultiplication, which has no commonaense expla nation b ut la im porta nt to mathemallclana. SO th al means that to calculate view s of three-dim ensional objects, th e moat usual way ie now to add that e x tra dimension. Instead of having a point in apace whose position la 36-2436 (in some sel of th ree-dim ensional coo rd in a te s). another arb itra ry number is added to make it, say , 36-24-36-1. It seems that in Lhe mathematics of multiple dimensions, it comes out sim pler that w ay. in ­ deed. from a mathematical point of view the new improved dimension is ju st like the o th e r th r e e . For this reason, such an augmented system of coordinates la called homogeneous co ord in ates. Like homogenised m ilk, th e additional coordinate Is ju st stirre d In with the r e s t , and out comes y o u r desired view calculaticm. (The formulas a re to be found In Newman and Sp ro u ll, Princi­ ples of Interactive Computer G ra p h ic s. McGraw. $15, y o u r basic text on th e su b je c t.) At any ra te the additional coordinate is often referred to. in c o rre c tly , as th e "homogen­ eous coordinate.” T h e y 'r e aU homogeneous, which la why It w orks.

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H. T he l a n g u a g e i a e x t e n s i b l e , m e a n i n g t h a t t h e u s e r may c r e a t e new ecmnands i n t h e l a n g u a g e a s p r o g r a m s ■ T h es e cocx nands, h o w e v e r, may be u s e d l n l a t e r p r o g ra m s as i f th e y w ere b u i l t i n t o th e language i t s e l f .

G up GRASS Im p u d en t an d p l u c k y T en D a F a n t i was a n a s s i s t a n t p r o f e s s o r a t 2 4 . T h i s i n p a r t b e c a u s e h e has c r e a t e d o r a o f t h e w o r l d ’ s h o t t e s t 3D g r a p h i c s l a n g ­ u a g e s , w h ic h h e c a l l s GRASS. (He s a y s i t s t a n d s f e r GRAphics S y m b io s is S y s t e a — a l a o , he B a y s, i t T u r n s You O n .) T e n ' s GRASS l a n g u a g e i s an e x c e l l e n t b e g i n n e r ' s c o a p u t e r l a n g u a g e f o r tw o r e a s o n s : f i r s t , i t i s e a s i ­ ly t a u g h t t o b e g i n n e r s , a n d s e c o n d , i t i a a b o u t t h i n g s o f i n t e r e s t t o b e g i n n e r s , i . e . , p i c t u r e s and g r a p h i c a l m a n i p u l a t i o n on s c r e e n s . (But c a v ia re th e t h r e e b e ­ g i n n e r s ' la n g u a g e s p r e s e n t e d b r i e f l y on p p . 1 6 - 2 5 . ) A p r o t o t y p e f o r t h e s y s t e n was d e v e lo p e d a t O h io s t a t e , en a p r o j e c t d i r e c t e d b y a r t i s t C h a r l e s C a u r l . T o o h a d a f r e e h a n d , t h o u g h , and t h e l a n g u a g e d e s i g n i s h i s t b u t much o f t h e s p e c i f i c c o d in g was d o n e by G erry t to e r s d o r f , and th e g r a p h ic s a lg o rith m s and r o ­ t a t i o n w ere p r o g r a m e d b y M a n fr e d K n ea ey e r. In sp ira ­ t i o n was f u r n i s h e d b y M aynard E . S e n s e n b r e n n e r . GRASS r u n s on t h e PD P-1 1, a s p l e n d i d m in ic c a n p u te r (T on’ s i a shewn o n p . 36 ) a n d i s s p e c i f i c a l l y d e s i g n e d f o r th e c o n t r o l o f t h r e e - d i m e n s i o n a l s t i c k - f i g u r e d i s ­ p l a y s o n t h e V e c t o r G e n e r a l d i s p l a y s y s te m ( s e e p . DM \ 0 ) . G u t a l o t o f p e o p l e have w r e s t l e d w i t h t h e a e m a t t e r s an d n o t d o n e a s w e l l - L e t ' s c o n s i d e r :

I . The s y s te m i s c o n p l e t e l y g e n e r a l - p u r p o s e . Many g r a p h i c s l a n g u a g e s a r e n o t , b e in g r e s t r i c t e d o n l y t o t h e i r o r i g i n a l purposeT h is i s more d i f f i c u l t , b u t o h , ao much more w o r t h w h i l e . 3. IT S DEEP g e n e r a l i t y . T h in g s s h o u ld b e v e r s a t i l e , and a b l e t o be t i e d t o g e t h e r in many d i f f e r e n t w a y s . T h i s l a w h at we mean b y " g e n e r a l i t y i * and t h i s k in d o f g e n e r a l i t y c an make a s y s te m v e r y p o w e r f u l . (The te rm i n m a t h e m a t i c s i 8 " ele g an c e.* ) As i s s a i d on t h e o t h e r s i d e o f t h e b o o k , c ot p l i c a t e d n e s s i s n o t g e n e r a l i t y o r g o o d n e ss o r p o w e r , b u t a sig n o f th e d e s i g n e r ’ s sh a llo w n e s s. Anyway, GRASS h a s t h i s k in d o f g e n e r a l i t y . I t has a g r e a t number o f f a c i l i t i e s , grow ing w e e k ly , and t h e y a l l t i e t o g e t h e r i n c l e a r a n d p r e d i c t a b l e w ay s, w i t h o u t e x c e p t i o n s . R a th e r t h a n c r e a t e s p e c i a l f u n c t i o n s w h ic h c a n n o t b e t i e d t o ­ g e t h e r , Young D o c t o r D e F a n t i h a s c h o sen i n s t e a d t o make t h e s e p a r a t e d e s i r a b l e f u n c t i o n s p a r t o f a s im p le a n d c l e a r l a n ­ guage. (A n o t e t o y o u e l e g a n t t y p e s : GRASS i s f u l l y r e c u r s i v e . As a n i c e e x a m p l e , Dan S a n d in ( se e p .S * |& ) w r o t e a p r o g ra m t o d i s p l a y P e a n o l i n e s t h a t was u n d e r f o r t y GRASS i n s t r u c t i o n s lo n g , i t i s a l s o a s t o n i s h i n g l y r e v e r s i b l e : you can w atch i t u n c re a te th e Peano l i n e , s t r a i g h t e n i n g i t s e l f b a c k w a rd .) I n th e more u s u a l s e n s e , D e F a n t i 's l a n g u a g e i s n o t th e 'm o s t a d v a n c e d ') t h e r e a r e more p o w e r f u l 3D s y s t e m s th a n t h e V e c t o r G e n e r a l ( t h e LDS-1, s e e p . J ) * ) « , o f f e r s t r u e p e r s p e c t i v e ) , more e l e g a n t u s e r - l e v e l l a n g u a g e s (se e TRAC L an g u a g e and APL, O t h e r s i d e ) , t r u e h a l f t o n e ( t h a W a tk in s Box) i y e t h i s a c h ie v e m e n t on c l o s e e x a m i n a ­ tio n i s e x tra o r d in a r y . Never mind h i s a g e , t h e more e s o t e r i c f e a t u r e s o f h i s sy s te m ( f u l l r e c u r s i v e n e s s , e t c . ) o r th e f a c t t h a t h e d o e s n o t seem t o ha v e made e n e m i s ­ ta k e , w h ic h i s I n f u r i a t i n g . C o n s i d e r o n l y t h i s : TOM DE­ FANTI'S 'GRASS' LANGUAGE IS PERHAPS THE ONLY SYSTEM THAT CAN BE TAUGOT IN A PEW HOURS TO COMPUTER-NAIVE BEGINNERS THAT PERMITS FULL THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANIMATED INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS WITH TREE-STRUCTURED DATA.

i“ t 11 1 ■ ! « ' • c u r r e n t l y « v . U « b l . . PD P-1 1 ow ners— even w i t h o u t V e c t o r G e n e r a l d i s p l a y s — « a y i n q u i r e o f : T on D e F a n t i , D o c t o r o f A r t s P r o g r a m , UICC, C h i c a g o I I 60660. uj.cc. You may w onder how a young b r o n k l n g buck l i k e D e F a n t i h a s m anaged t o de s u c h an e x c e l l e n t j o b , s o e l e g a n t l y , w h ere s o many ha v e s t i m b l e d a nd f a i l e d ? - I j u s t le a r n f r o c h e e rily .

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P r o f. D e F a n ti on th e a y e te m .

