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Expensive Typewriter was a pioneering
Expensive Typewriter was a pioneering text editor
A text editor is a type of computer program that edits plain text. Such programs are sometimes known as "notepad" software (e.g. Windows Notepad). Text editors are provided with operating systems and software development packages, and can be ...
program that ran on the DEC PDP-1
The PDP-1 (''Programmed Data Processor-1'') is the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1959. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at Massachusett ...
computer which had been delivered to MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in the early 1960s.
Description
Since the program could drive anIBM Selectric typewriter
The IBM Selectric typewriter was a highly successful line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961.
Instead of the "basket" of individual typebars that swung up to strike the ribbon and page in a typical typewriter of the peri ...
(a letter-quality printer
A letter-quality printer was a form of computer impact printer that was able to print with the quality typically expected from a business typewriter such as an IBM Selectric.
A letter-quality printer operates in much the same fashion as a typewr ...
), it may be considered the first word processing
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...
software. It was written and improved between 1961 and 1962 by Steve Piner and L. Peter Deutsch
L Peter Deutsch (born Laurence Peter Deutsch on August 7, 1946, in Boston, Massachusetts) is the founder of Aladdin Enterprises and creator of Ghostscript, a free software PostScript and Portable Document Format, PDF interpreter.
Deutsch's othe ...
. In the spirit of an earlier editor program, named " Colossal Typewriter", it was called "Expensive Typewriter" because at that time the PDP-1 cost a lot of money (approximately ) as compared to a conventional manual typewriter.
References
See also
*PDP-1
The PDP-1 (''Programmed Data Processor-1'') is the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1959. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at Massachusett ...
* Expensive Desk Calculator
Expensive Desk Calculator by Robert A. Wagner is thought to be computing's first interactive calculation program.Alan Kotok (15 May 2006)The Mouse That Roared: PDP-1 Celebration Event Lecture Computer History Museum (Google Video link). Retrieved ...
* Expensive Planetarium
''Spacewar!'' is a space combat video game developed in 1962 by Steve Russell in collaboration with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner, and others. It was written for the newly installed DEC PDP-1 minicomputer at the Ma ...
* Expensive Tape Recorder
Expensive Tape Recorder is a digital audio program written by David Gross while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gross developed the idea with Alan Kotok, a fellow member of the Tech Model Railroad Club. The recorder and pla ...
* Text Editor and Corrector
TECO (), short for ''Text Editor & Corrector'',"A powerful and sophisticated text editor, TECO (Text Editor and Corrector) ... is both a character-oriented text editor and a programming language, that was developed in 1962 for use on Digital Equip ...
* RUNOFF
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock marke ...
* TJ-2
Word processors
History of software
{{WordProcessor-stub