195601

195601 195601

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COMPUTERS
AND

AUTOMATION
CYBERNETICS • ROBOTS • AUTOMATIC CONTROL

Machines and Religion
. . . Elliot Gruenberg
Automatic Coding Techniques for Business Data Processing Directions of Development
. . . Charles W. Adams,
Bruse Moncreiff
What is a Computer?
. . . Neil D. Macdonald
Glossary of Terms and Expressions in Computers and Automation
(cumulative)

toper
parade
Are you in step with the more progressive
manufacturers of BUSINESS MACHINES-AIRCRAFT-GUIDED MISSILES-ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT -who have approved and are profiting by the
use of A-MP TAPER TECHNIQUE?
There is still room on the A-MP TAPER TECHNIQUE Band Wagon for
you to join the leaders. You, too, can increase speed of assembly, im.
prove reliability, and save money by using A·MP TAPER PINS, TAPER TAB
RECEPTACLES, TAPER BLOKS and TAPER TIPS.
And you'll be "cheered on" by the many alert manufacturers of electrical and electronic
components who hav~ modified their standard products to help you enjoy the advantages of
A·MP TAPER TECHNIQUE.
'
Make it a MUST to specify A·MP TAPER TECHNIQUE in your PROJECTS for

AIRCRAF1-MAr!ING

1956.

P[10DUCYS,

INC.

GENERAL OFFICES: HARRISBURG, PA.

A-MP of Canada, Ltd., Toronto, Canada
A-MP-Holland N.V.'s-Hertogenbosch, Holland
Aircraft-Marine Products (G.B.) Ltd., London, England
Societe A-MP de France, Courbevoie, Seine, France

- 2 -

COMPUTERS
CYBERNETICS

•

AUTOMATION

AND

ROBOTS

•

AUTOMATIC

CONTROL

Vol. 5, No. 1

January,

1956

ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER, 1951

ARTICLES
Machines and Religion
, Automatic Coding Techniques For Business Data
Processing - Directions of Development
Finding Out That Something Exists
What is a Computer?

••• E. Gruenberg
••• C. W. Adams
and B. Moncreiff
•.• N. D. Macdonald
.•. N. D. Macdonald

6

10

32
46

REFERENCE INFOUMATION
Glossary of Terms in the Field of Computers
and Automation (cumulative)
Books and Other Publications
New Patents

15

... R. R. Skolnick

FORUM

36
39
31

Glossary Translation Into Italian
Linear Programming - References
Greeting to Computers
Prediction By Computer

38
42

••• B. Danch

44

The Editor's Notes
Index of Notices
Advertising Index

Editor:
Edmund C. Berkeley
Assistant Editors:
Eva ni~tefano, Jewell Bown,
Neil D. Macdonald, F.L Walker

Advisory Committee:
Samuel B. Williams,
Herbert F. Mitchell, Jr., Justin
Oppenheim

Contributing Edi tors: Andrew D. Booth, John \I. Breen, John W. Carr, III, Alston S. Householder, Fletcher Pratt
Publisher: Berkeley Enterprises, Inc.
West 11 St., New York 11, N. Y. - Algonquin 4 7675
Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass. - Decatur 2 54~~ or 23Q28
~6

A1~

Advertising Representatives: San Francisco - W. A. Bahcock 605 Market St., San Francisco 5, Calif.
Los Angeles - Wentv.orth F. Green, 43,9 So. Western Ave., Los Angeles 5, Calif.
elsewhere - the Publisher
mMPUfERS AND AUTOMATION is published monthly. Copyright, 1955 by B~rkeley En!-erprises, Inc. Subscription rates:
$5.50 for one year, $10.50 for two years, in the United States;
$6.00 fo.r one year,
$11.50 for two years,
in
~ana.da;
$6.50 for one year, $12.50 for two years elsewhere.
Bulk subscriptioll rates:
see page 46. AdvertisIng rates:
see page 52.
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, New York, N. Y.

- 3 -

THE EDITOR'S NOTES
THE COMPUTER DIRECTORY, 1956
The June 1956 iss ue of "Computers and Automation" will be the second issue of "The Computer Direc tory". Las t year tie published the
first issue, 164 pages. Our present plans for
the June 1956 directory follow:
Part 1 of the directory in 1956 will be a
c umul ati ve "Ros ter of Organizations in the Computer Field" based on the last cumulative roster (published December 1955, containing about
330 entries) and brought up to date. Entries
in this roster will be free. If you know 0 f
any changes, addi tions, or correc tions w hi c h
should be made in the entries, pleas'e tell u s.
Part 2 of the directory will be the secorrl
edition of "The Computing Machinery Field: Produc ts and Services for Sale." Over 600 entries
on 21 pages appeared in the first edi tion i n
June .1955; a considerable incr.ease is anticipated. Toe previous entries, and blank forms,
will De sent in February, to suppliers for review, checking; and additions. It is expected
at this time that a nominal charge of $6.00 an
entry, tvill be requested from each supplier in
order to help defray the cost ,of preparing and
printing the directory; but if the charge i s
not paid, the entry may still appear in condensed form, if desirable to make the listing
complete.
Part 3 of the directory will be the third
edi tion of the Who's Who in the Computer Fiel d
In the June 1955 issue, about 7500 entries appeared on 96 pages; of these about 2600 we r e
full entries, and the remainder were brief entries. Our present plans are to publish only
new or revised Who's Who information in ,t h e
June 1956 directory. Blank forms for new 0 r
revised entries will be sent in Feb ru a ry 0 r
March to all computer pe 0 pIe we know of. It
is expected at this time that a nominal charge
of $2.00 an entry will be requested from each
person tvhose entry is printed, in order to help
defray the cost of preparing and printing the
Who's Who; but if the charge is not p aid, a
brief entry may appear in condensed form if
desirable to make the listing complete.
The main reason for the nominal charges
mentioned above is that we look on the directory as a service to many people in the compu-·
ter field; yet so far it has not paid for itself; and we need to make a compromise, p ublishing at least some information about everything that should appear in the directory, but
fuller information for those who have shared
directly in the cost.

- 4 -

Any conunents or suggestions about "T h e
Computer Directory, 1956", and our plans for it
will be welcome.

GLOSSARY
In this issue tve print another "Glossary
of Terms and Expressions in the Field of Computers and Automation", containing over 4 2 0
terms. Here is another piece of reference information where we think we should now invite
colleagues: are there any volunteers to help
the editors conduct the glossary? As previously, no attempt is being made to establish b y
decree the meaning or usage of a term: we desire simply to report meanings and usages.

CORRECTION
In the December 1955 issue, on page 44,
on the firs t line, the t'lord "AND" should ap~ar
between "COMPUTERS" and "AUTOMATION". Please
enter the change on your copy of the ma9azine.

*------------------~---------------------*

INDEX OF NOTICES
For Information on:
Advertising Index
Advertising Rates and
Specifications
Back Copies
Bulk Subscription Rates
Corrections
Manuscripts
Reader's Inquiry Form
Roster Entry Forms
Special Issues

See Page:

54
52
50
46
4

43
5'-!

48
45

Address Changes; If your address c han g e s ,
please notify us giving both old ano ~ ew addresses, and allow three weeks for the change.

Mathematical Analyst Keith Kersery loads
jet transport flutter problem into one
-qf Lockheed's two 701 'so On order: two
704's to help keep Lockheed in forefront of numerical analysis and production con1rol data processing.

With two 701 digital computers already in operatio~, Lockheed
has ordered two 704's to permit greater application of numerical
analysis to complex aeronautical problems now being
approached. Scheduled for delivery early next year, the 704's
will replace the 701 'so

704's and 701's speed

Lockheed research in
numerical analysis

Much of the work scheduled or in progress is classified.
However, two significant features are significant to career-minded
Mathematical Analysts: 1) the wide' variety of as~ignments
created by Lockheed's diversified development program and
2) the advanced nature.of the work, which falls largely into
unexplored areas of numerical analysis.

Career pOSitions for Mathematical Analysts
Lockheed's expanding 'development program in nuclear energy,
turbo-prop and jet transports, radar search planes, extremely hlghspeed aircraft and other classified projects has created a number of
openings for Mathematical Analysts to work on the 704's.
Lockheed offers you attractive salaries, generous travel and moving
allowances which enable you and your family to move to Southern
California at virtually no ~xpense; and an extremely wide range of
employe benefits which add approximately 14% to each engineer's
salary in the form of insurance, retirement pension, etc.
Those interested in advanced work in this field are invited to
write E. W. Des Lauriers, Dept. MA-31-12.

LOCKHEED
BURBANK

AIRCRAFT CORPORATION • CALIFORN1A DIVISI-oN

CALIFORNIA
- 5 -

MACHINES

AND

RELIGION

ELLIOT GRUENDERG
New York, N. Y.
The topic of machines and relig ion may
seem to some readers incongruous. \Vh a t c onneciion could exist between mac hi n e san d
religion?
There is the s t~ry of a convention called
to discuss the subject of elephants, to which
were invited an Englishman, a Frenchman, aGerman and a Pole. They were all asked to submit
papers on the topic. The Englishman responded
with "The Jolly Sport of Hunting Elephan ts ";
the- German, wi th "The WeI tanschauung of the
Elephant"; the Frenchman, with "The Sex Lif e
of Elephants", and ihe Pole with "THE ELEPHANT
AND THE POLISH QUESTION".
In raising the question of a connectio n
between machines and religion, am I put tin g
myself in the same position as the Pole?'
If we regard religion as a frame of reference used -to help pattern our way of 1 if e ,
then we shall find that machines have and will
exert an influence upon religion; for machines
have changed and will change our JOOde of existence, our values, our objectives and our feelings. Our outlook on life today no longer can
be that of a 13th century serf or a pre-R evolutio~ary farmer.

the total population. The mos t recent economic
effect of mechani2;ing seems to have be e n t 0
increase the working man's share of the economy
by a substantial aJOOunt, al thoU9h it is evident
that he has had to increase his skillfulnes s
to do this.
Yet the anxiety pers is ts. Per haps its
source is not in the economic issues, butelsewhere. These other ,poss ible sources 0 f the
worry ought to be worth exploring.
The concept of work, it seems to me, lies
at the root of the problem. The idea of the
Godliness of work was one of the pillars 0 f
the Protestant Reformation. The reformat ion
preceded by a century or ttVO the Indus t ria 1
Revolution and may very well have been acause
of it. To this day we hea~ this idea echoed.
Former President Truman, for example, i n a
recent TV appearance on Ed Murrow's 1'p e r son
to Person", s aid he bel ieved work never ki lIed
anyone and attributed his success t 0 h a r d
work. But what is meant by work?' musc u 1 a r
activity? or remaining in one place and keeping an eye on things? or doing what you are
paid to do? or solving mental conundrums? 0 r
searching among tomes in an eccles ias tic a 1
library?
When Yehudi Menuhin was 18 years old, back
in 1935, he made this statement: "Som e day,
maybe not in my lifetime, but someday, people
will live in a tv-orld where machines take th e
monotony out of life. There will be no stupid
tasks such as driving taxicabs, working in
mines, doing any sort of thing because of the
necess i ty of existing ••••• Above all, the r e
must be education -- education in how to e mploy leisure time in a world which will offer
mostly leisure hours ••••• Life would not be so
terrible if it wasn't forced. It is not fair
that .any human being should be forced'to work
set hours, day after day. If such a syst e m
marks civili2;ation, it would be better to return to the wild life."
'

t\1achines are assuming an increasingl y
important role in our lives and one as perplexing
as it is important. Anxiety persists about the
competitive aspp.ct of the function of machines
with regard to t~e livelihood of men. Much has
been said about the beneficial aspects of machines with respect to drudgery. It is often
maintained that the long-run effect of the
Indus trial Revol ution has been both to increase
(rather than diminish) the opportuni ty for work
and to raise the standard of living. I, for
one, am willing to accept this thesis. Jus t
one fact may be convincing with regard to the
economic effect of mechani2;ing. In 1929, a
most prosperous year, Salaries and Wages were
59'~ of Gross National Product.
In the 1 a s t
several years, after years of making processes
more automatic, this figure has been runnin g
between 61% and 6ff~. 68% is the iigur e for
this year. In the intervening 25 years s al~ries, and wages were never below 61% of the
GNP, and 65% is a good average for the period.
Befor.e World War I, the average figure wa s
never above 60%. The share in the tota 1 economy of the salaried class has incre a sed b y
nearly 10 percentage points. Yet the working
force has remained fairly steadily at 400~ 0 f

But is not playing the violin just as much
work as driving a taxi? Surely hours of repeti tious training must go into viol in conc e r t
work, no matter how great the gift of genius.
The machine has at very least cast the shadow
of doubt upon older concepts of ~ork. Themachine compels us to use terms to distingui s h
the work we like from the work we don't like.
Many like the idea of creative lv-ork. Surel y
machines cannot do this. And isn't vi 01 i n

- 6 -

~lachines

playing creative? Unfortunately, a machine is
being developed by RCA which can synthes i2.: e
almost any knOtV'n sound. Digital computers can
be programmed so as to play the synthesis directly from the musical score. I am an admirer
of Mr. Menuhin's a;tistry, but I am reasonably
sure that his h'ork' could more readily be d uplicated mechanically than can the Its t upid"
work of a taxi driver, particularly in a New
York City traffic jam. Perhaps some of the
golden tone and the mature insight will b e
missing from the mechanical rendition, but the
machine could do a workmanlike job.
And yet owners of taxi fleets are reported
to be harassed by a high turnover rate am 0 n 9
drivers. Cab drivers don't think they have
prestige. So the owners have hired a psychologist to find an ego-building formula. Perhaps
he would find help from some of these remarks.

anJ Religion
late to the machine menace. Some will arg u e ,
however, that a composer is truly creative. Ha.v
much of this work is in the nature of a search
in an area where there might be ideas? Or combining poss ibi I i ties and rej ec ting poor 0 ne s ?
Does it not resemble the Uranium hunter wit h
his Geiger counter looking for "hot" ore? How
much real control over this process doe s the
artis t have? Is it more than the mother has
over the form of her unborn child? Sur ely
there are times when one must Ivait, as I h av e
wai ted, until inspiration comes, until u nco nscious thoughts blend and innovation rolls off
the wheel of experience. The seeds mus t b e
planted or there will be no harvest, but w e
must wait for the tree to grow, and the re is
precious little we can do to speed its progress.
If results are not forthcoming, we must plant
more seeds.
There is this celebrated passage in G u 1liver's Travels to Balnibarbi:

The exciting profile about Yehudi Menuhin
wri tten by Winthrop Sargeant, which appear e d
in recent issues of the New Yorker, is ve r y
revealing on the question of artistic control.
Just What are the interactions between the musician's mind, his instrument and his body?
The whole of a viol inis t 's training is direc ted
toward giving him a dependable pattern of muscular habits. These, in time, become so automatic that his mind is freed for the m 0 r e
difficult artistic problems. But these als 0
become solved more and'more automa tic a 11 y.
Indeed, many artists entrust their en t i r e
performance to their automatic habits. There
are some virtuosi who maintain conscious control but greatness as an artist is by no lreans
a function of the degree of such control. Indeed, Yehudi Menuhin's playing as a chi I d
seemed to be as ins ticti ve as a bird' s sing ing.
Yet the innocent purity of his playing as a
child has not been surpassed by his work as a
mature artist, when a fully developed, educated mind could take control. The message here
seems to be that a virtuoso becomes better as
he becomes more automatic in his work.
Th e
child can surpass the mani perhaps the machine
can surpass the child.

