Project Whirlwind [April 20] “It is easier to write an team with code for the still- incorrect program than April 1st unfinished computer. understand a correct one.” “You think you KNOW when you learn, are more sure when Léon-Auguste- you can write, even more when you can teach, but Antoine Bollée certain when you can Born: April 1, 1870; Le program.” Mans, France Died: Dec. 16, 1913 Bollée’s Multiplier was the Norman Abramson second (or third) direct- multiplying calculator, which Born: April 1, 1932; (like the others) met with Boston, Massachusetts limited commercial success, Died: Dec. 1, 2020 although it did win a gold medal At the University of Hawaii, at the 1889 Paris Exposition. Alan J. Perlis. (c) 2019 ACM. Abramson led the team that The first commercially developed the ALOHAnet successful direct multiplication In early 1955, Perlis’ team at wireless computer calculator was the Millionaire Purdue began work on the IT communication system. The goal [May 7]. language ("Internal Translator"), was to use low-cost commercial The Multiplier’s main advantage a very early machine- radio equipment to connect was its speed. In 1892, Bollée independent language. This led users on Oahu and the other calculated the square root of an to him becoming the chairman Hawaiian islands with a central 18 digit number in about 30 of the ACM Programming time-sharing computer at the seconds. The same calculation Languages Committee in 1957, main Oahu campus. and a delegate to the Zurich with a more conventional ALOHAnet became operational conference [May 27] where calculator (that used repeated in June 1971, providing the first ALGOL 58 was defined. addition to implement public demonstration of a multiplication) was at least five He was the first editor of the wireless packet data network. minutes. “Communications of the ACM” ALOHA originally stood for In his later years Bollée was (CACM) journal, and president of “Additive Links On-line Hawaii more interested in designing, the ACM [Sept 15] in 1962. The Area.” ACM Curriculum Committee on building, and racing light Unlike the ARPANET [Oct 29] Computer Science was formed automobiles. He founded the where each node could only talk during Perlis’ term [March 00]. racetrack at Le Mans, and the Le directly to a node at the other Mans 24 hour race. His 1982 article, “Epigrams on end of a wire or satellite circuit, Bollée’s long career as an Programming,” consists of witty ALOHAnet let all the client inventor began at the age of short sentences about nodes communicated with a hub thirteen when he patented an programming. A sample: node on the same frequency. This was possible by employing unsinkable aquatic bicycle (Le “A year spent in artificial Vélocipède nautique). On Sept. an acknowledgment / intelligence is enough to make retransmission scheme to deal 18, 1921 an Englishman, Harold one believe in God.” Ashton Rigby (1885 - 1945), with packet loss and collisions. successfully rode it across the “Computer Science is This approach radically reduced Channel from Folkestone to embarrassed by the the complexity of the protocol Calais. computer.” and the networking hardware, “A language that doesn’t affect and was subsequently adopted the way you think about by other network protocols Alan Jay Perlis programming is not worth including Ethernet [May 22], and knowing.” Wi-Fi networks. Born: April 1, 1922; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania “Lisp programmers know the value of everything and the Died: Feb. 7, 1990 cost of nothing.” Norman Hugh Nie Perlis' work in programming languages resulting in his being “Fools ignore complexity; Born: April 1, 1943; awarded the first ever Turing pragmatists suffer it; experts St. Louis, Missouri Award [June 23] in 1966. avoid it; geniuses remove it.” Died: April 2, 2015 During the summers of 1948 Nie was one of the co- and 1949 Perlis assisted the MIT developers of the “Statistical 1 Package for the Social Sciences” record's grooves, and (SPSS) with C. Hadlai (“Tex”) Apple Computer soundhog09 had to employ PVA Hull and Dale Bent. glue and a mix of audio filters to Founded retrieve the data. While a graduate student at Stanford, Nie was faced with the April 1, 1976 daunting task of analyzing data Prev: [June 29] Next: [July 00] from thousands of responses to a questionnaire. The routines he Steve Jobs [Feb 24], Steve wrote to automate that process, Wozniak [Aug 11], and Ron became part of SPSS. Wayne [May 17] signed a partnership agreement that The first SPSS manual (Nie, Bent established the Apple Computer and Hull, 1970) has been Company. The intention was to Chris Sievey: Camouflage described as one of “sociology’s sell Wozniak’s Apple I [June 29]. most influential books” because Animation. 