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[OT] Denis Ritchie Education

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  [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2016-07-02 15:54 -0400
    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2016-07-02 14:20 -0700
    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-07-02 14:42 -0700
    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2016-07-02 17:43 -0400
      Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-07-03 00:40 +0100
      Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2016-07-03 17:06 -0400
    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2016-07-03 12:38 -0500
      Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2016-07-03 10:54 -0700
        Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-07-03 12:52 -0700
          Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2016-07-03 21:34 +0100
            Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2016-07-03 17:09 -0400
          Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2016-07-03 17:07 -0400
    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2016-07-04 16:09 -0700
    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2016-07-04 15:37 -0400
    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-31 05:30 -0400
      Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-07-31 12:40 -0700
        Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-07-31 16:58 -0400
          Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-07-31 15:13 -0700
            Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-07-31 21:21 -0400
              Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-08-01 08:12 -0700
          Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-07-31 16:41 -0600
            Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-07-31 21:24 -0400
              Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-07-31 22:15 -0600
                Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-08-01 09:38 -0400
                  Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-08-01 10:18 -0600
                    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-08-01 16:22 -0400
                      Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-08-01 15:05 -0600
                        Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-08-04 14:01 -0400
                          Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-08-04 12:22 -0600
                            Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-08-04 16:47 -0400
                          Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-08-04 14:22 -0500
                            Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-08-04 16:52 -0400
                              Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-08-04 16:10 -0500
                                Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-08-04 20:30 -0400
        Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education luser droog <luser.droog@gmail.com> - 2016-07-31 18:20 -0700
        Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2016-08-01 19:52 +0100
          Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-08-01 15:25 -0700
            Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-08-01 16:38 -0600
              Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-08-01 15:56 -0700
                Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-08-01 17:41 -0600
                Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2016-08-02 06:22 +0100
          Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-08-01 16:48 -0700
            Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2016-08-02 06:27 +0100
              Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-08-02 08:42 -0600
                Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-08-02 16:28 +0100
                  Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2016-08-02 11:15 -0600
                    Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-08-02 19:37 +0100
                      Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-08-02 12:08 -0700
                        Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-08-02 22:40 +0100
              Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-08-03 06:57 -0700
              Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-10-30 09:06 -0400
                Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-10-30 12:42 -0700
                Re: [OT] Denis Ritchie Education Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2016-10-31 18:12 +0000

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#89956 — [OT] Denis Ritchie Education

    I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've 
always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a 
mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone know 
if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?

Bill

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#89957

On Saturday, July 2, 2016 at 8:55:00 PM UTC+1, Bill Cunningham wrote:
> I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've 
> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a 
> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone know 
> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
> 
Given his age, it's unlikely there was a functioning computer science
department with a PhD program. However it's not really a good question.
A PhD is given for a thesis, which often straddles subject boundaries.
Mine was in computational biochemistry, so its both a computer and
a biochemistry thesis. Actually there was as much physics in it as
biochemistry, and the internal examiner was a physicist.

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#89960

"Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> writes:
>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've 
> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a 
> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone know 
> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

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#89961

On Saturday July 2 2016 15:54, in comp.lang.c, "Bill Cunningham"
<nospam@nspam.invalid> wrote:

>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've
> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone know
> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?

According to his bio (at https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/bigbio1st.html)
he says "I received Bachelor's and advanced degrees from Harvard University,
where as an undergraduate I concentrated in Physics and as a graduate student
in Applied Mathematics. The subject of my 1968 doctoral thesis was
subrecursive hierarchies of functions."

Sounds like an Applied Mathematics PhD


-- 
Lew Pitcher
"In Skills, We Trust"
PGP public key available upon request

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#89965

Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> writes:

> On Saturday July 2 2016 15:54, in comp.lang.c, "Bill Cunningham"
> <nospam@nspam.invalid> wrote:
>
>>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've
>> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
>> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone know
>> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>
> According to his bio (at https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/bigbio1st.html)
> he says "I received Bachelor's and advanced degrees from Harvard University,
> where as an undergraduate I concentrated in Physics and as a graduate student
> in Applied Mathematics. The subject of my 1968 doctoral thesis was
> subrecursive hierarchies of functions."
>
> Sounds like an Applied Mathematics PhD

Phrased like that it sounds like pure mathematics (and indeed he
published a paper with Myers on this topic in a German journal on the
foundations of mathematics) but the thesis title was actually "Program
Structure and Computational Complexity" so it is clear that he's
applying the theory of subrecursive (i.e. non-Turing complete) functions
to the practical matter of programming.  It's what would now be called
theoretical computer science but might well not have been called that at
the time.

-- 
Ben.

