Core Memory

In modern computing a "core" is usually considered to be a CPU or central processing unit. The term, however, had a different meaning in the early days of computing, where it meant "core memory".

This is an example of what it looked like. It's from the Apollo Guidance Computer.

Each point where the wires crossed was one bit.

Boing Boing has a long review of a new book, Core Memory, that has pictures starting from the early (really, really early) days of computing to the present. They're fascinating and gorgeous, and the early ones will be completely alien to anyone who was born before 1980 or so.

Mark Richards’s wonderful photographs capture the fascinating machines in the museum’s collection from a hyper- aesthetic viewpoint, while John Alderman’s text speaks to their unique historical context. The period covered in this book spans from the first giant machines—such as the room-filling ENIAC—to very recent personal computers.

I hope my library gets a copy. I would really like see it.