YOU AND THE COMPUTER

Year Published: 1969

Copyright: Registered 1Oct69 · MP19996 (Jan-Jun 1970) Copyright holder: General Electric Co

Description: "You and the Computer" dates to 1969 and was made by General Electric. GE had a thriving computer division in that era. GE’s earliest major computer accomplishment was the creation the ERMA system for automating the processing of check clearing, which incorporated magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) standards used today. ERMA stood for Electronic Recording Machine Accounting, led to the development of the GE-100. The GE-600 series introduced in 1964, included six new faster models: the 605, 615, 625, 635, 645, and 655. In 1965 the introduction of the GE-265 marked the first commercially successful time-sharing system. The GE PAC (Process Automation Computer) family included the 4020, 4040, 4060 and others. After many successful computer models, the introduction of IBM’s System/360 family made clear that GE could no longer compete viably going forward, and GE sold its computer line to Honeywell in 1970. In 1986 Honeywell’s computer division merged with the French Company “Bull” and Nippon Electric Company (NEC) to form Honeywell-Bull, but by 1991 they abandoned the arena The film explains in simple terms how the use of data processing equipment greatly improves the speed and accuracy of business accounting. The hardware shown here was often used in more than one type of GE system, during the 1964 to 1967 period, with some model variations. Good scenes of internal data center operations are shown. GE large scale disk memory seen briefly at 0:28 was capable of storing 18 million characters of information. (That unit was similar to IBM’s RAMAC). The magnetic reel tape drives could read (0:35) per minute, and the punched card reader could read about 900 cards per minute. The high-speed printer (0:36) could print over 900 lines per minute depending on the printer model and job instructions. The computer used a core-memory unit (02:45), consisting of magnetic COREs (shaped like donut rings) (02:50) and circuit boards that manage the data storage and retrieval. A desktop adding machine (electric calculator) is shown for comparison (02:59).The CPU control panel features many toggle switches and knob switches (03:03). Film shows manual calculations on paper to illustrate mathematical functions the computer would do at high speed (03:12). Narrator describes Input, calculations, output, controlled by the computer’s program (03:33). Man loads a punch card reader (03:56), computer control panel is seen on the right (04:00). Input, Output, (04:14), close up of a punch card (04:17). Computer core memory block is shown (04:24), core rings (04:29), Illustration of rows of boxes represent memory locations. Each memory location is assigned a number (memory address) (04:40). Computer program puts time card data into each individual address space where it is held for processing. Narrator describes the calculation process (05:00). Shown is the front panel of the memory contents indicator, with the lights showing data is in the computer’s memory registers. (05:27) Board has lights indicating “word” or “character” as the data content type, and each memory register (location) is given a letter designation. Computer prints out checks at high speed (06:05) Computer indicator board shows switches and labels on each, “enable,” “disable,” “bootload,” “timing,” etc. (06:21) Man presses (initialize) button, flashing light shown with “Reload” message (06:36). Computer tape reel removed, stored on shelf and a new tape is locked in place. (07:05) A row of tape machines being used. (07:30) Five men in computer room, with 18 large magnetic tape units (07:38). Man wraps rubber band around a stack of punched cards. (07:44). Man with jacket and tie at typewriter (07:49) Wide shot of computer room, printers, control units, typewriter (08:07) African American man loads card reader (08:11) The End.

Complete Record: "You and the Computer" dates to 1969 and was made by General Electric. GE had a thriving computer division in that era. GE’s earliest major computer accomplishment was the creation the ERMA system for automating the processing of check clearing, which incorporated magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) standards used today. ERMA stood for Electronic Recording Machine Accounting, led to the development of the GE-100. The GE-600 series introduced in 1964, included six new faster models: the 605, 615, 625, 635, 645, and 655. In 1965 the introduction of the GE-265 marked the first commercially successful time-sharing system. The GE PAC (Process Automation Computer) family included the 4020, 4040, 4060 and others. After many successful computer models, the introduction of IBM’s System/360 family made clear that GE could no longer compete viably going forward, and GE sold its computer line to Honeywell in 1970. In 1986 Honeywell’s computer division merged with the French Company “Bull” and Nippon Electric Company (NEC) to form Honeywell-Bull, but by 1991 they abandoned the arena The film explains in simple terms how the use of data processing equipment greatly improves the speed and accuracy of business accounting. The hardware shown here was often used in more than one type of GE system, during the 1964 to 1967 period, with some model variations. Good scenes of internal data center operations are shown. GE large scale disk memory seen briefly at 0:28 was capable of storing 18 million characters of information. (That unit was similar to IBM’s RAMAC). The magnetic reel tape drives could read (0:35) per minute, and the punched card reader could read about 900 cards per minute. The high-speed printer (0:36) could print over 900 lines per minute depending on the printer model and job instructions. The computer used a core-memory unit (02:45), consisting of magnetic COREs (shaped like donut rings) (02:50) and circuit boards that manage the data storage and retrieval. A desktop adding machine (electric calculator) is shown for comparison (02:59).The CPU control panel features many toggle switches and knob switches (03:03). Film shows manual calculations on paper to illustrate mathematical functions the computer would do at high speed (03:12). Narrator describes Input, calculations, output, controlled by the computer’s program (03:33). Man loads a punch card reader (03:56), computer control panel is seen on the right (04:00). Input, Output, (04:14), close up of a punch card (04:17). Computer core memory block is shown (04:24), core rings (04:29), Illustration of rows of boxes represent memory locations. Each memory location is assigned a number (memory address) (04:40). Computer program puts time card data into each individual address space where it is held for processing. Narrator describes the calculation process (05:00). Shown is the front panel of the memory contents indicator, with the lights showing data is in the computer’s memory registers. (05:27) Board has lights indicating “word” or “character” as the data content type, and each memory register (location) is given a letter designation. Computer prints out checks at high speed (06:05) Computer indicator board shows switches and labels on each, “enable,” “disable,” “bootload,” “timing,” etc. (06:21) Man presses (initialize) button, flashing light shown with “Reload” message (06:36). Computer tape reel removed, stored on shelf and a new tape is locked in place. (07:05) A row of tape machines being used. (07:30) Five men in computer room, with 18 large magnetic tape units (07:38). Man wraps rubber band around a stack of punched cards. (07:44). Man with jacket and tie at typewriter (07:49) Wide shot of computer room, printers, control units, typewriter (08:07) African American man loads card reader (08:11) The End.

