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Now that's a computer!

If you're reading this column, chances are you're doing it on a computer screen.

That computer might be a desktop, laptop, netbook, tablet or even a smartphone but buried deep within will be a processor, memory and other components that create a powerful number-crunching machine, the likes of which were unimaginable just a few short decades ago.

Indeed, if you look back at (for instance) the 1960s, computers were shrouded in mystery and very few people had actually used one. They were portrayed on TV and in movies as large rooms, filled with spinning tape drives, rattling TTY terminals and massive panels of blinking lights.

However, the most impressive computers of that era were actually much smaller than those gigantic blinky-light machines. A great example of this is the computer used on the Apollo missions.

Here is a video of the Apollo guidance computer (AGC) that I stumbled across yesterday and it is fascinating.

Looking more like a large-scale child's toy than any computer we might encounter today, the AGC is something that could easily be implemented on a $2 microcontroller these days but for its time it was truly cutting edge technology.

I was most impressed with the syntax of the user-interface, consisting of a numeric verb and noun that were combined to command the computer's actions.

The developers also seemed very proud of the fact that it ran its own diagnostic programs during the test phase and the video marveled at the way it was able to sequence its 7-segment displays through the entire 10 digits of our base-10 numeric system.

To think that we flew men to the moon (and back) using this technology is really rather frightening and highlights the fact that these astronauts were either very brave or lacked any type of survival instinct.

Another interesting aspect of the video was the presentation skills of the scientists and technicians featured in the movie.

These days we're used to even the most academic gray-beard having reasonable presentation skills when thrown before a camera but back in the 1960s, most people were so in awe of motion picture cameras that they suffered badly from stage-fright, becoming very self-aware, hesitant and stilted in their speech.

So, next time you feel like bitching about your slow computer with clunky user-interface, fire up this video and thank your lucky stars that it's not 1965.

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