Pioneers of computing

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Brent Hilpert	
	
    >>> Back in 1965 Jack Kilby, Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel at texas
    >>> Instruments created an integrated circuit designed to replace the
    >>> calulator. Historians, though not all, credit this development as the
    >>> beginning of the electronic-computing revolution that was truly underway
    >>> by the mid-70s. 

    >> Scotty, more power to the Reality Distortion Field!

    > 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.

It's not clear which element of the original post that Al was referring to; I
saw several things I might disagree with:

- Unless you look at the date carefully, the notion that TI's work developing
chips was intended to replace the calculator.

- The notion that it was calculators that drove the development of micros;
Intel had actually started work on a micro for Datapoint, which was
eventually released as the 8008, _before_ they started on the 4004 for
Busicom.


I'd have to think long and hard before I rendered a judgement on how
important digital pocket calculators were to where we are today.

My initial reaction is to say 'not very', though - early personal computers,
centered on Silicon Valley, were mostly driven by having, well, a personal
computer. It's not clear that widespread ownership of personal calculators
did anything to drive that.

	Noel