AT&T Tech Channel - How a Computer Works. Great Tutorial From 1962

See more from the AT&T Archives at http://techchannel.att.com/archives

The only film so far found in the AT&T Archives, and posted here, that was NOT made by AT&T or any of the company's subsidiaries. However, this film was part of the Bell Labs film library, a resource utilized by Labs engineers. This film was made by the U.S. Navy in order to explain the simplest elements of computers and how they worked.

Digital Computer Techniques was a film series introduction to the essential elements of computer and how they worked. The series was made by Audio Productions, Inc., a company that made a lot of films for the Bell System as well. Here's what the entire series consisted of at the time:

* Digital Computer Techniques: Introduction (the film posted here) This gives a history of what kind of counting devices led to the creation of a computer; from fingers to stones to slide rules. In this film, the word "computer" seems to still be about number crunching.
* Digital Computer Techniques: Computer Logic Part I The binary number system, logic as it is applied to computers, what "code" is.
* Digital Computer Techniques: Computer Logic Part II, Symbology (also called "Logic Element Circuits") Explains transistors, AND, OR, NOR, INVERTER and FLIP-FLOP gates. Shows how circuits affect binary signals to produce output.
* Digital Computer Techniques: Computer Units Explains the 5 parts of a computer—i.e. input, storage, control, output, and arithmetic, as well as what sequencing, clocking and timing have to do with the processing.
* Digital Computer Techniques: Programming Explains programming via the use of flow charts and symbols, and what computer language is.

Note: As this film was made by the U.S. Navy, and at the time one of the Navy's star computer experts was then-Commander Grace Hopper, one hopes for a cameo... sadly, she's not here, in the introduction film, at least.

Footage Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

• Category

  Science & Technology

[acintoli]

The graphic animations are made mechanically, by photographing manual drawings on celluloid or paper one frame at a time. The fade-in and fade-out effects are also made mechanically, using an optical printer or traditional film processing. This was the norm until the early 1980s.

[jasen hinds]

THIS IS EPIC !!!!!

[jamdogg0015]

Sorry for the typo btw, i hate this dam ipad keyboard.

[jamdogg0015]

^^uverse "prem tech"or what ever they want to call us. any who, i have be supprosed to read on wikipedia that at&t(labs) actually played a part in the development of one of the largest programing languages of the day (c++). Ican anyone confirm the vidality (the truth) of this satement?

[Denise Smith]

Very clever considering they did not have the knowledge people have now about computers, to come up with all these creative ideas and put them into action.

[Wayne McCracken]

I don't know why anyone would laugh at all, a lot of these principles are still used today.

[BBC600]

Learn something new everyday!

[NieT Bill]

affectionately

[otakucode]

If they have one, I would love to see a video on how to use a slide-rule. It was before my time, and I've always been curious how they work.

[Paul Hennessy]

Don't laugh too hard....This is the kind of computer that put a man on the Moon.

[VaderDarth512]

wow, now i know house computers worked in the 1960's