THURSDAY 6.8.09 LECTURE "SHORT HISTORY OF COMPUTING"

An informative and entertaining lecture delivered by Dr Stephen Stockwell on "a short history of computing and the internet". The term Mechanosphere was mentioned with reference to abstract machines linked and intertwined - I will have to learn more from the link at Learning@Griffith to fully understand. Dr Stockwell covered computing from about 750AD and the Anticytherian Device (a 'prototype' of current abstract machines) to the industrial revolution with the advanced mechanical production skills and 'Babbage' with his development of the Analytical Engine and 'Ada Byran' writing the 1st computer code inspired by, of all things...weaving.

Then IBM with the 1st calculators to the Germans requirement for advanced machinery for sending messages and the British developing 'Signal Analysis' to break code birthing the principals of Cybernetics and the development of the Radar. It was Chewring though that invents a machine that mimics the German code machine that becomes the first computer.

Dr Stockwell then went on to explain the IBM to Microsoft partnership and the development of Apple and the battle between MS and Apple.

My much appreciated operating system of Linux was then touched upon with the mention of free software being a huge option and we should look into it!

In the 1960's the phone system was utilised to send information quickly using frequency tones - RPERNET (the 1st internet). Then email and the 1980's Multipal user domains/bulletin board servers. Next in the 1990's Burne came up with HTML and this produces the World Wide Web.

Dr Stockwell then reminded us that the www is just a part of the whole Internet.

We were left with the thought that current challenge's of the internet are that it is not only just complex knowledge but also complex emotions.