Tag: 1980s

1980s

Categories
Cloud History Software Engineering

The Byte – 1956 AD

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1956

The Byte

Werner Buchholz (b. 1922), Louis G. Dooley (dates unavailable)

“Designers of the early binary computers faced a fundamental question: how should the computers’ storage be organized? The computers stored information in bits, but computer users didn’t want to write programs that manipulated bits; they wanted to solve math problems, crack codes, and generally work with larger units of information. The memory of decimal computers such as ENIAC and the UNIVAC I was organized in groups of 10 alphanumeric digits, called words. The binary computers also organized their memory into words, but these groups of bits were called bytes.”

byte
Unit systemunits derived from bit
Unit ofdigital information, data size
SymbolB or (when referring to exactly 8 bits) o 

“It appears that the word byte was coined simultaneously in 1956 by Werner Buchholz at IBM, working on the IBM STRETCH (the world’s first supercomputer), and by Louis G. Dooley and others at MIT Lincoln Lab working on the SAGE air-defense system. In both cases, they used the word byte to describe the inputs and outputs of machine instructions that could operate on less than a full word. The STRETCH had 60-bit words and used 8-bit bytes to represent characters for its input/output system; the SAGE had instructions that could operate on 4-bit bytes.”

“The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer[1][2] and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit of memory in many computer architectures. To disambiguate arbitrarily sized bytes from the common 8-bit definition, network protocol documents such as The Internet Protocol (RFC 791)(1981) refer to an 8-bit byte as an octet.[3]“

“Over the next 20 years, the definition of a byte was somewhat fluid. IBM used 8-bit bytes with its System/360 architecture, and 8-bit groups were the standard for AT&T’s long-distance digital telephone lines. DEC, on the other hand, successfully marketed a series of computers with 18-bit and 36-bit words, including the PDP-7 and the PDP-10, which both utilized 9-bit bytes.”

“This lack of consistency resulted in the early Internet standards avoiding the word byte entirely. Instead, the word octet is used to describe a group of 8 bits sent over a computer network, a usage that survives to this day in Internet standards.”

“Nevertheless, by the 1980s, the acceptance of 8-bit bytes was almost universal—largely a result of the microcomputer revolution, because micros used 8-bit bytes almost exclusively. In part, that’s because 8 bits is an even power of 2, which makes it somewhat easier to design computer hardware with 8-bit bytes than with 9-bit bytes.”

“Today the era of 9-bit bytes is all but forgotten. And what about collections of 4 bits? Today these are called a nibble (sometimes spelled nybble).”

Multiples of bytes:

1000kBkilobyte
10002MBmegabyte
10003GBgigabyte
10004TBterabyte
10005PBpetabyte
10006EBexabyte
10007ZBzettabyte
10008YByottabyte
Multiples of bytes

1000103kkilo
10002106Mmega
10003109Ggiga
100041012Ttera
100051015Ppeta
100061018Eexa
100071021Zzetta
100081024Yyotta
Prefixes for multiples of bits (bit) or bytes (B)

SEE ALSO:

“Today’s computers most frequently use bytes consisting of 8 bits, represented by 1s and 0s.”

