{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -77.0537664, 38.8692426, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1960: COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language)\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-0288D1", "styleHash": "1b6fcdd2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-0288D1-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-0288D1-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "A team drawn from several computer manufacturers and the Pentagon develop COBOL—an acronym for Common Business-Oriented Language. Many of its specifications borrow heavily from the earlier FLOW-MATIC language. Designed for business use, early COBOL efforts aimed for easy readability of computer programs and as much machine independence as possible. Designers hoped a COBOL program would run on any computer for which a compiler existed with only minimal modifications.

Howard Bromberg, an impatient member of the committee in charge of creating COBOL, had this tombstone made out of fear that the language had no future. However, COBOL survives to this day. A study in 1997 estimated that over 200 billion lines of COBOL code was still in existence, accounting for 80% of all business software code." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -71.0940742, 42.3600344, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1961: Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) is Demonstrated\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-0288D1", "styleHash": "1b6fcdd2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-0288D1-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-0288D1-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "

The increasing number of users needing access to computers in the early 1960s leads to experiments in timesharing computer systems. Timesharing systems can support many users – sometimes hundreds – by sharing the computer with each user. CTSS was developed by the MIT Computation Center under the direction of Fernando Corbató and was based on a modified IBM 7094 mainframe computer. Programs created for CTSS included RUNOFF, an early text formatting utility, and an early inter-user messaging system that presaged email. CTSS operated until 1973.", "gx_media_links": "https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/KX10KffmTlQotkOj8Mt5X-WFJANuzIWea-RwA5x6HteSL5PsYC6g8-nUpJBqn-QaTbuScNs_pLA418335G6v7m56IzLg8kWgklZmExkt-_HTkN4cedDXic3bPg93PG65C4v8dg" } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -71.1166601, 42.3770029, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1962: Kenneth Iverson writes A Programming Language", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-0288D1", "styleHash": "1b6fcdd2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-0288D1-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-0288D1-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "Kenneth Iverson’s book A Programming Language details a form of mathematical notation that he had developed in the late 1950s while an assistant professor at Harvard University. IBM hired Iverson and it was there that APL evolved into a practical programming language. APL was widely used in scientific, financial, and especially actuarial applications. Powerful functions and operators in APL are expressed with special characters, resulting in very concise programs." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -77.0430886, 38.9039828, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1963: ASCII", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-0288D1", "styleHash": "1b6fcdd2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-0288D1-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-0288D1-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "ASCII — American Standard Code for Information Interchange — permits machines from different manufacturers to exchange data. The ASCII code consisted of 128 unique strings of ones and zeros. Each sequence represented a letter of the English alphabet, an Arabic numeral, an assortment of punctuation marks and symbols, or a function such as a carriage return. ASCII can only represent up to 256 symbols, and for this reason many other languages are better supported by Unicode, which has the ability to represent over 100,000 symbols.

http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9907/06/1963.idg/index.html

However, there was an 18-year gap between the completion of ASCII in 1963 and its common acceptance. This has everything to do with IBM and its System/360, which was released in 1964. While ASCII was being developed, everyone — even IBM — assumed the company would move to the new standard. Until then, IBM used EBCDIC, an extension of the old punch-card code.

But just as ASCII became a done deal and the System/360 was ready for release, Dr. Frederick Brooks, head of IBM's OS/360 development team, told Bemer the punch cards and printers wouldn't be ready for ASCII on time. IBM tried to develop a way for the System/360 to switch between ASCII and EBCDIC, but the technique didn't work.