MISCELUmY: C o u p l in g h i a s y s te m w i t h t h a t o f Dan S a n d in ( p DMff ) h a s c r e a t e d t h e " C i r c l e G r a p h ic s H a b i t a t , " d e s c r i b e d « p , I hope I 'm a ro u n d long e n o u g h t o w r i t e t h e GRASS l a n ­ g u a g e m a n u a l. ( D e F a n t i ' s GRASS i s an i d e a l la n g u a g e f o r s o u t h i n g l i k e t h e 3D T h i n k e r t o y , d e s c r i b e d on . How ev er, i t d o e s n ' t have any p r o v is io n f o r th e s t o r a g e o f l a r g e c o p i e s d a ta S t r u c t u r e s , s o t h e h a r d p a r t w o u ld a c t u a l l y b e w o rk in g o u t a n a d e q u a te s to r a g e d a ta s t r u c t u r e a n d s t o r a g e m acros w ith in GRASS'S u s e o f th e DEC f i l e s y s t e m . )

SCREEN CONTROLS T h e g r e a t t h i n g a b o u t CRT d i s p l a y s i a t h a t th e y c a n b e used t o c o n tr o l th in g s b ^ m a n ip u la tio n o f p lc tu r e c In s te a d Of m ovin g b u t t o n s e r l e v e r s , you c a n s e i s e p a r t s o f t h e p i c ­ t u r e w i t h th e l i g h t - p e n and move some p a r t o f t h s p i c t u r e . The c o m p u te r , s e n s i n g th e c h o i c e o r a d j u s t m e n t you h a v e m ad s, can th e n p e rfo rm w hatever o p e r a tio n s you h a v e d ir e c t* d .

V*LV6 C0*T M u c h o f t o d a y 's i m p e t u s f o r 3D c o m p u t e r d i s p l a y i s c o m in g f ro m t h e f i e l d of c h e m i s t r y . U n iv e rs ity c h e m istr y d e p a r tm e n ts a r e b u y in g e q u ip m e n t lik e t h e E v an s I S u t h e r la n d L D S-1, I h e A d a g e a n d th e V e c t o r G e n e r a l . Why? B ecause c h e m istry i s in c re a s in g ly in v o l­ v e d w ith c o m p le x t h r e e - d i m e n s i o n a l s t r u c t u r e s . C r y s ta ls , lo n g f o ld in g c h a in m o le c u le s , m in u s­ c u le fo rc es a c tin g on s t r u c t u r e s w h o s e s h a p e d e t e r m i n e s t h e o u tc o m e . O r g a n i c m o le c u le s t h a t i n v o lv e t h o u s a n d s of a t o m s , a n d w h o s e c o m p le x f o ld e d s t r u c t u r e e x p o s e s o n l y c e r t a i n k e y f e a t u r e s . A n d so o n .

Tom DeFanti. ShotJs part o f hemoglobin molecule. Data structure from Richard J. Feldmarm, NIH.

T h e V ec to r G e n e r a l d i s p l a y i l l u s t r a t e d h e r e a n d t h e r e o n th e s e p a g e s b e l o n g s to t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f C h e m i s t r y , U n i v e r s i t y o f I l lin o i s at C h i c a g o C i r c l e .

O ne v e r y good s o l u t i o n i s t o sh ew a s e l e c t i o n o f t h r e e d i m e n s i o n s a t a tim e , and p r o v i d e f e r e a s y “ f l i p " fr

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Boy ell's ap pr o a ch la to tr eat ea c h compo­ ne nt of th e p ic to r ia l /r a d a r simulation as a s e pa rat e pro blem , lo be ha ndled In different w a y s , and ble nd ed In a final b u f fe r , a core memory which la rea d out to te lev ision . Seps r a te mech an isms su p p ly components of s h s d o w , sp e c u la r r ef le ct io n. coloration and rand omi zin g eff ects. T he core buffe r co nti nuously re fre sh e s th e sc ann ed CRT dla pl a y .

Tha otw p i l e i i r a l a a r . 1 1 1 a . i » » l » a a t a | and d ip In r a a p a . e e t a t h a i t a l f o l a ; aa a l a | | | ( | C i t s , w ith o p i l c a 1 - f r a a l l h a l lo r u a lh a a y e a a I b I I b I I t a ad e n a c t e d • I th a a ia a a , th e p il o t n i l a ree-

Boyell ha s pu t Ihe same te ch n iq u es lo w ork m a kin g simulated halfione p ic tu r e s of the moon (eee c u t ) . Both the r a d a r a n d moon s y s ­ tems u s e Ihe same typ e of halftone Image sy n th e ­ s i s , e v e n tho ugh supe rficially the y aeem qu ite d if fe re nt . But r a d a r Is rad ia tio n, ju at lik e li g h t, a n d Boyell'a te ch ni qu es of th r ee -d im en sio nal mo de lling a n d a ea rc h app ly equal ly well to d e ­ ple tio n by refle cte d v isible light— I . e . , half­ tone Imagea.

E v i d e n t l y th e y hav a In a ln d th a ua a n( d o if I g ht l o t a l t h , a ed who ................ v l t c h e e T d ln e n a 1 o n a 1 a c e n e a o r ’ o b j e c t a .

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(M o te : c o a p a r e th a c l a l a of 1 4 ,0 0 0 e d ie a on e $ 1 5 0 ,0 0 0 s y a t e a w ith t h e 2000 ( ? ) edgaa a llo w e d by che o l d HAS A a y a t e a b u i l t by CE, o r t h a V . t k l n t Box— 1 d o a ' t know how aany e d p .e s - - a t $ 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 f r o a Evana and S u t h e r l a n d .

Tha ayate a m il d « ■ « ln a m v b a r a t dlfferwnl t m l a u One of I tM a w n l r « a la rge array of LAI r i f i jOng B o d u la (Ita d M C b a r te u d under an unuaual Monitor r v n c la f a a ( e n s n l purpoae m o n i t o r Tha c tte cke fta ard l o m Machine to U a a p a l e pread e f a u rfao . dSU . It Is a tagWal e « M l y . a a rr a y I M rag Bn aa I d o n 't ex p ec t you to belie ve th i s , be ca u se nol ev en my pa te n t at torney d o e s, b u l Ihe system I call Panta sm Is Intende d to make p ic tu r e s that paaa th e T u r in g -l e a l: you w on't b e able to tell them from r e a l p h o to gr ap h s . Panta sm la Inten ­ d e d to allow th e u s e r to make re a li st ic , H ierony­ mus Bo sc h-l ik e ph ot og ra ph s s n d movie s, with rea l- lo o k in g peo ple (and s c e n e ry . Imaginary c h a r a c t e r s , m o n st er s, e t c . ) In s c e n e s of a r b i ­ tr a r y c om ple xit y. It la exp ected lh at 1675 eco­ nomics will make It s con stru ctio n fea sible.

epraedeagtad In ll. TM »k of Ha trace aa a radto-cenooU ed fir«0y • »i"H ch eck erb oard. Ualag thia a a d var t s ^ cet'a-credla Us« a r w t a r a b s a d w t t e g ^ B n i Mifl a . alry e f U«M a r a a d o«d v« ta aa s ¥

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Fantasm I or ig in al ly conce ived as a method of ma kin g r ea lis ti c photo gr aph s a nd movie s, not knowing at the time th al th is was Im possible, b u t feel ing ll could be done aime ho w If the prob lem w er e br o ke n down suf fi cien tly. At times 11 was not c lea r which of us would be br o k e n down f l r a t . 1 o r U.

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II o c c u r re d lo me sometime In 1960-1 lhal co m p u te r- in te rp o l at e d . Disne y-t yp e carto on ing methods w oul d be fea alble . A fter some thought I rea liz ed lh at pse ud o -p ho to gr a p h y would b e poa ai ble , a n d dro p p ed the ca rt o o n in g Idea . The s tr a n g e b e h a v io r of people whom I told aboul thi s led me to in c re as in g s e cr ec y . T h e g e n e r a l goal waa to ma ke a system t h a l co uld do rea lis ti c movies wit ho ut sc en e ry o r a ct o r a , an d make p ic tu res in d is tin g u is h a b le from r e a l photo g r a p h s of r eal s c e n e ry an d a c to r s . ("Whal do you mean, In di st in gu is h ab le from p h o to g r a p h s ? ” people keep a s k in g . What do tha y mean w ha t do I mean?) T h e su rfa ces a re to be pu l In b y " s c u l p to rs ," an imated b y " p u p p e t e e r s , " an d phot og rap he d b y a " d ir e c to r . " T h e obje ct ive Is for moviemaking to be un d e r ihe ut te r Im aginative control of Ihe c rea ti v e u s e r.