Fair Use Source: B07C2NQSPV

Categories
Cloud History

1980s

See also: Timeline of the History of Computing, This Year in History and History

1980

DatePlaceEvent
JanuaryUKSinclair ZX80 was released for under £100.
MayJapanOn 22 May the game Pac-Man was released.[1]
JuneUnited StatesCommodore released the VIC-20, which had 3.5 KB of usable memory and was based on the MOS Technology 6502 processor. Magazines became available which contained the code for various utilities and games. A 5¼” disk drive was available, along with a cassette storage system which used standard audio cassette tapes. Also available were a number of games, a color plotter which printed on 6 in (152 mm) wide paper tape, a graphics tablet (the KoalaPad). A TV screen served as monitor. The VIC-20 became the first computer to sell 1 million units.
JulyUnited StatesTandy released the TRS-80 Color Computer, based on the Motorola 6809E processor and using Microsoft Basic as its programming language. It was the first Tandy computer to support color graphics, and also supported cartridge programs and games, attempting to bridge both the home computing and video gaming markets.
OctoberUnited StatesDevelopment of MS-DOS/PC DOS began. Microsoft (known mainly for their programming languages) were commissioned to write the Operating System for the PC; Digital Research failed to get the contract (there is much legend as to the real reason for this). DR’s Operating System, CP/M-86, was later shipped, but it was actually easier to adapt programs to DOS rather than to CP/M-86, and CP/M-86 cost $495. As Microsoft didn’t have an operating system to sell, they bought Seattle Computer Product’s 86-DOS which had been written by Tim Paterson earlier that year (86-DOS was also known as QDOS, Quick & Dirty Operating System, it was a more-or-less 16 bit version of CP/M). The rights were actually bought in July 1981. It is reputed that IBM found over 300 bugs in the code when they subjected the operating system to scrutiny and re-wrote much of the code.Tim Paterson’s DOS 1.0 was 4000 lines of assembler.
?Netherlands
Japan		Red Book on Audio CDs was introduced by Sony and Philips. This was the beginning of the Compact disc, it was released in Japan and then in Europe and America a year later.

1981

DatePlaceEvent
MarchUKSinclair ZX81 was released, for a similar price to the ZX80 (see 1980).
AprilUnited StatesOn April 8 Osborne 1 portable computer introduced; the company sold many units before filing for bankruptcy only two years later.
AugustUnited StatesOn August 12 IBM announced their open architecture IBM Personal Computer.[2] 100,000 orders were taken by Christmas. The design becomes far more successful than IBM had anticipated, and becomes the basis for most of the modern personal computer industry.[2]MDA (Monochrome Display Adapter), text only, introduced with IBM PC.MS-DOS 1.0, PC DOS 1.0.Microsoft (known mainly for their programming languages) were commissioned by IBM to write the operating system, they bought a program called 86-DOS from Tim Paterson which was loosely based on CP/M-80. The final program from Microsoft was marketed by IBM as PC DOS and by Microsoft as MS-DOS, collaboration on subsequent versions continued until version 5.0 in 1991.Compared to modern versions of DOS, version 1 was very basic. The most notable difference was the presence of just 1 directory, the root directory, on each disk. Subdirectories were not supported until version 2.0 (March 1983).MS-DOS was the main operating system for all IBM-PC compatible computers until Microsoft released Windows 95. According to Microsoft, in 1994, MS-DOS was running on some 100 million computers worldwide.
SeptemberUnited StatesThe TCP/IP protocol is established. This is the protocol that carries most of the information across the Internet. RFC 793
?United StatesRichard Feynman proposed quantum computers. The main application he had in mind was the simulation of quantum systems, but he also mentioned the possibility of solving other problems.
?United StatesThe Xerox 8010 (‘Star’) System, the first commercial system to use a WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointing Devices) graphic user interface. Apple incorporated many of the ideas therein in the development of the interface for the Apple Lisa (see January 1983)
?United StatesSymbolics introduced the LM-2 workstation, a Lisp-based workstation based on the MIT CADR architecture.