Until 1981, when IBM finally used ASCII in its first PC, the only ASCII computer was the Univac 1050, released in 1964 (although Teletype immediately made all of its new typewriter-like machines work in ASCII). But from that point on, ASCII became the standard for computer communication." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ 139.7450536, 35.7052261, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1959: NEAC 2201\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-AFB42B", "styleHash": "65983ef2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/dawn/0018.html

In September 1958, NEC completed their first transistor-based computer, the NEAC-2201. This machine was finished in September 1958. It was displayed at the AUTOMATH Exhibition (an international conference on information processing sponsored by Unesco) held in Paris in June 1959, and provided the world's first public demonstration of a transistor computer. Other countries exhibited transistor computers, but the only one which actually worked was the NEAC-2201. The NEAC-2201 was also more compact and had better performance than the vacuum tube based IBM 650, which was the leading computer model of the time." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -71.09416, 42.360091, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1960: DEC PDP-1 introduced", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-AFB42B", "styleHash": "65983ef2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "

The typical PDP-1 computer system, which sells for about $120,000, includes a cathode ray tube graphic display, paper tape input/output, needs no air conditioning and requires only one operator; all of which become standards for minicomputers. Its large scope intrigued early hackers at MIT, who wrote the first computerized video game, SpaceWar!, as well as programs to play music. More than 50 PDP-1s were sold.", "gx_media_links": "https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/kp9WD0PleWLCONaLgye7GUGBY28d9sCQrne0V7_yjwxF8qka5Qm0K6z8dC5crrjxUO8MfSXjHutdmvmkaFOj25xuATItce-kEINVaxanZL4iD-uTSPic7Iul1IihnQIT7v0UvBA" } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -73.716627, 41.114571, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1961: IBM 7030 (“Stretch”) completed\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-AFB42B", "styleHash": "65983ef2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "IBM´s 7000 series of mainframe computers are the company´s first to use transistors. At the top of the line was the Model 7030, also known as \"Stretch.\" Nine of the computers, which featured dozens of advanced design innovations, were sold, mainly to national laboratories and major scientific users. A special version, known as HARVEST, was developed for the US National Security Agency (NSA). While the IBM 7030 was not considered successful because it failed to meet its own performance goals, the knowledge and technologies developed for the Stretch project played a major role in the design, management, and manufacture of the later IBM System/360--the most successful computer family in IBM history." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -73.7157297, 41.1150554, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1961: IBM Introduces 1400 series\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-AFB42B", "styleHash": "65983ef2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "The 1401 mainframe, the first in the series, replaces earlier vacuum tube technology with smaller, more reliable transistors. Demand called for more than 12,000 of the 1401 computers, and the machine´s success made a strong case for using general-purpose computers rather than specialized systems. By the mid-1960s, nearly half of all computers in the world were IBM 1401s." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -117.8504838, 33.8580118, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1961: Minuteman I missile guidance computer developed\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-AFB42B", "styleHash": "65983ef2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "Minuteman missiles use transistorized computers to continuously calculate their position in flight. The computer, manufactured by the Autonetics Division of North American Aviation in Anaheim, CA, had to be rugged and fast, with advanced circuit design and reliable packaging able to withstand the forces of a missile launch. The military’s high standards for its transistors pushed manufacturers to improve quality control. When the Minuteman I was decommissioned, some universities received these computers for use by students." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -71.2674952, 42.4589589, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1962: MIT LINC introduced\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-AFB42B", "styleHash": "65983ef2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "The LINC is an early and important example of a ‘personal computer,’ that is, a computer designed for only one user. It was designed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory engineer Wesley Clark. Under the auspices of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, biomedical research faculty from around the United States came to a workshop at MIT to build their own LINCs, and then bring them back to their home institutions where they would be used. For research, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) supplied the components, and 50 original LINCs were made. The LINC was later commercialized by DEC and sold as the LINC-8." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -2.23292820000006, 53.4668836, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1962: The Atlas Computer debuts\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-AFB42B", "styleHash": "65983ef2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-AFB42B-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "A joint project of England’s Manchester University, Ferranti Computers, and Plessey, Atlas comes online nine years after Manchester’s computer lab begins exploring transistor technology. Atlas was the fastest computer in the world at the time and introduced the concept of “virtual memory,” that is, using a disk or drum as an extension of main memory. System control was provided through the Atlas Supervisor, which some consider to be the first true operating system." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ 37.5286696000001, 55.7039349, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1961: Quicksort algorithm\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-E65100", "styleHash": "11a45f12", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-E65100-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-E65100-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "

