A Brief History of Computer Based
Programming, Machine Automation,
and the of role Autodesk in the
Engineering, Design, and Architecture
Industries.
The human species has perpetually developed and adapted its abilities to retain and
transfer knowledge and information- from simple verbal communication and story
telling, physical documentation through the creation of pictorial carvings and paintings,
the development of written language, the hand scribing of texts, the inventions of
typesetting and the printing press, the typewriter, digital word processing and the
means to record sound.
The novel premise that one could create a means of instructing a machine to
repetitively and accurately perform tasks was transformational- the notion that one
could communicate an idea through patterns of holes or raised/embossed patterns.
Perforated paper tapes were first used in the early
1700’s, mainly to control looms in the weaving of
fabrics and embroidery. These early, continuous,
paper tapes were often fragile, expensive to create,
and difficult to repair. Individual punch cards of
heavier paper stock were developed and, eventually,
a methodology of connecting and sequencing
together these cards, termed a ‘stack or ribbon of
cards’ into a continuous assembly. Repairing a broken
stack, or replacing a singular damaged card, was a
reasonably manageable process.
Human ingenuity, desire and incessant tinkering has resulted in technological developments in
machining, design, and fabrication processes and methods. These methods of production
have been exponentially enhanced through advancements in the ability to store and transmit
instructional information and controls in automated processes. The evolution of what we
commonly know as CNC machining was initially controlled using perforated tape up to and as
recently as the early 1990’s. The advent of more affordable and powerful computers and
alternative media for storing greater amounts of data, have refined all manner of fabrication,
assembly, packaging, and even distribution processes.
5 an 8 Hole Punch Tape
Punch Card
Mylar Punch Tape
Armin Zola’s mind on punch tape. Marvel- The Winter Soldier
The advent of more affordable and powerful computers and alternative media for storing greater
amounts of data, have refined all manner of fabrication, assembly, packaging, and even distribution
processes. The storage media types shown below generally represents a technological progression from
the 1950’s to the present.
8” Floppy Disk- 80kb
3-1/2” 1.44mb
5-1/4” 360- 512 kb
Zip Drive 250-750mb
Hard Disk Drives- Megabytes to Gigabytes
Solid State Hard Drives- Terabytes of Storage
The method of communicating and applying instructions to machines and computers is through a
specific written or symbolic ‘language’- what we today refer to as computer code.
Languages were, and still can be, specific to a type of machine or are meant to perform specific
functions. Languages can be easier to use and understand for the programmers but offer less control
over the computer. Other languages can be more machine-friendly, making them faster to execute
and more memory-efficient, but harder for humans to understand.
Object-oriented languages are a model of programming that’s organized around data (the objects),
are easy to manipulate, reuse, and scale, making them ideal for structuring software. Software, by
definition, is a set of instructions, data, or programs used to operate computers and execute specific
tasks.
Functional programming languages are based on mathematical functions, using linear mathematical
logic and are useful for tasks such as list processing applications and data analysis.
Many of the modern programming languages have their roots in Ada Lovelace’s first machine
algorithm, developed for Charles Babbage’s Difference Machine in 1843.
View a historical encyclopedia of the nearly 9000 known programming languageshttps://hopl.info/images/genealogies/tester-endo.pdf
Up until roughly 30 years ago, all engineering and architectural drawings were completed by hand using
pencil, paper, and engineering or architectural scales.
Drafting, drawing and rendering by hand, in and of itself, is an art.
Initially, computer systems were large, cumbersome, and expensive and were primarily used in the
automotive and aerospace industries. As many individual software programs are based on previous
programs and their underlying code, the AutoCad software itself is no different. An engineer named Mike
Riddle had been working for the Marathon Steel company using the program
ComputerVision CADDS3 System to design structural steel components.
Mr. Riddle determined he could improve on this software and in 1977 began writing the software program
Interact CAD released publicly in 1979. Interact CAD was the first CAD system to run on mainstream
microcomputer hardware (IBM was a primary computer systems manufacturer).
The INTERACT CAD system, circa 1978
In order to maximize the power and potential if the Interact CAD software, Riddle partnered with a
company owned by John Walker and Dan Drake, Marinchip Systems, whose S-100 main board with a TI
TMS-9900 (one of the first commercially available, single-chip 16-bit microprocessors developed by
Texas Instruments) was capable of running the Interact CAD program.
In 1981, Mr. Riddle transferred the rights to Interact
CAD and in 1982 partnered with Walker, Drake, and
others to form the company Autodesk.
Interact CAD was re-written in the ‘C’ language to be
compatible with the then current IBM PC systems,
renamed MicroCad, and eventually renamed AutoCAD
(legal drama).
Affordability of the personal PC allowed more
industries to make use of this drawing and drafting
system.
Autodesk has wisely positioned itself over time,
acquiring various successful softwares into a portfolio
of design and media options that meet the needs of a
wide array of design, construction, product
development and entertainment industries.
TI TMS-9900 microprocessors