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#89987

"Lew Pitcher" <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> wrote in message 
news:1AWdz.59529$Vd4.17411@fx12.iad...
> On Saturday July 2 2016 15:54, in comp.lang.c, "Bill Cunningham"
> <nospam@nspam.invalid> wrote:
>
>>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've
>> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
>> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone 
>> know
>> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>
> According to his bio (at 
> https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/bigbio1st.html)
> he says "I received Bachelor's and advanced degrees from Harvard 
> University,
> where as an undergraduate I concentrated in Physics and as a graduate 
> student
> in Applied Mathematics. The subject of my 1968 doctoral thesis was
> subrecursive hierarchies of functions."
>
> Sounds like an Applied Mathematics PhD

    Well it was him that told me. And it's been some time ago. The first 
thing I thought of was Math when he said "Recursive functions". Then I got 
to thinking hey that could be programming. But I didn't think there were 
many CS degrees in the late 60's.

Bill

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#89976

"Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> wrote in message 
news:nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me...
>    I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've 
> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a 
> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone 
> know if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>

Dennis Ritchie, *not* Denis Ritchie ...

-- 

numerist at aquaporin4 dot com

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#89977

On Sunday, July 3, 2016 at 6:38:40 PM UTC+1, Charles Richmond wrote:
> "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> wrote in message 
> news:nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me...
> >    I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've 
> > always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a 
> > mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone 
> > know if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
> >
> 
> Dennis Ritchie, *not* Denis Ritchie ...
> 
I believe he spelt it "Dennis". But the name is actually "Dionysius",
from the god of wine. That's what he would have been called when
he received his degree, at least at Oxford, I imagine the American
Ivy Leagues follow the same convention.
 

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#89980

Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> writes:
> On Sunday, July 3, 2016 at 6:38:40 PM UTC+1, Charles Richmond wrote:
>> "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> wrote in message 
>> news:nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me...
>> >    I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've 
>> > always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a 
>> > mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone 
>> > know if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>> >
>> 
>> Dennis Ritchie, *not* Denis Ritchie ...
>> 
> I believe he spelt it "Dennis". But the name is actually "Dionysius",
> from the god of wine. That's what he would have been called when
> he received his degree, at least at Oxford, I imagine the American
> Ivy Leagues follow the same convention.

If that's a joke, I don't get it.  If it's not a joke, citation needed.

(Yes, the name Dennis apparently is derived from Dionysius.  That
doesn't mean Dionysius is "actually" Dennis Ritchie's name.)p

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

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#89986

Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> writes:

>> I believe he spelt it "Dennis". But the name is actually "Dionysius",
>> from the god of wine. That's what he would have been called when
>> he received his degree, at least at Oxford, I imagine the American
>> Ivy Leagues follow the same convention.
>
> If that's a joke, I don't get it.  If it's not a joke, citation needed.

It's absolute bollocks, is what it is.  No such convention exists.

#MalcKnowledge

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#89989

"Gareth Owen" <gwowen@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:87k2h2xxz3.fsf@gmail.com...
> Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> writes:
>
>>> I believe he spelt it "Dennis".

[...]

Yes that was a typo that was entered before being caught. My bad. I seem to 
do this quite a bit with this new keyboard. I wish I had the old one. 
There's already buttons sticking I may have had it a year.

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#89988

"Keith Thompson" <kst-u@mib.org> wrote in message 
news:ln7fd2o5xw.fsf@kst-u.example.com...
> Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> writes:
>> On Sunday, July 3, 2016 at 6:38:40 PM UTC+1, Charles Richmond wrote:
>>> "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me...
>>> >    I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've
>>> > always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
>>> > mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does 
>>> > anyone
>>> > know if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>>> >
>>>
>>> Dennis Ritchie, *not* Denis Ritchie ...
>>>
>> I believe he spelt it "Dennis". But the name is actually "Dionysius",
>> from the god of wine. That's what he would have been called when
>> he received his degree, at least at Oxford, I imagine the American
>> Ivy Leagues follow the same convention.
>
> If that's a joke, I don't get it.  If it's not a joke, citation needed.
>
> (Yes, the name Dennis apparently is derived from Dionysius.  That
> doesn't mean Dionysius is "actually" Dennis Ritchie's name.)p

    You kind of have to drink on it!

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#90007

On Monday, July 4, 2016 at 8:37:41 PM UTC+1, Bill Cunningham wrote:
>
> I just looked back and I remember he passed in 2011. What I 
> wondered and did not know was he was ill for some time due to 
> Prostate Cancer and Heart Disease. I still wish he was with us. 
> If I remember right he was only about 70. And won several awards. 
> I only knew of the one Clinton bestowed on him and Thompson.
> 
I think everyone here was sorry when Dennis Ritchie died.