1982

DatePlaceEvent
JanuaryUKIntroduction of the BBC Micro, announced in December last year. Based on the MOS Technology 6502 processor, it was a very popular computer for British schools up to the development of the Acorn Archimedes (in 1987). In 1984 the government offered to pay half the cost of such computers in an attempt to promote their use in secondary education.
JanuaryUnited StatesCommodore unveils the Commodore 64 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Built in just two months around the VIC-II Video Integrated Circuit and the SID Sound Interface Device chips, the C64 used the 6510 processor to access 64K of RAM plus 16K of switchable ROM. This “epitome of the 8-bit computer” sold up to 22 million units in the next decade.
FebruaryUnited StatesOn February 1 the 80286 processor was released. It implements a new mode of operation, protected mode – allowing access to more memory (up to 16 MB compared to 1 MB for the 8086).At introduction the fastest version ran at 12.5 MHz, achieved 2.7 MIPS and contained 134,000 transistors.
MarchUnited StatesMS-DOS 1.25, PC DOS 1.1
AprilUKThe Sinclair ZX Spectrum was announced, released later in the year. It is based on the Z80 microprocessor from Zilog, running at 3.5 MHz with an 8 color graphics display. The Spectrum sold with two memory options, a 16 KB version for £125 or a 48 KB version for £175.
MayUnited StatesIBM launch the double-sided 320 KB floppy disk drive.
JulyUK
United States		Timex/Sinclair introduced the first computer touted to cost under $100 marketed in the U.S., the Timex Sinclair 1000. In spite of the flaws in the early versions, half a million units were sold in the first 6 months alone, surpassing the sales of Apple, Tandy, and Commodore combined.
AugustUnited StatesThe Commodore 64 is released, retailing at US$595. The price rapidly dropped, creating a price war and causing the departure of numerous companies from the home computing market. Total C64 sales during its lifetime (from 1982 to 1994) are estimated at more than 17 million units[citation needed], making it the best-selling computer model of all time.
OctoberUnited StatesMIDI, Musical Instrument Digital Interface, (pronounced “middy”) published by International MIDI Association (IMA). The MIDI standard allows computers to be connected to instruments like keyboards through a low-bandwidth (31,250 bit/s) protocol.
DecemberUnited StatesIBM bought 12% of Intel.
?United StatesIntroduction of 80186/80188. These are rarely used in personal computers as they incorporate a built in DMA and timer chip – and thus have register addresses incompatible with IBM PCs.

1983

DatePlaceEvent
JanuaryUnited StatesApple introduced its Lisa. The first mass market personal computer with a graphical user interface, its development was central in the move to such systems for personal computers. The Lisa’s sloth and high price ($10,000) led to its ultimate failure. The Lisa ran on a Motorola 68000 microprocessor and came equipped with 1 MB of RAM, a 12-inch black-and-white monitor, dual 5¼” floppy disk drives and a 5 MB Profile hard drive. The Xerox Star – which included a system called Smalltalk that involved a mouse, windows, and pop-up menus – inspired the Lisa’s designers.
JanuaryUnited States
Europe		IBM PC gets European launch at Which Computer Show.
MarchUnited StatesIBM XT released, similar to the original IBM PC but with a hard drive. It had a 10 MB hard disk, 128 KB of RAM, one floppy drive, mono monitor and a printer, all for $5000.
MarchUnited StatesCompaq Portable released, the first IBM PC compatible machine released with an IBM PC compatible BIOS written from scratch.
MarchUnited StatesMS-DOS 2.0, PC DOS 2.0
Introduced with the IBM XT this version included a Unix style hierarchical sub-directory structure, and altered the way in which programs could load and access files on the disk.
MayUnited StatesThinking Machines Corporation formed.
MayUnited StatesMS-DOS 2.01
SeptemberUnited StatesRichard Stallman announces the GNU Project, to create a free software alternative to proprietary Unixes, on Usenet. He works towards this goal over the next years, but GNU’s own kernel, the GNU Hurd, is delayed indefinitely and GNU only becomes a complete usable alternative to Unix with the creation of the Linux kernel in 1991.
OctoberUnited StatesIBM released the IBM PCjr in an attempt to get further into the home market; it cost just $699. Cheaper alternatives from other companies were preferred by the home buyer, but businesses continued to buy IBM.PC DOS 2.1 (for PCjr). Like the PCjr this was not a great success and quickly disappeared from the market.MS-DOS 2.11, MS-DOS 2.25
Version 2.25 included support for foreign character sets, and was marketed in the Far East.
OctoberUnited StatesMicrosoft Word software released.[3]
NovemberUnited StatesDomain Name System (DNS) introduced to the Internet, which then consisted of about 1000 hosts. RFC 881 (now obsoleted by subsequent revisions)Microsoft Windows is announced.
DecemberSerbiaDetailed schematic diagrams for build-it-yourself computer Galaksija released in Belgrade. Thousands were soon assembled by computer enthusiasts.
?United StatesBorland formed.
?JapanEpson QX-10 released; first Japanese computer sold in the US[4]
?United StatesLotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software launched.[5]
?ItalyOlivetti M24 was put on sale. This personal computer had good success and was later rebranded by AT&T.

