Expensive Typewriter
Encyclopedia
Expensive Typewriter was a text editing program that ran on the DEC PDP-1 computer that had been recently delivered at MIT. Since it could drive an IBM Selectric typewriter
(a letter-quality printer
), it may be considered the first word processing
program, although it was not WYSIWYG
, having no CRT
display. It was written and improved between 1961 and 1962 by Steve Piner and L. Peter Deutsch
.
In the spirit of an earlier editor, named "Colossal Typewriter
", it was called "Expensive Typewriter" because at the time the PDP-1 cost a lot of money (approximately 100,000 USD).
IBM Selectric typewriter
The IBM Selectric typewriter was a highly successful model line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on July 31, 1961.Instead of the "basket" of individual typebars that swung up to strike the ribbon and page in a traditional typewriter, the Selectric had a type element that rotated and...
(a letter-quality printer
Letter-quality printer
A letter-quality printer was a form of computer impact printer that was able to print with the quality typically expected from a business typewriter such as an IBM Selectric.A letter-quality printer operates in much the same fashion as a typewriter...
), it may be considered the first word processing
Word processing
Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
program, although it was not WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed onscreen during editing appears in a form closely corresponding to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product...
, having no CRT
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
display. It was written and improved between 1961 and 1962 by Steve Piner and L. Peter Deutsch
L. Peter Deutsch
L Peter Deutsch or Peter Deutsch is the founder of Aladdin Enterprises and creator of Ghostscript, a free software PostScript and PDF interpreter....
.
In the spirit of an earlier editor, named "Colossal Typewriter
Colossal Typewriter
Colossal Typewriter by John McCarthy and Roland Silver was one of the earliest computer text editors. The program ran on the PDP-1 at Bolt, Beranek and Newman by December 1960....
", it was called "Expensive Typewriter" because at the time the PDP-1 cost a lot of money (approximately 100,000 USD).
See also
- PDP-1PDP-1The PDP-1 was the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1960. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at MIT, BBN and elsewhere...
- Expensive Desk CalculatorExpensive Desk CalculatorExpensive Desk Calculator by Robert A. Wagner is thought to be computing's first interactive calculation program.The software first ran on the TX-0 computer loaned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Lincoln Laboratory...
- Expensive PlanetariumExpensive PlanetariumExpensive Planetarium is the star display written by Peter Samson for Spacewar!, one of the first interactive computer games. Conceived and written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students including Stephen Russell who programmed it, the Spacewar! game first ran in early 1962 on the PDP-1...
- Expensive Tape RecorderExpensive Tape RecorderExpensive Tape Recorder is a digital audio program written by David Gross while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gross developed the idea with Alan Kotok, a fellow member of the Tech Model Railroad Club...
- Text Editor and CorrectorText Editor and CorrectorTECO is a text editor originally developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s, after which it was modified by 'just about everybody'...
- RUNOFFRUNOFFRUNOFF was the first computer text formatting program to see significant use. It was written in 1964 for the CTSS operating system by Jerome H. Saltzer in MAD assembler....
- TJ-2TJ-2TJ-2 was published by Peter Samson in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout program. Although it lacks page numbering, page headers and footers, TJ-2 is the first word processor to provide a number of essential typographic alignment and automatic typesetting features:*Columnation,...