1983 it allowed a much wider group Around 12 days later, Wayne of researchers to perform dropped out, handed back his The credits include "Recorded - statistical analysis on their data. 10% share of the company in Strawberry - April 1 C.V", which exchange for $800. He had is why I've placed this entry decided that the financial risks here; "Strawberrry" is a were too great. reference to Strawberry Studios Planning and in Stockport, UK. In an interview in the mid- Coding Problems 1980s, Wozniak and Jobs A contemporary record recalled how they chose the (released in May) with a similar April 1, 1947 Apple name: feature is "XL1", the second solo album by Pete Shelley. The lead- Herman Goldstine [Sept 13] and Wozniak: “I remember driving out groove of the B-side includes John von Neumann [Dec 28] down Highway 85, and Steve a program for the ZX Spectrum released the report, “Planning mentions, ‘I’ve got a name: [April 23] coded by Joey Headen. and Coding Problems for an Apple Computer.’ We kept It has 10 parts, one for each Electronic Computing thinking of other alternatives to song, combining that song's Instrument. Vol. 1”. The second that name, and we couldn’t think lyrics with simple graphics made and third parts were published a of anything better.” up of lines, circles, and blocks of year later, on April 15 and color. Screenshots can be found August 16 1948, respectively. Jobs: “And also remember that I worked at Atari, and it got us at Vol. 1 covers a wide range of ahead of Atari in the http://www.headen.com/newp age11.htm programming techniques, from phonebook.” flowcharts to numerical analysis. Perhaps the best known use of This was the first use of code in music is on the "OK flowcharts for programming Computer" album by Radiohead although the employment of Camoflage [July 12] from 1997. flow diagrams for describing processes dates back to the April 1, 1983 1920s to the “flow process "Camouflage" was a single chart” of Frank and Lillian released by the musician Chris Kremvax Gilbreth. Sievey in 1983, who would April 1, 1984 Vol. 2 deals with sorting and become better known later for merging in detail, and Vol. 3 his comic character Frank A message was sent to multiple briefly looks at the usefulness of Sidebottom. newsgroups on USENET from Konstantin Chernenko subroutines. This notion had The B-side is notable for being ([email protected]). been floating around since the the first example of code ENIAC days [Feb 15]. released on a record: three At the time, Chernenko (1911 – The [June 28] 1946 report, programs written by Sievey for 1985) was the General Secretary “Preliminary Discussion of the the Sinclair ZX81 [March 5]. of the Communist Party, and led the Soviet Union from Feb. 13, Logical Design of an Electronic Two of them are versions of a 1984 until his death thirteen Computing Instrument.” by game called "Flying Train" for months later, on March 10, Arthur W. Burks [Oct 13], the 1K and 16K ZX81's, and the 1985. Goldstine, and von Neumann is third is a simple animation for often paired with these volumes. the song on Side A. YouTuber Chernenko explained that the That report focusses on machine soundhog09 has kindly Soviet Union wanted to join the architecture. uploaded a copy at network to “have a means of https://www.youtube.com/wa having an open discussion forum tch?v=8u9ZyV-BHFA. The code with the American and is stored as audio tones in the European people.” 2 The message created a flood of conference had a host, guiding responses, but two weeks later and monitoring discussions. IP over Avian its true author, a European man PicoSpan pioneered the named Piet Beertema, revealed Carriers “clothesline model” of it was a hoax. It is now credited conferencing: put up a new April 1, 1990 with being the Internet's first topic, and users would post April Fool’s joke. The "IP over Avian Carriers" responses to it. Also a user was (IPoAC) proposal argued for a Six years later, when Moscow unable to erase their previous radical new hardware level for really did link up with the posts, and posts never expired. transporting Internet Protocol Internet, it adopted the domain Everyone’s real name was (IP) traffic. David Waitzman was name ‘kremvax’ in honor of the available on the system, linked responsible for this hoax. to his or her login. revolutionary concept, as The founders of the Electronic detailed in RFC 1149 Frontier Foundation [July 6], (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1 Soybean Disks John Perry Barlow [Oct 3], John 149). Gilmore [Aug 00], and Mitch On April 28, 2001, IPoAC was April 1, 1985 Kapor [Nov 1], first met on the successfully implemented by the WELL. Also, Howard Rheingold, Byte Magazine featured a Bergen Linux user group in an early and active member, was section called “What’s Not,” Norway, as the “Carrier Pigeon inspired to write “The Virtual instead of its usual “What’s Hot” Internet Protocol” (CPIP).