Thomas J. Bergin

The Origins of Word Processing Software for Personal Computers: 1976-1985

Since Electric Pencil first debuted in 1976, more than 400 other word processing packages have emerged, most fading into oblivion. This article recounts the history of microcomputer word processing software - focuses on three of the earliest word processing software packages, Electric Pencil, EasyWriter, and WordStar, which was the mid-1980s leader in the CP/M, PC-DOS, and MS-DOS operating system environments

The Proliferation and Consolidation of Word Processing Software: 1985-1995

Following development of the early word processing software packages

Guest Editors' Introduction: History of Database Management Systems

Electric Pencil, EasyWriter, and WordStar - and the IBM PCs arrival, the race among vendors began in earnest to win market share. Of the more than 400 software packages available in the mid-1980s, only a scant few survived. This article tells the story of how word processing software evolved in response to market pressures, new hardware capabilities, user demand, and corporate decision making

The Commercialization of Database Management Systems, 1969–1983

This issue tells the history of database management systems through a series of pioneer recollections, principally from people who founded the major DBMS companies or were heavily involved in the growth and development of these products and companies. These eight recollections cover the principal DBMS software products for IBM mainframe computers. IBM itself was a significant player in this marketplace with its IMS product, but all the other products were produced and marketed by independent software companies. Many historians and industry analysts believe that these products and these companies formed the foundation on which the mainframe software products industry was built.

What Is a Computer? An Answer from the Past

Database management systems were the most important commercial software packages of the 1970s. The authors reconstruct their early history by examining the evolution of their capabilities and installed base. They also document early user experiences, including the sources from which potential users learned about these new technologies, new roles such as the database administrator, and new concepts such as the data dictionary.

Jean Sammet: Programming Language Contributor and Historian, and ACM President

By now, literally millions of people have asked the question, “What is a computer?” Millions of replies have defined it in many different ways, and the definition has changed over time as computers have increased in capacity and capability. This article contains one of the earliest definitions by J. Presper Eckert, one of the fathers of the computer field. The purpose of this contribution to the Annals is to record in the published literature a press release on the EDVAC II effort from March 1947 when no stored-program computers existed anywhere.

History of programming languages---II

Jean E. Sammet was born on 23 March 1928, in New York City. Her parents, Harry and Ruth Sammet, were both lawyers. Harry’s legal practice included wills and estates; Ruth stopped working when she married. Jean and her younger sister, Helen, attended public elementary schools in Manhattan. Jean’s interest in mathematics surfaced at a very young age but she could not attend the Bronx High School of Science because it didn’t accept girls. Instead, Jean went to Julia Richman High School, an all-girls’ public school, where she took every available math course. After examining a number of college catalogs from women’s colleges, Jean chose Mount Holyoke on the strength of its mathematics program. Jean majored in mathematics and took enough education courses to be certified to teach high school mathematics in New York; she minored in political science. After graduation, Jean pursued graduate studies at the University of Illinois, receiving her MA in 1949. She was a teaching assistant in the Mathematics department from 1948 to 1951 while taking courses toward a PhD. In 1951, Jean began looking for a teaching position. New York City was not hiring new high school teachers [3B2-8] man2009010076.3d 12/2/09 14:3 Page 76