Brian Beckman: A Brief History of Computing

Posted By: Charles | Aug 31st, 2007 @ 11:07 AM

I recently got the chance to sit down with Brian Beckman, physicist, programmer and Channel 9 celebrity, to learn about the history of computing. As you know, Brian is a great teacher. This lesson focuses on the evolution of computing devices and delves into some of the not-so-obvious uses of hand-held programmable calculators in the not-so-distant past.

Did you know that the 1975 Apollo Soyuz international space mission incorporated a programmable calculator, the HP-65, to calculate precise course corrections for the rendezvous and linking of Apollo and Soyuz space crafts? A calculator!! Indeed, programmable calculators are the predecessors of today's computers. But what came before the hand-held computing titans of the 70s? What was the first computer?

Brian has quite a collection of computing devices in his office, some of which, as expected, predate digital devices. We get a look at these and learn about their place in history.

Of course, Brian is a software developer with uncanny capability for designing accurate simulations (remember the Forza math interview?) so he decided to write an innovative application that simulates the HP-97, precisely. Brian works on the Data Programmability team (SQL, LINQ, Entity Framework, etc) so he implemented the HP-97's programmability and storage in ADO.NET and SQL. Brian will be producing a C9 Screencast to dig into what he did, so look for this showing up soon!

As always, it was a pleasure to converse with Brian and learn about how computers got to where they are today. It's a long interview, so get comfortable, relax, and learn from a master.

Tags: ADO.NET, Brian Beckman, Computing, MS Personalities, SQL Server

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Cyonix
Me

That was fun Smiley

Cavan

I for one, would love to see a regular "Brian Beckman" show here on C9.

Just a quick note, tried to stream this and I was having some problems, then I went to download it. Isn't 1.2 gigs a bit large for an hours worth of video?

Now don't get me wrong, it's Brian Beckman, I truly feel like you could just film that guy ordering lunch and somehow I'd learn...., so I'll download it size be damned Smiley