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I am indebted to Prof. Charles Strauss for the formaliaation of my tmoothingfunation.

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FOURTH ARTICLE. System s o f C o m pute r Image C o rporati on.

SO FAR WE HAVE SUMMARIZED AND DISTINGUISHED AMONG THE MAJOR TECHNIQUES FOR COMPUTER SYNTHESIS OF IMAGES FROM DIGITALLY STORED REPRESENTATIONS OF SCENES. WE NOW TAKE THE WRAPS FROM A DIFFERENT BUT RELATED SET OF TECHNIQUES— THE SYSTEMS OF COMPUTER IMAGE CORPORATION . Lee Harrison III got Die Idee for what la now Computer Image Corporation In 1959. A l­ ready having an art d e g r ee , he went on for a degree in electrical e n gin ee rin g, end through lon g lean years put together the technical basics around which C l's system s are now built. Com­ puter Image Corporation la now a goin g c on cern , and output from their ayatem s. especially Scanimate, la now w idely v is ib le on tele visio n .

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Cs*pof^*3l) p e r ­ mits the rapid cr eation, vi ew i n g a n d m a n i p ­ ul at i on o f t h r e e - di me ns i on al o bjects on the s cr e e n of a p a r t i c u l a r comp ut er setup. To combine them, you just po i n t Dan's s y s t e m at Tom's system.

F ro m v i d e o t a p e j " The N u m b e r C r u n c h e r t b y TDF & DJS.

L e t ’s say t h a t on the sc re en o f Tom's sy s t e m we are v i e w i n g an anim at e d bird, flap p in g its wings. Si nc e it's b e i n g shown on a three -d im en s io na l re fr e sh ed line d is p l a y (see pp..Virt“Xl>*\)0) , it appears onl y as w h i t e lines on a da rk screen. Dan me re ly p oi n t s a T V camera at Tom's screen, and runs the T V signal into h is I m ­ age Processor. Now, in the Image P r o ce ss or , h e gives it the m a g i c o f color. Different colors, i n t er pl a yi ng w it h g ra dations an d subtlety.

From v i d e o t a p e 3 " The S p i r a l T a p e > " b y DJS a n d TDF.

From the Image Processor, the f i n i s h e d signal goes out to videotape re corders. What then h a v e we overall? One o f the wo r l d ' s mo st fle xi b le facilities for the rapid pro d uc ti on of e du cational video ta pe s . To expl a in something, you c re a t e a t hr ee -d im e ns io na l s t ic k -f ig ur e " m o de l" o f it, u s i n g DeFanti's GRASS language. T h e n you ma k e a vide o ta pe of it, showing rot at io ns or other manip u la ti on s, usi ng the Image P r o c e s ­ sor to give it color. Ujp -d

DeFanti and Sa n d i n have spent m u c h of the ac ad em ic yea r '73-4 getting the kin ks out of this procedure. (Many of the di ff ic u l t i e s s te m from the u n r e l i a b i l i t y of v i d e o t a p e r e ­ corders.) Stills f r o m some of the f i r s t w o r k are shown here.

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B I B LI O GR AP HY T h o m a s A. DeFanti, Daniel J. S a nd i n an d Theo do r H. Nelson, "Co m pu te r G r a p h i c s as a W ay of L if e . " To be p r e s e n t e d at U. of C o l o ra d o c o m p u te r graphics conf er en ce , Ju l y 1974; to appear in p r o c e e d i n g s p u r ­ port ed l y to b e cal le d Com p ut er s an d G r a p h i c s .

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Uneducated people typically think of education as the learning of a lot of facts and skills. While facts and skills certainly have their merits, "higher education" is also largely concerned with tying ideas together, and especially alternative structures of such tying-together: with showing you the vast un­ certainties of things.

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A wonderful Japanese film of the fifties was called Rasho-M o n . It depicted a specific event-- a rape-- as told by five different people. As the audience watches the five se­ parate stories, they must try to judge what really happened.

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flo w ID l £ M \I M 'fflflK ffr ' * • *** ** 1 c an t a l l , th e e e a r e t h a t e d n i o i M e by b r i g h t p a o p la who u n t e a l e a r n s o e e t h t a g o t h e r by t a k i n g c o u r s e s I n i t . I t ’ a t h a way P h . D . ' • p i c k ^ • a e c m d f l e l d r i t ' s t h a way j o u r n a l i s t s a a l «------ ■ o p e r a t e ) I t bxlrvj* th a 9« n a r a l u n d e r s t a n d in g s o f a f i e l d t h a t c h i l d r e n o f « i n e n t p a o p la Id t h a t f i e l d g a t a a a b i r t h r i g h t ) i t ‘ « t h a way Anybody c an l a m * n r t M o g , i f h a h a a t h e n e rv e .

The Rasho-Mon Principle: everything is like that. The complete truth about soaething is never known. Nobody tells the complete truth, though some try. Nobody knows the complete truth. Nowhere may we find printed the complete truth. There are only different views, assertions, supposed facts that support one view or another but are disputed by disbelievers in the particu­ lar views; and so on. There are "agreed-on facts," but their meaning is often in doubt.

1DECIDE WHAT YOU WOT TO LEABI. But yo u c a n ' t k n o t e x a c t l y , b e c a u s e o f c o u r e e you d o n ’ t a u c tly h w a n y ( l a i d l a a t r u c t u r e d u n t i l yo u know a l l a b o u t I t . MiT 2. READ EVERYTHING TOU C M * e s p e c i a l l y w h a t yo u a n j o y , t i n e a t h a t way y ou c a n r u ^ e e r e ot I t (u t« i. 3. GJlkB FOB OfSIQfTS. R t ^ i r d U i a o f [—11 **** o t h e r s t r y i n g t o a a k e , whan y o u r e c o g n i s e a n I n s i g h t t h a t h a e w a n in g f o r y m , s a k e i t y o u r own. I t M y h a v * e o d e w i t h th * a hapa o f e o l e c u l a a , o r t h a p e r s o n a l i t y o f a s p e c i f i c ^ a r a r , o r t h a q u i r k * o f a G r e a t Han i n tiw F i e l d . Ztm i ^ o r t e n c e l a n o t how c a n t r a l i t i a , b u t tow c l e a r a n d i n ­ t e r e s t i n g and a a a o r a b l a t o y o u . i t . T h an go f o r a n o th e r .

The great compromise of the western world is that we go by the rule: assume that we never know the final truth about anything. There are continuing Issues, Mysteries, Continuing Dia­ logues. What about flying saucers, "why Rome fell," was there a Passover Plot, and Did Roose­ velt know Pearl Harbor would be attacked?

4. TIE INSIGHTS TO OTH Bt. Soon y ou w i l l h a v e y o u r a t r i n g of in s i g h t* in a f i e l d , l i k e th a s t r i n g o f l i g h t * a ro u n d a C h r l s A a s t r e e .

Outsiders find the intellectual world pom­ pous, vague in its undecided issues, stuffy in its quotes and citations. But in a way these are the sounds of battle. The clash of theories is what many find exhilarating about the intel­ lectual world. The Scholarly Arena is simply a Circus Maximus in which these battles are sche­ duled.

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5. COKZWTRATE ON HAfiAZIHES, MOT BOOKS. H a g a a l n e e h av* f a r e a r e i n s i g h t * p a r in c h e f t a z t , and c a n b a n t d su c h f a s t e r . B ut whan a bo ok r a a l l y s p e a k s t o y o u , l a v i s h a tte n tio n o n jt.

6 .

Many people think "science" is free from all this. These are people who do not know much about science. More and more is scientifically known, true; but it is repeatedly discovered that some scientific "knowledge" is untrue, and this problem is built into the system. The important thing about science is not that everything will be known, or that everything unanimously believ­ ed by scientists is necessarily true, but that science contains a system for seeking untruth and purging it.

riHD JOUR C m SPECIAL TOPICS, Mm PuftSUS THEH.

