Commentary
Circuit Rider - Version 4.12
by Jim Scheef
RFID and you
Were you at the June general meeting to hear Dr. Paul Moskowitz? As a real live researcher in RFID, he presented the here and now without giving away any secrets. I felt he was quite realistic about practical applications and areas that should be avoided (like “chipping” people). It was a very interesting meeting and this is a topic we need to follow in the months and years ahead.
Fathers of Computing
Ok, I’m writing this the day before Fathers Day and I found a “Fathers of Computing” slideshow on eWeek.com. Here’s their list:
- Father of Computer Science: Alan Turing
- Father of the Microprocessor: Ted Hoff
- Father of the modern PC: Steve Wozniak
- Father of ASCII: Bob Bemer
- Father of the Relational Database: Edgar F. Codd
- Father of the Mouse: Douglas Engelbart
- Fathers of Silicon Valley: Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard
- Father of DOS: Gary Kildall
- Fathers of the Computer Modem: Dennis Hayes and Dale Heatherington
- Father of E-Mail: Raymond Tomlinson
- Father of the Laser Printer: Gary Starkweather
- Father of the Internet: Vint Cerf
- Father of Internet Search: Alan Emtage
- Father of the LAN: Bob Metcalfe
- Father of Networking: Ray Noorda
- Father of the Web: Tim Berners-Lee
- Father of the Spreadsheet: Dan Bricklin
- Father of Open Source: Richard Stallman
- Father of Java: James Gosling
- Father of Computer Collaboration: Ray Ozzie
- Father of the Graphical Web Browser: Marc Andreessen
- Father of the Wiki: Ward Cunningham
- Father of Global Philanthropy Via Success in Technology: Bill Gates
Watch the slide show and see if you agree with their choices. If you have never heard of these people, you’re excused, in a few cases. However, I think they missed a few really key people. Here are my additions:
- Father of the General Purpose Computer: Charles Babbage – First used the punch card in computing and invented the programmable central processor. While it is not clear if those who followed like Hollerith, Eckert and Mauchly knew about Babbage, he was first by decades.
- Mother of Computer Languages: Grace Murray Hopper – Her first compiler, A-0 developed in 1951, evolved into Flow-Matic. She believed that computers should be programmed in a language as close to English as possible (inventing the high-level computer language). Her work led to the development and standardization of COBOL. She documented the first computer bug, a moth removed from a relay in the Harvard Mark II.
- Father of Reliable File Transfer: Ward Christensen – Early microcomputer users would not have been able to share software and ideas without a reliable way to transfer files by modem. The XMODEM protocol, invented in 1977, was the first easy-to-implement method of reliable file transfer. And Ward did not try to keep it proprietary so XMODEM quickly became a standard.
- Father of the Mini-Computer: Kenneth H. Olsen – Thru the 1950’s computers were large, heavy beasts. Before the personal computer Digital Computer produced machines that were small, affordable, and fun. Ask any collector today.
If you have names you would like to add, send me an email at jscheef@dacs.org.
The Saga of Julie Amero
Sanity has finally come to the Julie Amero case. On June 6th, New London Superior Court dismissed the conviction and granted Ms. Amero a new trial. Apparently some “newly discovered” evidence contradicts testimony from the state’s expert witness. Hopefully this nightmare is almost over for Ms. Amero and her family.
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