"The Profess or then led me to the frame
about the s ides of which all his pup i 1 s
stood in ranks. It was t1\fenty feet square,
placed in the middle of the room.
The
s uperf ic ies was composed of several bit s
of wood about the bigness of a die, but
s orne 1arger than others. They we rea 1 1
linked together by slender- l'1lires. Th es e
bits of wood were covered on every square
wi th paper pasted on them and on the s e
papers were wri tten all the words of their
language in their several moods, ten s e s
and declensions, but without any orde~.
The Professor then des ired me to obs erv e
for he was going to set his engine at work.
The pupils, at his command, took each 0 f
them hold of an iron handle, whereof there
tvere forty fixed round the edges 0 f the
frame and, giving them a sudden turn, the
whole dispos i tion of the tl10rds 1'\1 a s e ntirely changed. He then commanded s i x
and thi rty of the lads to read the several
lines softly as they appeared upon the
framei and, when they found three or four
words together that made part of a s e ntence, they dictated to the four remaining boys who were scribes. This 1vork tvRS
repeated three or four times and at every
turn the engine Ivas so contrived that the
words shifted into net'lf places as the square
bits of wood moved upside down.

It would be well to recall, at this point,
the player piano. It is not completely e xtinct. The modern digital computer resembles,
to a very large extent, this produc t 0 f a n
earlier ingenuity. The computer's equivalent
of the music roll is magnetic tape, which can
be operated at high speed and can be erased or
changed. In addition, orders and informatio n
can be stored in a memory section of the co mpute'r for use in later operations. This 1 a s t
cannot be done in the player piano. For this
reason, the modern computer can do many m 0 r e
things, but it still cannot cope with all the
unexpecte? events a taxi driver has to face.

Six hours a day the young stude n t s
were employed in this labor and the Professor showed me several volumes in large
folio already collected of broken sentences which he intended to piece togeth e r
and out of those rich materials, to give
the world a complete body of all the arts
and sciences."
I suppose I should not have introd u c e d
the thought in so derisive a fa s h jon,
but

The work of the virtuoso is thus open to
doubt as being creative. So it is not invio- 7

Machines and Religion
Swift's caricature of the Imvs of statistic s
phasis now is upon ways and means of controlling
and probability still is a good idea of muc h
this power to a particular end. Control is an
of the so-called creative process. The tru e
activity Ivhi.ch is inevi tably associated wit h
genius makes his selections faster -- astoundreason and thinking. The objective of the control and process must be defined. Once this is
ingly faster -- than blind chance, but,if the
field of interest be narrow enough, machines
done, computers may be used to make regulations
in the process and decisions about it, bas e d
can make choices too.
upon events that are currently occurring. The
versatili ty of this decision-making and processAll of this leads to the conclusion that
correc ting is becoming greater at a s tee ply
most endeavors regarded as work by men can be
climbing rate. Within limits, these new mataken over by mechanical means ••• creative l'lOrk
or drudgery, watching or compos ing, buildi n g
chines are doing things which Aristotle might
or copying, violin playing or, eventually,
concede are rational. Indeed, if a modern Rip
taxi driving. Such functions may not be ecoVan Winkle, who missed the innovations of the
nomical to mechanize now, but this may change
pas t 25 years, were to awake today, he 1'1 0 u 1 d
1IIi til the years, the press of population, and
swear that he t1las seeing miracles. We do not
scientific research. But is this eventuality
so regard them, however, because we are contmto be feared or welcomed? What tasks s h oul d
ually and gradually adapting to them. But if
man reserve for himself?
the machines are making inroads upon man's apparently unique function of reason, is t his
Man, in the final analysis, ought to t'lork
enough to discredit Aris totle' s implic a t ion
at those endeavors which allol'1 him to express
that man's true role is to reason, to think,
himself -- his "humankindness". Whatever is
to contemplate?
the essence of man should be enhanced by his
activity. Is mere survival sufficient reason
Spinoza believed that man tvould ach iev e
for his existence? Or is there more impli e d
happiness by acting in his own self-interest.
in his cons tant yearning and aspiring to i mBut to do so implies that he knows what t hat
proved ways of doing things, to better insight,
interest is. If he know the rules governin g
tmmrd a finer maturing and tmvard abe t te r
his nature, he would act so as always to preunderstanding?
serve himself, to fulfill himself. So little
is known about huma~ nature, even today, that
t\fe must still grope toward the goal of fulfillAristotle, in his search for the uniqu e
ment, of maturity, of Ivhich we hear s 0 m uc h
essence of man, concluded that his distinguishtoday. The unrational side of human nature has
ing mark was his possession of reason and his
become well recognized'in the last century. It
being capable of living by reason. Happiness
is accepted that reason alone does not s pel 1
is to be found in pursuing this un i que acout the whole man. He needs to love and to work,
tivity. Thus, if work is nottobet:!eexclusive
as well as to think.
domain of man, then it might be reason.
A
terri tory t~as thus staked out for man some 2500
The great religions have been based on one
years ago by one of the world's most profound
view or another as to the true nature of man.
teachers. Evidence is starting to a p pea r,
however, to show that the power to t a k e r aIn one, man is an expression of an impersonal
tional action is not the exclusive feature of
life force; in another, he is a servant of God;
man, but certain animals and insects can doso
iIi still another, his true role is in anoth e r
too. Notably, bees communicate lvith each other,
world. How can we say categorically, where man
and direct other bees to sources of f 00 d by
and machine fi t into the scheme of things, when
certain dances. They als 0 practice di vis ion
so much uncertainty exists as regards man's naof labor. A certain spider masquerades fu the
ture?' We can only say that the development of
shell of an ant to prevent being eaten.
I t
the machine challenges our concepts of m an's
seems that spiders are delectable to too many
nature, makes us recast our ideas, our preconfoes, whereas ants are not.
ceived notions and makes us look out 0 n life
td th different eyes. And this view refl e c t s
Someone has advanced this argument against
back into us and makes us look upon ourselves
the intelligence of dogs: "If they can think,
in a different light.
why don't they say so?" Dogs may be smart.
It has been said that it is better to rem ain
The Faust legend, which has entwined itsilent so others cannot be ~ one is stupid,
self so much into the literature of Weste r n
than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Europe, is essentially a story concerned with
this very question: "What is man's true role?"
The modern development of the Industrial
Shaw became interested in this legend and this
Revol ution largely named "Automation" is mainly
resul ted in the famous extra act of "Man and
Superman", l.vhich is known so well as "Don Juan
The
an improvement in the art of control.
in Bell". I would like to paraphrase her e a
Industrial Revolution started with the applifew lines of this work, because of the insight
cation of energy to work, and the energy d eit appears to offer on the question of man's
pended upon human or animal pOl'lter. The e m-

- 8 -

',lachineS' and Religion

true role. It is not offered as a final a n swer, but only as s orne more or less shrctJd guesses.
Shatv has Don Juan, a symbol of the spiri t
of man, expound on the differences of Heaven,
Hell and Earth. Hell, he says, is the "Home of
the unreal and the seekers for happiness. Hea~
en is the horne of the mas ters of real i ty and
earth is the home of the slaves-of reality."
The earth is a nursery in which "men and t'Vomen
play at being heroes and heroines, but are dragged down from their fool's paradise by their
bodies, hunger and cold and thirst, age and decay and disease. Death, above all, makes them
slaves of reality." Heaven, then, is an escape
of the fetters of the body, but, "In I-leaven you
live and work, instead of playing and pretendin~."
There Don Juan can go to escape from lies
and spend his eons in contemplation... Contemplation of Life, the force that ever strives to
attain greater pm~er of contemplating itself.
"What makes this brain of mine, do you thin k?
Not the need to move my limbs, for a rat with
half my brains moves as l'lell as 1. Not merely
the need to do, but the need to know what I d~
lest in my blind efforts to live, I should be
slaying myself."
"What a piece of Hork is man •••• the mos t
conscious of organisms, yet hm-v wretched are
his brains. Stupidi ty made sordid and cruel by
the realities learnt from toil and poverty. Imagination resolved to starve sooner than face
these realities, piling up illusions to hide
them and calling itself cleverness, genius."
The Devil pounces upon this and says, "All
Man's reason has done for him is to make hi m
beastlier than any beast." Don Juan protests
and points out that brainless bodies have been
tried, such as some of the dinosaurs, w hi c h
paced the earth with seven league steps, but
for lack of brains, they did not know how to
carry out their purpose and so destroyed themselves.

are clever enough to be humanly disposed, are
pers uaded to bec orne the mos t des truc ti ve of
all the destroyers."
"But", says Don Juan, "You are making the
mistake of taking Man at his own valuation.
He loves to think of himself as bold and bad.
l~ is neither one nor the other.
He is only
a coward. Call him tyrant, murderer, pirate,
bully and he will adore you. But call him
coward, and he \\'ill go mad tdth rage; he will
fac~ J31th to outface that stinging trut~Man
gives every reason for his conduct save one;
every plea for his safety save one; and that
one is his cowardice. Yet all his civilization is founded on his cowardice, on his abject tameness, which he calls his respectabili ty. "
"Precisely", cries the Devil, "And these
are tile creatures in whom you discover the
Life Force?"
"Yes," says Don Juan, "For nOtv comes the
surpris ing part of the lvhole bus iness • "
"And what is that?"
"Why," says Don Juan,"that you can make
any of these cOlVards brave by simply putting
an idea into his head."
Give a man an idea. Yes, this is what man
needs. He needs to live for ideas which~ans­
cend him. This is why he wants work. He wrutts
to master reality, rather than be enslaved by
it. This is the direction of his striving. He
does not want play, but work, the kind of worl<:
that is so all-absorbing that he forgets time
and space.
In this work, he needs a brain to k now
what he does so that he does not slay himself.
Less will man be relied upon to turn the screw,
to press the lever on the drill press, to fashion by himself the chairs, automobiles and
other furniture of living. But more will he
be relied upon to decide what should be done
and why it should be done.

"But", says the Devil, "Is Man any the less
destroying himself for all.this boasted brain
of his? I have examined Man's wonderful inventions and I tell you that in the arts of life,
Man invents nothing, but in the arts of death,
he outdoes Nature herself and produces by chemistry and machinery, all the slaughter of plague,
pestilence and famine."

T;Iis is the work of management, as we regard it today. But it is inherent in every
task. The trend to automation today is emphasizing this work of man as objective-give.r.

"The inner need that has nerved Life to
the effort of organizing itself into the human
being is not the need for the higher life, but
for a more ,efficient engine of dest ru cti 0 n.
Something more constantly, more ruthlessly, mrnre
ingeniously destructive was needed and thot sanething was Man, the inventor of the Rack, the
stake, the gallows, of sword and gun and poison
'gas; above all, of justice, duty and patriotism
and all the other isms by t~hich even those tvho

The productive capacity today is so enormous that decisions have to be made as to hmv
much should be made. This decision is characteristic of an age of plenty. While such an
eventuality is not yet an actuality, still the
approach to it has had sociological consequences. Riesman points to the emergence of the
"other-directed" man, the man who tends to
look to others in the crowd for signals that
he is accepted and, hence, looks to them for
(continued

- 9 -

on

page

45)

Automatic Coding Techniq~es for Business Data Processing Directions of Development
CHARLES W. ADAMS,
nnUSE MONCREIFF,

I.

Pittsburgh, Pa ., and
Santa Monica, Calif.
3.

Letter to the Editor
from Charles W. Adams

I recently conducted an informal survey
of current opinion on what directions shou 1 d
be taken in the development of automatic coding techniques for bus iness data process i n g •
One of the replies I received was from an old
friend of mine at The RAND Corporation, Bruse
Moncreiff. Bruse, you lvill recall, has been
involved in business data processing since the
early investigations were conducted at Prudential Insurance Co.
His long, informal letter seems to me to
combine interesting reading with a number of
fine ideas and controversial opInIons. Co nsequently, I have sought his permission to send
it along to you in hopes you lvould ivant toshare
it wi th your many readers. In grantin g thi s
permission, he wrot'e to me that "since my previous letter could not possibly have any serious
value, I can only conclude that there must be
an element of humor in it that I did not myself
appreciate." He also indicated that his tentative flow chart for the Automatic Supervisor
runs to 329 boxes, including connectors, that
he has coded the routine for the 702, and tha t
he hopes to present a paper on it, perhaps at
the Western Joint Computer Conference.
II.

Letter to Charles W. Adams
from Bruse Moncreiff

My vielvs on the l·vhole subject of getting
business procedures planned for automatic information handling e'quipment are, no d 0 u b t,
needlessly philosophical and therefore obscure.
It may help if the thesis is presented first,
so that you can see what all the fuss is about:
The hardes t and most important part of t his
planning process is in the logic of the proble m
rather than in the coding. I-m sure you have
heard this repeated, ad nauseum, but the illumination comes in the defense of the thesis
rather than in its statement.
This defense should include such items as:

1.

The equivalence of logic and math'ematics.

2.

The comparati ve s implici ty of 1 and
measurement and astrophysics (c 0 mpared to business operations).

- 10 -

The theoretical difficul ties in those
parts of logic beyond the calculus of
propos i t ions and the s i mpl e theory of

classes.
4'.

The unfortunate and accidental early
connection of commercial transactio~
with the accumulation of wealth,wmch
led to the development of the theory
of classes (ari thmetic being a branch
of the same) rather than to the d evel~pment of the theory of relations.

5.

The preoccupation of the remaining
segment of humani ty (those not clever
enough to make money) wi th the simple
as pec ts of exper i enc e, i. e. continuous
processes rather than the more intellectually difficult ones, the discrete
processes ..

6.

The neurotic tendency of hum a n s to

bla~ their troubles on causes 0 ve r

Ivhich they have no control,
than on causes tvhich can be
by some effort. (Hence the
in astrology rather than in a
of social relations).

rat her
influenced
interest

calculus

Well, we seem to be a long way from the
point, but at least I have proved that my views
are needlessly obscure. To sum up (a p pIe s
plus oranges style), the logic of bus i ne s s
operations is more complex than that of physical phenomena, and we are less well equipped
wi th a standard notation and manipul at i v e
techniques in the commercial field titan we are
in the area of the natural sciences. We have
several centuries of catching up to do -- and
this is why.I support the platitude thatbusiness operations are more complex than sci e ntific computation.
In substance, what we need are methods of
generating consistent and efficient logic a I
designs for clerical and commercial con t r 0 1
processes. A simple example to reinforce my
point occurred in connection with a proble m
used in a recent coding class which I attended.
In order to keep the' students' attention fixed
on the machine being taught, the problem was
laid out in very detailed flow chart for m.
This flow chart had been used by s eve r a 1
classes and had been revised three times. It
covered four 8!~' x 11 pages and took a p proximately 500 single address orders to code. The

Automatic Codin~ Techniques

more obnoxious members of the class detec ted
four rather serious errors in logic, one 0 f
which lvould have prevented the problem fro m
running at all. The other errors tvere ei ther
questions of efficiency or of achieving the
results desired. On :the other hand, the less
experienced members of the class were able to
follow the 'flow chart and tvrite codel~ith practically no trouble. What does this exa mpIe
prove? Nothing perhaps, but it does lend some
evidence to the belief that experienced people
have more trouble with the logic of a problem
than even inexperienced people do with coding.
And of course the problem of determining l'\1h at
the machine is to do and what results are desired is another and sadder story.