7. GO TO COWVENTICMS. P o r i m raaaon, c o n v e n tlm e a r a a s p l e n d i d e o n e a n t r a t a d way t o l e a r n t h i n g s ) t a l k i n g t o p w ^ l e h e l p s . D o n 't t h i n k you h a v e t o b a a nybody s p e c i a l t o g o t o a c o n v e n ti o n ! j u a t p lu n k down y o u r man * y . B u t y o u h a v a t e h a v a a h a n d l e . C a l l i n g y o u r e e l f a C o n s u l t a n t i* g o o d t 'S t u d e n t * i a p e r f e c t l y h o n o r a b le . e . 'FIND YOUR HAN.* S o M w h e re i n t h e w o rl d i a s f e c i r M who w i l l answ er y o u r q u a a t i o n a e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y w e l l . I f you f i n d h i * , dog h i > . He a a y b e a j a n i t o r o r a t e e n a g e k i d r n o ■a tta r. F o llo w h i * w ith y o u r b e g g i n g - b m l , i f t h a t ' * w h a t h a w a n t a . o t ta k e h i * to e x p e n s i v e r e s t a u r a n t s , o r a f a a t e v e r .

This is the great tradition of western civilization. The Western World is, in an important sense, a continuing dialogue among people who have thought different things. "Scholarship" is the tradition of trying to improve, collate and resolve uncertainties. The fundamental ground rules are that no issue is ever closed, no interconnection is impossible. It all comes down to what is written, because the thoughts and minds themselves, of course, do not last. (The apparatus of citation and foot­ note are simply a combination of hat-tipping, go-look-if-you-don’t-believe-me, and you-mightwant-to-read-this-yourself.)

9. KEEP 1KPBOVIMG YOUR gUESTlOHS. P r o b a b ly i n y o u r head th e re a re q u a a tio n a t h a t d o n 't se e* to l i n a up w ith w h a t y o u 'r e h e a r i n g . D o n 't a s s t a * t h a t - y o u d o n ' t u n d e r e t e e d i k e e p M lj u a ti n g t h e q u a a t i o n a t i l l y n c a n g a t a n a n sw e r t h a t r e l a t e s t o w hat y o u w a n ta d . 1 0. YOUR FIELD IS BOWDED WERE YOU MMT IT TO BB. J u a t becauae o th e r a group and a ta r e o ty p e th in g * in c o n v e n ti o n ­ a l ways d o e s n o t * e a n th e y a r e n e c e a e a r l l y r i g h t . In te lle c tu a l e u b j e c t a a r e c o n n e c te d e v e r y w hlcb w syj y o u r f i e l d l a w h e t y o u th in k I t i s . (A g a in , t h i a l a 1 a ^ e „ m o re b e m u s e d , t h i n k i n g I m t r y i n g o so o hso m eth in g te c h n ic a l o r is. ira i I t ’s n o t p o i n t le s s a t a l l : th e p o in t i» , w r i t e r s do b e t t e r i f th e y d o n 't hav e t o £ i t e i n s e q u e n c e ( b u t may c r e a t e “ “ “ ^ ' f r e a d e r s t u r e s , b ra n ch e s and alternatives). a n d re a d e r do b e t t e r i f th e y d o n ’ t h a v e t o re a d i n seq uence b u t may e s t a b l i s h i m p r e s s i o n s , j P

(T h e a s t u t e r e a d e r , a n d a n y b o d y w h o ' s g o t t e n to t h i s p o i n t m ust b e , w i l l h a v e n o t i c e d t h a t t h i s b o o k i s i n '' m a g a z i n e 1' l a y o u t , o r g a o i z e d v i s u a l l y by id e a s and m e a n in g s , f o r t h a t p r e ­ c is e reason. I w ill be in te re s te d to h e a r w h e th e r t h a t h as w o rk e d .) And t h e p i t y o f i t i s t h a t ( l i k e t h e m a n i n t h e F r e n c h p l a y who w a s s u r p r i s e d t o l e a r n t h a t he had bee n " s p e a k in g p r o s e a l l h i s l i f e a n d n e v e r known i t " ) , w e ' v e b e e n s p e a k i n g h y p e rte x t a l l our l i v e s and n e v e r know n i t . Now, many w r i t e r s h a v e t r i e d t o b r e a k away f r o a s e q u e n c e . I t h i n k o f N a b o k o v 's P a le F i r e , o f T r is tr a m Shandy and a n o d d n o v e l o T T a r a r o C o r ta z a r c a l l e d r f o p s c o t c h . a a d e up o f s e c tio n s e n d in g w ith n u a b e rs t e l l i n g y o u w h e re you ca n b r a n c h t o . T here a r e a a n y a o r e ; and l a r g e b o o k s g e n e r a l l y u s e a a n y t r i c k s t o g e t around th e p r o b l e a o f in d e x in g a n d r e v i e w ­ in g w hat has and h a s n ' t b e e n s a i d o r d o n e a l ­ ready. H o w e v e r , i n a y v i e w , a new d a y i s d a w n i n g . C o ap u ter s to r a g e and s c r e e n d i s p l a y a e a n t h a t we no l o n g e r h a v e t o h a v e t h i n g s i n s e q u e n c e ; to ta lly a r b itr a ry s t r u c tu r e s a re p o s s i b l e , and I th in k t h a t a f t e r w e 'v e t r i e d t h e a e n o u g h p e o p l e w i l l s e e how d e s i r a b l e t h e y a r e .

TYPES

OF HYPERTEXT CAN

Let’s assume that you have a high-power display-- and storage displays won1t do, be­ cause you have to see things move in order to understand where they come from and what they mean. (Especially text.) So it has to be a refreshed CRT. Basic or chunk style hypertext offers choices, eTther as footnote-markeTs (like asterisks) or labels at the end of a chunk. Whatever you point at then cwtnes to the screen. Collateral hypertext means compound an­ no tarTons- oFyaraiTel- text (see p.J^yt-). Stretchtext changes continuously. This requires very unusual techniques (see p-_5*2_l? ) » but exemplifies how "continuous” hypertext might work. Ideally, chunk and continuous and collateral hypertext could all be combined (and in turn col­ laterally linked; see "Thinkertoys," p.J^S^-)* A "fresh" or "specific" hypertext-- I don't have a better term at the moment-- would consist of material especially written for some purpose. An anthological hypertext, however, would consist of materials brought together from all over, like an anthological book. A grand hypertext, then, folks, would be a hypertext consisting of "everything" written about a subject, or vaguely relevant to it, tied together by editors (and NOT by "prog­ rammers," dammit), in which you may read in all the directions you wish to pursue. TKere can be alternative pathways Tor people who think different ways. People who have to have one thing explained to them at a time-many have insisted to me that this is normal, although I contend that it is a pathological condition-- may have that; others, learning like true human beings, may gather and sift im­ pressions until the ideas become clear. And then, of course, you see the real dream. The real dream is for "everything" to be in the hypertext. .Everything you read, you read from the screen (and can always get back to right away) ; everything you write, you write at the screen (and can cross-link to whatever you read; see Canons, p. b^lfl ). Paper moulders. Microfilm is inconvenient. In the best libraries it takes at least min-' utes to get a particular thing. But as to linking them together-- footnoting Aeschylus with Marcus Aurelius, linking genetic data' to 15th-century accounts of Indian tribes-well, you can only do it on paper by writing something new that ties them together. Isn’t that ridiculous? When you could do it all electronically in seconds? Now that we have all these wonderful de­ vices, it should be the goal of society to put them in the service of truth and learning. And this is the way I propose. Not through obscure forms of "information retrieval;" not through newly oppressive forms of "computerassisted instruction;" and not through a pur­ ported science of "artifical intelligence" that will create new personalisms to irk us. All these obstructive oddities, I think, have developed as separate ideals because of the grand preposterosity of Professionalism that has created a world-wide cult of mutual incom­ prehensibility and disconnected special goals. Now we need to get everybody together again. We want to go back to the roots of our civil­ ization-- the ability, which we once had, for everybody who could read to be able to read everything. We must once again become a com­ munity of common access to a shared heritage.

IT BE D O N E ?

