Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

Appendix II 535base of knowledge. The language would become popular forexpert systems development.• Bell Laboratories established a group to support and promulgatethe unix operating system.• The Ethernet protocol for LANs (local area networks)was developed by Robert Metcalfe.• In a San Francisco hotel lobby Vinton Cerf sketched thearchitecture for an Internet gateway on a napkin.• Don Lancaster published his “TV Typewriter” design inRadio Electronics. It would enable hobbyists to build displaysfor the soon-to-be available microcomputer.• The Boston Computer Society (BCS) was founded. It becameone of the premier computer user groups.• Gary Kildall founded Digital Research, whose CP/M operatingsystem would be an early leader in the microcomputerfield.• A federal court declared that the Eckert-Mauchly ENIACpatents were invalid because John Atanasoff had the sameideas earlier in his ABC computer.1974• The Alto graphical workstation was developed by AlanKay and others at Xerox PARC. It did not achieve commercialsuccess, but a decade later something very much like itwould appear in the form of the Apple Macintosh.• An international computer chess tournament is won by theRussian KAISSA program, which crushed the Americanfavorite Chess 4.0.• Computerized product scanners were introduced in an Ohiosupermarket.• Intel released the 8080, a microprocessor that had 6,000transistors, could execute 640,000 instructions per second,was able to access 64 kB of memory, and ran at a clock rateof 2 MHz.• David Ahl’s Creative Computing magazine began to offer anemphasis on using small computers for education and otherhuman-centered tasks.• Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn began to publicize their tcp/ip internet protocol.• A group at the University of California, Berkeley, began todevelop their own version of the unix operating system.• The 1974 Privacy Act began the process of trying to protectindividual privacy in the digital age.1975• Fred Brooks published the influential book The MythicalMan-Month. It explained the factors that bog down softwaredevelopment and focused more attention on softwareengineering and its management.• Electronics hobbyists were intrigued by the announcementof the MITS Altair, the first complete microcomputer systemavailable in the form of a kit. While the basic kit costonly $395, the keyboard, display, and other peripherals wereextra.• MITS founder Ed Roberts also coined the term personalcomputer. Hundreds of hobbyists built the kits and yearnedfor more capable machines. Many hobbyists flocked tomeetings of the Homebrew Computer Club in Menlo Park,California.• ibm introduced the first commercially available laserprinter. The very fast, heavy-duty machine was suitableonly for very large businesses.• The first ARPANET discussion mail list was created. Themost popular topic for early mail lists was science fiction.• In Los Angeles, Dick Heiser opened what is believed to bethe first retail store to sell computers to “ordinary people.”1976• Seymour Cray’s sleek, monolithlike Cray 1 set a new standardfor supercomputers.• Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman announced a publickeyencryption system that allowed users to securely sendinformation without previously exchanging keys.• ibm developed the first (relatively crude) inkjet printer forprinting address labels.• Shugart Associates offered a floppy disk drive to microcomputerbuilders. It cost $390.• Steve Wozniak proposed that Hewlett-Packard fund the creationof a personal computer, while his friend Steve Jobsmade a similar proposal to Atari Corp. Both proposals wererejected, so the two friends started Apple Computer Company.• Chuck Peddle of MOS Technology developed the 6502microprocessor, which would be used in the Apple, Atari,and some other early personal computers.• Bill Gates complained about software piracy in his “OpenLetter to Hobbyists.” People were illicitly copying his BASIClanguage tapes. copy protection would soon be used in anattempt to prevent copying of commercial programs for personalcomputers.• Computer enthusiasts found an erudite forum in themagazine Dr. Dobb’s Journal of Computer Calisthenics andOrthodontia: Running Light without Overbyte. The more mainstreamByte magazine also became a widely known forumfor describing new projects and selling components.• William Crowther and Don Woods at Stanford Universitydeveloped the first interactive computer game involvingan adventure with monsters and other obstacles. Universityadministrators would soon complain that the game waswasting too much computer time.1977• Benoit Mandelbrot’s book on fractals in computing popularizeda mathematical phenomenon that would find usesin computer graphics, data compression, and other areas.• The Data encryption Standard (DES) was announced. Criticscharged that it was too weak and probably already compromisedby spy agencies.• Vinton Cerf demonstrated the versatility and extent ofthe Internet Protocol (IP) by sending a message around theworld via radio, land line, and satellite links.• The Charles Babbage Institute was founded. It wouldbecome an important resource for the study of computinghistory.