1

Better send out for anotner box of Kleenex
you'll need it after you read what I think
about libraries of business routines. Firs t
of all, let's think about tvhat motivates th e
"library" practice. This method is us e f u 1
where there are operations, more complex than
those buil t into the machine, l'\lhich occur i n
several places in the same or similar for m •
Libraries s ave the effort required to t h ink
them through again and again. Fine! Let u s
look at the business situation, tv see if the
phrase "in several places" applies.
T his
phrase may mean "in several places wi thin the
routines used by anyone company."
It may
also mean "shared by many or all companies with
large-scale automatic information hand 1 i n g
equipment. "
It has been argued that this latter i nterpretation cannot provide support for the
"library" movement, since no two compa n i e s
t%uld ever agree to do things the same way.
Just to be disagreeable, I find more merit in
this interpretation as a poss ible moti v ati 0 n
than I do for the other interpretation. Fo r
instance, it seems quite likely that there is
one best method for handling production and
inventory control, sales records and statistics,
payroll, and general accounting for two manufacturers of 15/16" rubber gaskets for garden
hoses -- provided, of course, th3t they wer e
of approximately the same size and located in
the same city (this latter condi tion impos e d
only to avoid any possible complicat ion in
different tax regulations). Inasmuch as 0 u r
th'O hypothetical manufacturers are prob ab I y
using the sare type of sales slips and general
ledger books (recommended by the consultin g
accountant retained by both firms) i t s e em,s
qui te probable that they could both be p e rsuaded to use the routines very car e full y
worked out by the applications staff 0 f the
company where they obtained their ide n t ic a 1
equipments. No doubt you will be able to think
of even more plausible instances where companies could shar~ libraries of routines.
On the other hand, the notion that there
are common subroutines scattered through 0 u t

the processes wi thin a single company seems to
me to have no merit at all. That there are
common operations is obvious ly true, but these
are the ones commonly wired into the mach i n e
by the designer. There is no standard notation
for more com'plex operations in business than
these aii thmetic ones. In this case, t 0 b e
recognized and named is to exist; or rather,
not to be recognized nor named is not to exist.
I agree that work in the area of library building has lagged rather badly, but disagree with
the implication that something ought tobe done
about it right away. In fact, our energ ie s
should be centered, as they are today, in more
productive areas.
Having disposed of libraries, we can also
get along wi thout the compilers required to put
their routines together. On the other hand,
there is a theoretical need for the true generators and converters -- there may eve n b e
economic justification for them. If this type
of routine will give us more outputm the way
of useful structure than input, we should accept the gift wi th grati tude. Of this kind of
thing, the sorting routine generators are of
real, and, I hope, temporary value.
You can dry your eyes now for the 1 a s t
time, for I am about to dispel the gloom with
a brief revelation of what is ptobablythesole
worthwhile effort in the field of busines s
data processing. Following the rule that we
ought to mechanize first those aspects of the
total situation which either cost the most or
annoy us the most, I have turned my attention
to the problem of the day-to-day operation of"
an automatic data processor. The things that
annoy programmers most are operators, so I am
attempting to all but program them out of exis tence. There are certain phases of a n 0 perator's work, mostly involving manual de xteri ty, which of necess i ty have been preserved.
I have tried to remove all the thinking fro m
his job, since this is wHat people dole as t
efficiently. I like to think of this proposed
routine as an automatic supervisor rather than
operator since it will be telling' the human
operator what do so.
The actions of an operator may be thought
of as either (I) the things he does while the
machine is tvorking, or (2) the things he does
to get it working again after it has s to pp e d
in an e:-ror condi tion. While the second class
may be more important from the standpoin t 0 f
operating efficiency, the first class, seeme d
more susceptible to analys is. So this is tV he r e
I started. My early thinking was done wit h
the 702 in mind. The items inc 1 uded in the
philosophy of the automatic supervisor are:
(1)

The storage of programs far specific
jobs on tape.

(2)

The loading of these programs accord(rontinued on pag .. JS)

- 11 -

WHAT

IS

A COMPUTER?

NEIL D.

MA~DONALD

(Reprinted with modific-ltions from "Comp.1ters and Automation'\ July, 1954)

A manufac turer lvho has made and sold many
good analog computers once said to us "I still
don't knOtv Ivhat a digi tal computer is". Th i s
made us s top to l\"onder if each reader of "Computers and Automation" could give a good answer
to such questions as these:

sonable operations".

Reasonable Operations
Reasonable operations are log i cal a n/ d
mathematical operations. Mathematical operations include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, taking square root, etc.,and
also more advanced mathematical operations such
as raising to a power, finding the derivative,
and integrating. Logical operations incl u de
comparing, selecting, sorting, matching, mergmg,
determining the next instruction which ~ to be
performed, etc. These are reasonable operations
on information.

What is a computer?
What is the difference bet wee nan
analog and a digital computer?
HON does a computer actually compute?
According to Geoffrey Ashe, ill his article
"Introducing Computers to Beginners" (in "Computers and Automation", March, 1954), s 0 m e
computer men, and perhaps many, can h a r d 1 y
explain the operation of a computer in s i mpl e
language to people who are new to t~e fie 1 d.
Yet this is important. The field of computers
and automation can grow rapidly only if simpl e
yet correct explanations can be given easily.

Reasonable operations are those operations
tV'hich are correct logicplly or mathematically,
and the definition of this brand of correctness
can be accomplished by tables of accepted r e:suIts. For example, correct multiplicati 0 n
can be defined in terms of the multiplication
table and a few rules.

A magazine, like a net'Vspaper, ~ ay well
compromise between publishing information which
is nel\'S, and publishing- information which is a
summary of what has happened before. In th i s
way people who have missed the earlier pa r t s
of a developing story are able to unders tan d
the whole story.

From the viet\"point of the fundamentals of
logic and mathematics, reasonable operat ion s
'on information have these properties: they do
not ques tion the obj ec ti ve meaning of the s tarting data; they do not question the fa c t u a 1
truth of the starting statements; but they do
find out the implications contained in t h es e
data and statements.
Consider the argument: "The moon is made
of green cheese; anything made of green'cheese
is a weighty object; and therefore the moon is,
a weighty object". Here the argument is logically valid (or computable), and the conclu- ,
sion is (accidentally) true, al though bot h
premises are false. A computer specializes in
deriving conclusions (logical or mathematical)
wi thout regard to the obj ective truth of t h· e
starting data.

What is a Computer?
A computer is a person or machine that is
able to take in information (problems and data),
perform reasonable operations on the inform ation, and put out anSl"lers. A com put e r
is
identified by the fact that it (or he) handles
information reasonably.
For example, a human being aided by pencil
and paper may be a computer. He may t a k e i n
information, Nrite some of it on the pap e r,
perform reasonable operations upon the info rmation, and come out with an answer. Likewise
a machine may be able to take in information,
record it in the arranging or positioning of
some of the equipment inside the machine, perform reasonable operations upon that information,
and come ou t 1\fi th an answer. Both are computers.
This defini tion clearly depends on "r c a-

What does this mean?

The fac t that reasonable opexations d> not,
depend on the meaning of the infor mat ion is
what makes calculation fast. For instance, to
add III and 444 and obtain 555 for the answer
neither the person nor the machine has to remember the meaning of these numbers. I nan
appropriate kind of language, the operati 0 n s
can be carried on with the marks or symb 0 1 s
only. And then, to the everlasting wonder of
nearly everybody, if the premises correspo n d
,with the real w9rld, SQ do the conclusions.

- 12 -

'.n.at is a Computer?

What is Information?
Information is a set of marks that h a v e
meaning. Phys ically, the set of marks is a set
of phys ical obj ec ts or a set of arrangem en t s
of some physical equipment. Then, out of this
set, a selection is made in order to communicate, to convey meaning. For meaning roexist,
there has to be a society of at least two persons or machines, a society that requires communic ation, that des ires to convey mean i n g •
By convention, the society establishes the
meaning of the marks. The meaning exists independently of the particular kinds of ma r k s
that may be used; for example, "it is raining,
il pleut, es regnet" all have the same meaning,
al though Engl ish, French, and German are the
three kinds of sets of marks in which the meaning has been expressed.
The kinds of phys ical obj ec ts which can be
used to express information are extremely varied. Many different kinds of equipment inside
a machine may be used to record and manipulate
information. In a desk calculating mac hi Ii e,
information may be stored and manipulated i n
small counter wheels bearing geared teeth, and
usually having ten positions corresponding to
the digits 0, 1, 2 up to 9. In an automobile,
a flexible cable running from a roller connected with one of the wheels to an indicator dial
in the dashboard, records, by the am 0 un t and
speed of its turning, the distance traveled by
the automobile and its speed. In a great automatic electronic computer, such as the machine
known as Univac, information may be recor de d
and manipulated as trains of minute electrical
pulses which are millionths of a second apart;
and the presence or the absence of a pulse in
a position where either may occur is the basic
code which represents information.
For the purposes of computing mac hi ne s,
information is an arrangerrent or 'pos i tioning of
equipment, and the social meaning of the a rrangement makes no difference, except a t the
input and the output.
Handling Information
How does a machine take in, record, and
remember information?
In every case the machine contains equipment which can receive and record information.
The ways in which the information may be taken
'in and recorded vary widely.
One way, for example, is by punching holes
in paper tape or in a card, and then pass in g
this tape or card into the machine; and the
presence or the absence of the holes is detec-ted by the machine by means of metal finger s
or by closed or opened electrical circuits,and
this causes the machine to store the patte r n

- 13 -

of the information in s~me part of its equipment. This is the digital form of information,
a series of separate and dis tinc t s y m b 0 1 s ,
digi ts, letters, characters, yeses and no e s ;
and the kind of computer which takes ina n d
manipulates information in this form is ca lled
digital.
In general, in a digital machine, in the
course of a problem, each separate p iec e 0 f
information has to be remembered for a 10 n 9
or short time. It is stored in unchang i n g
form in some of the equipment of the machine,
called a register or a location. This mig h t
be for example a set of counter wheels, as in
a desk adding machine, or a set of relays, as
in a telephone system. Many automatic digital
computers have 1000 registers for storing internally 1000 pieces of information at anyone
time. Any piece of information when call e d
for is accessible to the calculating sectio n
of the machine wi th a very small \~ai ting time.
A second way of putting information into
a machine is for example by turning a dial or
a wheel a certain amount, and causing some of
the equipment in the machine to record how much
turning has taken place. This is the me th 0 d
used in the automobile speedometer and the
steering mechanism of a ship. Th isis the
analog form of information, a magni t u d e 0 f
something or other, more exactly, a magnitude
of a physical variable such as position, rotation, or vol tage. The kind of machine w h ic h
takes in 'and manipulates information in t his
form is called analog.
In general, in an analog machine, in the
course of a problem, each different quantity
occurring (either input or output or intermediate) is rerrembered for the whole time. i n a
separate mechanism. This might be a rotating
shaft, as in a fire control computer, or some
electrical component, as in an e lec t ron i c
analog computer. This mechanism by its position or vol tage or motion, etc., represents -in fact, measures -- the quantity inthe problem.
Some automatic analog computers of very h i g h
capacity may have 100 mechanisms for storin g
internally 100 quantities throughout the problem. Each mechanism is interconnected physically in a way that mirrors the mathema tic a 1
relationship so that as time goes b:h the simultaneous change of all the mechanisms solve s
the problem.
It should be possible for one and the same
machine to take in digi tal information in some
ways and analog information in other ways, and
this kind of machine may in the future combine
the best features of both types of machines.
A simple everyday example of a sma 1 1
machine that can receive and record informatim
in a digital way is the ordinary date s tam p,
that can stamp JUN 30 1954 for instance. The'

What is a Computer?

date stamp is made up of a frame, four rollers,
and four Ii ttle rubber belts; one of the bel ts
contains in raised, reversed letters the month
symbols JAN, FEB, MAR and so on down to DEC;
two more little belts contain each the digits
0, 1, 2 up to 9; and the fourth belt contains
say the years 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956,
1957. The date stamp at the beginning 0 f a
day is set by hand so that it records and thereby stores the date which that day is.
The n
the user of the date stamp, without himself
remembering the date, can impress it on any
sheet of paper and the machine will immediately
s tate the date. When the day changes tot h e
next one, the date shown by the stamp can be
changed of course by turning small bur red
wheels next to each roller, thus changing the
position of one or more rubber belts. In fact,
if lie should so desire, ute could connect the
date stamp to an electric alarm clock set to
'go off each midnight, thereby providing an impulse which (with a sufficiently Rube Goldberg
apparatus) could cause the date stamp t 0 b e
changed automatically from one date to the next
date. We would then have a rudimentary automatic computer, able not only to take ina n d
record information but also to manipulat e i t
logically.

Let us take for the sample operation, the
operation of finding twice a number, the operation expressed by the formula "p equals 2 times
n", where p and n are numbers.
A human being will find twice a number in
the following way. First, you have to tell him
the number. Suppose that it is 76, -- that is,
in this case n is to be 76. Then he will refer
- to th~ "two times" mul tiplication table whic h
he has learned by heart, and will go through a
procedure which he also learned by heart while
in grade school. On paper he will write:

A simple everyday example of a sma 11 machine that can receive and record information
in an analog tvay is a thermometer. This machine
takes in and records the temperature of i t s
surroundings. The length of its col u m n 0 f
bright red liquid, when appropriately scaled,
matches up wi th the temperature of the surrounding air. Yet it does not report imme'diately because it takes about three minutes,
when moved into a new environment, for the
thermometer to reach the temperature 0 f i t s
environment. One might argue that the graduations on the scale of the thermometer conver t
.i t into a· digi tal machine; but this dig ita 1
reporting (found in all analog computers to
make it easy ~o copy down the answer) is extraneous to the analog character of the machine.
But there is no very easy way to hit c h
mechanically the temperature-responding length
of one column of red liquid and the length of
another column of such liquid; and so analog
computers use other means than these for nearly
all purposes of computation.
Actual Processing of Information
How does a machine manipulate information?
How does it actually compute?
To explain the different ways in which a
computer actually computes, suppose we take a
s ample operation wi th information and show how
it is handled by a human being engaged in computing and by a computing machine.

76

x 2
152
but under his breath, as he writes this, he will
say the procedure that he learnt:
"2 times 6 is 12; put down the 2 and
carry the 1; 2 times 7 is 14, and 1
to carry is 15, put down the 5 and
carry the 1; there is nothing in the
third column; 2 times zero is zero,
and the 1 to be carried makes 1; put
down the 1; the answer is 152."
An automatic analog computing machine will
find twice a number in the following way. Suppose that the maehine represents and s tor e s
each number by the amount of turning of a shaft
or rod or axle. Imagine ttvo shafts parallel
to each other. We slide on to one of the shafts,
the one which represents n, a gear with say 36
teeth. We slide on the other shaft, th eon e
which represents p, a gear wi th 18 tee t h -half as many teeth. We mesh the gears wit h
each other and tighten them on their shafts so
that they lvill not slip. We put a c ran k on
shaft.!! so that we can turn it and thereby drive
shaft.2.. Now we can see that- no matter how IlUlCh
or how Ii ttle we turn shaft.!!, shaft.2. w i l l
have to turn twice as much; and if shaft n has
had 76 turns, then shaft .2. wi thout any doUbt at
all must have had 152 turns. We notice that in
this case the machine is set to compute twic e
a number wi tho'llt our having to tell the machine
specifically some particular number to beg i n
with.