1984

DatePlaceEvent
JanuaryUKSinclair Research Ltd announced its first (and only) personal computer aimed to the business market, the Sinclair QL, at an attractive introductory price of £399. The machine was based on the 68008 CPU of Motorola, the low-cost version of Motorola 68000 with 8-bit external bus. The QL (abbreviation of Quantum Leap) did not become a market success, because of quality issues of the first series and due to the Microdrive used as storage medium instead of the much more reliable floppy discs, and its development and production later caused serious financial difficulties to the company.
JanuaryUnited StatesApple Macintosh released, based on the 8 MHz version of the Motorola 68000 processor. The 68000 can address 16 MB of RAM, a noticeable improvement over Intel’s 8088/8086 family. However the Apple achieved 0.7 MIPS and originally came with just 128 KB of RAM. It came fitted with a monochrome monitor and was the first successful mouse-driven computer with a Graphical user interface. The Macintosh included many of the Lisa’s features at a much more affordable price: $2,500.Applications that came as part of the package included MacPaint, which made use of the mouse, and MacWrite, which demonstrated WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) word processing.
MayUnited StatesHewlett-Packard release the immensely popular LaserJet printer, by 1993 they had sold over 10 million LaserJet printers and over 20 million printers overall. HP were also pioneering inkjet technology.
JuneUKAmstrad CPC was introduced first in Britain, later in other European markets as well. The machine was based on the popular 8 bit Z80 CPU. The mainboard (i.e. the computer itself) and a cassette recorder (Datacorder) were both integrated in the keyboard. The CPC could be bought in a bundle with a monochrome (GT64) monitor for £249 or a colour (CTM640) monitor for £359. The monitor also served as the power supply in order to have only one plug to be connected to the wall outlet. CPC became very popular in France and Spain, and in Germany where it was marketed by Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG under its own label. In 1985 two further models (CPC 664 and 6128) with built-in 3-inch floppy disc drive were released.
AugustUnited StatesMS-DOS 3.0, PC DOS 3.0
Released for the IBM AT, it supported larger hard disks as well as High Density (1.2 MB) 5¼” floppy disks.
SeptemberUnited StatesApple released a 512KB version of the Macintosh, known as the “Fat Mac”.
EndUnited StatesCompaq started the development of the IDE interface (see also 1989). IDE = Intelligent Drive Electronics. This standard was designed specially for the IBM PC and can achieve high data transfer rates through a 1:1 interleave factor and caching by the actual disk controller – the bottleneck is often the old AT bus and the drive may read data far quicker than the bus can accept it, so the cache is used as a buffer. Theoretically 1 MB/s is possible but 700 kB/s is perhaps more typical of such drives. This standard has been adopted by many other models of computer, such the Acorn Archimedes A4000 and above. A later improvement was EIDE, laid down in 1989, which also removed the maximum drive size of 528 MB and increased data transfer rates.
?United StatesTurbo Pascal introduced by Borland.
?United StatesMotorola released the 68020 processor.