But it's inevitable that as people get older they die, regardless
of achievement. Seventy is quite young to die of natural causes,
these days, but not all that unusual. If he had both cancer and 
heart disease his prognosis would have been poor.

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#90011

"Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> wrote in message 
news:nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me...
>    I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've 
> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a 
> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone 
> know if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>
> Bill

    I just looked back and I remember he passed in 2011. What I wondered and 
did not know was he was ill for some time due to Prostate Cancer and Heart 
Disease. I still wish he was with us. If I remember right he was only about 
70. And won several awards. I only knew of the one Clinton bestowed on him 
and Thompson.

Bill

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#91385

In article <nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@nspam.invalid says...
> 
>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions". Now I've 
> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a 
> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician. Does anyone know 
> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
> 
> Bill

There's an interview that addresses this a little bit at 
<https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/transcripts/ritchie.htm>.

Remember, though, this was Harvard, where the computer as we know it was 
_invented_.  They were _doing_ what we now call "computer science" long 
before there was a name for it.

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#91417

"J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> writes:

> In article <nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@nspam.invalid says...
>
>>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions".  Now I've
>> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
>> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician.  Does anyone know
>> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>>
>> Bill
>
> There's an interview that addresses this a little bit at
> <https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/transcripts/ritchie.htm>.
>
> Remember, though, this was Harvard, where the computer as we know it was
> _invented_.  They were _doing_ what we now call "computer science" long
> before there was a name for it.

I thought the computer as we know it was invented at the University
of Pennsylvania and the group at the Institute for Advanced Studies.
There were several precursors, including the Harvard Mark I, but
they are not computers as we know them today.  In particular, IIUC,
the Harvard Mark I was not Turing complete.

I don't mean to trivialize the contribution of the group at Harvard,
which was substantial, but I don't think they invented the computer
as we know it today.  John von Neumann, who played a role in both
the UPenn and IAS groups, attributed the key concept to Turing's 1936
paper.  Note that Turing spent almost two years at Princeton right
around that time, next to von Neumann at the IAS.

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#91428

On 7/31/2016 3:40 PM, Tim Rentsch wrote:
> "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> In article <nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@nspam.invalid says...
>>
>>>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions".  Now I've
>>> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
>>> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician.  Does anyone know
>>> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>>>
>>> Bill
>>
>> There's an interview that addresses this a little bit at
>> <https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/transcripts/ritchie.htm>.
>>
>> Remember, though, this was Harvard, where the computer as we know it was
>> _invented_.  They were _doing_ what we now call "computer science" long
>> before there was a name for it.
> 
> I thought the computer as we know it was invented at the University
> of Pennsylvania and the group at the Institute for Advanced Studies.
> There were several precursors, including the Harvard Mark I, but
> they are not computers as we know them today.  In particular, IIUC,
> the Harvard Mark I was not Turing complete.
> 
> I don't mean to trivialize the contribution of the group at Harvard,
> which was substantial, but I don't think they invented the computer
> as we know it today.  John von Neumann, who played a role in both
> the UPenn and IAS groups, attributed the key concept to Turing's 1936
> paper.  Note that Turing spent almost two years at Princeton right
> around that time, next to von Neumann at the IAS.
> 

Actually, it was at Iowa State University -
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm.


-- 
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

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#91435

Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> writes:

> On 7/31/2016 3:40 PM, Tim Rentsch wrote:
>> "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> In article <nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@nspam.invalid says...
>>>
>>>>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions".  Now I've
>>>> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
>>>> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician.  Does anyone know
>>>> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>>>>
>>>> Bill
>>>
>>> There's an interview that addresses this a little bit at
>>> <https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/transcripts/ritchie.htm>.
>>>
>>> Remember, though, this was Harvard, where the computer as we know it was
>>> _invented_.  They were _doing_ what we now call "computer science" long
>>> before there was a name for it.
>>
>> I thought the computer as we know it was invented at the University
>> of Pennsylvania and the group at the Institute for Advanced Studies.
>> There were several precursors, including the Harvard Mark I, but
>> they are not computers as we know them today.  In particular, IIUC,
>> the Harvard Mark I was not Turing complete.
>>
>> I don't mean to trivialize the contribution of the group at Harvard,
>> which was substantial, but I don't think they invented the computer
>> as we know it today.  John von Neumann, who played a role in both
>> the UPenn and IAS groups, attributed the key concept to Turing's 1936
>> paper.  Note that Turing spent almost two years at Princeton right
>> around that time, next to von Neumann at the IAS.
>
> Actually, it was at Iowa State University -
> http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm.

