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How a Government Think Tank Trained The First Generation of US Software Developers

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The US government had a hand in creating much of the early computer industry.

SAGE console, via IBM. The US government had a hand in creating much of the early computer industry. Many early computers, such as ENIAC and EDVAC, were developed with government funding for military purposes (ENIAC was used to calculate artillery firing tables). It was the government-granted monopoly of AT&T where the first transistor was invented, and for years after its invention the US military was the largest purchaser of transistors. It’s perhaps not surprising then, that the government also had a major role in training the first generation of software developers. Following the end…

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