Anyone remember this cheery chappie, and the TV programme he presented? He passed on to the Great Goto in the Sky last week, the Beeb have an article on him today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26278902
The Grauniad ran an obituary on him too - you must look at this just for the photo from his climbing days!
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... ught-davis
Great early 80s TV for us geeks who were budding around then...
Re: Ian McNaught-Davis and The Computer Programme
Oh man! Mac was amazing; he had this irrepressible air of enjoying what he was doing. I didn't know about his stellar climbing career.
The Computer Programme, Micro Live … back when 64 K was far more memory than you'd ever need.
Stewart
The Computer Programme, Micro Live … back when 64 K was far more memory than you'd ever need.
Stewart
‘Remember the Golden Rule of Selling: “Do not resort to violence.”’ — McGlashan.
Pronouns: he/him
Pronouns: he/him
Re: Ian McNaught-Davis and The Computer Programme
Somehow the whole series of The Computer Programme 1982 is available at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/search.php?query=co ... -programme
It was a remarkably good introduction to all aspects of computing, and it predicted the next three decades incredibly well. It must have seemed outlandish to many at the time that so many aspects of life might be changed so completely within a generation.
Pretty much the only place its predictions failed was in Episode 8: The Thinking Machine, which was too optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence.
Even then, it was far better than other BBC programmes of the era. Horizon 1978 The Chips Are Down thought that automation would cause massive societal problems. To the extent that they happened at all, they have been caused more by off-shoring to low-wage economies, than by automation.
Most crazily, Horizon 1983 Better Mind The Computer believed that computers were on the verge of surpassing human intellect.
It was a remarkably good introduction to all aspects of computing, and it predicted the next three decades incredibly well. It must have seemed outlandish to many at the time that so many aspects of life might be changed so completely within a generation.
Pretty much the only place its predictions failed was in Episode 8: The Thinking Machine, which was too optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence.
Even then, it was far better than other BBC programmes of the era. Horizon 1978 The Chips Are Down thought that automation would cause massive societal problems. To the extent that they happened at all, they have been caused more by off-shoring to low-wage economies, than by automation.
Most crazily, Horizon 1983 Better Mind The Computer believed that computers were on the verge of surpassing human intellect.
Re: Ian McNaught-Davis and The Computer Programme
Thanks for posting that link. I sat and watched two of them last night. I'd forgotten how futuristic this stuff seemed at the time!
A bit old fashioned in looks now, but has there been a TV show since showing people how to write simple little computer programs? I can't think of one.
A bit old fashioned in looks now, but has there been a TV show since showing people how to write simple little computer programs? I can't think of one.