Jun 14, 2026
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 episode I sit down with Dale to talk about the intersection of technical and human histories.
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May 31, 2026
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 get to the 50s that number explodes. What's going on here? What caused the gap between the first digital machines and...
May 18, 2026
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 why magnetic drum memory was invented.
Like Advent of Computing? Then check out the after show! Adjunct of Computing is now...
May 3, 2026
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 was RAYDAC. Early digital computers were odd, to say the least. And RAYDAC distinguishes itself. From zig-zag delay lines to hunting tapes to freon cooling, it truly is a...
Apr 19, 2026
The image of a mainframe is almost always accompanied by it's companion: the magnetic tape drive. For decades magnetic tape served as the medium of choice for computing. It was faster than punch cards, and more available than hard drives. But where did it come from? Is it a borrowed technology like the vacuum tube?
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