IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

Although not well known, the University of Toronto had a very early computer-development program and in 1952 was one of the first few institutions with an operable computer in North America. This article describes the university's initial attempt to build the UTEC computer and how it acquired the pioneering Ferut machine.<<ETX>> View full abstract»

The Ferut computer was a copy of the Mark 1 computer at the University of Manchester. Two years after its delivery in Toronto, systems software had been developed to vastly enlarge the community of users. To go from a few dedicated programmers patient enough to deal with the extremely difficult machine code to a situation where anyone with two hours to spare could program successfully was a major ... View full abstract»

Ferranti Canada's efforts to launch an indigenous computer industry/spl minus/with itself at the center/spl minus/and the eventual collapse of this dream constitute a more complex story than is told in the usual versions, which speak of great ideas lost to an unresponsive society. This article gives an account of Ferranti Canada's involvement in the beginnings of a Canadian electronics industry in... View full abstract»

The rapid growth of the airline industry in the immediate post-World War II years overwhelmed the manual reservation systems in use at that time. Trans-Canada Air Lines addressed this problem by developing ReserVec, a very early computerized airline reservation system that was designed and manufactured in Canada. ReserVec, unlike previous automated reservation systems, was fully programmable and r... View full abstract»

The article gives an account of the design, construction, and programming of the Canadian DRTE (Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment) computer, which possessed several unique features. It also describes some of the uses to which it was put. This computer is of interest because it incorporated several novel concepts, including a new form of transistorized flip-flop, a hardware decimal-... View full abstract»

There has been much speculation concerning the early use of the word "bug" in the language of computer science, technology, and practice. The purpose of the article is to indicate what may be the earliest application of "bug" in the context of computers. When the IBM ASCC/Harvard Mark I was installed at Harvard University, Robert V.D. Campbell was in charge of the operation of the machine. Bob Cam... View full abstract»

The author discusses his early years from birth in Hamilton, Ontario in 1908. He discusses his education, his marriage and his career in computing at the University of Toronto.<<ETX>> View full abstract»

The author relates his experience as cofounder of the Computer Usage Company (CUC). CUC, the world's first computer software company, was founded by John W. Sheldon and the author in March 1955. Previously, they had worked together for several years at the New York City IBM Technical Computing Bureau. Some 31 years later, CUC was declared bankrupt and ceased to exist. This memoir relates his remem... View full abstract»