Pioneers of computing

On 2019-Mar-10, at 5:16 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: It's not an out-to-lunch suggestion. The digital pocket calculator was the first mass-market digital electronic device to be put in the hands of the consumer. Yes, all of us here know there were digital computers and other digital electronic devices around many years before, but the digital pocket calculator has a significant place at the beginnings of the transition to the ubiquity of such technology in everyday life, as opposed to being behind-the-scenes in business, labs, and industry. One can argue the transition would have happened without the pocket-calculator market - just how influential it was in driving the innovation can be debated - but the historical fact is it was there, and a large market in the context.