Geezer-Chick wrote in a comment to yesterday’s post about technology changing that “Computers have improved while getting cheaper. Not many things do that.” This made me think about just how much the computers in my life have changed.
I first started using computers with a CDC 6600 in 1967. No terminal, just lots of 80-line punch cards. I think I was up to almost 40,000 lines of FORTRAN when I finally gained access to a Tektronix series 4000 terminal. That would have been mid-1970s. Good thing I could start storing backup versions of the code on nine-track tape since it ended up at well over 80,000 lines.
When I think about the power that exists in the three-pound netbook that I am typing this on compared to that old machine, the progress of technology is truly amazing.
It reminds me that my grandfather, who was born in the 1880s, could remember the first time he saw a steam locomotive, a commercial sailing ship, an ocean liner, an automobile, an airplane, and saw with his own eyes the Apollo 11 launch to the moon. All this in one lifetime. Amazing.
Is Still Here
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it