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[oops, I meant to send this to the list, not just Bernard!]<br>
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hi Bernard,<br>
The term was used in the Whirlwind computer, SAGE's
predecessor. See the programming manual 2M-0277 from 1958 at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/mit/whirlwind/M-series/2M-0277_Whirlwind_Programming_Manual_Oct58.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/mit/whirlwind/M-series/2M-0277_Whirlwind_Programming_Manual_Oct58.pdf</a>.<br>
Page 63 gives this entry<br>
<blockquote><font face="Courier New, Courier, monospace">Vector
Displays<br>
(a) The Vector Generator<br>
To aid in displaying alphanumerical data, drawing curves,
plotting axes,<br>
etc., on the scopes, an automatic method of displaying vectors
on the scopes is<br>
available. The coordinates of one end of the vector are
determined by the contents<br>
... etc ...</font><br>
</blockquote>
Of course the Whirlwind guys were deep into air defense and
aircraft from the start, but they were also ace applied
mathematicians, so I'm guessing that calling a directed line a
"vector" was the obvious thing at the time.<br>
The word "vector" seems to appear almost a thousand times in the
corpus of Whirlwind documents available on the MIT DOME site, with
usages that seem both mathematical and aeronautical.<br>
/guy<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/20/2021 3:27 AM, Bernard
Geoghegan wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hi
SIGCISers,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Can anyone
advise on the origin of the term “vector graphics.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Clearly,
it literally describes a production of “vectors” on the
screen by a concrete line-drawing technology. However, I’m
wondering if there were multiple senses in that term
initially. Specifically, looking through SAGE
documentation from the 1950s and 1960s, esp, accounts of
if operator displays, “vector” describes the physical
trajectory of planes on the display. As SAGE was also a
key source for early graphical interfaces, I’m wondering
of the term “vector graphics” had a double connotation, as
an analogy between the flight paths and the manner of
illustrating graphics. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">It’s not
earth shaking, but it’s etymologically neat-o if one can
trace “vector graphics” to multiple connotations at its
coinage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Best, b<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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