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 that fascination with a captive audience. In this tal...
3 Aug 48min
Episode 186 - MADDIDA
In 1950 Northrup unveiled their MAgnetic Drum DIgital Differential Analyser. The machine is a wild piece of technology; a rendering of an analog computer in digital encoding. But how did we get here? ...
19 Juli 1h 7min
Episode 185 - Is EMUL-8ion a Form of Flattery?
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 SNOBOL. And, I think, it's a wonderful window into how count...
6 Juli 1h 1min
Episode 184 - What Is A Programming Language?
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 developed in the mid 50s, but didn't see a working implementatio...
21 Juni 1h 9min
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 still, it has sources! How could I resist! In this ep...
14 Juni 31min
Episode 183 - A Digital Gap?
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 1949 only 10 new computers entered service. Once we...
31 Maj 54min
Episode 182 - Spinning Memories
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 track of scope and plot to discovery just how and wh...
18 Maj 58min
