Code Nation. Michael J. Halvorson

transcripts:

      At present there is a flavor of “game-playing” about many courses in computer science. I hear repeatedly from friends who want to hire good software people that they have found the specialist in computer science is someone they do not want. Their experience is that graduates in our programs seem to be mainly interested in playing games, making fancy programs that really do not work, writing trick programs, etc.³⁹

      Recall that J. W. Smith of SDS also made the same accusation against elite programmers whom he saw as “playing games” in their solutions. This is an attack akin to the mythical “ivory tower” trope of academic research, which supposedly rises in isolation above everyday concerns. Computing mythologiesbirth of computer science Computer science

      As a partial reply, several academics offered the counter charge that computer science was being unfairly equated with simply teaching programming skills. In fact, they argued, writing computer programs is just one of the proficiencies that Computer Science students need to learn. ACM Past-President Denning, Peter J. Peter J. Denning emphasized this point in his discussion of the attributes of a thorough Computer Science education:

      Every practitioner of the discipline [computer science] must be skilled in four basic areas: algorithmic thinking, representation, programming, and design… Even though everyone in the discipline is expected to know these skills, it is a mistake to equate computer science with any one of them, e.g., programming… There are many aspects of the discipline that do not involve programming even though they involve algorithmic thinking, representation, and design.⁴⁰

      This disjuncture between the academy and industry remains an important dynamic of modern computing culture, and it has engendered several myths, with each side accusing the other of infringements and narrow thinking. The fissure has also influenced the learn-to-program movement, because self-taught programmers only seek out some of the skills that they need, and they are often forced to chart their own course through mounds of textbooks, software manuals, programming forums, and boot camps without adequate mentoring or support. On the other hand, many self-taught programmers have done very well without academic support and degree programs, and they feel that the essence of computing relates to learning by doing, forming their own communities, and participating in the dynamic worlds of business and commerce—not learning to climb the ivory tower. Personal computing has been highly influenced by these debates.

2.7Computing mythologiescomputers for people Computers for the People

      San Francisco was a major hub of computing activity in the 1970s, both before and after the so-called PC Revolution “PC Revolution.” In the years before the introduction of the first microcomputers, the Bay Area was replete with high tech startups, engineers, hippies, intellectuals, and students advocating for change. A fascinating representation of these overlapping mindsets can be found in the life and experiences of Felsenstein, Lee Lee Felsenstein (1945– ), a Bay Area antiwar protestor with a Berkeley Electrical Engineering degree who combined political activism with a unique vision for computing technology. Felsenstein was one of the original members of the Homebrew Computing mythologiescomputers for people Computer Club, the influential group of tinkerers and entrepreneurs who began meeting about electronics and computing in Menlo Park in 1975. The club’s first meeting allowed participants to preview one of the early MITS Altair microcomputers, the famous device based on the Intel 8080 microprocessor that was revealed to popular acclaim in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics. At first there were 32 members active in the club. After about 6 months, the group had expanded to about 100 regular attendees, with a newsletter distribution of almost 300.⁴¹

      At Homebrew, Felsenstein met several people who would make major contributions to the development of PCs, including Gordon French, Fred Moore, Adam Osborn, Steve Wozniak, and Jobs, Steve Steve Jobs. Through these contacts, Felsenstein also came to know Brand, Stewart Stewart Brand, Nelson, Ted Ted Nelson, Bob Albrecht, Albrecht, Robert and other entrepreneurs and authors interested in print publishing.

      Felsenstein took part in the Free Speech Movement Free Speech Movement in Berkeley in 1964–1965, the first massive act of civil disobedience on an American college campus in the 1960s. The events at Berkeley were influenced by New Left politics, and they were deeply connected to the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War protests. Many students took part in all three struggles and saw them as part of the same cause. Figure 2.8 shows one creative way that Felsenstein used his engineering skills to prepare for these events. In 1969, he designed a device he called a Decentralized bull horn (FR-3) “decentralized bull horn” (FR-3), which allowed protesters to communicate in crowded situations typical of student movements.⁴² (See Figure 2.8.) The bull horn was designed to have input and output connectors so that many individual devices could be driven by one lead device. Using these tools, a crowd of protesters armed with the bull horns could speak to each other when crowd noise became too loud for regular communication. It was an engineering solution designed to help people participate effectively in free speech rallies without the loudness and distortion of contemporary systems.

      Felsenstein’s contributions to the movement usually brought together his love of technology with computing solutions that would help regular people. An early inspiration for his work was Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog Whole Earth Catalog, which connected Americans through print to a positive message on a massive scale. More theoretically, Felsenstein was also influenced by Ivan Illich’s book Tools for Conviviality (1973), which offered a conceptual rationale for using “limited” tools that might improve the lives of average citizens. Ivan Illich (1926–2002) was a Roman Computing mythologiescomputers for people Catholic priest and a staunch critic of mainstream, institutionalized education; he argued that a society functioned well when it made education broadly available and resisted the formation of elite groups that controlled and monetized the flow of information. Ideally, Illich wrote, learning would be hands-on, low-tech, and socially beneficial—what he defined as “convivial.”⁴³

      

      Figure 2.8Photo of Lee Felsenstein with a decentralized bullhorn that he designed in 1969. (Courtesy of the Computer History Museum, used with permission of Lee Felsenstein)

      Felsenstein was an electrical engineer by training and he had worked with computing systems at UC Berkeley and the Ampex Corporation, the later a maker of multitrack tape recording devices. Inspired by Illich and the Free Speech Movement, Felsenstein recognized in transistor technology the potential to offer citizens inexpensive access to communication tools and abundant sources of information. Like Stewart Brand and Ted Nelson, Felsenstein believed that appropriate tools could elevate the consciousness of average citizens and promote social change. Computing mythologiescomputers for people “We were looking for nonviolent weapons,” Felsenstein wrote, “and I suddenly realized that the greatest nonviolent weapon of all was information flow.”⁴⁴

      In August 1973, Felsenstein and four others created The Community Memory project Community Memory project in Berkeley, California. The goal of this endeavor was to build a simple time-sharing computer system that could function as a hub for information and community organizing in the region. The first Community Memory system was established in Leopold’s Records in Berkeley, a popular hangout for students, musicians, poets, and counterculture types of all ages. (For more about this organization and its mission, see Chapter 7.)

      The Community Memory information hub consisted of a teleprinter and a keyboard, surrounded by a simple cardboard case to protect the system and reduce the shrill noise that emitted from the teleprinter. The device was connected via a 110-baud link to a reconditioned Scientific Data Systems 940 time-sharing computer in San Francisco. By using the teleprinter and simple commands, novice users could compose short messages, associate them with keywords, and post them to the system. Users could also search for messages or general topics of interest using keywords. There were helpful signs for users explaining how to operate the device, and typically a Community Memory volunteer was nearby to offer help and encouragement. The device functioned as a community