Oral history interview with John Rankine

Abstract

Rankine discusses changes in digital computing from card- programmed calculators to microprocessors and supercomputers. He explains how the move from electromechanical to vacuum tubes to solid state technology improved speed and decreased size, and describes the accompanying development of software. He reviews IBM's role in the transition of the computer from a scientific to a commercial tool. Finally, he assesses the possibilities of computing to improve various social conditions, as well as the danger of its threat to privacy, which he believes can be easily minimalized.