1985

DatePlaceEvent
JanuaryUnited StatesPostScript introduced by Adobe Systems. It is a powerful page description language used in the Apple Laserwriter printer. Adopted by IBM for their use in March 1987.
MarchUnited StatesMS-DOS 3.1, PC DOS 3.1
This was the first version of DOS to provide network support, and provides some new functions to handle networking.
MarchUnited StatesSymbolics registered the symbolics.com domain, the first .com domain in the world.
AprilUnited StatesExpanded memory specification, a memory paging scheme for PCs, was introduced by Lotus and Intel.
JuneUnited StatesCommodore 128 was released. Based on a complex multi-mode architecture, this was Commodore’s last 8-bit computer. Cost: $299.95 for each of the CPU unit and accompanying 1571 disk drive.
JuneUnited StatesThe Atari ST, an inexpensive 8 MHz Motorola 68000-based computer, appeared. Nicknamed the “Jackintosh”, after Atari owner Jack Tramiel, it featured 512 KB of memory and used GEM graphical interface from Digital Research. It was priced under US$1,000.
JuneUSSRTetris was written by Russian Alexey Pazhitnov. It was later released for various western games machines, the crown jewel being its inclusion with Nintendo’s Game Boy in 1989. Alexey made nothing from the game, since under the Communist Regime it was owned by the people. However, after the collapse of Communism he was able to move to the USA where he now works for Microsoft.
JulyUnited StatesCommodore released the Amiga, based on a 7.16 MHz Motorola 68000 and a custom chipset. It was the first home computer to feature pre-emptive multitasking operating system. It used a Macintosh-like GUI. Cost: US$1,295 for a system with a single 880 KB 3.5 in disk drive and 256 KB of RAM.
SeptemberUKAmstrad introduced Amstrad PCW 8256/8512, an 8 bit, Z80 based computer system with 256 or 512 KB of RAM, dedicated to word processing and promoted as the alternative of electronic typewriters. PCW was the abbreviation of personal computer for word processing (or personal computer word processor). 8 million PCWs were sold until 1998 when Amstrad discontinued this range of computers.
OctoberUnited StatesOn October 17 80386 DX was released. It supports clock frequencies of up to 33 MHz and can address up to 4 GB of memory (and in theory virtual memory of up to 64 TB, which was important for marketing purposes). It also includes a bigger instruction set than the 80286.At the date of release the fastest version ran at 20 MHz and achieved 6.0 MIPS. It contained 275,000 transistors.
NovemberUnited StatesMicrosoft Windows launched. Not really widely used until version 3, released in 1990, Windows required DOS to run and so was not a complete operating system (until Windows 95, released on August 21, 1995). It merely provided a G.U.I. similar to that of the Macintosh. It was so similar that Apple tried to sue Microsoft for copying the ‘look and feel’ of their operating system. This court case was not dropped until August 1997.
DecemberUnited StatesMS-DOS 3.2, PC DOS 3.2This version was the first to support 3½” disks, although only the 720 KB ones. Version 3.2 remained the standard version until 1987 when version 3.3 was released with the IBM PS/2.
?Netherlands
Japan		CD-ROM, invented by Philips, produced in collaboration with Sony.
?United StatesEnhanced Graphics Adapter released.
?UKMeiko Scientific formed.

1986

DatePlaceEvent
JanuaryUnited StatesApple released another enhanced version of the Macintosh (the Macintosh Plus personal computer)[5] – this one could cope with 4 MB of RAM (for the first time, upgradable via SIMMs) and it had a built-in SCSI adapter based on the NCR 5380.
FebruaryUKSinclair ZX Spectrum 128 released. It had 128 KB of RAM, but little other improvement over the original ZX (except improved sound capabilities). Later models were produced by Amstrad – but they showed no major advances in technology.
AprilUnited StatesApple released another version of the Macintosh (the Macintosh 512Ke) equipped with a double sided 3.5 inch Floppy Disk drive.
AprilUKOn April 7 it was officially announced that Amstrad Plc acquired the computer division of Sinclair Research Ltd including the marketing and development rights of all ZX Spectrum models and the exclusive right to use the well-known Sinclair brand itself. As ZX Spectrum still had 40% market share and CPC also had some 20%, by the merger a very strong player was established in the British home computer market.
JuneFranceLISTSERV, the first automated mailing list management application, was invented by Eric Thomas.[6][7]
SeptemberUKAmstrad announced Amstrad PC 1512, a cheap and powerful PC. It had a slightly enhanced CGA graphics adapter, 512 KB RAM (upgradable to 640KB), 8086 processor (upgradable to NEC V30) and a 20 MB hard disk (optional). To ensure the computer was accessible they made sure the manuals could be read by everyone, and also included DR’s GEM desktop (a WIMP system) and a mouse to try to make the machine more user friendly. It was sold in many high street shops and was bought by business and home users alike.
SeptemberNederlandsAt EUSPICO ’86 conference it was presented RIPAC, a microprocessor specialized for speech-recognition designed by CSELT, Elsag and manufactured by SGS. It was used for telephone dialogue-based services in Italy.
NovemberUnited StatesAt Comdex Las Vegas Atari invited Gene Mosher to introduce his touchscreen point of sale graphic user interface with direct manipulation widget toolkit editing, including the Atari ST’s 12″ CRT with a Microtouch capacitance touchscreen overlay, 320×200 resolution graphics and a 16-color bitmapped display.[8]