I dunno, Licklider, one of computerdom’s Great Men, estimated in 1965 that to handle all text by computer, and bring it out to screens, would cost no more than what we pay for all text handling now. (But of course there is the problem of what to do with the people whose lives are built around paper; that can’t be taken up here.) The people who make big computers say that to get the big disk storage to hold great amounts of text, you have to get their biggest computers. Which is a laugh and a half. One IBM-style computer person pompously told me that for large-scale text handling the only appropriate machine was an IBM 360/67 (a shame­ fully large computer). fSuch people seem not to understand about minicomputers or the po­ tential of minicomputer networks-- using, of course, big disks. There are of course questions of relia­ bility, of "big brother" (see Canons, p. ), and so on. But I think these, matters can be handled. The key is that people will pay for it. I am sure that if we can bring the cost down to two dollars an hour-- one for the local machine (more than a "terminal"), one for the material (including storage, transmission and copyrights)-- there’s a big, big market. (And that's what the Xanadu network is about; see p. DM57.) My assumption is that the way to do this is not through big business (since all these corporations can see is other corpora­ tions); not through government (hypertext is not committee-oriented, but individualistic-and grants can only be gotten through sesqui­ pedalian and obfuscatory pompizzazz); but through the byways of the private enterprise system. I think the same spirit that gave us McDonald's and kandy kolor hot rod accessories may pull us through here. (See Xanadu Network,

EVERYTHING IS DEEPLY INTERTWINGLED. (The only way in which my views differ with those of Engelbart and Pask, I think is in the matter of structure and hierarchy. Both men generally assume that whatever natural hierarchy may exist in particular subjects needs to be accentuated; I hold that all structures must be treated as totally ar­ bitrary, and any hierarchies we find are inter­ esting accidents.)

le & ix

IM T O W H & e fi.

In an important sense there are no "subjects" at all; there is only all knowledge, since the crossconnections among the myriad topics of this world simply cannot be divided up neatly . Hypertext at last offers the possibility of representing and exploring it all without carving it up destructively.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote a book entitled The Lost Worlds of 2001 (Signet, 1972), about the variants and alternatives of’ that story that did not find their way to the screen. In a hypertext version, we could look at them all in context, in collateral views, and see the related variants-with annotations.

p- > \ S 7 - )

Obviously, putting man's entire heritage into a hypertext is going to take awhile. But it can and should be done. BI B L I O G R A P H Y T h e o d o r 11. Uorld

Nels o n , "The H y p e r t e x t . " Documentation Federation,

Proc. 1965.

Mortimer J. Adler, the •■■an who reduced all of Western Culture to a few Great Books plus an Index under his own categories, has now Addled the Encyclopedia Brltannica. Since 1965 be has been creating Brltannlca 3, the venturesome and innovative new version, n ow o n sale for about half a thou.

COULDN'T HAVE HYPERTEXT NOVELS, YOU SAY? Consider the hypertext character o£'— Trietram Shandy, by Sterne. Spoon River Anthology, by Masters. Hopscotch, by Cortazar. Pale Fire, by Nabokov. Remembrance of Things Past, by Proust. And, surprisingly, hypertext actually FIGURES IN Giles Goat-Boy, by Barth. Bri tannlca ^ Is basically a 3“ level hypertext, made to fit on printed pages by the strictures of Adler's editing (according to Newsweek, some 200 authors withdrew their work rather than submit to the kind of restrictions he was Imposing). The Idea may be basically good, even though the sesqulpaedallan titles may Impaed the raeder.

T HE B U R N I N G

BUSH

In fact hypertexts were foreseen very clearly in 1945 by Vannevar Bush, Roosevelt’s science advisor. When the war was in the bag, he published a little article on various groovy things that had become possible by that time.

This was of course what Vannevar flush said in 1945 (see , in an article every­ body cites but nobody reads. The hypertext solution in many ways ob­ viates some of these other approaches, and in addition retains and puts back together the great traditions of literature and scholarship, traditions based on the fact that dividing things up arbitrarily just generally doesn't work.

C V W f T tH S IS

GLINDA'S HAG 1C BOOK GTlnda the Good, gentle sorceress of the southern quadrant of the land of 0z— not the flaphead portrayed by Billie Burke In the Goldwynlzed film— has a Magic Book tn which Everything That Happens Is written. The question, of course, Is how It's chosen. You can only watch news tickers for a short time before getting very bored.

"As We May Think" (Atlantic Monthly, July, 1945) is most notable for its clear description of various hypertext techniques-- that is, link­ ages between documents which may be brought rap­ idly to the screen according to their linkages. (So what if he thought they'd be on microfilm.) How characteristic of Professionalism. Bush's article has been taken as the starting point for the field of Information Retrieval (see p. ) f but its actual contents have been ignored by acclamation. Information Retrieval folk have mostly done very different things, yet thought they were in the tradition. Now people are "rediscovering" the article. If there's another edition of this book I hope I can run it in entirety.

Basically the system is a large-scale setup for the storage, bringing forth, viewing and revision of documents and connections among them. The documents are Btored (of course) in alphabetical codes. Connections among them, or other relations within them, are signalled by the presence of other codes within them; these are ordinarily not displayed, however, except as directed by a particular display program and display programs can of course vary.

J)WXr CHfiOW AHj) •*TH€ A U f i W l W o M t>F (K )T E U -C 6T “ Douglas Engelbart is a saintly man at Stanford Research Institute whose dream has been to make people smarter and bring them together. His system, on which millions of dollars have been spent, is a wonder and a glory. He began as an engineer of CRTs (aee "Lightning in a Bottle," p.DM6); but his driving thought was, quite correctly, that these remarkable objects could be used to expand man's mind and Improve each shining hour. Doug Engelbart’s vision has never been restricted to narrow technical issues. From the beginning his concern was not merely to plank people down at display consoles, but ln the most profound sense to expand man's mind. "The Augmentation of Human Intellect," he calls it, b y which he means making minds work better by giving them better tools to work with. An obvious example is writing: before people could write things down, men could only learn what they experienced or were told by others ln person; writing changed all that. Within the computer-screen fra­ ternity, the next step is obvious; screens can double and redouble our Intellectual capacities. But this is not obvious to every­ body. Engelbart, patiently instructing those outside, came up with a beautiful example. To show what he meant by the Augmentation of Intellect, Engelbart tied a pencil to a_ brick. Then he actually made someone write with It. The result, which was of course dreadful, En­ gelbart solemnly put into a published report. Not yet being able to demonstrate the aug­ mentation of Intellect, since he had as yet no system to show off, he had masterfully de­ monstrated the disaugmentation of intellect: what happens if you make man's tool9 for work­ ing out his thoughts worse instead of better. As this poor guy was with his brlckifled pen­ cil, explained Engelbart, so are we all among our bothersome*inflexible systems of paper. Starting small, Engelbart programmed up a small version of what most fans call "The Engelbart System" some ten years ago. One version has it that when it came to looking for grants, management thought he acted too kooky, and so assigned a Front Man to make the presentation. But, as the story goe6, the man from ARPA (see "Military...", p. pointed at Engelbart and said, "We want to back h im."

THE "KNOWLEDGE WORKSHOP” For a lucky fifty or so people, Engelbart's system is Home. Wherever they are— at Stan­ ford Research Institute or far away on the ARPAnet-— a whole world of secretarial and communication services is at their fingertips. The user has but to call up through his dis­ play terminal and log on. At that point all his written files, and numerous files shared among the users, are at his fingertips. He may read, write, annotate the cross-link. (Engelbart's system has provision for col­ lateral structuring: see "Thinkertoys," [X*r2_.) He may send messages to others in the Workshop. He may open certain of his files to other people, and read those that have been opened to him. This all has a certain vagueness if you do not understand how bound you are today by paper— the problems of finding it, sorting it, looking things up. (If you write, that Is, write a lot, you know all too veil how Intractable is paper, what a damned nuisance.) With a system like Engelbert's, now, whatever is written i6 Instantly there. Whatever you want to look up is Instantly there, simultan­ eously Interconnected to everything else it should be connected to— source materials, footnotes, comments and so on. A document is completed the moment it is written; no human being has to retype it. (It need not be typed on paper at all, if it's just for the workshop members: a printout is only needed if it has to go to someone outside tbe system.) In many ways, Engelbart's system is a pro­ totype for the world of the future, I hope. ALL HANDLING OF PAPER IS ELIMINATED. Whatever you write, you write on the screens with key­ board and pointer. (No more backs of envelopes, yellow pads, file cards, typewriters.) What­ ever you transmit to fellow users of the system you simply 'release'— no physical paper changes hands. The group has also worked out some remark­ able techniques for collaborative endeavor. Two people— say, one ln California and one in New York— can work together through their screens, plus a phone link; it's as if they were side-by-side at a magic table. Each sees on his screen whst the other sees; each controls a moving dot (or "cursor") that shows where he's pointing. The effect Is somewhere between a blackboard and a desk; both may call up docu­ ments, point things out in them, change them, and anything else two people might do when work­ ing on something together.

