Podcast Episodes

Training and Teaching with the Bi-Tran Six

Episode 188

How did you learn about computers? And how in depth was your education? For some the answer is the Bi-Tran Six: an educational machine released in 19…

1 day, 21 hours ago

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Episode 187 - What's Better Than Binary?

Episode 187

Binary is synonymous with digital computing. But is it the only way to crunch numbers? The short answer is no. The long answer, well, that's today's …

2 weeks, 2 days ago

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LIVE from VCF West - Wait, Is That Really UNIX?

It's no secret that I've been fascinated by odd UNIX clones for a while. When I got invited back to speak at VCF West this year I decided to share th…

1 month ago

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MADDIDA

Episode 186

In 1950 Northrup unveiled their MAgnetic Drum DIgital Differential Analyser. The machine is a wild piece of technology; a rendering of an analog comp…

1 month, 2 weeks ago

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Is EMUL-8ion a Form of Flattery?

Episode 185

EMUL-8 is a fascinating programming language. It's described in just one paper from 1977. It's a mix of features from APL, LISP, ALGOL, and SNO…

1 month, 4 weeks ago

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What Is A Programming Language?

Episode 182

I mean that both in the specific and the abstract. This episode we are looking at APL, which stands for A Programming Language. APL was develop…

2 months, 1 week ago

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Dale Biagio - Hello, World!

Dale Biagio(author of Hello, World!) got in touch with me recently. He said he had a book full of short histories of programming languages. Better st…

2 months, 2 weeks ago

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A Digital Gap?

Episode 182

I've been browsing old compur surveys and trying to build up a comprehensive data set. What I've found is a little surprising: between late 1945 and …

3 months ago

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Spinning Memories

Episode 182

What connects IBM, the NSA, the Third Reich, and high fidelity recordings of symphonies? The answer is: magnetic drum memory. Join me as I lose all t…

3 months, 2 weeks ago

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RAYDAC

Episode 181

In 1947 Raytheon signed a contract to make their first computer. It would be their last... at least for many many years. The fruits of this contract …

3 months, 4 weeks ago

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