1987

DatePlaceEvent
MarchUnited StatesMacintosh II and Macintosh SE released on March 2. The SE was based on the 68000, but could cope with 4 MB of RAM and had an internal and external SCSI adapter. It offered a high performance PDS interrupt slot which provided some of the first expandability on a Mac. The SE also offered the capability of displaying color with a third-party video card with its new ROM.The Macintosh II was based on the newer Motorola 68020, that ran at 16 MHz and achieved a much more respectable 2.6 MIPS (comparable to an 80286). It too had a SCSI adapter but was also fitted with a colour video adapter.
AprilUnited StatesOn April 2 PS/2 Systems were introduced by IBM. The first 4 models were released on this date. The PS/2 Model 30 based on an 8086 processor and an old XT bus, Models 50 and 60 based on the 80286 processor and the Model 80 based on the 80386 processor. These used the 3½” floppy disks, storing 1.44 MB on each (although the Model 30 could only use the low 720KB density). These systems (except the Model 30, released in September 1988) included a completely new bus, the MCA (Micro Channel Architecture) bus, which did not catch on as it did not provide support for old-style 16 bit AT bus expansion cards. The MCA bus did show many improvements in design and speed over the ISA bus most PCs used, and IBM (if no one else) still use it in some of their machines. The PS/2 models were very successful – selling well over 2 million machines in less than 2 years.
AprilUnited StatesMS-DOS 3.3, PC DOS 3.3
Released with the IBM PS/2 this version included support for the High Density (1.44 MB) 3½” disks. It also supported hard disk partitions, splitting a hard disk into 2 or more logical drives.
AprilUnited StatesOS/2 Launched by Microsoft and IBM. A later enhancement, OS/2 Warp provided many of the 32 bit enhancements boasted by Windows 95 – but several years earlier, yet the product failed to dominate the market in the way Windows 95 did 8 years later.
JuneUKIntroduction of Acorn Archimedes.
AugustCanadaAD-LIB soundcard released. Not widely supported until a software company, Taito, released several games fully supporting AD-LIB – the word then spread how much the special sound effects and music enhanced the games.Ad Lib, Inc., a Canadian Company, had a virtual monopoly until 1989 when the SoundBlaster card was released.
AugustUnited StatesLIM EMS v4.0
October–
November		United StatesCompaq DOS (CPQ-DOS) v3.31 released to cope with disk partitions >32Mb. Used by some other OEMs, but not Microsoft.
DecemberUnited StatesMicrosoft Windows 2 released on December 9.
?United StatesConnection Machine, an interesting supercomputer which instead of integration of circuits operates up to 64,000 fairly ordinary microprocessors – using parallel architecture – at the same time, in its most powerful form it can do somewhere in the region of 2 billion operations per second.
?UKFractal Image Compression Algorithm invented by English mathematician Michael F. Barnsley, allowing digital images to be compressed and stored using fractal codes rather than normal image data.
?United StatesMotorola released the 68030 processor.
?United StatesHyperCard software released.[9]
?United StatesCommodore released the Amiga 500 and the Amiga 2000. The Amiga 500 was similar to the original Amiga 1000, but in an all-in-one case with 512 KB of RAM and at a lower price. The Amiga 2000 was built in a large PC-style case and included 1 MB of RAM and Zorro II expansion slots.
?United StatesVGA released (designed for the PS/2) by IBM.
?United StatesMCGA released (only for low end PS/2s, i.e. the Model 30) by IBM.
?United StatesThe 8514/A introduced by IBM. This was a graphics card that included its own processor to speed up the drawing of common objects. The advantages included a reduction in CPU workload.

