4 ms·

Seems pretty reasonable for someone doing their own high level research. Notably missing any references to telegrams and telephone systems.

DiscourseFan 3y ago
Yeah, there was a lot of work on logic in both India and the West in the medieval period, which was very influential in later thought, its just that what we conceive of as the "modern" form of logic only took shape in the 19th century. But reading medieval tracts on logic is fascinating.
- jll29 3y ago
  Also between the middle ages and the 19th century: e.g. The Logic and Grammar of Port Royal were very influential - c.f. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/port-royal-logic/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/port-royal-logic/
  - DiscourseFan 3y ago
    I meant "medieval" here to refer to any time between the beginning of neoplatonism and the industrial revolution: quite a large space, but it seems like those are the only two time periods people are generally aware of in the history of thought, since we teach kids that everything between then was the "dark ages."
- jazzyjackson 3y ago
  Wish I had a source but I've read Mr and Mrs Boole were both involved in the study of Indian mathematics, and that "Bool" as a datatype might be more true to its namesake if it included "maybe" or "null"
retrac 3y ago
In terms of causes and forces, the influence of telecommunication on computing is really hard to overstate. In the Internet era, I think some might be unaware that telecommunication definitively came first, and in my view, effectively led directly to computers. From the electrical engineering perspective, the earliest relay and vacuum tube computers were built out of elements developed for radio and telephone exchanges. Bell Labs developed the transistor with their phone system primarily in mind. Same with high speed digital data circuits. (Digital audio was demo'd in the late 1940s, deployed in the phone network in the late 50s). It's not just the physical circuits; much of the theory, too. Claude Shannon was trying to optimize subnets of switches in the phone network, when he proved that binary switching logic is equivalent to Boolean algebra and so such systems could be described, manipulated, and optimized symbolically. Similarly, both frequency and time division multiplexing date to the late 1800s with telegraphy. One of the first uses of vacuum tubes as switching elements was for multiplexing telegraph lines c. 1940 or so. (The terminology from that era is quite charming - modern Wi-Fi might be described as supersonic harmonic multiplexed radiotelegraphy.)
- kitd 3y ago
  From the electrical engineering perspective, the earliest relay and vacuum tube computers were built out of elements developed for radio and telephone exchanges. Indeed. A "main frame" was originally the housing used for the relay switches in the original telephone exchanges.
  - kens 3y ago
    I've done a ton of research on this, and "main frame" in the computer sense originated with the IBM 701, which was built from various frames such as the power frame, the storage frame, and the main frame (which performed computation). There is a direct (but complicated) path from this to the modern meaning of "mainframe". The "main distribution frame" in a telephone exchange was unrelated.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- pjmlp 3y ago
  For example during the 1800's sport results were already being telegraphed and printed into dotted paper.
citelao 3y ago
What would be a good, more academic overview of computing history? Do you have any specific book recommendations? I'd love to read a more "citation-based" version.
- nappy 3y ago
  Not sure about academic history, but in a single volume, this does a good job on early 20th century computer history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idea_Factory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idea_Factory
- mjbrusso 3y ago
  The First Computers History and Architectures Edited by Raúl Rojas and Ulf Hashagen https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262681377/the-first-computers/ https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262681377/the-first-computers/
- cfmcdonald 3y ago
  IMO the best overall "soup to nuts" survey of the history of computers is Campbell-Kelly, et. al., "Computer: A History of the Information Machine." Specifically on the relation of telecommunications to computers I will toot my own horn and recommend my book, McDonald, "How the Telegraph, Telephone, and Radio Created the Computer."

DiscourseFan 3y ago

Yeah, there was a lot of work on logic in both India and the West in the medieval period, which was very influential in later thought, its just that what we conceive of as the "modern" form of logic only took shape in the 19th century. But reading medieval tracts on logic is fascinating.

jll29 3y ago
Also between the middle ages and the 19th century: e.g. The Logic and Grammar of Port Royal were very influential - c.f. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/port-royal-logic/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/port-royal-logic/
- DiscourseFan 3y ago
  I meant "medieval" here to refer to any time between the beginning of neoplatonism and the industrial revolution: quite a large space, but it seems like those are the only two time periods people are generally aware of in the history of thought, since we teach kids that everything between then was the "dark ages."
jazzyjackson 3y ago
Wish I had a source but I've read Mr and Mrs Boole were both involved in the study of Indian mathematics, and that "Bool" as a datatype might be more true to its namesake if it included "maybe" or "null"

retrac 3y ago

In terms of causes and forces, the influence of telecommunication on computing is really hard to overstate. In the Internet era, I think some might be unaware that telecommunication definitively came first, and in my view, effectively led directly to computers. From the electrical engineering perspective, the earliest relay and vacuum tube computers were built out of elements developed for radio and telephone exchanges. Bell Labs developed the transistor with their phone system primarily in mind. Same with high speed digital data circuits. (Digital audio was demo'd in the late 1940s, deployed in the phone network in the late 50s). It's not just the physical circuits; much of the theory, too. Claude Shannon was trying to optimize subnets of switches in the phone network, when he proved that binary switching logic is equivalent to Boolean algebra and so such systems could be described, manipulated, and optimized symbolically. Similarly, both frequency and time division multiplexing date to the late 1800s with telegraphy. One of the first uses of vacuum tubes as switching elements was for multiplexing telegraph lines c. 1940 or so. (The terminology from that era is quite charming - modern Wi-Fi might be described as supersonic harmonic multiplexed radiotelegraphy.)

kitd 3y ago
From the electrical engineering perspective, the earliest relay and vacuum tube computers were built out of elements developed for radio and telephone exchanges. Indeed. A "main frame" was originally the housing used for the relay switches in the original telephone exchanges.
- kens 3y ago
  I've done a ton of research on this, and "main frame" in the computer sense originated with the IBM 701, which was built from various frames such as the power frame, the storage frame, and the main frame (which performed computation). There is a direct (but complicated) path from this to the modern meaning of "mainframe". The "main distribution frame" in a telephone exchange was unrelated.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
pjmlp 3y ago
For example during the 1800's sport results were already being telegraphed and printed into dotted paper.

citelao 3y ago

What would be a good, more academic overview of computing history? Do you have any specific book recommendations? I'd love to read a more "citation-based" version.

nappy 3y ago
Not sure about academic history, but in a single volume, this does a good job on early 20th century computer history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idea_Factory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idea_Factory
mjbrusso 3y ago
The First Computers History and Architectures Edited by Raúl Rojas and Ulf Hashagen https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262681377/the-first-computers/ https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262681377/the-first-computers/
cfmcdonald 3y ago
IMO the best overall "soup to nuts" survey of the history of computers is Campbell-Kelly, et. al., "Computer: A History of the Information Machine." Specifically on the relation of telecommunications to computers I will toot my own horn and recommend my book, McDonald, "How the Telegraph, Telephone, and Radio Created the Computer."