An automatic digi tal computing mac h i n e
will find twice a number in the following way.
In the first place such a computer is organized
like a railroad system. This railroad syste m
has four stations: Input; Output; Storage,
which may contain 1000 sidings or regis ters ;
and Calculator, a kind of factory which may have
registers A and B for receiving two numbe r s
being operated on, a register Op for receiving
the operation, and a final register R for sending out the result of the operation. It also
has a signal tower, Control. The units of information are like freight cars, w,h i c h are
(continued

- 14 -

on

page

46)

Glossary of Terms' in the Field of Computers and Automation

(Glo~sary,

Third Edition, December 10, 1955)

The following is a glossary of terms and expressions used in the field of computers and automation. The purpose of this glossary is to report or indicate the meanings of terms as use d.
This glossary draws from previous ly pub 1 ish e d
glossaries, and from discussions of g los s a r i e s
and the making of them.

performs a logical operation, such as AND, OR,
NOT, or EXCEPT, on one, two, or several binary
digits representing "yes" or "no".
*2 dump -- 2. Digital Computer Programming. To
transfer all or part of the contents of one ~
tion of computer memory into another section.
dump check - A check which usually consists 0 f
adding all the digits during dumping, and verifying the sum when retransferring.
*3 elec tronic -- (add:) Exceptions: The term "elmtronic" also includes flows of electrons in remiconducting devices such as transistors and diodes, a'nd also some cases of large flows in veeuums •
feedback -- The returning of a fraction of the axput of,a machine, system, or process to the fuput, to which the fraction is added or subtr.'.lcted. If increase of input is assoc iated wit h
increase of output, subtracting the retu r ned
fraction (negative feedback) results in sclfcorrec tion or control of the process, w hi 1 e
adding it (positive feedback) results in a runaway or out of control process.
*4 flip-flop -- 2. An electronic circuit h av ing
two stable states, one input line, and one ootput line, such that as each successive pulse
is received, the voltage on the output 1 i n e
changes, if it is low, to high, and if it is
high, to low.
*5 machine word -- See also "information word".
*6 marginal checking -- Computer Circuits. A system of designing electronic circuits in a computer so that certain parameters of the c i rcuits may be varied, and the circuits ,tested
to determine if they continue to operate s ati sf a c torily. For example, the voltage of the
hea~~rs of the tubes ordinarily established at
6.3 volts, may be lowered to 5 or 4.7 volts; or
the operating frequency of computer cycles may
be increased; or the screen voltage of thecathode ray tubes may be lowered; etc.
preventive maintenance ---Maintenance of any system which aims to prevent failures ahead 0 f
time rather than eliminate failures which have
occurred.
'
selectron -- Digital Computers. A type of electronic tube for computer memory t~hich store s
256 binary digits for very rapid selection rurl
access.
servomechanism -- A power-driven apparatus that
exerts a strong force and supplements a p ri mary control operated by' a comparatively feeble
force.
*7 significant digits -- Computation. Digits appearing in the coefficient of a number when tie
number is written as a coefficient between
l.000 ••••• and 9.999 ••••• times a power 0 f ten
(called scientific normal form); and similarly for any base .of notation other t han 10.

This glossary consists of two sections, of
which by far the longer is the second sec t-i 0 n.
This is substantially a reprint of the "Glossary
of Terms and Expressions in the Field of Co m puters and Automation" published in "Computers and
Automation", December 1954, vol. 3, no. 10. Olarg::s
have been made in the definitions of the following terms: access time, bus (not "buss"), capacity, card, cathode ray tube, character, dump, electronic, extract, flip-flop, jump, machine word,
marginal checking, read-around-ratio, rerun ~int
(not "return point"), significant digits, ski p,
static storage, transfer instruction, two-address,
word.
The
of terms
and also
that did

first section contains some definitions
not appearing in the preceding glossar~
some new or additional definitions cft:enrs
appear there.

As always, additions, comments, correc tion.s,
and criticisms are invited.
~ne remark: since almost all of the glossaty
of a year ago was unchanged, it seemed that th e
most practical way to prepare this edition wasro
present undisturbed as much as possible of th e
prior edition, in Section 2 here, and present ilie
main changes and additions separately, in Section
1 here.

SECTION 1
acoustic memory -- Computers. Computer me m or y
which uses a sonic delay line, one which employs
a train of pulses in the molecules of a medium
such as mercury or quartz.
*1 cathode ray tube -- Digital Computers. 2. A
similar tube with a screen for visual display
of output in graphic form.
clock frequency --'Digital Computers. The m~ter
frequency of periodic pulses which s ch ed ules
the operation of the computer.
data -- Computers. Any facts or information, (Erticularly as taken in, operated on, or put rut
by a computer or vther machine for handling
information.
data processor -- A machine for handling information in a sequence of reasonable operations.
decision element -- Circuits. A circuit which
- 15 -

Glossary of Terms
000376, t"hich is equal to 3.76 times
absolute address, floating address, relative
10 ,has three significant digits; 12 million,
address, symbolic address.
equal to 1.2 times 107 has two significant digaddressed memory -- Digital Computers. The secits; 300600, equal to 3.006 times 105 , has frur
tions of the memory where 'each individual regsignificant digits; in "J. B. Smith's book had
ister be~rs an address. -- In storage on magexactly 1000 pages", the 1000 has four signifinetic tape, usually only blocks of a number
cant digi ts, al though ordinarily 1000 W 0 u 1 d
of items of information have addresses, and an
have only one significant digit.
individual item does not have an individual
*8 word -- (add:) Also called "machine word" or
address associated with it.
information word", which may however be differalphabetic coding -- A system of abbrevia ti 0 n
ent since the machine Hard may include spaces
used in preparing information for input in t 0
between words while the information word may
a machine, such that information may be reportnot.
ed not only in numbers but also in letters and
words. For example, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, may in alphabetic coding
be reported as BS, NY, PH, WA. Some computers
will not accept alphabetic coding but require
all abbreviations to be numerical, in which case
thes~ places might be coded as 0, 1, 2, 3.
SECTION II
analog -- Using physical variables, such as distance or rotation or voltage, or measurements
of similar physical quanti ties, to represent
and correspond wi th numerical variabl e s that
A: absolute address -- Digital Computer Programoccur in a computation; contrasted with "digming. The label ass igned by'the mac h in e deital" •
signer to a specific register or location in
analog computer -- A computer which calculates by
the storage.
using physical analogs of the variables. Usabsolute coding -- Coding that uses absolute adually a one-to-one correspondence exists b edresses.
tween each numerical variable occurring in the
-ac -- An ending that means "automatic compu te r",
probLem and a varying physical measurement in
as in Eniac, Seac, etc.
the analog computer.
access time -- Digital Computers. 1. The time mand -- Logic. A logical operator which has the
terval between the instant at which the arithproperty that if P and Q are two state men ts ,
metic unit calls for information from the IlEmory
then the statement "P AND·Q" is true or false
unit and the instant at which the information
precisely according to the following table of
possible combinations:
is del ivered from storage to the a r it h met i c
uni t. 2. The time intervai between the instant
P
Q
P AND Q
at which the arithmetic unit starts to send information to the memory unit and the :instan t at
false false
false
which the storage of the information mthe memfalse true
false
ory· unit is completed. -- In analog computers,
true
false
false
the value at time t of each oopendent variab Ie
true
true
true
represe~ted in the problem is usually immediately accessible when the value of the inde~ndent
The AND operator is often represented by
a
variable is at time t, and otherwise not accescentered dot (.), or by no sign,as in P·Q,PQ.
sible.
accumulator -- Digital Computers. (1) A unitin a
'and "circuit -- Circuits. A pulse circuit with
two input wires and one output wire, which has
digi tal computer where numbers are tot ale d,
the propert.y that the output wire gives a pulse
that is, accumulated. (2) A register in the
if and only if both of the two input wires reari thmetic unit of a digital computer where the
ceive pulses. Also called a "gate,r circuit.
result of arithmetical or logical operatioRs~
arithmetic check -- A check of a computation,makfirst produced. -- Often the accumula.tor stores
one quantity and upon receipt of any sec 0 n d
ing use of arithmetical properties of the c 0 mquantity, 'it forms the sum of the firstand the
putation; for example, checking the multipli-second quanti ties and stores that instead. Somecation A x B by comparing it with B x A.
times the accumulator is able to perform other
ari thmetic operation -- An operation in which n uoperations upon a stored quantity in its regismerical quanti ties form the elements of the
ter such as sensing, shifting, complemen ting,
calculation. Such' operations inel ude the "funetc.
damental operations of arithmetic", which are
accuracy -- Correctness, or freedom from err 0 r.
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Accuracy contrasts with precision; for example,
arithmetic shift -- The mul tiplication or division
a four-place table, correctly computed, is acof a quantity by a power of the base of notacurate; while a six-place table containi n g an
tion. For example,.smce 1011 represents eleven
error is more precise but not accurate.
in binary notation, the result of two a r it hadder -- Computers. A device that can form the sum
metic shifts to the left is 101100, which repof two qua'ntities delivered to it. Exam pI e s
resents forty-four.
are: an accumulator; a differential gear assemarithmetic unit -- Digital Computers. The section
bly; etc.
of the hardware of a computer where arithmetical
address -- Digital Computers. A label, name, 0 r
and logical operations, are performed on informnumber identifying a register, a location, or
ation.
a device where information is stored. See also:
Ex!!~ples:

- 16 -

Glossary of Terms

asynchronous computer --- Digital C'omputers.
An
automatic computer where the performance of any
operation starts as a result of a signal th at
the previous operation has been completed; contrasted with "synchronous computer", which see.
automatic carriage -- Punch Card Machines.
A
typewri ting carriage which is aut om at ically
controlled by information and program so as to
feed forms or continuous paper, space, ski p,
eject, tabulate, etc.
It may produce any desired style of presentation of information on
separate forms or on continuous paper.
automatic checking -- Computers. Provision, constructed in hardware, for automatically ver.Uying the information, transmitted, manip ul ated
or stored by any device or unit of the computer.
Automatic checking is "complete" when every
process in the machine is automatically checked; otherwise it is partial. The term "extent
of automatic checking" means either (1) the
relative proportion of machine processes which
are checked, or (2) the relative proportion of
machine hardware devoted to checking.
automatic computer -- A computer which automatically handles long sequences of reasonable operations with information.
automatic controller -- A device which controls a
process by (1) automatically receiving measurements of one or more physical variables of the
process, (2) automatically performing a calculation, and (3) automatically issuing suitably
varied actions, such as the relative movemen t
of a valve, so that the process is controlled
as desired; for example, a flyball governor on
a steam engine; an automatic pilot.
automatic programming -- Digital Computer Programming. Any technique whereby the computer i tself is used to transform programming fr 0 m a
form that is easy for a human being to produce
into a form that is efficient for the computer
to carry out. Examples of automatic progr a mming are compiling routines, interpretive routines, etc.
automation -- 1. Process or result of render in g
machinesself-acting or self-moving; rendering
automatic. 2. Theory or art or technique 0 f
making a device or a machine or an industrial
process more fully automatic. 3. Making automati~ the process of moving pieces of work from
one machine tool to the next.
available machine time -- Time that a com put e r
has the power turned on, is not under maintenance, and is known or believed to be operating
correctly.
averaga calculating operation -- A common or typical 'calculating operation longer than an addition and shorter than a multiplication; often
taken as the mean of nine additions and 0 n e
multiplication.
~:

base -- Numbers. Ten in the decimal notation
of numbers, two in the binary notation of numbers, eight in octal notation, and in general
the radix in any scale of notation for numbers.
binary -- Involving the integer two. For example,
the binary number system uses two as its base
of notation. ,A binary choice is a choice b etween two alternatives; 'a binary operation i s

- 17 -

one that combines 2 quantities.
binary cell -- An element that can have one or the
other of two stable states or positions and so
can store a unit of information.
binary-coded decimal notation -- One of many systems of writing numbers in which each dec! mal
digi t of the number is expressed by a different
code written in binary digits.
For example,
the decimal digit zero may be repre se n ted by
the code 0011, the decimal digit one may b e
represented by the code 0100, etc.
binary digi t -- A digit in the binary sc ale 0 f
notation. This digit may be only
(zero) 0 r
1 (one). It is equivalent to an "on" condition
or an "off" condition, a "yes" or a "no", etc.
binary notation -- The writing of numbers in th e
scale of two. The first dozen numbers zero to
eleven are written 0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101,110,
Ill, 1000, 1001, 1010, 1011. The positions of
the digits designate powers of two; thus 1010
means 1 times two cubed or eight, '0 times two
squared or four, 1 times two to the first power or two, and
times two to the zero po we r
or one; this is equal to one eight pI u s n 0
four's plus one two plus no ones, which is ten.
binary number -- A number written in binary notation.
binary point -- In a binary number, the point which
marks the place between integral powers of two
and fractional powers of two, an'alogous to the
decimal point in a decimal number. Thus, 10.101
means four, one half, and one eighth.
binary to decimal conversion -- The mathematical
process of converting a number written in binary
notation to the equivalent number written in tm
ordinary decimal notation.
biquinary notation -- Numbers. A scale of notation in which the base is alternately 2 and 5.
For example, the number 3671 in decima~ notation is 03 11 12 01 in biquinary notation; the
first of each pair of digits counts or 1 units
of five, and the second counts 0, 1, 2, 3, or
4 units. For comparison, the same number in
Roman numerals is MMMDCLXXI. Biquinary no t aI tion expresses the representation of
numbe r s
by the abacus, and by the two hands and five
fingers of man; and has been used in some automatic computers.
bit -- A binary digit; a smallest unit of information; a "yes" or a '''no''; a'single pulse in a
group of pulses.
block -- Digital Computers. A group of consecuti ve machine words considered or transfe r red
as a unit, particularly'with reference toinput
and output.
bootstrap -- Digi tal Computer Programming.
The
coded instructions at the beginning of an input
,tape, together with one or two instructions i~
serted by switches or buttons into the computer,
used to put a routine into the computer.
break-point -- Digital Computer Programming.
A
point in a routine at which the computer may,
under the control of a manually set switch,be
stopped for an operator's check of the progress
of the routine.
buffer -- Circuits. 1. An isolating circuit used
to avoid any reaction of a driven circuit upon
the corresponding driving circuit. 2. A .ci r-

