Symbolics, Inc.: a Failure of Heterogeneous Engineering
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Vcf Pnw 2019
VCF PNW 2019 http://vcfed.org/vcf-pnw/ Schedule Saturday 10:00 AM Museum opens and VCF PNW 2019 starts 11:00 AM Erik Klein, opening comments from VCFed.org Stephen M. Jones, opening comments from Living Computers:Museum+Labs 1:00 PM Joe Decuir, IEEE Fellow, Three generations of animation machines: Atari and Amiga 2:30 PM Geoff Pool, From Minix to GNU/Linux - A Retrospective 4:00 PM Chris Rutkowski, The birth of the Business PC - How volatile markets evolve 5:00 PM Museum closes - come back tomorrow! Sunday 10:00 AM Day two of VCF PNW 2019 begins 11:00 AM John Durno, The Lost Art of Telidon 1:00 PM Lars Brinkhoff, ITS: Incompatible Timesharing System 2:30 PM Steve Jamieson, A Brief History of British Computing 4:00 PM Presentation of show awards and wrap-up Exhibitors One of the defining attributes of a Vintage Computer Festival is that exhibits are interactive; VCF exhibitors put in an amazing amount of effort to not only bring their favorite pieces of computing history, but to make them come alive. Be sure to visit all of them, ask questions, play, learn, take pictures, etc. And consider coming back one day as an exhibitor yourself! Rick Bensene, Wang Laboratories’ Electronic Calculators, An exhibit of Wang Labs electronic calculators from their first mass-market calculator, the Wang LOCI-2, through the last of their calculators, the C-Series. The exhibit includes examples of nearly every series of electronic calculator that Wang Laboratories sold, unusual and rare peripheral devices, documentation, and ephemera relating to Wang Labs calculator business. -
Genera Workbook Using This Book Preface This Is the Document To
Genera Workbook Using This Book Preface This is the document to read when you’re ready to sit down at your Symbol- ics computer. It teaches you the initial skills you need to use the Genera system effectively. We present concepts you need to know, as well as providing exercises andactivitiesthatturnthoseconceptsintopracticalskills. The material covered in the first group of chapters in this workbook is a pre- requisite for all Symbolics Education Services Courses. However, you can com plete the second and third sections after taking your first course. Practicing the material helpsyou learn it faster. Bring this workbook to all courses you take with Symbolics. We expect that you have used a computer before; we do not expect that you have used a Symbolics computer before. You need to learn this material whether or not you are a programmer. This is not a programming textbook. We make no assumptions about your programming background or future; this work bookisforbothprogrammersandnonprogrammers. Every time we use a term for the first time, we put it in italics. If you see a term you don’t recognize, be sure to check the glossary at the end of the work book. This workbook uses Symbolics documentation conventions and a few of its own. If you see a word or phrase enclosed in brackets, like [Help], it is a menu item.We use two different conventions withrespect to Symbolics keyboard keys: in text,thekeylabelledHELPlookslikethis: HELP butinexamplesitlookslikethis: <HELP> todifferentiateitasasinglekeystrokefromthetextaroundit. It is very important to have a Symbolics computer available so that you can work through the hands-on activities, called walk-throughs. -
Getting Started Computing at the Al Lab by Christopher C. Stacy Abstract
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLI..IGENCE LABORATORY WORKING PAPER 235 7 September 1982 Getting Started Computing at the Al Lab by Christopher C. Stacy Abstract This document describes the computing facilities at the M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and explains how to get started using them. It is intended as an orientation document for newcomers to the lab, and will be updated by the author from time to time. A.I. Laboratory Working Papers are produced for internal circulation. and may contain information that is, for example, too preliminary or too detailed for formal publication. It is not intended that they should be considered papers to which reference can be made in the literature. a MASACHUSETS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1982 Getting Started Table of Contents Page i Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Lisp Machines 2 1.2. Timesharing 3 1.3. Other Computers 3 1.3.1. Field Engineering 3 1.3.2. Vision and Robotics 3 1.3.3. Music 4 1,3.4. Altos 4 1.4. Output Peripherals 4 1.5. Other Machines 5 1.6. Terminals 5 2. Networks 7 2.1. The ARPAnet 7 2.2. The Chaosnet 7 2.3. Services 8 2.3.1. TELNET/SUPDUP 8 2.3.2. FTP 8 2.4. Mail 9 2.4.1. Processing Mail 9 2.4.2. Ettiquette 9 2.5. Mailing Lists 10 2.5.1. BBoards 11 2.6. Finger/Inquire 11 2.7. TIPs and TACs 12 2.7.1. ARPAnet TAC 12 2.7.2. Chaosnet TIP 13 3. -
The Evolution of Lisp
