The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California is an incredible walk through the computing timeline. The exhibits range from 17th century calculators to the iconic Cray Supercomputer featured in Jurassic Park.
Revolution. Current branding theme for the Computer History Museum.
Computing timeline 1950s to present.
Google's Maps car. I sat in it. It's no S2000.
A working model of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine.
Slide rules and very early calculators.
Handheld calculators from the 1970s.
Prototype 1949 precursor to today's magnetic hard drives.
Encryption and decryption device (Enigma machine) from Nazi Germany.
This old school commercial for the UNIVAC cracked me up. Nothing like 1950s advertising trying to explain computing to a mass audience years before personal computers (or even microcomputers) were invented.
The System/360 that still underpins billions of dollars in income for IBM. Also made famous in Fred Brooks' book The Mythical Man Month.
Timeline and influences in programming language history.
My current favorite programming language. Python. Dear God not Visual Basic.
Cray workers' gear.
A computer. In the kitchen. Imagine the possibilities! Complete commercial failure.
Sampling of Intel processors from the 1980s through the early 2000s. I remember building computers with almost all these chips (8088 was ahead of my time). I also skipped over the Pentium II for AMD's Athlon chips.
Early Pixar computer workstation.
My childhood entertainment is now in a museum.
Advertisements for very early "laptops."
Learn more about the Computer History Museum and take the time to visit next time you are in the Bay Area.
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