1988

DatePlaceEvent
JanuaryItalyFoundation of the MPEG group by Leonardo Chiariglione and Hiroshi Yasuda.
JuneUnited States80386SX was released on June 16 as a cheaper alternative to the 80386DX. It had a narrower (16 bit) time multiplexed bus. This reduction in pins, and the easier integration with 16 bit devices made the cost savings.
July–
August		United StatesPC DOS 4.0, MS-DOS 4.0
Version 3.4 – 4.x are confusing due to lack of correlation between IBM and Microsoft and also the US and Europe. Several ‘Internal Use only’ versions were also produced.This version reflected increases in hardware capabilities; it supported hard drives greater than 32 MB (up to 2 GB) and also EMS memory.This version was not properly tested and was bug ridden, causing system crashes and loss of data. The original release was IBM’s, but Microsoft’s version 4.0 (in October) was no better and version 4.01 was released (in November) to correct this, then version 4.01a (in April 1989) as a further improvement. However many people could not trust this and reverted to version 3.3 while they waited for the complete re-write (version 5 – 3 years later). Betas of Microsoft’s version 4.0 were apparently shipped as early as 1986–1987.
SeptemberUnited StatesIBM PS/2 Model 30 286 released, based on an 80286 processor and the old AT bus – IBM abandoned the MCA bus, released less than 18 months earlier. Other IBM machines continued to use the MCA bus.
October?Common Access Method committee (CAM) formed. They invented the ATA standard in March 1989.
OctoberUnited StatesMacintosh IIx released. It was based on a new processor, the Motorola 68030. It still ran at 16 MHz but now achieved 3.9 MIPS. It could be expanded to 128 MB of RAM and had 6 NuBus expansions slots.
NovemberUnited StatesMS-DOS 4.01, PC DOS 4.01
This corrected many of the bugs seen in version 4.0, but many users simply switched back to version 3.3 and waited for a properly re-written and fully tested version – which did not come until version 5 in June 1991. Support for disk partitions >32 MB.
??First optical chip developed, it uses light instead of electricity to increase processing speed.
??XMS Standard introduced.
??EISA Bus standard introduced.
?United StatesWORM (Write Once Read Many times) – disks marketed for first time by IBM.
?United StatesAdobe Photoshop software created.[9]

1989

DatePlaceEvent
JanuaryUnited StatesApple Computer Macintosh SE/30 released. Like the SE of March 1987 it only had a monochrome display adapter but was fitted with the newer 68030 processor.
March?Command set for E-IDE disk drives was defined by CAM (formed Oct. 1988).[citation needed] This supports drives over 528 MB in size. Early controllers often imposed a limit of 2.1 GB, then later ones 8.4GB. Newer controllers support much higher capacities. Drives greater in size than 2.1GB must be partitioned under DOS since the drive structure (laid down in MS-DOS 4) used by DOS and even Windows 95 prevents partitions bigger than 2.1 GB. EIDE controllers also support the ATAPI interface that is used by most CD-ROM drives produced after its introduction. Newer implementations to EIDE, designed for the PCI bus, can achieve data transfer at up to 16.67 MB/s. A later enhancement, called UDMA, allows transfer rates of up to 33.3 MB/s.
MarchUnited StatesThe Macintosh IIcx released, with the same basic capabilities of the Macintosh IIx but in a more compact half-width case.
AprilUnited States80486DX released by Intel on April 10. It contains the equivalent of about 1.2 million transistors. At the time of release the fastest version ran at 25 MHz and achieved up to 20 MIPS.Later versions, such as the DX/2 and DX/4 versions achieved internal clock rates of up to 120 MHz.
SeptemberUnited StatesApple Computer Macintosh IIci released based on a faster version of the 68030 – now running at 25 MHz, and achieved 6.3 MIPS. Apple also released the Macintosh Portable – the first notebook computer Mac, which went back to the original 68000 processor (but now ran it at 16 MHz to achieve 1.3 MIPS). It had a monochrome display.
NovemberSingaporeRelease of Sound Blaster Card, by Creative Labs, its success was ensured by maintaining compatibility with the widely supported AdLib soundcard of 1987.
?SwitzerlandWorld Wide Web, invented by Tim Berners-Lee who wanted to use hypertext to make documents and information seamlessly accessible over different kinds of computers and systems, and wherever they might be in the world. He was working in computing at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Switzerland, at the time. The Web was a result of the integration of hypertext and networking, the best known vehicle being the Internet. The hyperlinked pages not only provided static information but also transparent access to databases and to existing Internet facilities such as File Transfer Protocol, telnet, Gopher, WAIS and Usenet. He was awarded the Institute of Physics‘ 1997 Duddell Medal for this contribution to the advancement of knowledge. The first Web browser was actually an integrated browser/editor with a GUI interface, written for the sophisticated but fairly rare NeXT Computer. Berners-Lee and his colleagues offered a stripped down text-only browser as a downloadable demo, and asked the emerging Web community to write full GUI versions for other platforms. By early 1993 there were GUI browsers for UNIX and PC, including Erwise, ViolaWWW, Midas, and Cello, Samba, and Mosaic; Lynx was an important text-only browser. None of these included the editing features of the first NeXT browser, which were more labor-intensive to implement on non-NeXT platforms. Mosaic, written at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) was the first browser with full-time programmers and institutional support behind it. It was reliable and easy to install, and soon offered images embedded in the text rather than in separate windows. The Web’s popularity exploded with Mosaic, which made it accessible to the novice user. This explosion started in earnest during 1993, a year in which Web traffic over the Internet increased by 300,000%. The bulk of the Mosaic programmers went on to found Netscape.
?United StatesLotus Notes software launched.[9]