1 The Evolution of Lisp Guy L. Steele Jr. Richard P. Gabriel Thinking Machines Corporation Lucid, Inc. 245 First Street 707 Laurel Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 Menlo Park, California 94025 Phone: (617) 234-2860 Phone: (415) 329-8400 FAX: (617) 243-4444 FAX: (415) 329-8480 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Lisp is the world’s greatest programming language—or so its proponents think. The structure of Lisp makes it easy to extend the language or even to implement entirely new dialects without starting from scratch. Overall, the evolution of Lisp has been guided more by institutional rivalry, one-upsmanship, and the glee born of technical cleverness that is characteristic of the “hacker culture” than by sober assessments of technical requirements. Nevertheless this process has eventually produced both an industrial- strength programming language, messy but powerful, and a technically pure dialect, small but powerful, that is suitable for use by programming-language theoreticians. We pick up where McCarthy’s paper in the first HOPL conference left off. We trace the development chronologically from the era of the PDP-6, through the heyday of Interlisp and MacLisp, past the ascension and decline of special purpose Lisp machines, to the present era of standardization activities. We then examine the technical evolution of a few representative language features, including both some notable successes and some notable failures, that illuminate design issues that distinguish Lisp from other programming languages. We also discuss the use of Lisp as a laboratory for designing other programming languages. We conclude with some reflections on the forces that have driven the evolution of Lisp. -
Programming Languages As Operating Systems (Or Revenge of the Son of the Lisp Machine)
Programming Languages as Operating Systems (or Revenge of the Son of the Lisp Machine) Matthew Flatt Robert Bruce Findler Shriram Krishnamurthi Matthias Felleisen Department of Computer Science∗ Rice University Houston, Texas 77005-1892 Abstract reclaim the program’s resources—even though the program and DrScheme share a single virtual machine. The MrEd virtual machine serves both as the implementa- To address this problem, MrEd provides a small set of tion platform for the DrScheme programming environment, new language constructs. These constructs allow a program- and as the underlying Scheme engine for executing expres- running program, such as DrScheme, to run nested programs sions and programs entered into DrScheme’s read-eval-print directly on the MrEd virtual machine without sacrificing loop. We describe the key elements of the MrEd virtual control over the nested programs. As a result, DrScheme machine for building a programming environment, and we can execute a copy of DrScheme that is executing its own step through the implementation of a miniature version of copy of DrScheme (see Figure 1). The inner and middle DrScheme in MrEd. More generally, we show how MrEd de- DrSchemes cannot interfere with the operation of the outer fines a high-level operating system for graphical programs. DrScheme, and the middle DrScheme cannot interfere with the outer DrScheme’s control over the inner DrScheme. 1 MrEd: A Scheme Machine In this paper, we describe the key elements of the MrEd virtual machine, and we step through the implementation The DrScheme programming environment [10] provides stu- of a miniature version of DrScheme in MrEd. -
As We May Communicate Carson Reynolds Department of Technical Communication University of Washington
As We May Communicate Carson Reynolds Department of Technical Communication University of Washington Abstract The purpose of this article is to critique and reshape one of the fundamental paradigms of Human-Computer Interaction: the workspace. This treatise argues that the concept of a workspace—as an interaction metaphor—has certain intrinsic defects. As an alternative, a new interaction model, the communication space is offered in the hope that it will bring user interfaces closer to the ideal of human-computer symbiosis. Keywords: Workspace, Communication Space, Human-Computer Interaction Our computer systems and corresponding interfaces have come quite a long way in recent years. We no longer patiently punch cards or type obscure and unintelligible commands to interact with our computers. However, out current graphical user interfaces, for all of their advantages, still have shortcomings. It is the purpose of this paper to attempt to deduce these flaws by carefully examining our earliest and most basic formulation of what a computer should be: a workspace. The History of the Workspace The modern computerized workspace has its beginning in Vannevar Bush’s landmark article, “As We May Think.” Bush presented the MEMEX: his vision of an ideal workspace for researchers and scholars that was capable of retrieving and managing information. Bush thought that machines capable of manipulating information could transform the way that humans think. What did Bush’s idealized workspace involve? It consists of a desk, and while it can presumably be operated from a distance, it is primarily the piece of furniture at which he works. On top are slanting translucent screens, on which material can be projected for convenient reading. -
