I cannot claim that I really had a good understanding then of how the computer worked. It was a tool on which you ran the necessary applications. What we now see as severe limitations was then regarded as just normal. Learned more about it later. But the experiences from then gives you perspective, and makes you more aware of what has changed. Sometimes experience from the past can be misleading: you may focus on compact, efficient code even when resources are abundantly available; other factors are more important now.
When I use modern ICT tools (Mac, iPhone, internet, iPad, Homekit, WiFi) I do understand how it works (at least the principles, not all details), but it leaves me still with a feeling of using magic — in the sense of Arthur C. Clarke’s statement: “Any sufficiently advanced form of technology is undistinguishable from magic”.
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think that those who saw the early times of computers must have acquired a nice background to a better understanding what exactly is a computer
I cannot claim that I really had a good understanding then of how the computer worked. It was a tool on which you ran the necessary applications. What we now see as severe limitations was then regarded as just normal. Learned more about it later. But the experiences from then gives you perspective, and makes you more aware of what has changed. Sometimes experience from the past can be misleading: you may focus on compact, efficient code even when resources are abundantly available; other factors are more important now.
When I use modern ICT tools (Mac, iPhone, internet, iPad, Homekit, WiFi) I do understand how it works (at least the principles, not all details), but it leaves me still with a feeling of using magic — in the sense of Arthur C. Clarke’s statement: “Any sufficiently advanced form of technology is undistinguishable from magic”.