°

°

°

Glossary of Terms

cuit having an output and a multiplicity of inputs so designed that the output is energ i ze d
whenever one or more inputs are energized. Thu~
a buffer performs the circuit function which is
,equivalent to the logical "or", which see.
buffer storage -- Digital Computers. 1. Equipment
linked to an input device, in which information
is assembled from external storage and store d
2. Eready for transfer to internal storage.
quipment 1 inked to an output device into which
information is transmitted from internal stora~
and held for transfer to external storage. Computation continues while transfers between buffer storage and external storage take place.
bus -- Digital 'Computers. A path over which information is transferred, from any of several sources
to any of several destinations; a dunnel, line, or tru n k.
1;.:

call-number -- Digi tal Computer Program ming.
A set of characters identifying a subro uti ne,

and containing information concerning paramerers
to be inserted in the subroutine, or information
to be used in generating the subroutine, or information related to the operands.
call-word -- Digital Computer Programming. A cnllnumber whi~h fills exactly one machine word. ~
capacity -- Digital Computer Arithmetic. 1. The
number of digits or characters which may regularly be processed in a computer, as in "t h e
capacity is ten decimal digit numbers". 2. The
upper and lower limits of the numbers which may
regularly be handled in a computer, as "the capaci ty of the computer is + .00000 00001
t 0
•99999 99999". Quantities which are beyond the
capacity of the computer usually interrupt its
operation in some way.
card -- Computers. A card of constant s i z e and
shape, adapted for being punched in a pattern
which has meaning. The punched holes are sensed
electrically by wire brushes, mechanically by
metal fingers, or photo-e1ectrically. Also' call e.j
"punch card." One ci the standard punch cards (made
by International Business M,achfues Corporation) is 7
and 3/8 inches long by 3 and 1/4 inches wide, and
contains 80 columns in each of which anyone of
12 positions may be punched.
card column -- Punch Card Machines. One of a number of columns (45, 80, or 90) in a punch card
into which information is entered by punches.
card feed -- Punch Card Machines. A mechanism which
moves cards one by one into a machine.
card field -- Punch Card Machines. A set of ca r d
columns fixed as to number a!1d position, into
which the same item of information is regularly
entered; for example, purchase order numbers of
five decimal digits might be punched regularly
into the card field consisting of card columns
11 to 15.
card stacker -- Punch Card Machines. A mechanis m
that stacks cards in a pocket or bin after they
have passed through a machine. Sometimes called
"card hopper".
card reader -- Punch Card Machines. A me c han ism
that causes the information in cards to be read,
usually by pass ing them under copper wire brushes
or across metal fingers.
.card punch -- Punch Card Machines. A mechnn ism
which punches cards, or a machine which punches
cards according to a program.
carry -- Arithmetic. 1. The digit to be take n to
the next higher column (and there added) w hen

the sum of the digits in one column equals 0 r
exceeds the number base. 2. The pro c e s s 0 f
transferring the carry digi t to the next higher
column.
cathode ray tube -- Digital Computers. 1. A large
electronic vacuum tube containing a screen 0 n
which information, expressed in pulse sin a
beam or ray of electrons from the cathode,is
stored by means of the presence or absenc e of
spots bearing electrostatic charges. The capacity usually is from 256 to 1024 spots. ,*1
cell -- Digital Computers. Storage for one UBi t
of information, usually one character or 0 n e
machine word. More specific terms ("col um n,
location, block") are preferable since the r e
is little uniformity in the use of the term
"cell" •
channel - Digi tal Computers. 1. A path a Ion 9
which information, particularly a serie s of
digits or characters or units of information,
may flow or be stored. For example, in the machine known as a punch card reproducer, information (in the form of punch cards) may flow in
ei ther one of two card channels which do not
physically connect. 2. Magnetic Tape or Ma gnetic Drums. A path parallel to the ed g e of
the tape or drum along which information may
be stored by means of the presence or a bsenc e
of polarized spots, singly or in sets. 3. Delay Line Memory such as a Mercury Tank. A circular path forward through the delay line memory and back through electrical circuits along
which a pattern of pulses representing information may be stored •
character -- Digital Computers. 1. A decimal digit 0 to 9, or a letter A to Z, either capital
or lower case, or a punctuation symbol, or any
other single symbol (such as appear on the keys
of a typewriter) which a machine may ta k e in,
store, or put out. 2. A representation of such
a symbol.in a pattern of ones and zeros representing a pattern of positive and negati v e
pulses or states.
check digit -- One or more digi ts carried a Ion g
wi th a machine word (i.e., a unit item of i nformation handled by the machine), which report
information about the other digits in the word
in such fashion that if a single error occ urs
(excluding two compensating errors), the check
will fail and give rise to an error alarm signal. For example, the check digit may be 0 if
the sum of other digits in the word is odd,and
the check digit may be 1 if the sum of oth e r
digits in the word is even.
circulating memory -- Digital Computers. A device
using a "delay line" which stores informatio n
in a train of pulses or waves, as a pattern of
the presence or absence of such pulses, whe r e
the pattern of pulses issuing at the final end
of the delay line is detected electrically,amplified, reshaped, and reinserted in the delay
line at the beginning end.
closed subroutine -- Digital Computer Programming.
A subroutine with the following properti e s:
(1) it is stored separately from the main routine; (2) at the proper point in the main routine, a jump instruction transfers control t 0
the beginning of the subroutine; (3) at the end
of the subroutine, another jump ins t r uc t ion
transfers control back to the proper point i n
the main routine.
- 18 -

• Glossary of Terms

clear (verb) -- Digital Computers. To replace information in a register by zero as ex pre sse d
'in the number system employed.
code (noun) -- Computers. A system of symbols for
representing information in a/computer and the
rules for associating them.
code (verb) -- Computers. To express information,
particularly problems, in language acceptable
to a specific computer.
coded decimal (adj ective) -- Computers. A for m
of notation by which each decimal digit separately is converted into a pattern of bin a r y
ones and zeros. For example, in the "8-4-2-1"
coded decimal notation, the number twel ve i s
represented as 0001 0010 (for 1, 2) whereas in
pure binary notation it is represented as 1100.
Other coded decimal notations are known as:"54-2-1", "excess three", "2-4-2-1", etc.
coded decimal digit -- A decimal digit which is
expressed by a pattern of four or more 0 n e s
and zeros.
coded program -- A program which has been expressed in the code for a computer.
coder -- A person who translates a sequence of instructions for an automatic computer to solve
a problem into the precise codes acceptable to
the machine.
coding -- The 1 ist in computer code of the successive computer operations required to carry
out a given routine or subroutine or solve a
given problem.
coding line -- A single conmand or instru c t ion
written usually on one line, 'in a code for a
computer to solve a problem.
collate -- To combine two sequences of items of information in any way such that the same sequence
is observed in the combined sequence. For example, sequence 12, 29, 42 and sequence 23, 24,
48 may be collated into 12, 23, 24, 29, 42, 48.
More generally, to combine two or more similarly ordered sets of items to produce an 0 the r
ordered set composed of information fro m th e
original sets. Both the number of items and
the size of the individual items in the res'ul ting set may differ from those of either of the
original sets and of their sum •
collator -- Punch Card Machines. A machine which
has two card feeds, four card pockets, and three
stations at which a card may be compared or sequenced with regard to other cards, so as to
determine the pocket into which it is to be
placed. The machine is particularly useful for
matching detail cards with master cards, for
merging cards in proper sequence into a f i 1 e
of cards, etc.
column -- 1. Writing. The place or position of a
character or a digit in a word, or other uni t
of information. 2. Computers. One of the characters or digit positions in a positional notation representation of a unit of information.
Col umns are usually numbered from right to left,
zero being the rightmost column if there is no
decimal (or binary, or other) point, 0 r the
column immediately to the left of the point if
there is one. 3. Arithmetic. A p os i ti 0 n or
place in a number, such as 3876, written in a
scale of notation, corresponding to a g i ve n
power of the radix. The digit located in any
particular column is th~ coefficieni of the
corresponding power of the radix; thus, 8 i n
the foregoing example is the coefficient ofl02.

,

- 19 -

command -- A pulse, signal, or set of signals initiating one step in the performance of a computer operation.
comparator -- 1. C~rcui ts. A circui t which c ompares two signals and supplies an indication
of agreement or disagreement; or a mec h a nis m
by means of which two items of information may
be compared in certain respects, and a signal
given depending on whether they are eq ua 1 or
unequal. 2. Computers. A device for comparing
two different transcriptions of the same i nformation to verify agreement or dete r min e
disagreement.
comparison -- Computers. The act of comp a r i n g
and, usually, acting on the result of the comparison. The cornmon forms are comparis 0 n 0 f
two numbers for identity, comparison 0 f two
numbers for relative magnitude, and comparison
of two signs plus or minus.
compiler -- Digital Computer Programming. A program~aking routine, which produces a specific
program for a particular problem by the following process: (1). determining the in ten d e d
meaning of an element of information expressed
in pseudo-code; (2) selecting or g e n era tin g
(i.e., calculating from parameters and skeleton
instructions) the required subroutine; (3)transforming the subroutine into specific coding for
the specific problem, assigning specific me mory registers, etc., and entering i.t as an element of the problem program; (4) maintaining a
record of the subroutines used and their position in the problem program; and (5) continuing
to the next element of information in pseudocode.
compil ing routine -- Computers. A r 0 uti n e by
means of which a computer can itself construct
the program to solve a problem by assembling,
fitting together, and copying other programs
stored in its library of routines. Sam e a s
"compiler", which see.
complement -- Arithmetic. A quantity wh i chi s
derived from a given quantity, expressedinnotation to the base n, by one of the foIl owin g
rules. (a) Complement on n: subtract each digi t of the given quantity from n-l, add un it Y
to the rightmost digit, not zero and perform
all resultant carries. For example, the two s
complement of binary 11010 is 00110; the tens
complement of decimal 679 is 321. (b) Complement on n-l: subtract each digi t of the give n
quantity from n-l. For example, the ones complement of binary 11010 is 00101; the ni n e s
complement of decimal 679 is 320. The complement'is frequently employed in computers to
represent the negative of the given quantity.
complete operation -- Computers. A calcula tin g
operation which includes (1) obtaining all the
numbers entering into the operation out of the
memory, (2) making the calculation,
(3)
putting the results back into the memory, and
(4) obtaining the next instruction.
computer -- 1. A machine which is able to calculClte or compute, that is, which will perfo r m
sequences of reasonable operations with information, mainly arithmetical and 10gic3l ope r ations. 2. More generally, any uevice which is
capanle of accepting information, a pp 1 yin g
defini te reasonable processes to the informtion,
and ~upplying the results of these processes.
computing machinery -- Machinery which is able to

Glossary of Terms
take in and give out information, perform reascounter -- A mechanism which either totals digital
onable operations with the informatio n, and
numbers, or allows digital numbers to be i nstore information.
creased by additions of one in any col urn n of
computer code -- Computers. The code expre ssin g
the number. 1't is also able to be re set t 0
the operations buH t into the hardware of the
zero.
computer.
crippled leap-frog test -- Digital Computer Procomputer operation -- Computers. The electronic,
gramming. A variation of the leap-frog t est
mechanical, or other physical operat ion 0 f
described below, modified so that it repeats
hardware in a computer resulting from a n i nits tests from a single set of storage 10 c astruction to the computer.
tions and does not "leap".
conditional -- Computers. Subject to the result
cybernetics -- 1. The study of contrbl and communof a comparison made during computation; s u bication in the animal and the machine. 2. The
ject to human intervention.
art of the pilot or steersman. 3. The comparative study of complex information-h a nd 1 i n g
conditional breakpoint instruction --Digital computer Programming. A conditional jumpinstrucmachinery and the nervous systems of the higher
animals including man in order to u nders tan d
tion which, if some specified switch i s s e t,
will cause the computer to stop, a fte r which
better the functioning of brains.
cycle (verb) -- Computers. To repeat a set of opeither the routine may be continued as codedor
a j lIIlp to another routine may be directed.
erations a specified number of times including,
when required, supplying necessary mem 0 ry locondi tional transfer of control -- Digi tal Computers. A computer instruction which when reached
cation address changes by arithmetic processes
or by means of a hardware device s u c has a
in the course of a program will cause the comcycle-counter.
puter either to continue with the nextinstruccycle (noun) -- 1. A set of operati ons re pea ted
tion in the original sequence or to tra n s fe r
as a unit. 2. Computers. The smallest period
control to another stated instruction, dependof time or complete process of action that i s
ing on a condi tion regarding some property of a
repeated'in order. In some computers, "mino r
number or numbers which has then been detennined.
cycles" and "major cycles" are distinguished. 3.
contents - Digital Computers. The informatio n
Computer Arithmetic. A shift of the digits of
stored in any part of the computer memory. The
a number such that digits removed from one end
symbol "( ••• )" is often used to indicate Itt he
of the word are inserted in sequence at the ot~r
contents of ••• "; for example, (m) indicates the
end of the word, in circular fashion.
\
contents of the storage location whose address
cycle criterion -- Digital Computer Programm ing.
is m.
The total number of times that a cycle ism be
control (verb) -- Digital Computers. To dire c t
repeated, or the register which store s
that
the sequence of execution of the instructions
number.
'
to a computer.
cycle index - Digital Computer Programming. The
control circuits - Digi tal Computers. The c i rnumber,of'times a cycle has been executed; 0 r
cui ts which effect the carrying out of instructhe difference (or the negative of the differtions in proper sequence.
ence) between that number and the n umbe r of
control register -- Digital Computers. The r e grepetitions desired.
ister which stores the current instru c t ion
cycle reset -- Digital Computer Programming. The
governing the operation of the computer for a
returning of a cycle index to its initial value.
cycle.
cyclic shift -- Computer Arithmetic. A shif t',of
control sequence -- Digital Computers. The normal
the digits of a number (or the characters ,of
sequence of selection of computer instructions
a word) in which digits removed from one end
for execution. In some computers, one 0 f the
of the word are inserted in the same sequence
addresses in each instruction specifies the
control sequence. In most other computers the
at the other end of the word, in circular f~h­
sequ.ence is consecutive except where a j u m p
ion.
occurs.
control unit -- Digital Computers. That portion
of the hardware of an automatic digital c 0 mputer which directs the sequence of operations,
~:
DC dump -- Digital Computers.
The condition
resul ting when direct current power is wi t hinterprets the coded instructions, and initiates
drawn from a computer which uses volatile storthe proper signals to the computer circuits to
execute the instructions.
age, i.e., loss of information stored in suc h
storage.
converter -- A machine which changes informa tion
debug - Computers. To isolate and rem~ve rna 1in one kind of language acceptable to a machine
functions from a computer or mistakes from a
into corresponding information in another kind
program.
of language acceptable to a machine. • For exdecade ....:- A group of ten; for example, a "decad e
ample, a machine which takes in inf 0 r mat ion
counter" will count to ten in one colum n or
expressed in punch cards and produces the same
place of a decimal number.
information expressed in magnetic tape, i s a
decimal digit -- One of the symbols 0, 1, 2, 3,4,
"converter". Often the machine possesses lim5, 6, 7, 8, 9 when used in numbering in the scale
i ted computing facH i ties, spoken of as "edi ting facil i ties".
of ten. TWo of these digits, 0 and 1, are of
course also binary digits when used in numeracopy -- Digi tal Computers. To transfer information
tion in the scale of two.
stored in one memory register into another memdecimal notation -- The writing of quantities in
ory register, leaving unchanged the information
the scale of ten.
in the first register, and replacing whatever
decimal point -- In a decimal number, the poi n t
was previously stored in the second registe~.
- 20 -

Glos~ary

of Terms

dynamic storage -- Storage such that information
at a certain position is changing over tim e
and so is not always available instantly; for
example, acoustic delay line storage or ma gnetic drum storage.
dynamic subroutine -- Digital Computer Pr 0 gruters and Automation", Vol. 4, No.

Often when one investigates a subject,the
crucial knowledge is finding out that soroothing
exists or can be done. For instance, if you
are investigating from l'\1hom to buy an automatic
inventory machine, the crucial knowledge is finding out who offers such machines for sale. A
man l'Jho has never heard that the ABC Company
offers automatic inventory machines for sal e
is hardly in a position to consider buying from them.
To supply this c-rucial kn01dedge of existence in the field of computers and automation
we have published various kinds of roste~ and
reference lists; there are now more than a dozen
kinds.
Yet one reader, whom we shall call J. Moines
since that is not his real name, has said to
us "You should not publish this valuable information for so little; you should restrict it,
give it only to advertisers perhaps" keep i t
for your own advantage." We don't agree with
Mr. Moines. Our purpose as a maga2.:ine is to
be as useful as we can be; and we believe these
rosters a~d lists help the men in the field.

n,

Jan. 1955)

The answer to this question is the reason
that this maga2.:ine is in existence. For we began in September 1951 to issue a purple dittoed
list of companies and other organizations (government agencies, university laboratories, etcJ
making or developing automatic computing machinery and related items. This has nmy become
the "Ros ter of Organizations in the Com p u ter
Field". The definition of the terri tory nOl11 included is: organi2.:ations making or developin g
computing machinery or data-processing machinery, or systems, or components and services significantly related to the computer field.
The last cumulative listing l'1aS published
in the issue of December, 1955, vol. 4, no. 14
and it contains over 300 organizations. This
compares with a year ago, when the roster contained 230 organizations. From time to ti me,
we bring this Roster up to date.
A typical entry is the follmving one:
Remington Rand Univac Division of Spe~
Rand Corporation, 315 4th Ave.', New
York 10, N.Y. / Spring 7-8000 / and
elsewhere / entry checked
Digital computers (Univac System,
Univac Scientific, Univac FileComputer, Univac 120, and Univac
60 Punched Card Electronic Com~u- I
ters). Analog computers; speCIal
purpose computers. Con ve r t e r s:
card to tape, punched paper tape
to magnetic tape, and magnetic
tape to punched paper tape. High
speed printers, servomechanisms,
magnetic drum storage systems, input and output devices. Punched
card tabulating equipment. Large
size (over 6000 employees; 2500 on
computers) Long established. Interested in digital and other computers. Research, manufacturing,
selling, conSUlting, and protlemsolving activities.

