From: Alec Ross <alec@...>
Date: 2007-11-11T02:45:00+09:00
Subject: Re: Current Quizmaster Retiring

In message <47353BA0.1010208@cesmail.net>, "M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" 
<znmeb@cesmail.net> writes
>Michal Suchanek wrote:
>> I wonder why we have so many galleries with paintings and sculptures
>> but I haven't heard of one displaying exceptional pieces of code.
>
>
>Well, there may not be much *code* in museums, but there certainly are
>plenty of ancient computing devices in them, including chunks of
>Babbage's creations, Pascal's calculator, "Napier's Bones", and
>calculating devices retrieved from shipwrecks in the Mediterranean that
>date back before the birth of Jesus. Then there's Stonehenge and the
>Mayan calendar. ;)
>

ISTR visiting a small room serving as such a museum in Manchester many, 
many years ago.  It was IIRC in the CS dept of the University, but was 
possibly open to the public.  In it were artefacts from the first days 
of computing, including a log book, something like a school science book 
for recording experiments.  The entries included program code 
represented in binary (presumably for entry via toggle switches), and 
the experimental record of program runs.

See also:

http://www.computer50.org/

and:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/subject_detail.cfm?key=32&colke
y=11

However I take the point about scarcity of _code_ archives; and museums 
of exceptional code.  At the moment I guess that most of this might be 
found in a few books (e.g. C++ Gems), on the net, and in some (few) 
people's heads.

I'd be interested to know of any such museums, though.

Regards,

Alec
-- 
Alec Ross