Word: disc
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Dippity Do. An experienced programmer at Control Data before she decided to have children, she now settles in at the computer right after breakfast, sometimes holding the baby in a sling. She starts by reading her computer mail, then sets to work converting a PLATO grammar program to a disc that will be compatible with Texas Instruments machines. "Midmorning I have to start paying attention to the three-year-old, because he gets antsy," says Hardinger. "Then at 11:30 comes Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, so that's when I usually get a whole lot done." When her husband...
Scoffers said that the box-shaped beast resembled a World War II field radio. But it had all the features of a higher-priced computer: a detachable keyboard, a screen (albeit only 5 in. diagonal), 64K of memory and two built-in disc drives to run and store programs. It also filled a need. Says Osborne: "I saw a truck-sized hole in the industry, and I plugged it." Even Jobs, often a target of Osborne's stings, professed admiration for his entrepreneurial talent...
...past, computer owners had to write their own software. Today thousands of prewritten programs are on the market, ranging from games to accountants' tools. Running these software packages, as opposed to writing them, is no more difficult than playing a record or a videotape. Just find the appropriate disc, put it in a disc drive and push a button. In a matter of seconds the computer is programmed and set to do the job at hand-from balancing the books to finding misspelled words to playing a video game...
When the programmer has thoroughly tested and corrected his work he stores it on a magnetic tape,or disc, much as someone might use a tape recorder to store a noteworthy speech. A particularly useful or entertaining computer program might be accepted by one of the growing number of software publishers. They will copy the program onto blank discs and send them to computer stores around the country...
When a user slips his brand-new blackjack program into a disc drive and turns on his computer, the drive starts spinning the disc at a rate of hundreds of revolutions per minute. As the disc spins, a record-playback head moves across its surface, picking up the original programmer's typed instructions and loading them into the computer's memory. When the disc stops spinning-presto!-an exact replica of the program will be imprinted on the machine's temporary memory, all debugged and ready to deal the cards. Or, depending on the disc, proofread...