We published the remarks of Mr. Moines,
and we received an interesting reply from the
office manager of a rubber company. Be referred to "the question arising from your difference of opinion wi th a certain J. Moines", and
said:
"I hearti ly support your pos i tion -- )tmr
publication has been of extreme value to me
and my staff. And I am sure that the same p~
sition will be taken by all of your subscrilie~
who have problems similar to ours ••• Early
last spring, our management asked us to begin
a program of aggress i ve research aimed at as
high a degree of office mechani2.:ation as practicable."
We hope that the reference information we
publish is useful to many men in the computer
field. And since there are many kinds of'reference information published in the maga2.:ine,
here I'Ve print a guide to fourteen ,kinds cl such
information. In this way ll1e can make it rosier
for our readers'to find information they may'
desire.

Who are the c ompani es or organi z a t ion s
Ivhich provide computing services, us i n g a t
least some kind of automatic computer?

Organizations
Who are the companies in the computer fielJ,
and what do they make?

These organizations, so far as lye k n 0 Iv
them are listed in a "Rostor of Automatic Computing Services". If any service organi2.:ation
has an IBM 604 (electronic calculating punch)

- 32 -

Finding Out That Something Exists
or any more capacious computing equipment, either
A typical entry (eliminating the abbrevianalog or digi tal, t'le desire to include t hat
ations) is:
organization in this list.
ABC (Automatic Binary Computer) / made
The latest cumulative "Automatic Computing
by the Air Force Cambridge Res ear c h
Services -- Roster" was published in "Computers
Center, Cambridge, Mass.; 1 oc ate d
and Automation", December, 1955, vol. 4, no.12,
there / general purpose; electr oni c
and contains 49 organitations. A typical entry,
digital computer; medium size; quanwith abbreviations eliminated, is:
tity, one.
Burroughs Corporation, Electronic ~ttu­
ment Div., 1209 Vine St., Philadelphia,
Pa. / di g ita 1 c ompu t i ng s e r vic e /
digi tal computer UDEC II/unrestricted
(as to clients)
Computing Machinery and Automation
What are the types of automatic computing
machinery?
It is sensible to recognize at this time
at least 38 different classes of automatic machinery for handling information. They range
through accounting-bookkeeping machines, gameplaying machines, toll recording equipment,
vending machines, etc., not to mention the obvious two classes, analog computers and digi tal
computers. It is desirable to keep· in min d
how diverse is the new field of automa ti c
machinery for handling information, and so we
publish a reference list.

If models of automatic computers are e xamples of automatic computing machinery, what
are similar examples of automation?
This is not nearly so definiteaquestion,
of course,as the last one, but we have tried
to answer it by constructing somewhat the same
sort of list for automation. The first such
cumulative listing was "Automation - List of
Outs tanding Examples", which appeared in the
July 1954 issue, vol. 3, no. 6, p. 13. It contained 16 examples, of which one was:
Ordnance: shells for explosives / W. F.
and John Barnes Co., Rockford, Ill. /
Factory makes shells from s tar t t 0
finish without touching by hum a n
hands.
Supplements to this listing have bee n
published from time to time in Forum.

The last cumulative listing "Automatic
Computing Machinery - List of Types" appe ars
in the December 1955 issue, vol. 4, no. 12.

A typical entry is:
Inventory machines, which will store as
many as ten thous and totals in an equal
number of regis ters, and which w ill
add into, subtract from, clear, and
report the contents of any called-for
register (these machines apply to stock
control, to railroad and afrline reservations, etc.).

How many models of automatic computers are
there, and which are they?
There are over 170 automatic com pute r s ,
nearly all of them constructed sin c e 1944.
They range from ABC and Arra to X-RAC and Zuse
Model 5. They are listed in "Roster of Automatic Computers"; and the latest inform a t io n
we have published is contained in:

What are the commercial computers, and how
many are there in use?
Although this is a difficult question to
answer because of industrial compe t i t i v e
procedures, tie have published one pie ceo f
reference information seeking to an s t'V e r it.
This h'as "Automatic Computers - Esti mat e d
Commercial Population" (cumulative, information
as of December, 1954). It appeared i nth e
March, 1955, "Computers and Automat~on", vol.
4, no. 3; it listed the number of mach! n e s
installed and in use according to announcerrents
made by various manufacturers.
A typical entry taken from the listing as
published at that time is:
Underw90d Corp. (ELECOM 100, 120,
200) -- seven installed and in use

"Ros ter of Automatic Computers" (c u m u1ative), vol. 4, no. 2, Feb. 1955

What are the types of components of automatic machinery?

"Roster of. Automatic Computers -- S u pplement", vol. 4, no. 4, April, 1955

As one becomes familiar with automa ti c
machinery for handling information,i.e., auto-

- 33 -

Finding Out That. Something Exist.s
terms and expressions. In this glos sary the
edi tors did not at tempt to es tabl ish by decre e
the meanings of terms, but simply to' rep 0 r t
meanings and usages.

matic computing machinery or data proces sin g
machinery, one finds out that there is a 'relati vely small class of components. Ali s t of
about 50 of them appears in "Compon en t s of
Automatic Computing Machinery -- List of Types"
in the December 1955 issue, vol. 4, no. 12. A
typical example of a type of component is:
"Matrix printer, which forms each character by a pattern of dots."

To our surprise we have received no discussion of terms and glossaries during the past
year. It is as if tne vocabulary of the computer field had temporarily reached a relative
stability. So in this issue we reprint the
glossary of December, 1954, tdth only a few
changes. Examples of some of the entries are:

Products and Services
What are the products and services in the
computer field offered for sale or rent?
To supply information about such products
and services and their description, uses, price,
and suppliers, we published in the June, 1955,
Computer Directory issue of "Computers and
Automation", vol. 4, no. 6, a sec tion enti tIed
"The Computer Field: Products and Services for
Sale"; it contained about 600 entries in about
60 classifications.
A sample entry, eliminating abbreviations,
follows:
.Remington Rand, Inc., 315 4th Ave., New
York 10, N. Y. / Tape-to-Card converter, Type 308-5 / Description:
Key
punch electrically connected to a 5
channel code paper tape readersothat
information is read, dec 0 d e dan d
punched into 90-column tabul at i n g
card; 420 characters per minute; may
be used as standard punched card accounting machine key punch / Use:
convert paper tape information ~ 0
punched cards; also used with Univac/
Rental $70 per month; sale $5075;
price subject to tax where applicable.
Words
What are the special terms use d in the
field of computers and automation, and w hat
do they mean?

biquinary notation -- Numbers. A scale
of notation in which the base is alternately 2 and 5. For example, the
number 3671 in decimal notation i s
03 11 12 01 in biquinary notatio n;
the first of each pair of dig i t s
counts 0 or 1 units of five, and the
second counts 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 units.
For comparison, the same number i n
Roman numerals is MMMDCLXXI. Biquinaty
notation expresses the representation.
of numbers by the abacus, and by the
two hands and five fingers of man ;
, and has been used in some automa ti c
computers •
cybernetics -- 1. The study of contro 1
and communication in the animal an d
the machine. 2. The art of the pilot
or steersman. 3. The comparative
study of complex information-handling
machinery and the,nervous systems of
the higher animals including man in
order to understand better the functioning of brains.
magnetic core -- Computers. A form of
storage t\'here information is repr esented as the polarization nor t h south or south-north of a wire-wound
magnetically permeable core, whi c h
may be straight, doughnut-shaped,etc.
Information and Publications

This is a question in which we have been
much interested ever since the purple ditt 0
list which we first published turned into the
photooffset magazine which we now publish. For
the meanings of the special terms of a f iel d
constitute a most important clue to the important information in that field; they point out
the key ideas. Several glossaries, and a number of discussions of problems of glossarymaking were published in "Computers and Automation" up to December, 1954.
The last glossary published in "Computers
and Automation" was in the December, 195 4 ,
issue. It contained defini tions of over 400
- 34 -

What about books, I1Bgaz~, and other publications in the field of computers and automation?
From time to time t..e publish a list of books and
other publica tions related to computers and autGmation wi th mort notes amut them. A current example of entries in "Books and Other Public ation s "
awears in this issue, January 1956, vol. 5, 00. 1.
The previous listing appeared in the September 1955
issue, vol. 4, no. 9. Other lists have aweared from
tine to time in variou s issles. The information has
not so far been cumulated. Also, sane of the arti cles an d pa pers that we JlIblis h con tai n bibliographies: a notable example ap}Ears in the paper byNed
Chapin in the September 1955 'issue, "Publications for Bus iness on Automatic Co m put e r s :
A Basic List".

Finding Out That Something Exists
In many issues from July 19~3 on h a v
We, the editors of "Computers and Autoappeared "Patents", or "New Patents", a listmation'" desire to publish reference informaing of patents related to computing machinety,
tion which will be of "extreme value" to 0 u r
compiled by Hans Schroeder and Ray m 0 n d R.
readers, information that can hardly be obtained
Skolnick. Examples of entries appear elsmmere
in any other way. We shall be glad t 0 h a v e
in this issue. The information has not so far
comments, suggestions and criticisms from any
been cumulated.
of our readers for this purpose.

e

We have also printed "Magazines Relat e d
to Computers and Automation --- Roster". The
last cumulative listing appeared in the December
1955 issue, vol. 4, no. 12. A typical entry,
eliminating abbreviations, is:

* _________-_F;:~_D_-_________
Automatic Coding Techniques
(con tinued from page ll)

ing to a pre-stored job sequence.

Scientific American / monthly / p u blished by Scientific American, Inc.,
2 West 45 St., New York 36, N. Y. /
emphasis: ideas and developments i n
all phases of science, reported for
educated men in other specialties /
direc ted to technical managemen t ;
paid-for; annual subscription $5.00/
circulation about 120,000 / contains
advertising / Occasional articles on
computers and automation.

The setting of program al ter a t ion
switches via a punched card.

(4)

The computation of a" tape input-output set-up for each job. This takes
into account the following:

(b) the number of tape units available (operable)
(c) The optimum order in vllhich al ter~ating tape units are assigned
(d) The optimum physical arrangelOOnt"
of these alternating units.

People
Who are the people in the com put i n g
machinery field, what are they like, what are
they interested in, and what do they do?

Householder, Alston S. / Chief, Mathematics Panel, Oak Ridge Nat ion a 1
Laboratories, P.O. Box P, Oak Ridge,
Tenn. / interested in mathematics /
born 1904; graduate of University of
Chicago, entered computer field in
1948; occupation, mathematician; published "Principles of Numerical Analysis" / information as of 1955

(3)

(a) requirements for input and output
tapes

We have begun printing the tit 1 e sand
abstracts of papers given at meetings devoted
to automatic computing machinery. Are cent
example tvas the printing in the November" 1955
issue of "Computers and Automation", vol. 4,
no. 11, of the titles and abstracts of appro ximately 115 papers given at the meeting of the
Association for Computing Machinery, Philadelphia, Sept. 14 to 16, 1955.

The answer to this question consti tu te s
another kind of reference information which we
have published. This is a "Who's MIo in the
Computer Field". The second edition, cumulati ve, tfaS published in the June 1955 "Computer
Direc tory" issue, vol. 4, no. 6. It contained
about 7500 entries; of these about 2600 wer e
full entries and the remainder (for 1 ac k 0 f
information) were brief entries showing onl y
name and locality. A supplement appeared in
the October 1955 issue, vol. 4, no. 10. Atypical full entry, eliminating abbreviat ion s ,
follows:

"0'

(5)

The printing out of this set-up.

(6)

The checking of input tape mounting
for proper type, proper cyclemmilier
when it was produced as output, and
proper sequence.

(7)

The checking of all tapes rmunted to
receive output to guarantee that they
do not contain wanted information.

(8)

The printing of output tape 1 a be 1 s
and the identification of the tapes.

(9)

A system for communicating the current
physical tape unit assignment to the
specific program.

It is hoped that all this can be acco mplished with one tape uni t, perhaps 10-15 drum
sections and a wee small area of high-s pe e d
memory, less than 500 characters. MY guess is
that the drum is rather essential, as" t his
philosophy applies to the 702-705. A nyb od y
liho lacked the foresight to order a drum woul d
most certainly not be interested in this routine
anyway.
I would very much appreciate your comments
· and suggestions, especially an evaluation 0 f
the Ivorth of the thing in relation to the amount
of effort required to realize it.
-

- 35 -

END -

BOOKS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS
JEWELL DOWN
(List 18, "Computers and

Automation'~

Vol. 5, No.1,

Jan. 1956)

This is a list of books, articles, periodicals, papers, and other publications which have a s i gnificant relation to computers or automation, and which have come to our attention. We shall be
glad to report other information in future lists, if a review copy is sent to us. The pia n of
each entry is: author or editor I title I publisher or issuer I date, publication process, number
of pages, price or its equivalent I a few comments. If you write to a publisher or iss u e r, we
would appreciate your mentioning the listing in COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION.
Society of Actuaries, Committee on New Recording Means and Computing Devices / Current
Status of Magnetic Tape as a Recording and
Data Processing Medium I Society of Actuaries, 208 S. LaSalle St., Chicago 4, Ill.
I June 1955, printed, 112 pp., cost?
This report is a summary of the C 0 mmittee's findings on the character~t­
ics of record-keeping techniques e mploying magnetic tape. Part I is enti tIed "Charac teris tics of mag net i c
tape and the equipment required for
its use"; Part II deals idth current
and proppsed life insurance com pan y
procedures employing magnetic tap e
equipmenti Part III considers miscellaneous related considerations such as
internal control and auditing, premium
accounting, .serial and random ne ed s ,
etc. Three appendices contain information on programming, com par a ti ve
handl ing of death claims, and an example of a magnetic-tape record-kee~g
system.
June, Stephen A., and others I The Automatic
Factory I Instruments Publishing Company,
Pittsburgh 12, Pa. I 1955, printed, 88 pp"
cost?
This is the publication of a research
paper written by a group of seven students at the Harvard Graduate Sc h 001
of Business Administration. Chapters
include: The Automatic Factory in Perspective; Mechanization vs. the Automatic Factory; Contemporary Automatici ty (in automobile and four 0 the r
plants) i Costs i Social Irnplicati 0 n ,
etc.; Appendix I is a cost determination of Proj ect Tinke~toy, an automatic
system for manufacturing e16ctro n i c
cireui ts us ing ceramic waf e r s it n d
printed circuits developed by the National Buteau of Standards. Tables,
chatts and illustrations are included.
Bardell, P. R. I Magnetic Materials in th e
Electrical Industry I Philosophic Library,
Inc., 15 East 40 St., New York 16, N, Y.I
155, printed~ 288 pp., $10.00
This is a British textbook"intende d

- 36 -

to be helpful to senior students in
physics and electrical engineering and
to physicists and engineers in industry". After a disc uss ion of the i nfluence of magnetic theory on the development of materials, subs e que n t
chapters deal with the historical development, application and testing of
permanent magnets and of soft magnetic
materials. Further chapters are devoted to special devices such as sou n d
recorders, non-destructive t est e r s,
transductor~, and transducers.
Als 0
included are a glossary of terms and
units, tables showing the properties of
materials, and a note explaining m a gnetic terminology and units.
Allendoerfer, C. B., and C. b. Oakley I Principles of Mathematics I McGraw-Bill Boo k
Company, Inc., 330 West 42 St., New Yo r k
36, N. Y. I 1955, printed, 448 pp., $5.00
This text is a new approach towards the
basic curriculum in mathematics, along
1 ines emphas izing remarkable r e c e n t
advances in mathematics. Emphas is i s
placed upon understanding method s of
mathematical reasoning, basic mathematic al ideas, and the reas ons be h i n d
mathematical process~s. The·first five
chapters are entitled: Logic; The Number System; Groups; Fields; Sets and
Boolean Algebra. The following ch a ptel'S cover statistics and probability,
in addition to the more usual material
on functions, analytic geome try and
calculus. In the treatment, many of
the standard topics are treated in abbreviated form, but the concepts are
emphasi~ed.
Each process is iII u ,strated wi th- a worked example, and e»ercises and problems, both theoretical
and computational in character, are included. The text is designed for students having a prior course 1n in te rmediate algebra.
Remington Rand, staff of I Automatic Cod i n g
for the Univac Scientific System (A P r ogress Report), Programmer"s Re fe r e nee
Manual/Remington Rand, 315 . Fourth Ave., \

Books and Other Publications
wish an introduction to various topics
which tvere not included in their training.

