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Computer History and Folklore
Contents:
- Why Pascal is Not My Favourite
Language, by Brian W. Kernighan
- A largely serious article outlining the author's problems in converting
a software package from Ratfor (a structured Fortran) to Pascal.
- Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal,
by Ed Post
- A profile of Real Programmers, and why no Real Programmer would touch
Pascal.
- The Story of Mel, A Real Programmer, by
Ed Nather
- An excellent poem about an old-style programmer. Read it! (From
the
Jargon File.)
- RFC527
- ARPAWOCKY
- RFC748
- Telnet Randomly-Lose Option
- RFC1025
- TCP AND IP BAKE OFF
- RFC1097
- TELNET SUBLIMINAL-MESSAGE Option
- RFC1149
- A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers
- RFC1437
- The Extension of MIME Content-Types to a New Medium
- RFC1925
- The Twelve Networking Truths
- GNU Project's Home Page
- The Free Software Foundation's philosophy, and information on
GNU software, including Hurd.
- GNU Manifesto
- Why the Free Software Foundation was started, and its aims. Also
responses to commonly raised objection to why free software won't
work.
- BYTE Interviews Richard Stallman
- Rather revealing since many of the projects mentioned are still
not completed, or have been shelved entirely.
- Hobbes' Internet Timeline
- A brief history of the Internet, 1956--present. Comprehensive
and concise. Good!
- The Great Renaming FAQ
- Describes the events immediately before the day in 1985 when all
non-local groups were renamed from net.* to the current hierarchial
scheme.
Chronology of
Events in the History of Microcomputers
Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present
An interesting, extensive, technical and fairly detailed history of
microprocessors.
Historic
Computers
Descriptions of several old computers.
Images of
Historic Computers
Computer Collection
A fairly broad collection of computers. Includes pictures. Good!
Multics
Information on Multics, a "timesharing operating system begun in
1965 and still in use today".
CHAC History Pages
Links to many pages relating to the history of computers and
computing.
- The Hacker FAQ
- "An attempt to cover some of the issues that will invariably come
up when people without previous experience of the hacker community
try to hire a hacker".
- The Jargon File
- The definitive dictionary of Hacker slang and terminology. Also has
other, more general information on Hacker culture. Excellent!
- Folklore Archive
- A computer folklore archive at wiretap.spies.com.
Dated, but still interesting.
- EFF "Folklore" Archive
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Folklore Archive. Mostly
email and news postings. Quite a lot of information e.g. Hoaxes.
- alt.folklore.computers FAQ
- net.legends FAQ
- Legendary Usenet characters. Excellent!
- A Portrait of J. Random Hacker
- What the typical hacker wears, eats, plays, reads, etc. (From
the Jargon File.)
- Don Knuth's Home Page
- Perhaps the most famous computer scientist. Author of The
Art of Computer Programming and the TeX typesetting system.
- An Internet
Encylopedia
- Descriptions of major internet standard and protocols.
-
Usenet Notables with World Wide Web Pages
- Links to the WWW pages of various Usenet Characters. Rather fun.
- Yahoo - Computers:History
- Yahoo's links relating to computer history.
Last modified on Friday, 08 November 1996
Michael Stillwell /
mist@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au
Disclaimer:
This is a personal page published by the author. The ideas and
information expressed on
it have not been approved or authorised by Monash University either
explicitly or impliedly.
In no event shall Monash University be liable for any damages
whatsoever resulting from
any action arising in connection with the use of this information or
its publication, including
any action for infringement of copyright or defamation.
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