There are various programs for display, ln large part depending on what sort of screen system the individual user has. (NLS is used with everything from hlgh-resolutlon line-drawing screens converted to 1000llne television, down to inexpensive Delta Data terminals— a brand, incidentally, that allows text motion, which most don't^ Engel­ bart's system is extremely general, allowing the creation of files having all kinds of structures, and display programs in all kinds of styles. (I hope that this side of the pre­ sent book conveys a sense of how mahy styles that can be.) However, most users are devoted to certain standardized styles of working that have been well worked out and permit the easy sharing of material and of operating practices. Here, for instance, is standard screen layout:

Two separate panels of text appear, and links may be shown on them. (Thus it's a thinkertoy-— see p. .) Two little windows at the top re­ mind you of what you're seeing and what you're asking for. We can't get into the rest of it here

THE COMMAND LANGUAGE NLS has a comnand language which all users must learn. While It Is a stream­ lined and straightforward coimnand language, nevertheless It requires the user to type in a specific sequence of alphabetical characters every time he wants something done. (This Is acceptable to computeroriented people; 1 suspect It would not be satisfactory, say, for philosophers and novelists. For designs oriented to such users, see JOT (p?*5t> ) and Carmody’s System, nearby. Parallel Textface (p?*93) and Th3 (p.VtfV).) Incidentally, NLS users may also employ a cute little keyboard, something like a kalimba, that allows you to type with one hand. You simply type the six significant ASCII bits (see chart p. % jg ) ln one "chooP — it sounds hard but is easy to learn. Sample conmands: I (insert), D (delete), M (move or rearrange). Then you point with the mouse. MOUSE?

A small but dedicated group at SRI haa built up a system from scratch. First they used little CDC 1700 minicomputers; then, various grants later, they were able to set up their own PDP-10, in which the system now resides, and from which it reaches out ac­ ross the country.

The Engelbart Folks have built a pointing device, for telling the system where you're pointing on the screen, that is considerably faster and handler than a lightpen. (Unfor­ tunately, I don't believe it's conanerdaily available.) It's called The Mouse.

Doug calls his system NLS, or "oN-Line System." Basically it is a highly responsive, deeply-structured text system, feeding out to display terminals. From a terminal you may read anything you or others have written, and write with as-yet-unmatched flexibility.

The Engelbart Mouse is a little box with hidden wheels underneath and a cable to the terainal. As you roll It, the wheel's turns are signalled to the computer and the comput­ er moves the cursor on the screen. It's faat and accurate, and In fact beats a lightpen hands down in working speed.

The display terminals are all over. The project has gone national, though at great ex­ pense: through the ARPA net of computers, you can in principle become a user of NLS for something like $50,000 a year.

E n g e lb a r t fa r aw ay,

m e e ts u i t n b a s o th e r s w a tc h .

Through the comnand language, NLS allows users to create programa that respond ln all sorts of ways; thua tbe fact that certain texthandling styles are atandard (as in above il­ lustration of screen layout) results more from tradition than necessity.

w MSiC H y p e r te x t i s n o n - s e q u e n t i a l w r i t i n g . I t ’s n o good t o u s , t h o u g h , u n l e s s we c a n go i n s t a n t l y in a c h o ic e o f d i r e c t i o n s from a g i v e n p o i n t . T hia o f c o u r s e c a n o n ly mean on c o o p u te r d i s p l a y s c r e e n s . E n g e l b a r t ' s s y s t e m , now, was m a in ly d e s ig n e d f o r p e o p le who w anted t o immerse th e m s e lv e s i n i t and l e a r n i t s c o n v e n t i o n s . I n d e e d , i t m ig h t be s a i d t o have be en d e s ig n e d f o r a c o m iu n lty o f p e o p le i n c l o s e c o n t a c t , a s o r t o f sy ste m o f b l a c k b o a r d s and c o lla b o ra tiv e t a lk in g p a p ers. A more e l e m e n t a l s y s te m , w i t h a d i f f e r e n t s l a n t , w as p u t t o g e t h e r a t Brcwn U. on IBM e q u l f n e n t . W e 'l l r e f e r t o i t h e r e a s "Cannody' a S y s te m ," a f t e r t h e young prograjm eer whose name came f i r s t On t h e w r i t e u p . Cansody's system runs on an IBM 360 with 2250 display, while the 2250 is a fine piece of equlpaent, the quirks of the 360's operating systAB ( s e e p. VS" ) often delay the user by making him wait, e . g . , for soaeone elss's cards to get punched before it responds to his more lwedlate usast this is like making ice-akaters wait for oxcarts. Anyway, th e e y ete m e s s e n t i a l l y im poses i t h e m a t e r i a l i i t may c o n s i s t o f t e x t se g m en ts o f a n y l e n g t h a nd t i e s and l i n k s b e tw e e n them. An a s t e r i s k a p p e a r i n g any­ w here in one p i e c e o f t e x t s i g n a l s a p o s s i b l e ju m p , b u t t h e r e a d e r d o e s n ' t n e c e e s a r i l y knew w here t c j s a p p i n g t h e a s t e r i s k w i t h th a l i g h t p e n t a k e s yo u t h e r e , h o w eve r.

T h e n Pask p rocesses this structure to make a more usable map of the field that he calls an entailment s t r u c t u r e . T he processing basically involves removing "cycles'* in the graph, thus making the s tr uc tu re hierarchical in a sl ightly artificial w a y justified by what the subject-matter-expert has s aid is the st ru ct u re of the field. (This p rocessing is c a rr ie d o ut b y a pro­ gram called EXTEND.) Th e resulting E ntailment St ru cture is then p r es en te d to the student as a great map of the field wh i c h he may explore. Pask intends that the student's explor­ ations, w il l consist o f testing analogies, or w hat Pask calls m or ph i s m s , to find the exact st ructures of knowledge he is sup po se d to be acquiring. This knowledge will be in the Form of i s om or ph is ms . or exact analogies, i.e. laws .

HIERARCHICAL FOBMAT A. STORAGE B. DISPLAY C. LANGUAGE

But l e t ' s e xpa nd t h i s e x a a p l e a l i t t l e : 1.

T h i s preparation ba si ca ll y ha s two steps. First he sets up the whole field. This is done in collaboration wi t h a "s ubject matter expert," who names the import an t topics in the field and states what interconnections they have. The result is a c o mp le x graph Structure (see p. jj, ) whi ch Pask calls a co nversational d o m a i n . It co me s out to huge diagrams of labels and lines b e t w e e n them.

P a s k ’s overall system, exam pl es of which he has running in his laboratory in England, he calls CASTE (Course A s se m b l y S ystea and Tutorial Environment). A further development, which is to be put on a P D P - 11/45 computer (see p. T t and p. Mi. ) at the Br ooklyn C hi l­ d r e n ’s Museum, is called THOUGIIT-STICKER. This p r o g r a m is intended to a ll o w the d emo n­ s t r a t io n and testing of analogies directly, by children.

The sa ne a p p a r e n t l y l a t r u e o f Che d a ta stru c tu re . I ua ed t o b e somewhat d i s t u r b e d a t t h e way E n g e l b a r t ' a t e a t s y s t e a s s e n t o he r l g o r o u a l y h i e r a r c h i c a l This In f a c t la t h e c a a e , l n t h e a e n s e t h a t h a v in g m u l t i p l e d i s c r e t e l e v e l s l e b u i l t de ep I n t o t h e s y s te m . B ut I t t u r n s o u t t o b e h a r m l e s s . The s t o r e d t e a t I s d i v i d e d by t h e s t o r a g e te c h n i q u e s I n ­ t o a i l t l p l e l e v e l s , c o r r e s p o n d i n g t o a H arv ard ou tlin e. T hin k o f I t a s so m e th in g l i k e t h i s : 1.

rfh a t he d o e s , th e n , i s p r e p a r e g iv e n f i e l d s o f le a r n in g so th a t th e y c an b e s tu d ie d by s t u d e n t s u s i n g a b s t r a c t i v e , m e t h o d s , w i t h o u t g u id a n ce .

HIERARCHICAL FORMAT A. STORAGE A l. E v e r y t h i n g l n KLS i s s t o r e d w ith h i e r a r c h i c a l codes. A2. T h e i r e f f e e t d e p e n d s on t h e d isplay. B . DISPLAY B l . The h i e r a r c h i c a l c o d e s o f NLS ha v e no c o n s e q u e n c e s l n p a rticu la r. B2. The h i e r a r c h i c a l c o d e s f o r KLS c a n s p l a y t h e m a t e r i a l out in to a v a rie ty of d is ­ play a rrange m e nts. B2A. Th ey ca n b e d i s p l a y e d l n o u t l i n e form. B2B. Th ey c a n be d i s p l a y e d l n n o n a a l t e n t form . B2C. T h e a e d r a t t e d numb ers can even be made t o d isappear. C . LANGUAGE C l . The conmand l a n g u a g e d e t e r ­ m in e s w h at t h e d i s p l a y shows o f th e h ie ra r c h ic a l s t r u c t u r e . C2. What I s shown c an b e d e t e r ­ mined by a p ro gra m l n Che conmand l a n g u a g e . (F or I n ­ s t a n c e , "how many l e v e l s d ovn " l c l a b e i n g sh o w n ) . C2A. T h i s I s f o u r l e v e l s down. (Th e e a r l i e r ex ample w a s n ' t . ) C3 . The d i s p l a y f o r n a c a l l d e ­ pe nd s on whac d i s p l a y p r o ­ g r a a you u s e , l n t h e HLS c o s a a n d la n g u a g e .

