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The Story of Computing

People, machines, and ideas that turned calculation into something we live alongside.

8 storiesabout 8 min totalOpen the map

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What you'll read

Each story builds on the one before it.

  1. Story 01 · Step 1 of 4You are hereRead ✓The Story of ComputingA thread about the first programmers, the machines that learned to remember, and the networks that connected them.1 min read
  2. Story 02 · Step 2 of 4You are hereRead ✓The First ProgrammersBefore there were computers to run, there were people imagining what instructions could make them do.1 min read
  3. Story 03 · Step 3 of 4You are hereRead ✓Ada and the Analytical EngineHer notes on the Analytical Engine imagined a machine that could compose music as readily as it could solve equations.1 min read
  4. Story 04 · Step 4 of 4You are hereRead ✓Notes on Bernoulli NumbersLovelace's table of operations shows how a mathematical procedure becomes a sequence a machine can follow.1 min read

Side trips you can take later

Optional reading when you want to wander off the main path.

Side trip1 minMachines That RememberMemory was once a room full of delicate hardware, and every bit was an engineering achievement.You are hereRead ✓Side trip1 minPacket SwitchingPacket switching replaced the idea of a dedicated line with a shared, adaptive path.You are hereRead ✓Side trip1 minPunched Cards to Core MemoryThe history of memory is a history of making the invisible reliable.You are hereRead ✓Side trip1 minThe Networked TurnThe network changed the computer from a room-sized tool into a place where people could meet.You are hereRead ✓Coming soonSearch Before GoogleDirectories, gophers, and the first crawlers that tried to index an unruly web.Coming soonThe Road to Random AccessFrom mercury delay lines to magnetic cores, storing a bit was once an engineering adventure.

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The Story of Computing

A thread about the first programmers, the machines that learned to remember, and the networks that connected them.

Ada Fieldnotes1 min read1 min left

The history of computing is often told as a list of machines, but it is also a history of arguments. What should a machine do? Who gets to program it? What does it mean to remember something in a medium that does not forget? The answers changed as the technology moved from workshops to laboratories to ordinary desks.

This thread follows a few of those turns. It begins with the people who wrote instructions for machines that did not yet exist, moves through the long effort to store and retrieve information, and ends with the networks that made computing a shared activity.

The path splits

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