[SIGCIS-Members] Message from Atsushi Akera re Stored Program

Liesbeth De Mol elizabeth.demol at ugent.be
Thu Apr 5 23:17:56 PDT 2012


Hi all,

it is true that in the context of ENIAC `programming' is used 
frequently. In fact, many of the names for hardware parts contain the 
word `program': the master programmer (for loops and sequencing), the 
programming cables (as opposed to the umerical cables. These are also 
used in a way for sequencing -- as a kind of communication between the 
units to `tell' for instance when a computation in one accumulator has 
finished to another); a dummy program (used for wiring an if) etc.

best wishes,
Liesbeth.


Op 5/04/12 21:47, Thomas Haigh schreef:
>
> [Looks like the list is having a bad week -- there's some kind of 
> issue with our Go Daddy domain registration that sometimes interacts 
> with certain ISPs to bounce mail with a message from 
> "mailstore1.secureserver.net" that the address is rejected. If anyone 
> has expertise in this area and can help us solve the problem that 
> would be appreciated. In that case the messages never make it to our 
> listserv manager. Anyway, Atsushi asked me to forward this -- see 
> below for my reply].
>
> *From:*Atsushi Akera [mailto:akeraa at rpi.edu]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 04, 2012 5:47 AM
> *To:* 'David Alan Grier'; 'Thomas Haigh'
> *Cc:* members at sigcis.org <mailto:members at sigcis.org>
> *Subject:* RE: [SIGCIS-Members] "Stored program" -- anyone know 
> origins of the PHRASE
>
> Hi David, Hi Tom,
>
> Just in this context, the term "program" is used extensively in the 
> context of ENIAC. It's been a while since I've gone through the 
> records, and I didn't go back to check it. But as I recall, Mauchly 
> was among those who brought the terminology of 'program' based on his 
> amateur radio experience. I assume this was referring in general terms 
> to a sequence of activities, similar to a conference program or a 
> program for an organized luncheon.
>
> You would know this part better, but I think the other conventional 
> term from the period would have been "plan of calculation," based on 
> the work of human computers. The reference to "instruction tables" 
> (in  considering Paul's post) strikes me as something that could come 
> out of the fact that there was contemplation of using the ENIAC 
> function tables to store instructions. (This would require tracking 
> the dates & influence, however. It's just a guess for now) Meanwhile 
> the term "storage" would have of course gone back to Babbage (mill and 
> store), but gained significant currency once everyone developed an 
> interest in mercury delay lines as a possible storage device.
>
> What's perhaps interesting in all this is that technological and 
> material artifacts, as manifestations of both human and machine 
> computation practices, were heavily influencing the terminology people 
> used to understand the early process of computation. New language of 
> course has to be assembled in order to sort through and understand new 
> technological phenomena (electronic computing), and we see during this 
> period various efforts to combine past terminology into a workable 
> description of the new technology---followed by some process whereby 
> consensus emerges around those terms. I think it's useful to think of 
> "stored program" in that context---and when that particular 
> articulation became important for the practitioners. As I recall, 
> stored programs weren't all that important in the early years. Von 
> Neumann's single bit used to designate instruction from data was more 
> from the point of view of efficient storage of the two types of 
> information, not from any notions about stored programs related to 
> computabilitiy. Even when the term came into existence, it may not 
> have had this kind of reference either... perhaps worth keeping in mind.
>
> Best wishes!
>
> - Atsushi
>
> *From:*Thomas Haigh [mailto:thomas.haigh at gmail.com] *On Behalf Of 
> *Thomas Haigh
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 04, 2012 6:39 PM
> *To:* 'Atsushi Akera'
> *Subject:* RE: [SIGCIS-Members] "Stored program" -- anyone know 
> origins of the PHRASE
>
> Thanks Atsushi,
>
> I think von Neumann might have felt the need to flag data vs. code as 
> he planned delay line storage at this point and was concerned with 
> interleaving them for efficient access. Possibly he recognized the 
> danger of accidentally overwriting code, and saw this as a kind of 
> memory protection feature as later implemented on multitasking systems 
> to protect programs from each other. Although the general organization 
> of the 1945 EDVAC instruction set does not betray a concern with the 
> convenience of programming.
>
> The point about Babbage and the "store" is something I'd been 
> wondering about myself, and it's interesting to see that you have the 
> same idea.
>
> As I look more at the 1945-48 documents, it does seem that the idea of 
> storing programs and data in the same memory was quickly recognized as 
> one of the key advantages of EDVAC-type machines but mostly on the 
> grounds of efficiency, simplicity and flexibility rather than the 
> potential for self modification. E.g. Eckert in the Moore School 
> lectures volume says the big advantage is that storage can be 
> allocated as needed for a particular application. After all, ENIAC has 
> already shown that you could do things like conditional branching and 
> indexing through an array without needing to modify stored program code.
>
> I agree with the bigger point about the importance of categories and 
> terminology. It's interesting that with all the endless discussion of 
> "stored program" nobody ever seems to have tried to find out where the 
> term comes from.
>
>
> Tom
>
> *From:*Atsushi Akera [mailto:akeraa at rpi.edu]
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 05, 2012 12:35 PM
> *To:* 'Thomas Haigh'
> *Subject:* RE: [SIGCIS-Members] "Stored program" -- anyone know 
> origins of the PHRASE
>
> Agreed. By the way, I tried to send the message to the group, but it 
> bounced. Not sure why. Please feel free to forward if you can.
>
> Also keep in mind that with circulating storage, there's no way to 
> slow down what's coming out of the memory. So the instruction/data bit 
> can be used as an efficient way to implement (in engineering) where 
> information goes in a machine.
>
> - Atsushi
>
> /(p.s. if you encounter problems with RPI's spam filter, please send 
> the message to my alternate email account: //atsushi_akera at hotmail.com 
> <mailto:atsushi_akera at hotmail.com>,//preferably with a quick note to 
> this account indicating that you sent a message there since otherwise 
> I don't check that account regularly. -- Thanks!)/
>
> _________________________________________________________
>
> Atsushi Akera
>
> Associate Professor, Department of Science and Technology Studies
>
> Director, First Year Studies Program--Sage 5206
>
> Rensselaer Polytechnic institute
>
> 110 8th Street
>
> Troy, NY 12180  USA
>
> ph: 518.279.9708/fx:518.276-2659/e:akeraa at rpi.edu /w: 
> http://www.rpi.edu/~akeraa <http://www.rpi.edu/%7Eakeraa>
>
>
>
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