T h a t ' s enough o f t h a t . 1 c a n 't h e lp r e ­ m a rk i n g t h a t I s t i l l d o n ' c l i k e t h a t s o r t o f s t r u c t u r i n g , b u t I t l a de ep l n NLS, an d i f you d o n ' t l i k e I t s l t h e r ( p o o r d e p r i v e d lu c k y u s e r o f NLS) you can p r o g r a a i t t o d i s a p p e a r , so i t ' s h a r d l y l n y o u r way. BY THE BEARD OP THE PROPHET! E n g e l b a r t l n German means A n g e l b e a r d ; Doug E n g e l b a r t I s In dee d on t h e s i d e o f t h e a n g e l s . I n b u i l d i n g h i s m i g h t y sy st e m he p o i n t s a new way f o r h u m a n it y . The s o o n e r t h e b e t t e r . Any h is t o r y o f th e tw e n tie th century w i l l c e r ta i n ly h o l d him h i g h . Few g r e a t men a r e a l s o su c h n i c e g uy s. BIBLIOGRAPHY D ougla s C. E n g e l b a r t , R i c h a r d W. Watson & James C. N o r t o n , "T he Augmented Knowledge W ork sh o p ." P r o c NCC 73 , 9 - 2 1 . C h a r l e s U. I r b y , " D i s p l a y T e c h n iq u e s f o r I n t e r ­ a c t i v e T e x t M a n i p u l a t i o n . " P r o c NCC 7 4 , 2 47 - 2 5 5 .

Ths A u g m e n ta tio n o f I n t e L i e c t .

T h is I s s t a r k a nd s i m p l e . I t c o u ld a l s o g e t you good a nd l o s t . How ever, a s im p le t e c h n i q u e took c a r e o f t h a t : e v e r ^ i a e t h e u s e r ju m ped, th e a d d r e s s o f h i s p r e v i o u s l o c a t i o n was sa v e d on a S t a c k [ s e e "The Magic o f t h e S t a c k , " p . t ‘T-) - The u s e r a l s o had a RETURN b u tto n - , when h e w anted to go b a c k t o w here he h a d l a s t jumped fro m , th e e y ete m w ould pop th e l a s t a d d r e s s o f f th e t o p o f th e e t a c k , and ta k e him t h e r e . ( T h i s f e a t u r e was a d a p te d fro m my 1967 S t r e t c h t e x t p a p e r , a n d t u r n e d o u t t o work o u t q u i t e w e l l in p ra c tic e .) The sy s te m a l s o had handy f e a t u r e s f o r l i g h t - p e n t e x t e d i t i n g , and v a r i o u s n i c e p r i n t o u t t e c h n i q u e s . A l l t o l d , i t waa a c l e a n and p o w e r f u l d e s i g n . W hile i t la c k e d h i g h e r l e v e l v i s u a l i z a t i o n f a c i l i t i e s , l i k e E n g e l b a r t's d i s p l a y o f L e v e ls (see " o u t l i n e " i n E n g e l b a r t a r t i c l e ) o r c o l l a t e r a l d i s p l a y ( s e e " T h l n k e r t o y a , " p.D » \r2 ), i t was i n some w ays s u i t e d f o r n a iv e u s e r s i t h a t i s , i t was e v e n t u a l l y f a i r l y s a f e t o u s e , and c o u ld i n l a r g e p a r t be ta u g h t t o r a n k b e g i n n e r s i n a c o u p le o f h o u r s — p r o v id e d t h e y d i d n ' t ha ve t o know a b o u t JCL c a r d s . I t i e l e f t f o r t h e r e a d e r to f i g u r e o u t i n t e r e s t i n g u s e s fo r i t . Haw would y o u do c o l l a t e r a l s t r u c t u r e s ? How c o u ld you e i g n a l t o a r e a d e r whic h o f s e v e r a l p i e c e s o f t e x t a jump was t o 7 (At l e a s t one r e a l h y p e r t e x t was a c t u a l l y w r i t t e n on t h i s s y s te a . I t tie d to g e th e r a l o t o f p a te n ts f o r m u lt ila y e r e le c ­ t r o d e s . R e a d e r s a g r e e d t h a t t h e y c o u ld l e a r n more frcxn i t a b o u t m u l t i l a y e r e l e c t r o d e s t h a n th e y had im a gin e d w a n t in g t o know.) BIBLIOGHAPHY S te v e n Ca rmody, W a l t e r G r o s s , T heodor H- N e l s o n , D avid R ic s and A n d rie s van Dam, 'A H y p e r te x t E d i t i n g S y s tem f o r t h e 3 6 0 ." I n Faim an a n d N i e v e r g e l t l e d s . ) . P e r t i n e n t C o n c ep ts i n Com puter G r a p h i c s (U. 1 1 1 . P r e s s ' 6 9 ) , 2 9 1 - 3 3 0 . N ote : Mr. G ross now g o e s b y th e name o f L ig h t n i n g C l e a r w a t e r .

gotpoit

T h ia c o n t i n u e s begun on p .

PASK AND HYPERTEXT G o r d o n P a s k ’s w or k is remar ka bl y similar to my o w n stuff on hypertext. Es s entially Pask is r educing a field to an ex tr emely formal structure o f relations which n a y then be studied by the student, at the s tu dent's init ia ti ve . (What I don't quite under st an d is how analogies are to be explored and tested.)

the

Anyway, a principal point is that the student is in control and may u se his initia­ tive dy namically; the subject is no t a rt if i­ ci ally p r oc es se d into a presenta ti on al se ­ quence. Moreover, the arbitrary interconnec­ tions o f the subject, which are no r e s p e c t e r s , of the p r in te d page, are re cognized as the fundamental structures the stud en t must deal with and come to understand. O n all these points Pask and 1 are in total agreement.. Indeed, his explorable system s- - (I don't know if they w ill be what I e ls ewhere call h y p e T g r a m s or r e s p o n d i n g resources)-* w il l be f a s c i n a t i n g , fun and t e r r i f i c a l l y e d u c a t i o n a l . Beca us e he is. N ow it turns out that this exac tl y c o m ­ p lements the notion of h yp ertext as I have been p r o m u lg at in g it lo these m any years.

th e

r e m a r k s on G o rdon P a e k

I will n pw try to d escribe Pask's w ork as he has e xp la in e d it to me. Perhaps this will be of some h el p to those w h o may have been mystified or dumfounded by contact w i t h this fabulous man. Gordon P a s k ’s concern is ab st raction and h ow concepts are formed, wheth er in a creature of nature or a r o b o t or a computer program. Ab st raction is of i n terest p r imordially (as life evolved thinking capacity), p sy c ho genetically (as the mind acq ui re s new facilities, d es cr ib ed m os t pecu li ar ly b y Piaget), and epistemologically (how do we know ? Like, how do we k n o w , man?), and meth od ol og ic a ll y (how c an we most e ff ec tively find out Diore?) . ilis interest, then, is in teaching by a llowing s tudents to d iscover exact relations in a specific s u bj e ct matter by the v ery p r o ­ cess of abs tr ac ti o n that is of s o much interest.

H y pe rtent is non-sequential text. If we write a h yp ertext on something, it will be most ap pr opriate iF~we give it the general i nterconnective structure of th e field. In o th er w or ds , the interconnective structures c hosen f or the textual parts are likely to have the same connective structure (in general) as Pask's Entailment Structure. For another kind of h ypertext, the anthological hy pe rtext built up of lots of other writings, it is also reasonable to expect the conn ec ti ve structures to c l us te r to the same general form as Pask's e ntailment structure. In o t h e r words, the very s am e field of knowledge Pask is out to represent as an exp l o r a b l e , formalized whole, I am ou t to repre­ sent as an explotable informalized whole, with anecdotes, jokes, cartoons, “ en richment mater­ ials,” a n d anything else people m ig h t dig. In still other words, and call it a party.

