Pioneers of computing

[Paul Koning]

> On Mar 12, 2019, at 5:51 PM, Murray McCullough via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> ...
> I’ve written in my book on the History of the Microcomputer a history of
> the processing chip as the timeline follows an approximation of:
> 
> Late *1950*s – patent on integrated circuit by Texas Instruments
> 
> *1950*s to *1960*s – move from vacuum tubes to TTL technology
> 
>      programs/functions in ROM

You turned two steps into one: vacuum tubes to discrete transistors (1958 to mid 1960s) then transistors to TTL SSI ICs (1965-1975 or so), then CMOS and LSI.  With some detours -- some high end computers using ECL, for example.

Also, when you said ROM you probably meant semiconductor ROM (mask ROM); earlier there was core ROM, invented (two variations, one in the USA and one in Holland, apparently independently) around 1957 and first appearing in a commercial computer in the 1958 Electrologica X1.

	paul