Oldest operational computer - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

15 Feb 2008

...
  Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:38:24 +0100 (CET)
 From: Christian Corti  
...
  And what's special about that? Historically a
"computer" is a person who
 does computations (what else?), this job description may well originate
 from the 19th century. And a "compiler" generally is/was an insult for
 someone, mostly for scientists/students and the like, because that meant
 that they "compiled" their work mostly/completely from foreign texts. 
Indeed.  I recall that the preface to the ANSI FORTRAN specifications 
...
 from at least F77 state that no attempt is being made
to specify what  is meant by a "computer" and that it could well be a
human being.

I'm not sure, but I think the CODASYL documents say the same thing.

I also recall a dialogue with one of the WWII codebreakers where the 
"Computer Room" was where the folks using pencil and paper and 
comptometers worked.

Cheers,
Chuck