About the seminar

The seminar will cover:-

• The limited world of calculating equipment and what was known in the public domain in 1952.
• The understanding of binary arithmetic and the concept of information in storing.
• The teleprinter code and it's adoption for writing programmes.
• Electronic storage using Cathode Ray Tubes.
• Representation of negative and fractional numbers.
• Electronic gates and the way that an adder worked.
• The fundamentals of the Manchester computer construction.
• The instruction set.
• Basic Flow Diagrams.
• Communicating with the computer through teleprinter paper tape.

About the speaker

Olaf attended Bristol University where he read mathematics. Later a job as a computer programmer with Ferranti, using the Manchester machine. Two fascinating years in Manchester where he wrote the Assembler programme for the Mark I*, followed by the first (cyclostyled) description of the code for programmers. He moved to a spell at English Electric working with Deuce. A few years at Rothansted Research Station was followed by a move to Bristol College of Science and Technology, which became the University of Bath. There he took over the running of the computer section and wrote the first publicly available programming booklet published by the University Library. He decided to concentrate on teaching, initially on statistics for economists, and later contributing to Systems management teaching modules at the Open University.

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