Programming a Desk Computer

Extract

As an introduction to elementary programming for digital computers, it has been found advantageous to make a start with a desk machine. A very simple code was devised for this purpose. Interested sixth-formers tackled problems prominent in their ordinary mathematical work by this method and were soon able to make programmes and get results themselves. They were later able to visit a digital computer installation and to try their hands at using an established “autocode” (Sirius). They found that their previous experience with the desk machine was most valuable in initiating, very quickly, the kind of thinking required for the more sophisticated procedures. The total experience, although very brief, appears to have been well worth while, as a means of showing them something of the potentialities of modern computers in relation to problems within their own competence.