While studying machine translation of languages in Moscow, C. A. R. Hoare develops Quicksort, an algorithm that would become one of the most used sorting methods in the world. Later, Hoare went to work for the British computer company Elliott Brothers, where he designed the first commercial Algol 60 compiler. Queen Elizabeth II knighted C.A.R. Hoare in 2000.", "gx_media_links": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K7wZQBbkBYc8ssVfsupHXLjoJs79DdXkVibLUZ4QkzL3m0Vp3n3xsAINR-2ITritDHnDzOMk3NY0lIinF3sd2aOW5Y4zs0hUILK8X_IsdYEEU1DfAQJBiiqgN2cievoMYz2Ig" } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -74.7909125, 40.2599864, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1961: UNIMATE, the industrial robot\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-E65100", "styleHash": "11a45f12", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-E65100-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-E65100-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "

UNIMATE, the first mass-produced industrial robot, begins work at General Motors. Obeying step-by-step commands stored on a magnetic drum, the 4,000-pound robot arm sequenced and stacked hot pieces of die-cast metal. UNIMATE was the brainchild of Joe Engelberger and George Devol, and originally automated the manufacture of TV picture tubes.", "gx_media_links": "https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/2-COHwruK5Qfc5YSz3llTjwmeDCHSlq3Yn8UiWiqcDGawBj5cQWCIta8nJKSnPZ6GGszmTmA6VU9r5DphfzrNzOYfYtZVIL8HwQdqP2OSTpC9NGRVJJGEeM-8F4pzs-bUWfBYFU" } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -2.20323499999995, 53.469463, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1961: Magnetostrictive delay lines\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-795548", "styleHash": "2b209512", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-795548-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-795548-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "The Ferranti Sirius is announced. The Sirius was a small, low-cost business computer using a simple programming language. Its main memory was a magnetostrictive delay line. The medium here was a thin strip of special metal rolled into a coil, with transducers at either end. Like all delay lines, bits were fed into one end, detected at the other, and continuously recirculated. Although this type of delay line was considered to be somewhat slow, its low cost made it attractive to computer designers." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -2.23292820000006, 53.4668836, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1962: Atlas computer\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-795548", "styleHash": "2b209512", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-795548-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-795548-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "The concept of virtual memory emerges from a team under the direction of Tom Kilburn at the University of Manchester on its Atlas computer. Virtual memory permitted a computer to use its storage capacity to switch rapidly among multiple programs or users and was a key requirement for timesharing." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -88.2271615, 40.1019523, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "Early 1960s: Timesharing – the first online communities\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-1A237E", "styleHash": "58fd2ab2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-1A237E-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-1A237E-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "By the early 1960s many people can share a single computer, using terminals (often repurposed teleprinters) to log in over phone lines. These timesharing computers are like central hubs with spokes radiating to individual users. Although the computers generally can't connect to each other, these are the first common multi-user systems, with dozens of people online at the same time. As a result, timesharing pioneers many features of later networks, from file sharing to e-mail and chat. Typical 1960s users are a mix of business people, bank employees, students and researchers, and military personnel.

Some of the first general time-sharing systems are CTSS at MIT, and PLATO II at the University of Illinois." } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ -71.09416, 42.360091, 0 ] }, "properties": { "name": "1962: Spacewar! debuts\n", "styleUrl": "#icon-1899-0288D1", "styleHash": "1b6fcdd2", "styleMapHash": { "normal": "#icon-1899-0288D1-normal", "highlight": "#icon-1899-0288D1-highlight" }, "icon": "http://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png", "description": "MIT receives a DEC PDP-1 computer in the fall of 1961. While there were some demonstration programs, Steve “Slug” Russell thought a game would make a better presentation. Along with Martin \"Shag\" Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen, he designes a space battle game based on the Lensman series of novels by E.E. \"Doc\" Smith called Spacewar! Two ships, one called the 'Wedge' and the other the 'Needle,' would fly around a star-filled background. Peter Samson provided a program called Expensive Planetarium that generated an accurate star-filled background. The game would later be distributed through DECUS, the Digital Equipment Corporation users group, ensuring it would become widespread in the technical and university computing communities." } } ] }