New York 10, N. Y. I 1955, photooffs e t,
35 pp •. , free
This manual is divided into three sections. The first is entitled "Univac
Scientific 'Compile-Interpreters '" and
is a review of somy of the general concepts associated with current developments of compiler techniques for the
Univac Scientific System. The second
sec tion describes the "Compile-Int e rpreter,I,i", which is called an "executive program-facility" and t\'hich "interprets", in the course of execution
of a computer program, referenc e s to
"file-i tems" filed in magnetic d rum
storage, thereby effecting "compilation"
of the item into high-speed storage in
a form appropriate for program exec ution. The third section contains "program schema and code".

Hunter, George Truman, and Graham M. CIa r k /
"Electronic Data-processing Machines" r eprinted from "Instruments and Automation",
Vol. 28, No.5, May 1055 / The Instrument
Publishing Company, Inc., 1600 N. Main St.,
Pontiac, Ill. / 1955, printed, 12 pp., cost?
This paper surveys the various .IBM punch
card and electronic data-pro c e s sin g
machines including the 650 and the 701.
The explanations are tvritten for laymen
and require no technic al backg r 0 u n d •
The article contains many pictures and
diag~ams •
Wilson, E. Bright, Jr. / An Introductio n to
Scientific Research / McGraw-Hill Boo k
Company, Inc., 330 West 42 St., New Yo r k
36, N. Y. / 1952, printed, 375 pp., $6.00
The preface to this book remarks that
"an exploration into the unknown c a nnot be planned in advance wit h the
precision of a mass-production process;
nevertheless, some investigators are
far more effective than others and make
fewer wrong decis ions at the numero u s
crossroads encountered in the course of
a typical research problem". The book
is an attempt to collect in one pI ac e
and to explain as simply as possible a
number of general principles, techniques,
and guides for procedure which successful investigators in various fields of
science have found helpful. The emphas is is on the prac tic al rather than the
philosophical. Topics have bee n included only if they appeared to be useful
to working scientists in more than one
field; consequently, the coverage tends
to be broad rather than deep. Much of
the material should be understandable
to a college senior, but the boo k is
more specifically intended for students
beginning research and also for those
more experienced research workers who

- 37 -

Nixon, Floyd E. / Principles of Auto mat i c
Controls / Prentice-Hall, Inc., 70 F if t h
Ave., New York 11, N. Y. / 1953, printed,
403 pp., $9.35
Intended as a reference or as an undergraduate text, this book is concern e d
t~ith all aspects of linear system des ign and covers trans ient res p 0 n s e,
frequency response, stability criteria,
proper gain adjustment, the effect of
noise and extraneous inputs, numerical
integration, and transient analysis.
Chapters 1 through 11 cons ti tute the
nor.mal course in automatic con t r 0 1
systems. Chapters 12 through 15 d i scuss further techniques and tools which
the designer uses, wi th chapter 13 devoted to the methods of operation 0 f
automatic computers. A good background
in calculus and physics is ass u me d.
Problems are given at the end of e ac h
chapter.
Thaler, George J. / Elements of Servomechanism
Theory / McGraW-Hill Book Company, Inc.,
New York, N. Y. / 1955, printed, 282 p p.,
$7.50
.
The material in this text is intend e d
for a one-semester senior undergraduate
course. Operational calculus and complex-variable theory are not use d •
Frequency-response methods are e mph ~­
sized. Polar and logarithmic-approaches to analys is and des ign are handl e d
simul taneously. In addition t o t h e
elements of feedback control theory and
the normal modern methods of applyin g
them, the book covers loop systems and
offers sufficient material on multi loop
systems to introduce the problems involved and the basic approaches to solutions. The two final chapters briefly
introduce advanced topics such as the
root-locus method, phase plane approach,
and describing functions. Problems are
included.
Dooher, M. J., Editor, and 21 authors / Electronic Data Processing in Industry / American Management Association, 330 West 4 2
St., New York 36, N. Y. / August, 1955,
printed, 256 pp., $7.75
This is a collection of papers and supplementary material prepared for the
American Management Ass oci atio n 's
Special Electronics Conference, Fe b •
28 to March 2, 1955. It includes information on such subj ec ts as: how to
determine whether a company s h 0 u 1 d
adopt electronic data-processing systerns; t4Jhat automatic data-process
i ng
,

flopks and Qther Publications
.
equipment is available; how to p I a n
gram for testing netv electronic devices
the installation of'a ~ystem; how elecin applications of commercial type, by
tronic data-processing equipm en t i s
the National Bureau of Standards and
being used in such fields as customer
the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts,
and general accounting, prod u c t ion
Department of the Navy. The specific
objectives of the project tvere to deplanning, labor budgeting, mat e rials
velop methods o.f applying high-s pee d
handling, etc. Also included are reelec tronic data-process ing equ i pme n t
ports of company experience tdth small,
medium, and large computers, a summary
to inventory control operations; in the
of the evolution of data processing and
Navy Supply System to analyze areas of
its effect on company organization, and
applicability of electronic techniques
of data-processing to supply managea forecast ,of future develop men t sin
ment problems; to provide comparative
electronics.
tests of utilization of ele c t ron i c
equipment. The report is illustrate d
Horner, J. G., revised by Staton Abbey / Dicwith 15 figures and 6 tables.
tionary of Mechanical Engineering Terms /
Philosophical Library, Inc., 15 E. 40 St.,
- END Nel'l York 16, N. Y. / seventh edition, 1955,
printed, 538 pp., $6.50
A Bri tish dictionary of modern term s
used in mechanical engineering and
general and traditional terms used by
draftsmen, pattern-makers, molde r s ,
boiler-makers, fitters, turners, etc.
It includes vocabulary of both pra ctical an.d theoretical aspects of mechanical engineering. The boo k
i s
*---------- * ---------*
di vided into tt-1f0 sec tions: Par t
I,
"Dictionary of Modern Terms Us e din
Mechanical Engineering", and Part II,
and Part II, "Dictionary of Gene r a 1
and Traditional Terms Used in Mechanical Engineering".
FORUM
Berthelot, R. Langlois / Elec tro-M a g net i c
Machines / Philosophical Library, Inc ;
LINEAR PROGRAMMING -- REFERENCES
15 East 40 St., New York 16, N. Y./ 1955,
printed, 535 pp., $15.00
,
In the July, 1955 issue, Chandler Davis's
This book was originally published in
article on Linear Programming cites the followFrance; the author is Chief Research
ing bibliography:
Engineer for Production and Transformer Equipment at "L 'Elec tr j cit e
de
1) ACTIVITY ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION AND ALFrance". It contains six parts: Part
LOCATION, ed. T.C. Koopmans, Cmdes Commission
I, "The Families of Electric Machines",
Monograph No. 13 (New York, 1951)
Part 2, "General Consti tution of Electrical Machines"; Part 3, "The rtachines
2) AN INTRODUCTION TO LINEAR PROGRAMMING,
from .the Designer's Standpoint"; Part
Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W. and Henderson, A.,
4, "The Machine from the User's Stand(New York, 1953).
point"; Part 5, "Abnormal Condi t ion s
of Operation; Part 6, "Miscellaneous
Will you~ kindly tell me the names and street
General Comments". The book might be
addresses, of the publishers of these twos~es
of help in analyzing and programmin g
as I should like to investigate linear programproblems related to electrical machinming further.
ery.
Richard Storen
o

National Bureau of Standards / First Ann u al
Progress Report on Applications of E 1 e ctronic Data Processing Techniques to Supply
/
Management Problems, NBS Report 3786
U. S. Department of Commerce, Nation a 1
Bureau of Standards, Washington 25, D. C.
/ Sept. 1954, photooffset, 60 pp., limited
distribution
This is a report on a development pro-

The publisher of both the references i s
. John Wiley and Sons, 440 4th Ave., Net" York 16,
N.Y.

- 38 -

Chandler Davis also tells us that the best
bibliography on linear programming that he knavs
of is one published by the Linda Hall Library,
Kansas City, Mo. - an unusual source.- Editor.

N E \\'
nAY~.10Nn

Forll

n.

P A

'r E N T

S

SKOLNICK, Reg. Potent Agent
Co., Div. of Sperry (bind Corp.
Long Island City, ~.Y.

IJl.~trument

The following is a compilation of patents pertaining to computers and associated equipment from the
Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office,
dates of issue as indicated. Each entry consists
of: patent number / inventor (s) / llS'lignee linvention.
August 9, 1955 (contin~~9):
2,715,206 / James W.
Light, Greenville, Ohio and lioward M. Geyer, Dayton, Ohio / General Motors Corp., Detroit, Mich.
/ A device for controlling the synchronous operation of a plurality of rotating elements.
August 16, 1955:
2,715,274 / Hubert M. James, Belmont, Mass. 7 U.S.A. / An electrical computer for
determining the angu:ar posi tion of ali n e 0 f
sight from a given position to a target with respect to a moving reference plane.
2,715,277 / Walter T. Lang, Brooklyn, N.Y. I Control Instrument Co., Brooklyn, N.Y. I Two-vector
navigational computer.
2,715,497 / Marcel E. Droz and Raymond L. Garman,
Cambridge, Mass. / U.S.A. / An electrical computer for the continuous solution in a polar coordinate reference system of the instantaneouspos~
tion of a IOOving obj ec t in space from its h 0 r izontal and vertical velocity components.
2,715,678 / Kay H. Barney, Great Neck, N.Y. / - /
A method to quantize a varying voltage toprodure
a reversible output in digital form.
2,715,679/ Erberto Kleissl, Milan, Italy / Fabrica Ita1iana Magneti Marelli Societa per Azioni,
Milan, Italy / An automatic phase corrector whidJ.
operates from a source of input signals.
2,715,703 / Oscar H. Schuck, Minneapolis, Minn. I
Minneapolis- Honeywell Regulator Co., Minneapolis,
Minn. / Remote digital controllers.
2,715,721 I Et, Paul,
Minn. I International Business Machines Corp.,
.New York I A data conversion system.
2,718,357 I Aurelius Sandor, New York I - I A logarithmic calculator.
2,718,449 I Raymond G. Piety and Fred L. McMillan
Jr., Bartlesville, Oklahoma I Phillips Petroleum
Co. '/ An apparatus for producing pulses of electrical energy indicative of the average value of
a pulsating signal voltage.
2,718,633 I Donald T. Fennessy, East Orange, N.J.
I Monroe Calculating Machine Co., Orange, N.J.I
A keyboard for producing serial pulses representative of decimal digits in a code wherein the
representation for each odd decimal digit is the
same as that for the next lower even digit plus
that for the decimal digit one.
2,718,634 I Siegfried Hansen, Los Angeles, Calif.
I Hughes Aircraft Co.,1 A computer system wherein digital numbers containing a plurality of digits according to a predetermined radix, are represented by constant potential signals ha vi n g
values proportional to the corresponding digit~
A device for converting a digital number intoan
analog signal.
"
I

September 27, 1955:
2, 719,225 I Frank A. Morris,
Rochester, N.Y. I General Dynamics Corp. I An
ampli tude modulated signal pulse demodulator circuit.
2,719,226 I Bernard M. Gordon and Herman Lukoff,
Philadelphia, Pa. I Remington Rand, Inc., New
York, N.Y. I A timed signal generator
2,719,227 I Bernard M. Gordon, Philadelphia, Pa.
I Sperry Rand Corp. I A counting apparatus.
2,719,228 I Isaac L. Auerbach, Philadelphia, Pa.,
and Stanley B. Disson, Falls Church, Va. I Burroughs Corp., Detroit, Mich. I A binary computation circuit •.
2,719,250 I Willem Six, Jacobus Domburg, and Johannes T.A. van Lottum, Eindhoven, Netherlandsl
Hartford National Bank and Trust Co., Hartford,
Conn. I An apparatus for receiving and recording at least two series of pulses.
,
2,719,285 I Alexander Greenfield, Detroit, Mich.1
Bendix Aviation Corp., Detroit, Mich. I An a pparatus for measuring a plurality of conditions
and for conv~rting each measurement into a plurality of pulses spaced in accordance with the
values of the different digits in the measurement.
October 4. 1955:
2,719,670 I Donald H. Jacobs,
Wood Acres, Harold L. Shoemaker, Bethesda, and
Michael May, Ashton, Md.1 Donald H. Jacobs I A
digi tal computer having a plurali ty of registers,
each containing a number of bi-stable devices
one for each denominational order in the capacity of the register, and means for determining
before an addition is made whether addition of
the values contained in the same denominational
order of the registers will produce a carry to
the next higher order.
2,719,671 I Fridthiof O~V. Larsen, Gentofte, near
Copenhagen, Denmark I Aktiebolaget Duba, Stockholm, Sweden I An electrical calculating system.
2,719,940 I John C. West, Hindley, England I National Research Development Corp., London, EngI_and I A coorse-fine position-control rervo system.

new
digital
magnetic
tape
transport
~
the AMPEX FR200 for digital handling ,provides new pertormance
standards, new convenience features and an unmatched excellence of design
NEW EASE OF TAPE CHANGE •••

HIGH·SPEED START AND STOP •••

The time saving feature of single loop threading is provided by a lever which moves the idlers into a straight
line. This arrangement eliminates chance of 'faulty
.d;hreading by unskilled 'personnel.

On the Ampex FR200 the tape attains full speed or full
stop within less than 5 milliseconds to provide high information storage density. A remote control provision is
provided, as well as pushbuttons on the topplate.

NEW MACHINE·TO·MACHINE TAPE COMPATIBILITY •••

NEW STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE •••

All Ampex FR200 Tape Transports are manufactured
to exact standards that permit tapes recorded on one to
be reproduced on any other. Ampex-to-Ampex compatibility is guaranteed - and at no extra cost.

The FR200 brings to digital applications the reliability,
durability and adherence to specification that have made
Ampex Tape Recorders the most widely used in instrumentation.

