Advent of Computing
by Sean Haas
Latest episode
Episode 193 - Digital Dating... SCAM?
Episode 193 - Digital Dating... SCAM?
About this podcast
Welcome to Advent of Computing, the show that talks about the shocking, intriguing, and all too often relevant history of computing. A lot of little things we take for granted today have rich stories behind their creation, in each episode we will learn how older tech has lead to our modern world.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 212 episodes
- Episode 193 - Digital Dating... SCAM? · 26 min · Episode 193Computers can do anything! They can open new fields of study, connect the world, and solve impossible problems. But can they find you love? The answer may be yes. That is, if you…
- Episode 192 - Local Computer Held Hostage! · 29 min · Episode 192Have you ever wanted to use your computer, only to realize that it had been taken hostage? Over the decades there have been a number of cases where machines have been used as…
- Episode 191 - The BHP Virus · 25 minI bet you can't make a virus for a home computer. That challenge was the start of an interesting saga. It would end with an honest to goodness computer virus spreading among…
- Episode 190 - Machine Room or DEATH TRAP!? · 30 min · Episode 190Boo! Welcome to Spook Month 2026! I start off my scary coverage by looking at the dangers of the mainframe rooms of the 50s and 60s. We all know that running computers can be a…
- Episode 189 - The IBM 701 · 1 h 5 minAt the end of the 1940s IBM stood at a crossroads. The punch card company had yet to enter the electronic computer market. Forces within and without were pushing them in that…
- Usagi Electric and the LGP-21 Restoration · 1 h 3 minWho can't resist Librascope hardware? Well, me, for one. And David from Usagi Electric is in the same boat. In this episode we sit down to talk about his LGP-21, how he got it…
- Episode 188 - Training and Teaching with the Bi-Tran Six · 53 min · Episode 188How did you learn about computers? And how in depth was your education? For some the answer is the Bi-Tran Six: an educational machine released in 1965. This was one of the first…
- Episode 187 - What's Better Than Binary? · 1 h 5 min · Episode 187Binary is synonymous with digital computing. But is it the only way to crunch numbers? The short answer is no. The long answer, well, that's today's topic. Today we are talking…
- LIVE from VCF West - Wait, Is That Really UNIX? · 48 minIt's no secret that I've been fascinated by odd UNIX clones for a while. When I got invited back to speak at VCF West this year I decided to share that fascination with a captive…
- Episode 186 - MADDIDA · 1 h 7 min · Episode 186In 1950 Northrup unveiled their MAgnetic Drum DIgital Differential Analyser. The machine is a wild piece of technology; a rendering of an analog computer in digital encoding. But…
- Episode 185 - Is EMUL-8ion a Form of Flattery? · 1 h 1 min · Episode 185EMUL-8 is a fascinating programming language. It's described in just one paper from 1977. It's a mix of features from APL, LISP, ALGOL, and SNOBOL. And, I think, it's a wonderful…
- Episode 184 - What Is A Programming Language? · 1 h 9 min · Episode 182I mean that both in the specific and the abstract. This episode we are looking at APL, which stands for A Programming Language. APL was developed in the mid 50s, but didn't see a…
- Dale Biagio - Hello, World! · 32 minDale Biagio(author of Hello, World!) got in touch with me recently. He said he had a book full of short histories of programming languages. Better still, it has sources! How…
- Episode 183 - A Digital Gap? · 55 min · Episode 182I've been browsing old compur surveys and trying to build up a comprehensive data set. What I've found is a little surprising: between late 1945 and 1949 only 10 new computers…
- Episode 182 - Spinning Memories · 59 min · Episode 182What connects IBM, the NSA, the Third Reich, and high fidelity recordings of symphonies? The answer is: magnetic drum memory. Join me as I lose all track of scope and plot to…
- Episode 181 - RAYDAC · 1 h 12 min · Episode 181In 1947 Raytheon signed a contract to make their first computer. It would be their last... at least for many many years. The fruits of this contract was RAYDAC. Early digital…
- Episode 180 - You Wouldn't Magnetize a Tape! · 1 h 6 minThe image of a mainframe is almost always accompanied by it's companion: the magnetic tape drive. For decades magnetic tape served as the medium of choice for computing. It was…
- Episode 179 - Programming Block by Block · 1 h 1 minIn which we discuss GPSS: the General Purpose Simulation Language. As for as languages go, this is a unique one. It's designed for certain types of simulations. It's code is just…
- Episode 178 - The Programma 101 · 1 h 2 min · Episode 178The Olivetti Programma 101 isn't quite like any other machine. On first glance it looks like a big desktop calculator. Inside, it's a purebred computer... but strange one. It…
- Dan Temkin - Forty-Four Esolangs · 52 minDan Temkin has been a long time friend of the show. I finally got the chance to sit down and talk with him about one of his latest projects. Forty-Four Esolangs is a "The first…
