http://www.computer.org/annals From the analytical engine to the supercomputer, from Pascal to von Neumann, from punched cards to CD-ROMs -- the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing covers the breadth of computer history. Featuring scholarly articles by leading computer scientists and historians, as well as firsthand accounts by computer pioneers, the Annals is the primary publication for recording, analyzing, and debating the history of computing. The Annals also serves as a focal point for people interested in uncovering and preserving the records of this exciting field. The quarterly publication is an active center for the collection and dissemination of information on historical projects and organizations, oral history activities, and international conferences. en-us Wed, 4 Jan 2012 11:00:01 GMT http://csdl.computer.org/common/images/logos/annals.gif List of recently published journal articles http://www.computer.org/annals http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.87 The silicon integrated circuit can be traced back to developments that occurred at Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Based on insights of physicists Jean Hoerni, who invented the planar manufacturing process, and Robert Noyce, who suggested how this process might be used to fashion integrated circuits, a group of engineers and scientists working under Jay Last and Victor Grinich developed the intricate techniques needed to succeed, and Fairchild began manufacturing these devices in 1961. Using information from laboratory notebooks, internal company memoranda, oral histories, and personal communications, we reconstruct and analyze the activities of this team — including the company’s efforts to improve and market integrated circuits during the early 1960s. The fact that the eventual Fairchild approach was a lithographic process, with essentially all fabrication steps applied from one side of the silicon wafer, had much to do with its subsequent commercial success. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.87 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.84 Charles Phipps was the first contracts program and marketing manager for integrated circuits at Texas Instruments from the beginning of this technology in 1959 through the mid 1960s. In this article, he details the development of integrated circuit development at Texas Instruments in this period, the creation of markets for this technology in military and commercial computing, and the defining roles of Patrick Haggerty and Jack Kilby. Since Kilby’s first work on the semiconductor integrated circuit, Texas Instruments has been a leading producer of them to the present. Phipps’ account is the first to provide a comprehensive review of the early history of integrated circuits at the firm. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.84 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.82 The United States (US) Department of Defense (DoD) provided the driving force behind the development of highly sophisticated computer penetration methodologies. By analyzing the security of the nation's time-sharing computer systems, security analysts developed an expert understanding of computer penetration, enabling them to break into the securest systems. The publicly funded studies, which began in the mid to late 1960s, united experts throughout the defense establishment, including specialists from industry and academia. As the research programs continued, the mainstream media consistently sensationalized computer crimes, helping the DoD legitimize its investment. Eventually, the US and its intelligence agencies utilized computer penetration techniques to wage offensive cyber attacks. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.82 http://opac.ieeecomputersociety.org/opac?year=2011&volume=33&issue=04&acronym=annals IEEE Annals of the History of Computing http://www.computer.org/portal/site/annals/ http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.64 Geoffrey W. A. Dummer of the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) in Malvern, England described his idea of semiconductor "solid circuits" at a conference in Washington, DC in 1952. He created a model flip-flop circuit using silicon resistors and transistors interconnected with deposited conductive films and placed a contract with the Plessey Company in 1957 to develop the concept design into a product. Inadequate funding, lack of access to necessary expertise, and scepticism by potential customers led to cancellation of the project. Dummer’s work was revived at RRE in 1960 and an oscillator, the first working integrated circuit produced in the UK, was demonstrated in January 1961. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.64 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.63 The introduction of programmable pocket calculators in mid 1970s opened up a new segment of the personal computing devices market. The users of programmable calculators established clubs, magazines and conferences, demonstrating the willingness to openly share their programs and innovations with fellow enthusiasts. Their interaction with manufacturers often generated an actionable feedback, shaping the further development of the product. This article explores one of the understudied roots of personal computing development, through the evolution of user communities joined around two representative programmable calculators, the TI-59 and the HP-41C. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.63 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.62 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) personnel investigated various approaches to microcircuitry as early as 1953. An early manufacturer of monolithic bipolar integrated circuits (ICs) for consumer and computer applications, RCA’s lasting contribution to the development of ICs was the based on the field-effect transistor. Work by Torkel Wallmark on bipolar Unijunction Transistors (UJT), Paul Weimer’s Thin-Film Transistor (TFT), and Steven Hofstein and Fred Heiman’s Metal Oxide Silicon (MOS) transistor, led to the company’s pioneering effort in CMOS (complementary MOS) silicon integrated circuits and microprocessors in the late 1960s and 1970s. This article is a practitioner account contributed by Richard Ahrons who spent 19 years at RCA between 1954 and 1982. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.62 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.61 Abstract: In January 1950, George W. Reitwiesner published “An ENIAC Determination of π and e to more than 2000 Decimal Places” in Mathematical Tables and Other Aides to Computation which described the first use of a computer, the ENIAC, to calculate the decimal expansion of π. Since the history of π stretches back over thousands of years, the use of the ENIAC to determine π is an important historical and technological milestone. It is especially interesting since the ENIAC was not designed to perform this type of calculation as it could only store 200 decimal digits while the determination of e and π required manipulating numbers 2000+ digits long. Starting with Reitwiesner’s description of the calculation, the known architecture of the ENIAC, how it was programmed, and the mathematics used, we examine why the calculation was undertaken, how the calculation had to be done, and what was subsequently learned. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2011.61