Transcription

[Music] is helping. No matter what your stage with the can help both you and the computer meet the needs of a demanding aid [Music] your muscles. The computer which is several new kinds of machines working as a system increases your capacity to do work with your intellect. Calculating and writing paychecks is one of the jobs computers do frequently. And although you can't see what goes on in the blue boxes, you can understand the processes just by imagining what you would do to write a paycheck. Now, if you please imagine that you are pay master of the supersonic hubcap company. Here is your problem. Figure out how much to pay one employee, George Grinder. You first gather the facts, the data you'll need to solve the problem. His rate of pay is $3 an hour. His deductions are 15% for income tax and $1 for insurance. George worked 35 hours last week. That's your input, the facts. Next, store them in a handy place. Then calculate George's gross pay by multiplying the number of hours worked, 35, by his rate of pay, $3 an hour. That's $15. Now, the income tax deduction. That's it. $15.75. Subtract this from $15, the gross pay. and you get 89.25. Now subtract $1 for health insurance. 88.25 is Mr. Grinder's pay. Now write the check. That's output. In arriving at the answer, you performed each step in its proper order. That means you exercised control. The computer performs the same basic five functions. The computer requires input basic facts or data to work on. It must store this information in a handy place. The computer stores facts in an electronic memory. both data used in solving problem and instructions on how to use the data. Your calculation was done with pencil and paper or you might have used an adding machine. The computer's calculating or arithmetic unit operates on the same principles as an adding machine. It can add, subtract, multiply, and divide. After you gathered your facts and did the arithmetic, you had the answer. So, you wrote George's paycheck. This was output. Control simply means doing things in proper order. When you work on a problem, you subconsciously do first things first. But the computer needs a program. That is a series of instructions for every step of the job. You don't need a computer to help your brain figure out one man's wages any more than you need a bulldozer to help your muscles smooth out the soil in a window box. But if you are leveling an airport or figuring out the wages for 10,000 employees, the proper machine is a big help. Now, as we watch an actual computer doing its job, try to remember what you did. Input output. H, that's all we can actually see. Let's try again. Input. First, the program, the series of instructions, is entered. Then, the payroll facts, previously prepared time cards, one for each employee. Both the program and payroll facts go into the memory of the computer. The function of a computer's memory may be represented by rows of pigeon holes or boxes. Each memory location has its own identifying number, an address. Our program instructed the computer to put the first employees name in address number 11, the hours he worked in 12, his rate of pay in 13, tax percentage in 14, and insurance deduction in 15. The first calculation instructions of the program are take the contents of address 12, hours worked, and multiply it by the contents of address 13, the employees pay rate. [Music] store the result of this calculation in address 16 while the computer does a couple of other things such as compute the income tax to be withheld and the insurance deduction. Here's how this happened. The instruction in address 4 said, "Multiply the amount in box 16 by the contents of box 14, which contains the income tax percentage. Then add the insurance deduction to the tax deduction. Now subtract the total of the deductions from the contents of box 16, gross pay, and the machine has take-home pay. Now output, it writes. You perform the same basic operations as did the computer. The one big difference is speed. The computer has carried out the program followed instructions in the proper order. The instructions the program were loaded in first followed by the facts for the first of the 10,000 supersonic employees. To get the computer started on the payroll, we actually set it on address number one. The computer followed each instruction in its proper order. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Instruction 8 is reload with the facts for the next employee. Thus, the instructions in the upper boxes are followed repeatedly while fresh payroll facts are loaded each time instruction 8 of the program is reached. All these steps of input, storage, calculation, output, and control are done in fractions of seconds. So the computer can calculate the wages and write paychecks for 10,000 persons in a very small period of time. When all 10,000 employees have been paid, you remove the payroll instructions from the computer's memory and store them for future coded form on cards or tape. Then you put in a different set of instructions for a different job. It might be a program that decides how many hubcaps supersonic should manufacture in the next month based on facts such as sales reports and inventories instead of hours worked and rate of pay. In all manner of businesses and professions, the computer solves problems in the same methodical stepbystep manner a human would solve the same problem. It follows instructions in the order given and calculates the same way a conscientious human would by adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. But the computer is a machine and the human who understands it makes it do what he wants done, steers it with instructions. With a computer, a trained person can move a bigger block of mental work in an afternoon than he could in a lifetime with paper and pencil. Small wonder, challenging new careers are opening for intelligent young people who know how to put the computer to work.

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