NEW PLUG·IN HEADS TO MATCH OTHER
TAPE TRANSPORTS •••

NEW LOW PRICES BEGINNING AT $2675

The Ampex FR200 uses self aligning plug-in head assemblies. These can be furnished to match other digital
or analog tape recorders to permit tape interchange.
A second head stack for monitoring or "off-tape" parity
checking can also be added if desired.

The base price of $2675 is for a complete FR207-TB
tape transport, with 7-track head, for %-inch tape operating at 30 ips tape speed. Prices will be quoted on
machines with other tape speeds, multiple speeds, other
tape widths and other heads.

FULL SPECIFICATIONS ON THE FR200 and description of , . - - - - - - - ,
its features and accessories are given in descriptive literature.
For your copy, write Dept. VV~2539

934 CHARTER STREET
REDWOOD CITY.
CALIFORNIA

IIISTRICT OFFICES: New York; Chicago; Atlanta; Dayton; Redwood City; Silver Spring, Maryland (Washington D.q. Area)
DBTRIBUTORS: Radio Shack, Boston; Bing Crosby Enterprises, Los Angeles; Southwestern Engineering & Equipment, Dallas

and Houston; Ampex-American in Canada.

- 41 -

New Patents

,October 11, 1955:
2w720.585 I James R. Deen,
Hollywood,.Calif. I Gilfillan Bros. Inc., Los
Angeles, Calif. I A ~thod~or producing relatively long gate vol tages from a series of pulses.
2,720,587 I William I.L. Wu, New York I U.S.A. I
A method of converting an input signal comprising a first series of pulses of alternate polarity and varying amplitude into an output signal
whose magnitude is substantially proportional to
the difference in amplitude of the alternate input-signal pulses.
2,720,626 I Willis G. Wing, Roslyn Heights, N.Y.I
Sperry Rand Corp., I An integrator.
October 18. 1955:
2,721,269 I Lane Wolman, Van
Nuys, Calif. I Librascope, Inc.,)Glendale, CaUL
I A damping circuit having an inductively and a
capacitively reactive portion and arranged to be
sharply resonant at a particular line frequency
l-vhen current is supplied to said cireui t from a
power source.
2,721,284 I Edward M. Elmer, Santa Monica, Calif.
I Summers Gyroscope Co., Santa Monica, Calif. I
An integrating motor.
2,721,302 I Maurice E. Bivens and William'B. Hila,
Schenectady, Netv York I General Electric Co. I
A frequency and phase converting control c irruit.
2,721,308 I Maurice M. Levy, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada I General Electric Co., Limited, London,England I An apparatus for generating a pulse modulation signal from an input signal which has the
means for supplying a reference level which may
vary in known manner wi th respect to time.
2,721,318 I Ronald H. Barker, Christchurch, England I National Research Development Corp., London, England I A synchroni~ing arrangement for
pulse code systems.
2,721,320 I Henry S. Sommers, Jr., Belmont, Mass.
I U.S .A. I A signal comparison system for detecting the presence of an object by pulsed energy
reflected therefro~.
October 25. 1955:
2,721,696 I Joseph D. Eisler
and Elihu II. Cooley, Tulsa, Oklahoma I Stanolind Oil and Gas Co., Tulsa, Okla. I A phase
equilibrium computer.
2,721,699 I William R. Baker, Berkeley, Calif. I
U.S.A. I A beam current integratoro
2,721,938 I Robert B. Trousdale, Rochester, N.Y./
General Dynamics Corp. I A signal generating
system for deriving, from a periodic input signal, a plurality of phase displaced signal.
2,721,990 I Joseph T. McNaney, San Diego, Calif.1
General Dynamics Corp. / An apparatus for locating information in a magnetic tape.

GREETING TO COMPUTEPS
In the December issue we posed a "Numble"
(a number puzzle for nimble minds) -- a "greeting to computers". It lias:
MER R Y

+

XMAS

=RSMEY
HAP P Y
+-

NEW

+

YEA R

=HRRES
GEM=HEW
and: 86986

14756 94379

55431

70

Solve for the digits
each letter
stands for just one digit 0 to 9.
The solution follo1\'s: Change W to M. Y
plus S ends in Y; therefore S is zero. R plus
M plus zero or one carried ends in M, which is
different from S; therefore one is carried and
R is 9. M plus one carried is R (9); therefore
M is 8. Y plus M (8) plus R (9) ends in S (0);
therefore Y is 3. A plus Y (3) plus zero, one,
or two carried ends in R (9) with no carry; but
two cannot be carried since the most P, N, E
can be is 7,6,5, since R is 9 and M is 8; therefore A is 6 or 5. R (9) plus A (6,5) plus zeD)
carried ends in E, which is therefore 5 or 4. E
(5,4) plus X, plus one carried ends in S (O),and
therefore is 10; so X is 9 -- minus E or 4 or 5.
Both A 5 and X 5 is a contradiction. Therefore
A is 6, E is 5, and X is 4. The ten digits in
order 0 to 9 are S, N, P, Y, X, E, A, (G, H) ,
(M, W), R. The numerical part of the messag e
is (M, W), A, R(M, W), A, N, X, (G, II) , E, A, R,
X, Y, (G, II) , R, E, E, X, Y, N, tG, II) , S, Ivhich
wi th appropriate choices is quite clearly" WARM
AND HEARTY GREETINGS".
For more information about Numbles, see
,description of publication P 25 on page 47.

- END -

*------------------------_.::_-----------------------*
Forum
WESTERN JOINT COMPUTER CONFERENCE AND EXHIBIT
FAIRMONT HOTEL, SAN FRANCISCO,
FEBRUARY 7 TO 9, 1956

Thursday, Feb. 9: VII: Applications / VIII: Circuits / IX: RCA Bizmac System
35 papers including "Gestal t Programming:
A New Concept in Automatic Programming" by Douglns
T. Ross, Servo Lab, MIT; "An Automatic Supervisor
for the IBM 702" by Bruse Moncreiff, Rane! Cor p.;
"Unusual Problems and Their Solutions" by L. Rosenfeld, Melpar, Inc.; "Purpose and Application of t:le
RCA Bizmac Sys tem" by W. K.Hals tead and others, RCA;
etc.

~

Tuesday, Feb. 7: Opening Addresses / Session I:
Programming and Coding / II: Accessories / Cocktail Party
Wednesday, Feb. 8: III: Description and Design/
IV: Systems / Luncheon I V: Design, Programming,
and Coding / VI: Applications
(continued on botton of next column)

-

- 42 -

F;\D -

.M

A

N

U

s c

We are interested in articles, papers, reference information, science. fiction, and discussion relating to computers and automation.
To be considered for any particular issue, the
manuscript should be in our hands by the fifth
of the preceding month.

I

P

T

s

cations. An article may certainly be co n troversial if the subject is discussed reJsonably.
Ordinarily, the length should be 1000 to 4000
words. A suggestion for an article should be
submitted to us before too much work is done.
Technical Papers. Many of the foregoing r equirements for articles do not n e c es sa r i ly
apply to technical papers. Undefined techni-cal terms, unfamiliar assumptions, mathematics,
circuit diagrams, etc., may be entirely appropriate. Topics interesting probably to only
a few people are acceptable.

Articles. We desire to publish articles t hat
are factual, useful, understandable, and interesting to many kinds of people engaged in one
part or another of the field of computers and
automation. In this audience are many people
Ivho have expert knowledge of some part of the
field, but Ivho are laymen in other parts of it.
Consequently a l'lri_ter should seek to e x pI a i n
his subject, and show ~ts context and significance. lie should define unfamiliar terms, or
use them in a way that makes .their meaning unmistakable. lie should identify ,unfa mili a r
persons Ivi th a few words. He should use examples, details, comparisons, analogies, etc.,
whenever they may help readers to understand
a difficul t point. He should give data s u pporting his argument and evidence for his assertions. We look particularly for articles that
explore ideas in the field of computers and
automation, and their applications and i mpli-

*--~-----------------------------------------

R

Reference Information. We desire to print or
reprint reference· information: lists, rosters,
abstracts, bibliographies, etc., of use to computer people. We are interested in rna king
arrangements for systematic publication fro m
time to time of such information, wi th othe r
people besides our own staff. A I'!y_ ....I
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Would you like to join one of the progressive
Computing Centers on the West Coast ...
where a broad variety of equipment and
activities will be a constant challenge?

This kit is an introduction to th e
design of arithmetical, logical,
reasoning, computing, puzzle-solving,
and game-playing circuits.

If you are already an experienced computing
analyst or engineer, you will find work
here to interest you.

It is simple enough for intelligent
boys to assemble, and yet is instructive to computer men because it shows
how many kinds of computing and
reasoning circuits can be made from
simple components.

If computing and data reduction are new to
you but you are a qualified engineer,
mathematician or a laboratory technician,
contact us and learn how you may establish a
career in this vital field.

Wi th this kit and 64-page rna n u aI,
you can easily make over 30 sma 1 1
electric brain machines that exhibit
intelligent behavior. Each runs on
one flashlight battery. All connections with nuts and bolts; no s 0 1dering required. Price, $17.95 (add
80t for shipment in U. S. wes t of
Mississippi, $1.80 for shi pm en t
outside U. S.). If not satisfactory,
returnable in seven days for full
refund.

Applied mathematicians and engineers are
needed as computing analysts for assignment
to Northrop's analogue computing facility, and
too, for the newly expanded digital electronic
computer department which provides
unparalleled service in the practical solution of
complex engineering problems.

A few of the machines you can make:
Logic Machines: Reasoning, Syllogism
Machine, Intelligence Testing. Gameplaying Machines: Nim, Tit-tat-toe.
Ad thmetic Machines: Adding, S u btracting, Multiplying, Di vid in g,
carrying, etc. Cryptographic: Machines :
Secret Coder and Decoder, Combination
Locks. Puzzle Machines: The Space
Ship Airlock, The Fox Hen Corn and
Hired Man, Douglas Macdonald's Will,
The Uranium Ship and the Space Pirates.

Design and development groups of Northrop's
Computing Center offer additional opportunities
in the original development of computing
and data reduction components and systems.
Laboratory technicians, electronic engineers
and mechanical engineers are needed
for the design and development in
reconnaissance data systems and computing
equipment involving transistors, magnetic
decision elements, printed circuits and
miniaturization techniques.

Mail this Request
------or a Copy of It-------

A large number of job classifications written
specifically for computing personnel
provide unlimited opportunities with proper
salary and advancement assured. If you qualify
for any phase of computer research, design
or application, contact: Northrop Aircraft, Inc.,
1001 E. Broadway, Hawthorne, California.
Phone ORegon 8-9111, Extension 1893.

Berkeley Enterprises, Inc.
36 West 11 St., R142, New York 11,

N. Y.
Please send me Geniac Kit No.1 and
Manual. Price, $17.95 (add 80¢for
shipment in U. S. west of Mississippi,
$1.80 for shipment outside U. S. )
1 enclose
in full
payment. (If in good condition,it
is returnable in seyen days for full
refund.) My name and address are
attached.

NORTHROP AIRCRAFT, INC.
PIONEERS IN ALL WEATHER AND PILOTLESS FLIGHT

5·A·4:;!·A

- 53 -

ADVERTISING INDEX
The purpose of COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION is to be
factual, useful, and understandable. For th~ pur·
pose, the kind of advertising we desire to publish
is the kind that answers questions, such as: What
are your produc ts? What are your services: And
for each product, What is it called? What does it
do? How t~ell does it work? What are its m a i n
specifications? We reserve the right not tu aa:ept
advertising that does not meet our standards.

Hughes Research and Development Laboratories, Culver City, Calif. / Help Wanted / page 47 / CA
No. 72
Lockheed Aircraft Corp., California Div., Burbank
Calif. / Missile Systems Mathematics / page 5 /
CA No. 73
The Glenn L. Martin Company, Baltimore 3, Md. /
Simulation Engineering / page 45 / CA No. 77
l~orthrop Ai rc raf t, Inc., Hawth orne, Calif. / lIe 1p
Wanted / page 53 / CA No. 74
Potter Instrument Co., 115 Cutter Mill Rd., Great
Neck N. Y. / Digital Magnetic and Perforated Tape
Handlers / page 49 / CA No. 75
Remington Rand, Inc., 315 4th Ave., New York 10,
N.Y. / Univac / page 55 / CA No. 76
Sprague Electric Co., 377 Marshall S1., North Adams,
Mass. / Miniature pulse transformers / page 56
/ CA No. 77
Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., 175 Great Arrot'J
Ave., Buffalo 7, N.Y. / Help Wanted / page 51 /
CA No. 78

Following is the index and a summary of advertisements. Each i tern contains: Name and address 0 f
the advertiser / subject of the advertisement /
page number where it appears / CA number in case
of inquiry (see note below).
Aircraft Marine Products, Inc., 2100 Paxton St. ,
Harrisburg, Pa. / Taper Technique / page 2 /
CA No. 66
Ampex Corporation, 934 Charter St., Redtiood cfty
Calif. / Digi tal Magnetic Tape Transport / page
41 / CA No. 67
Arma Division, American Bosch Arma Corp., Roosevelt Field, Garden City, L. I., New York / Engineering Opportunities / page 51 / CA No. 68
Berkeley Enterprises, Inc., 36 West 11 St., N e tV
York 11, N. Y. / Publications, Robot Show Stoppers,
Geniac / pages47, 49, 53 / CA No. 69
Computers and Automation, 36 West 11 St., New York
11, N.Y. / Roster Entry Forms, Back Copies, Advertising / pages 48, 50, 52 / CA No. 70
, Ferroxcube Corp., East Bridge St., Saugerties, N.Y.
/ Magnetic Core Materials / page 43 / CA No. 71

READER'S INQUIRY
If you wish more information about any produc ts
or serVIces mentioned in one or more of these
advertisements, you may circle the appropriate
CA Nos. on the Reader's Inquiry Form below and
send that form to us (tOJe pay postage; see the
instructions). We shall then fo~vard your inquiries, and you will hear from the advertisers
direct. If you do not wish to tear the magazine,
just drop us a line on a postcard.

--------------------------------------------*--------------------------------------------*
READER'S INQUIRY FORM
Paste label on

Enclose form in envelope: ~

envelope:~

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REMARKS:

-I 0

~~ ; ~

- - - - ~ - - - - - - - - -'- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- 54 -

The Univac Scientific Computing System

Launching TOl11orro\N's Satellite
When the first man-made satellite is
launched on its orbit around the earth,
it will owe its existence to the thousands of missiles which have preceded
it, and to the careful analysis of their
patterns of Right. The Univac Scientific
of Remington Rand has speeded this
effort immeasurably, handling flight
analyses for the nation's guided missile
program.
Each missile firing, each analysis, involves enormous amounts of in-Right

data, with manual computations normally requiring from 250 to 500 hours.
This staggering work load is accomplished by the Univac Scientific Electronic Computer in approximately 4 to
8 minutes.
Because of its ability to reduce large
volumes of data at tremendous speeds,
the Univac Scientific System easily
handles even the most difficult research
problems. Its speed is matched by
many other outstanding characteristics,

ROOM 1162,315 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK 10

including: superb operating efficiency,
obtained through large storage capacity
... great programming versatility ...
the ability to operate simultaneously
with a wide variety of input-output devices ... and far greater reliability than
any computer of its type.
For more information about the
Univac Scientific System or for information about how you might apply the
system to your particular problems,
write on your business letterhead to ...

-...--~--.~""'L.

-..-

--~.

. --

--.

----

~ ~
.

DIVISION OF SPERRY RAND CORPORATION

55



---

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