I know about the Atanasoff effort.  It is one of the systems
referred to in the "several precursors" comment.  However, its
architecture is not like the architecture of computers as we
know them today.  In particular, like the Harvard Mark I, it
is not Turing complete;  nor did it implement a stored program
architecture.

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#91449

On 7/31/2016 6:13 PM, Tim Rentsch wrote:
> Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> writes:
> 
>> On 7/31/2016 3:40 PM, Tim Rentsch wrote:
>>> "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>>> In article <nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@nspam.invalid says...
>>>>
>>>>>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions".  Now I've
>>>>> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
>>>>> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician.  Does anyone know
>>>>> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>>>>>
>>>>> Bill
>>>>
>>>> There's an interview that addresses this a little bit at
>>>> <https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/transcripts/ritchie.htm>.
>>>>
>>>> Remember, though, this was Harvard, where the computer as we know it was
>>>> _invented_.  They were _doing_ what we now call "computer science" long
>>>> before there was a name for it.
>>>
>>> I thought the computer as we know it was invented at the University
>>> of Pennsylvania and the group at the Institute for Advanced Studies.
>>> There were several precursors, including the Harvard Mark I, but
>>> they are not computers as we know them today.  In particular, IIUC,
>>> the Harvard Mark I was not Turing complete.
>>>
>>> I don't mean to trivialize the contribution of the group at Harvard,
>>> which was substantial, but I don't think they invented the computer
>>> as we know it today.  John von Neumann, who played a role in both
>>> the UPenn and IAS groups, attributed the key concept to Turing's 1936
>>> paper.  Note that Turing spent almost two years at Princeton right
>>> around that time, next to von Neumann at the IAS.
>>
>> Actually, it was at Iowa State University -
>> http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm.
> 
> I know about the Atanasoff effort.  It is one of the systems
> referred to in the "several precursors" comment.  However, its
> architecture is not like the architecture of computers as we
> know them today.  In particular, like the Harvard Mark I, it
> is not Turing complete;  nor did it implement a stored program
> architecture.
> 

Actually, while it did not have a central processing unit, and was
therefore not like today's computers, it did implement a stored program
architecture.  And it's debatable whether it was Turing complete.

And it was close enough that Atanasoff was awarded the patent for it.

-- 
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

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#91488

Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> writes:

> On 7/31/2016 6:13 PM, Tim Rentsch wrote:
>> Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> writes:
>>
>>> On 7/31/2016 3:40 PM, Tim Rentsch wrote:
>>>> "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> writes:
>>>>
>>>>> In article <nl966b$c57$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@nspam.invalid says...
>>>>>
>>>>>>     I was told that DMR' thesis was in "recursive functions".  Now I've
>>>>>> always assumed maybe being wrong that back then this may have been a
>>>>>> mathematics recursive functions and he was a Mathematician.  Does anyone know
>>>>>> if his PhD was mathematics or computer science?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Bill
>>>>>
>>>>> There's an interview that addresses this a little bit at
>>>>> <https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/transcripts/ritchie.htm>.
>>>>>
>>>>> Remember, though, this was Harvard, where the computer as we know it was
>>>>> _invented_.  They were _doing_ what we now call "computer science" long
>>>>> before there was a name for it.
>>>>
>>>> I thought the computer as we know it was invented at the University
>>>> of Pennsylvania and the group at the Institute for Advanced Studies.
>>>> There were several precursors, including the Harvard Mark I, but
>>>> they are not computers as we know them today.  In particular, IIUC,
>>>> the Harvard Mark I was not Turing complete.
>>>>
>>>> I don't mean to trivialize the contribution of the group at Harvard,
>>>> which was substantial, but I don't think they invented the computer
>>>> as we know it today.  John von Neumann, who played a role in both
>>>> the UPenn and IAS groups, attributed the key concept to Turing's 1936
>>>> paper.  Note that Turing spent almost two years at Princeton right
>>>> around that time, next to von Neumann at the IAS.
>>>
>>> Actually, it was at Iowa State University -
>>> http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm.
>>
>> I know about the Atanasoff effort.  It is one of the systems
>> referred to in the "several precursors" comment.  However, its
>> architecture is not like the architecture of computers as we
>> know them today.  In particular, like the Harvard Mark I, it
>> is not Turing complete;  nor did it implement a stored program
>> architecture.
>
> Actually, while it did not have a central processing unit, and was
> therefore not like today's computers, it did implement a stored program
> architecture.  And it's debatable whether it was Turing complete.
>
> And it was close enough that Atanasoff was awarded the patent for it.

http://johngustafson.net/pubs/pub57/ABCPaper.htm

I leave it to others to draw their own conclusions.

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