Performance Comparison of the Window Systems of Two LISP Machines
A Performance Comparison of the Window Systems of Two LISP Machines Ramin Zabih Raj Jain Massachusetts Institute o fTechnology Digital Equipment Corp. Department ofEE & CS 77 Reed Road (HLO2-3/N03) Cambridge, MA 02139 Hudson, MA 01749 We chose total elapsed time as our performance metric. EXTENDED ABSTRACT Elapsed time is also referred to as response time. We ran 1000 We have constructed a workload for comparing window trials ofour workload on a 3600 running Release 5 software with 1 system performance of different computers. It consists of key Megabyte of physical memory and on a CADR running release 4.5 operations that window systems should universally provide. We software with 386 Kbytes of memory. The results of our tests are have used this workload to measure the performance of a the reported in Table 1. Using the p2 algorithm [2],we also calculated Symbolics ZetaLisp window system on two Lisp Machines, the the fifth and ninety-fifth percentiles for the results. In addition, 3600 [3,4] and the CADR [ 1 ]. we have listed the median and the mean. The workload consists of repeating a sequence of operations Table 1: Time in milliseconds is shown as tl/t2,where t I is time (which we call a run) many times. Each run starts by creating a for 3600, t2 is the time for CADR. test window, and proceeds to perform various operations on the window in the order below. Finally, the test window is deleted. Operation 95_.....% 5% Median Mean The details of the operations performed in an individual run of the CREATE 60/70 10/40 20/50 21.8/48.5 workload follow. -
Symbolics Architecture
Symbolics Architecture David A. Moon Symbolics, Inc. W hat is an architecture? In com- languages, user interface, and operating This architecture puter systems, an architecture system. System architecture defines the rapid is a specification of an inter- product that people actually use; the other enables face. To be dignified by the name architec- levels of architecture define the mecha- development and ture, an interface should be designed for a nism underneath that implements it. Sys- long lifespan and should connect system tem architecture is implemented by soft- efficient execution of components maintained by different orga- ware; hardware only sets bounds on what large, ambitious nizations. Often an architecture is part ofa is possible. System architecture defines the product definition and defines character- motivation for most of the design choices applications. An istics on which purchasers of that product at the other levels ofarchitecture. This sec- rely, but this is not true of everything that tion is an overview of Symbolics system unconventional design is called an architecture. An architecture is architecture. avoids trading off more formal than an internal interface be- The Symbolics system presents itself to tween closely-related system components, the user through a high-resolution bitmap safety for speed. and has farther-reaching effects on system display. In addition to text and graphics, characteristics and performance. the display contains presentations of ob- A computer system typically contains jects. The user operates on the objects by many levels and types ofarchitecture. This manipulating the presentations with a article discusses three architectures de- mouse. The display includes a continuous- fined in Symbolics computers: ly updated reminder of the mouse com- (1) System architecture-defines how mands applicable to the current context. -
The Lisp Machine: Noble Experiment Or Fabulous Failure?
THE LISP MACHINE: NOBLE EXPERIMENT OR FABULOUS FAILURE? P. T. Withington Symbolics, Inc. The “Lisp Machine”, a custom computer oriented programming, integrated pro- work-station designed specifically for the gramming environments, computer music, execution of Lisp, has been an important integrated-circuit design, and of course part of the Lisp tradition for 20 years. Artificial Intelligence (AI). Recently, the Lisp Machine has been depre- cated in view of the demise of many Lisp But, Lisp’s purity did not come without a Machine vendors, the swing towards stan- price. The choice by many languages to dardization, and the advances that reduced expose implementational limitations is often instruction set (RISC) architectures have a choice of efficiency. The speed of the brought. But rumors of its death are greatly normal case is optimized at the risk of the exaggerated. abnormal case going undetected. Lisp, on the other hand, guarantees the unusual as Unlike most commercial computer