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Hi all,<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
best wishes,<br>
Liesbeth. <br>
<br>
<br>
Op 5/04/12 21:47, Thomas Haigh schreef:
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">[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].<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF
1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">
Atsushi Akera [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:akeraa@rpi.edu">mailto:akeraa@rpi.edu</a>]
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, April 04, 2012 5:47 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> 'David Alan Grier'; 'Thomas Haigh'<br>
<b>Cc:</b> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [SIGCIS-Members] "Stored program" --
anyone know origins of the PHRASE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Hi
David, Hi Tom,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Best
wishes!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">-
Atsushi<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">
Thomas Haigh [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:thomas.haigh@gmail.com">mailto:thomas.haigh@gmail.com</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Thomas Haigh<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, April 04, 2012 6:39 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> 'Atsushi Akera'<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [SIGCIS-Members] "Stored program" --
anyone know origins of the PHRASE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Thanks
Atsushi,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><br>
Tom<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">
Atsushi Akera [<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:akeraa@rpi.edu">mailto:akeraa@rpi.edu</a>] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, April 05, 2012 12:35 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> 'Thomas Haigh'<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [SIGCIS-Members] "Stored
program" -- anyone know origins of the PHRASE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">-
Atsushi<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#4F6228">(p.s.
if you encounter problems with RPI’s spam filter,
please send the message to my alternate email
account: </span></i><i><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#0070C0"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:atsushi_akera@hotmail.com"><span
style="color:#0070C0">atsushi_akera@hotmail.com</span></a>,</span></i><i><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#4F6228">
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!)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">_________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Atsushi
Akera<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Associate
Professor, Department of Science and Technology
Studies<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Director,
First Year Studies Program--Sage 5206<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Rensselaer
Polytechnic institute<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">110
8th Street<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Troy,
NY 12180 USA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">ph:
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:518.279.9708/fx:518.276-2659/e:akeraa@rpi.edu">518.279.9708/fx:518.276-2659/e:akeraa@rpi.edu</a> /w: <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.rpi.edu/%7Eakeraa">http://www.rpi.edu/~akeraa</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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