References

  1. ^ “Behind a pizza-slice smile: the dark side of Pac-Man”. The Guardian. May 22, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Michael J. Miller (August 8, 2011). “Why the IBM PC Had an Open Architecture”. pcmag.com. “In some ways, the most far-reaching decision made by the team that built the IBM PC was to use an open architecture, rather than one that was proprietary to IBM. That decision led to the market for add-in boards, for large numbers of third party applications, and eventually to a large number of competitors all creating “IBM-compatible” machines. Bill Lowe went to IBM’s Corporate Management Committee in July 1980 to propose the project”
  3. ^ Paul Ford (April 2014), The Great Works of Software – via Medium
  4. ^ “The Quintessential Computer? Epson’s QX-10 hits the high-end market.” by Jim Hansen. “Microcomputing” magazine 1983 April
  5. ^ a b Christopher Null (April 2007), “50 Best Tech Products of All Time”, PC World, USA
  6. ^ Farhad Manjoo (August 2010), “The Joy of Listservs, One of the Internet’s earliest innovations is still one of its best.”, Slate, USA
  7. ^ “History of LISTSERV@BITNIC and LISTSERV email list management software, 1985–1995”.
  8. ^ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comdex_1986.png
  9. ^ a b c Matthew Kirschenbaum (July 2013), “10 Most Influential Software Programs Ever”, Slate, USA

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History Software Engineering

Turbo Pascal Programming Language Invented by Anders Hejlsberg – 1983 AD

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Turbo Pascal is a software development system that includes a compiler and an integrated development environment (IDE) for the Pascal programming language running on CP/M, CP/M-86, and DOS. It was originally developed by Anders Hejlsberg at Borland, and was notable for its extremely fast compiling times. Turbo Pascal, and the later but similar Turbo C, made Borland a leader in PC-based development.

For versions 6 and 7 (last), both a lower-priced Turbo Pascal and more expensive Borland Pascal were produced; Borland Pascal was more oriented towards professional software development, with more libraries and standard library source code. The name Borland Pascal is also used more generically for Borland’s dialect of the Pascal programming language, significantly different from Standard Pascal.

Borland has released three old versions of Turbo Pascal free of charge because of their historical interest: the original Turbo Pascal (now known as 1.0), and versions 3.02 and 5.5 for DOS.[2][3][4]

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Objective-C Programming Language Invented by Brad Cox and Tom Love – 1988 AD

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Developed in the mid-1980s by Brad Cox and Tom Love, the Objective-C programming language was officially licensed by NeXT in 1988.

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Perl Programming Language Invented for CGI Scripts Web Apps by Larry Wall – 1987 AD

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The open source programming language Perl that was developed by Larry Wall was introduced in 1987. It is commonly used in creating CGI scripts and programming web applications.

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