lan- well as the usual will be dealt with uni- guages, Lisp has always been a language of formly. It must always be on its guard: ideals. Its roots are in the theory of lambda- every operation must be checked for excep- calculus. Whereas other languages burden tions. As a consequence, Lisp on conven- the programmer with implementational gaps tional machines has historically been pon- in their abstractions, Lisp has always had the derous to work with. aim of supporting complete abstractions.1 This idealistic bent of Lisp has led to it often In the early 1970’s several groups of being the language of choice for computer- researchers utilized two novel hardware oriented research in universities and indus- technologies to improve the efficiency of try. -
Free As in Freedom (2.0): Richard Stallman and the Free Software Revolution
Free as in Freedom (2.0): Richard Stallman and the Free Software Revolution Sam Williams Second edition revisions by Richard M. Stallman i This is Free as in Freedom 2.0: Richard Stallman and the Free Soft- ware Revolution, a revision of Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software. Copyright c 2002, 2010 Sam Williams Copyright c 2010 Richard M. Stallman Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled \GNU Free Documentation License." Published by the Free Software Foundation 51 Franklin St., Fifth Floor Boston, MA 02110-1335 USA ISBN: 9780983159216 The cover photograph of Richard Stallman is by Peter Hinely. The PDP-10 photograph in Chapter 7 is by Rodney Brooks. The photo- graph of St. IGNUcius in Chapter 8 is by Stian Eikeland. Contents Foreword by Richard M. Stallmanv Preface by Sam Williams vii 1 For Want of a Printer1 2 2001: A Hacker's Odyssey 13 3 A Portrait of the Hacker as a Young Man 25 4 Impeach God 37 5 Puddle of Freedom 59 6 The Emacs Commune 77 7 A Stark Moral Choice 89 8 St. Ignucius 109 9 The GNU General Public License 123 10 GNU/Linux 145 iii iv CONTENTS 11 Open Source 159 12 A Brief Journey through Hacker Hell 175 13 Continuing the Fight 181 Epilogue from Sam Williams: Crushing Loneliness 193 Appendix A { Hack, Hackers, and Hacking 209 Appendix B { GNU Free Documentation License 217 Foreword by Richard M. -
A Lisp Oriented Architecture by John W.F
A Lisp Oriented Architecture by John W.F. McClain Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degrees of Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY September 1994 © John W.F. McClain, 1994 The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. Signature of Author ...... ;......................... .............. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science August 5th, 1994 Certified by....... ......... ... ...... Th nas F. Knight Jr. Principal Research Scientist 1,,IA £ . Thesis Supervisor Accepted by ....................... 3Frederic R. Morgenthaler Chairman, Depattee, on Graduate Students J 'FROM e ;; "N MfLIT oARIES ..- A Lisp Oriented Architecture by John W.F. McClain Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science on August 5th, 1994, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degrees of Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Abstract In this thesis I describe LOOP, a new architecture for the efficient execution of pro- grams written in Lisp like languages. LOOP allows Lisp programs to run at high speed without sacrificing safety or ease of programming. LOOP is a 64 bit, long in- struction word architecture with support for generic arithmetic, 64 bit tagged IEEE floats, low cost fine grained read and write barriers, and fast traps. I make estimates for how much these Lisp specific features cost and how much they may speed up the execution of programs written in Lisp. -
PERQ Workstations by R. D. Davis
PERQ Workstations R. D. Davis Last Updated: November 6, 2003 from the Sept. 7, 1991 edition. 2 Contents 1 Preface and Dedication 11 2 History 13 2.1 PERQ History as Told by Those Who Were There . 13 2.2 PERQ History as Otherwise Researched . 16 2.3 Late 1960's . 16 2.4 1972/1973 . 17 2.5 1973 . 17 2.6 1974 . 17 2.7 1975 . 18 2.8 1976 . 18 2.9 Late 1970's . 18 2.10 1978 . 18 2.11 1979 . 19 2.12 1980 . 19 2.13 1981 . 20 2.14 1982/1983: . 22 2.15 1983-1984? . 22 2.16 1984: . 23 2.17 1985 . 24 2.18 1986: . 25 2.19 1986/1987 . 26 2.20 1997 . 27 2.21 Things whose time period is questionable . 27 3 Accent Systems Corp. 31 4 More PERQ History 33 4.1 Graphic Wonder . 33 3 4 CONTENTS 4.1.1 Historical notes from Chris Lamb . 35 4.2 Alt.sys.perq . 36 4.3 PERQ-Fanatics Mailing Lists . 36 4.4 Original uCode . 37 5 The Accent OS 39 5.1 The Accent Kernel . 42 5.2 Co-Equal Environments . 44 5.3 Accent Window Manager: Sapphire . 44 5.4 Matchmaker . 45 5.5 Microprogramming . 45 5.6 Other Info. 46 5.7 Accent and Printing/Publishing . 46 5.8 Porting POS Code to Accent . 47 5.9 Accent S5 . 47 5.10 Naming of Accent . 47 6 The Action List 49 7 Adverts and Etc. 53 7.1 PERQ-1 . 53 7.1.1 PERQ Systems and cooperative agreements: .