[LINK] Computer science born in Australia 70 years ago

[Roger Clarke]

On 19/9/21 1:02 pm, Antony Barry wrote:
> [In 1961], also at Sydney University I wrote my first program (No
> historical significance except for me!). It was on Silliac which was Sydney
> University's version of Illiac 1, the University of Illinois first
> computer. The program was an assignment to sum an arithmetic sequence.

At least that was a comprehensible problem to solve (maybe not all that
useful, but not at all nonsensical).

In May 1967, in Maths I at UNSW, an incomprehensible lecturer set an
incomprehensible problem that did some kind of sideways-folding of
n-dimensional matrices (n>3).

The Fortran compiler on the IBM 360/50? was at that stage without a
version-number in the name, and was famously poorly-formed.  And the
incomprehensible lecturer compounded that by using a poorly-selected
sub-set of the language called iiTran.  Or so understood at the time.

This says "its syntax resembled that of PL/I":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IITRAN

(If the author means what the world mostly calls PL/1, then it's a
grossly defamatory comment, because PL/1 was well-formed, whereas iiTran
in 1967 was a basket-case).

I got the program to run, but, in accordance with Ada Lovelace's dictum
(*), 'it did whatever I instructed it to do', as distinct from 'what I
wanted it to do'.  (Moreover, given that we never found out what it was
supposed to deliver, we had no particular expectations).


*
http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/Drones-I-131214.html#CRD
> Turing (1950) includes a quotation from Hartree (1949), which
attributes an expression of the problem to the very first programmer -
who was also arguably the first commentator on the limitations of
computing - Ada Lovelace, in 1842: "The Analytical Engine has no
pretensions to *originate* anything. It can do *whatever we know how to
order it* to perform" (*italics* in the original).

______________________


> On Sat, Sep 18, 2021 at 3:45 PM Marghanita da Cruz <marghanita at ramin.com.au>
> wrote:
> 
>>> Computer science born in Australia 70 years ago
>>>
>>> On The Science Show with Robyn Williams
>>>
>>>
>>> Download Computer science born in Australia 70 years ago (23.80 MB)
>>> Download 23.80 MB
>>>
>>> It was 1951 when the first conference was held in Australia dedicated
>>> to computers. In the Department of Electrical Engineering at Sydney
>>> University,
> 
> 
> And 10 years later, also at Sydney University I wrote my first program (No
> historical significance except for me!). It was on Silliac which was Sydney
> University's version of Illiac 1, the University of Illinois first
> computer. The program was an assignment to sum an arithmetic sequence.
> 
> Tony
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at anu.edu.au
> https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
> 


-- 
Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
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Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University