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I n fa m o u s Ape S e q u en c e fr o m my a l i d s - a h o u .

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Ah, Love I could yoa and I with H im ch|a| , collateral linkage (p a,*d the various hypergrams (p •j)^i These structures, while somewhat arbitrary and artifi­ cial, nevertheless can be used to handle a subject gently.) An important kind of organizing construct is the map or overall o r l e n d n g diagram. This, too, is often partly "exacc" and partly "artifice:" certain aspects of the diagram may have unclear import but clear and help­ ful connotation. (For lnscance, consider Che "picture systems" diagram on p. D M £ o — Jusc what does che vertical dimension mean? Yes, but whac does it really

Responding systems now make it possible for such orienting structures to be multidimensional and respon­ ding (cf. the orienting function of che "dimensional flip" control llluscrated on p. DM JJI )• Fantic design, Chen, Is the creation either of things to be shown (writing, movie-making, etc.) at the lower end, or media to show things In, or environments. 1. The design of things co be shown— whether writing, movie-making, or whatever— Is nearly always a combination of some kind of explicit structure— an ex­ planation or planned lesson, or plot of a novel— and a feeling thae the author can control in varying degrees. The two are .deeply intertwined, however. The author (designer, director, ecc.) muec chink carefully abouc how to give organization co what le being preaented. Thia, eoo, hae both aspeccs, cognition and feelings.

But the great change la Juat abouC now. Currenc technicalities allow branching iredls— especially those associated with computer screens. And It Is up to us now to design them. 3. MB4TAL ENVIRONMENTS are working places for struc­ tured activity. The saae principles of showmanship apply to a working environment as to both the contents of media and the design of media. If media are environments into which packaged materials are brought, structured environmencs are baalcally environments where you use non-packaged material, or create things yourself. They might also be called "contentlesa media." The princlplea of wholeneee In structured environments are the same aa for the others, and many of our examples refer to them.

In tomorrow's systems, properly unified controls can give us new flexibilities. If deeply well-designed, these promise magnificent new capabilities. For In­ stance, we could allow a Musician to "conduct" the per­ formance of hia work by a computer-based music eyntheele system (see "Audio," p.^il), perhapa controlling the many qualities of the performance on a ecreen ae he goee, by means of such techniques aa dimensional flip (see p.£n7j). (The tradition of cumulative audio aynthesls, as practiced In the flftlea by Lee Paul and Mary Ford, and more recently by Walter Carlos and Mike Oldfield, will take on a new fillip as multidimensional control techniques become coimiion.)

The organization of the feelings of the work criss-crosses the cognitive; but we can't get Into it here.

But this means you, dear reader, muat develop the fantlc imagination. You auat learn to visualize possible uses of computer screens, so you can get on down to the deeper level of how we are going to tie theee things together. The deelgner of responding coaputer eyeteas le cresting unified setups for viewing snd msnlpulstlng things— and the feellnga, Impreeelons end sense of things thst go with them. Our goal should be nothing less than REPRESENTING THE TRUE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF HUMAN THOUGHT. (Yes, Dream Machlnee Indeed.) But it should be eomethlng more: enabling the mind to weigh; pursue, synthesize snd evaluate ideas for a better tomorrow. Or for any at all.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Theodor H. Nelson, "A Conceptual Framework for Man-Machine Everything." Proc. NCC 73. "Computopia and Cybercrud.” In Levien (ed.). Computers in _Ins^ruc_^ion, The Rand Corporation,

O o TT J u ^ lc rO fT e x f , Here's hov; simple it is to create and edit text with the JOT system. Since your typewriter is now a JOT machine, not every key does what it used to.

CREATING TEXT: just type it in. fa'fjf.:

The quick brown fox jumps over the la2y dog.

If f'jpti:

The quick brown fox jumps over tho lazy dog.

REVIEWING A SENTENCE YOU JUST TYPED: the back-arrow takes you back, the space bnr steps y o u ,, ‘ through sp sp sp sp U

(bell)

The quick brown fox

DELETIONS AND INSERTIONS: the RUBOUT key rejects words you don't want. •fi*

Ac the cognitive end, the author must concern him­ self with detailed exposition or argument, or, in fiction, plot. But almply putting appropriate parte together is not enough: the author must use organizing eonscruccsco continually orient the reader's (or viewer's) mind. Re­ peated reference to main concepts, repeated shots (in a movie) of particular locations, serve this function; but each medium presents its own possible devices for thlB purpose.

But thle all means thst Interior coaputer technical­ ities have to be SUBSERVIENT, and the prograoers cannot be allowed to dictate bow it la to behave on tbe basis of the underlevel structures that are convenient to thea. Quite the contrary: from the fullest consideration of che rlehest upper-level structures we want, we tha usera-tobe aust dictate what lower-level structures are to be prepared within.

The branching computer acreen, together with the aelfsame computer's ability to turn anything elae on and off as selected by the user, snd to fetch up information, ylelde a realm of option In the design of media and environment that bee never existed before. Medls we design for screen-bssed computer systems are going to catch on widely, so we must be far more at­ tentive to the options that exlat in order to coomlt— nationally, perhaps— to the best.

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The quick /brown/ lithe fox jumps over the laxy dog.

REARRANGING TEXT: first w e make three Cuts in the text, signalled by free-standing excl a n a t i o n

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sp

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TO REARRANGE IT, YOU TYPE: LINE FEED key. CHECK THE RESULTS: (bell)

sp sp sp Sp The lithe quick fox

This exchanges the two pieces between the c u ts.

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LSoT*r*\ 1* l*w t» ), and PLATO’S fantic spaces ( p j K 2("7* 8re fantic constructions that need to be understood if we are to under­ stand these systens and their potential usages.

L iv e rm o re L ab s , th o s e h y d ro g en -b o m b d e s ig n p e o p le , w ill h a v e a " L a b o ra to ry for Data A n a l y s is ,” an o p u le n t f a c u lty for e x ­ p e rim e n tin g w ith m u ltid im e n sio n a l v isu a lisa tio n .

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s l i d i n g m o v e n n t s an d f n u c c -b y -T ru c e a n im a tio n . ( Q e s e o a t e r l o l s w i l l h av e b e e n , o f c o u r s e , e x p l i c i t l y I n p u t b y a u th o rs a nd a r t i s t s . ) I n a s a a p le e a p lo y n e n t, c o i s l d e r a p r e s e n t a t i o n ]

(It Is Interesting to note inat the llnka In Box Fission are handled automatically, co an extent, by the hardware.) WELCOME TO THE FUTURE.

HUH?

Thle has euaaarlzed the development of some Ideas for the viewing and manipulation of complex stuff. I offer thle design, Inso­ far as I have been able to present It ss sn example of fantic deaign (eee p. 5 0 )There le.no logical necessity to It; It cor­ responds to the tradleional sCructure of no technical systea; It arises froa no Intrinsic or traditional data etrucCures used for coa­ puter repreeencatlon of these things. But none of theee considerations la co the point. This design has a certain stark logical alapllclty; it extends Itself plauaIbly from Its basic outlook (or starting Idess, If you can ieolate them) into a tool for truly intricate cross-consideration, without adding unneceaeary and hard-toreiwaber "technicalltlea." At leaat that a how I think of 1C. Obviously the aeathedcs of ic are laportant to the designer. But a more final criterion of Its goodneas— les uaefulnesa— may depend on the same parsimony and organi­ zational clarity.

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RL'BLA KHAN : OH, A VISION IN A DREAiL A PHA(iUK.NT. Is tl» aurs trier of 'he year 17W. tbe Author, thea Id III health had retired to a lonely farm hounti between Porlock u d Liston, on the Lhhodt nn llnff ol Hnmtnet Hn, which ihe reader may attack nnd play for the things he wants, branching nnd jumping on the scrccn, uting simple controls as if he were driving :\ car Tliere ain be special­ ized £ub|KirlN for K|jccializcd in­ terests. instant .availabilily of rolevoncies in all directions, footnotes that are books Ihemsclvcs. Hyperlexis will be so much belter Ihan ordinary writing that the printed word will wilher away. Frol writing by i>eopte. make no mistake, not data banks, robot summaries or olher clank. A |*rson Ls writing to olher people, just as before, but on magial paper he can cut up and tie in knols and fly around on.

From "Sarnun-Tronlcs" (c ita tio n

p.

DM 2 . )

1) Knowledge, understanding uul freedom