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visibility: public
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# Computer History

**repo:** [watson/awesome-computer-history](https://github.com/watson/awesome-computer-history)  
**category:** [[learn|Learn]]
**related:** [[algorithms|Algorithms]]

---

# Awesome Computer History [![Awesome](https://cdn.rawgit.com/sindresorhus/awesome/d7305f38d29fed78fa85652e3a63e154dd8e8829/media/badge.svg)](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome) [![Build status](https://api.travis-ci.org/watson/awesome-computer-history.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/watson/awesome-computer-history)

A curated list of computer history videos, documentaries and related folklore maintained by [Thomas Watson](https://twitter.com/wa7son). Inspired by the [awesome list thing](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome).

[Pull Requests](https://github.com/watson/awesome-computer-history/edit/master/README.md) are welcome.

## Table of Contents

- [Videos](#videos)
  - [Old recordings](#old-recordings)
  - [Documentaries](#documentaries)
  - [Reflective interviews](#reflective-interviews)
  - [Talks & Lectures](#[talks](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/theory/talks)--lectures)
  - [Movies](#movies)
  - [Commercials](#commercials)
- [Audio](#audio)
  - [Podcasts](#podcasts)
- [Texts](#texts)
  - [Folklore](#folklore)
  - [Announcements and Memos](#announcements-and-memos)
- [Source Code](#source-code)
- [Websites](#websites)
- [License](#license)

## Videos

### Old recordings

- [United States Navy Training Media: Basic Mechanisms in Fire Control Computers](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkPOzHopOIo7ii8LTjgwBT_XMTR7q54KX) (1953)
- [Timesharing: A Solution to Computer Bottlenecks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q07PhW5sCEk) (1963)
- [The Mother of All Demos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY) (1968)
- [Xerox Parc - Office Alto Commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0zgj2p7Ww4) (1972)
- Computer Networks - ARPANET (1972) - The developers of the ARPANET talk about their new network:
  - [Part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhwOaCwkb0)
  - [Part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmO4TxDCMjI)
- [A Computer Animated Hand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjbax5HYHLQ) (1972) - One of the earliest examples of computer animation
- [The Computer Literacy Project](https://computer-literacy-project.pilots.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk/) (1980-1989) - In the 1980s, the BBC explored the world of computing in The Computer Literacy Project (all episodes)
- [KRON San Francisco: Primitive Internet report](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCTn4FljUQ) (1981) - KRON San Francisco news segment on how early home computer users could read their morning newspapers online
- [The UNIX System: Making Computers More Productive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc4ROCJYbm0) (1982)
- [The UNIX System: Making Computers Easier to Use](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvDZLjaCJuw) (1982)
- [The Computer Chronicles](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJ6eQKpHZgsZBla4JgKj3A) (1983-2002) - All episodes <sup>[8.6/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421311/)</sup>. A few of the notable episodes are:
  - [Simulator Software](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVZiureyV-s) (1983)
  - [Artificial Intelligence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uz3HYfCIGc) (1985)
  - [The Internet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_o8gerare0) (1993)
- [We Are Apple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJy0O4UFSM) (1984) - Corporate song that was used during the Macintosh rollout in January, 1984
- [Thinking Allowed - Artificial Intelligence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozipf13jRr4) (1989) - Interview with John McCarthy, creator of Lisp and one of the founders of the discipline of [artificial intelligence](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/theory/artificial-intelligence)
- [Erlang: The Movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIjfIjssLE) (1990)
- [Net Cafe](https://archive.org/details/netcafe) (1996-2002) - All episodes <sup>[?/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1057240/)</sup>. A few of the notable episodes are:
  - [Hackers](https://archive.org/details/nc101_hackers) (1996) - Looks at the hacker culture and their influence on the early growth of the internet
  - [Politics on the Web](https://archive.org/details/nc103_cyberpolitics) (1996) - Institute for Global Communications, Cyperpunks and Anarchists Press
- [Steve Jobs: The Crazy Ones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCz_SiPD_X0) (1997) - Steve Jobs [talks](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/theory/talks) about The Crazy Ones marketing campaign on internal Apple meeting

### Documentaries

- [Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVCLowi4v7w) (1984) - Documentary about a 1984 hacker conference <sup>[7.6/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1191116/)</sup>
- [The KGB, the Computer, and Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcKxaq1FTac) (1990) - With computer scientist Clifford Stoll <sup>[8.0/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308449/)</sup>
- [Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_of_the_Nerds) (1996) - History of the personal computer <sup>[8.5/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115398/)</sup>
- [The Internet: Behind the Web](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ebkjWU6Z4) (2000) - Documentary about development of internet from 1950-60's to 21st century.
- [Code Rush](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q7FTjhvZ7Y) (2000) - The story of Netscape and the birth of Mozilla <sup>[7.3/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499004/)</sup>
- [The Code](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMm0HsmOTFI) (2001) - The Histroy of [Linux](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/linux) & FOSS <sup>[7.5/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315417/)</sup>
- [Revolution OS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw8K460vx1c) (2001) - The story of GNU/[linux](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/linux) and Open Source Movement <sup>[7.3/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308808/)</sup>
- [The Secret History Of Hacking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUf1d-GuK0Q) (2001) - History of early hackers <sup>[7.6/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2335921/)</sup>
- [BBS The Documentary](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgE-9Sxs2IBVgJkY-1ZMj0tIFxsJ-vOkv) (2005) - History of the Bulletin Board System <sup>[8.5/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460402/)</sup>
- [The Codebreakers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc-hlV2xbSg) (2006) - Documentary about how poor countries are using free and open source software (FOSS) for development purposes.
- [Hackers Are People Too](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jciIsuEZWM) (2008) - Documentary about what hackers are <sup>[6.0/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279942/)</sup>
- [Download: The True Story of the Internet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Download_The_True_Story_of_the_Internet) (2008) - A documentary television series about Internet history <sup>[7.8/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684716/)</sup>
  - [Part 1: Browser Wars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VANORrzKX50) – The rise and fall of Netscape and its battle against Microsoft
  - [Part 2: Search](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjbh9FFW6VE) – The rise of Google and Yahoo
  - [Part 3: Bubble](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQjnkyoNIfg) – The dot-com crash of 2000 and the mainstays of the Internet: Amazon.com and Ebay
  - [Part 4: People Power](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f42J_reRO0Q) – Peer to peer technology, web 2.0, and social networking
- [Something Ventured](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1737747/) (2011) - The history of early venture capital <sup>[7.0/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1737747/)</sup>
- [Code 2600](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAfUjqIbfXo) (2011) - Documents the Info-Tech Age, told by the events and people who helped build and manipulate it <sup>[7.4/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1830538/)</sup>
- [We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHl0WI32XkY) (2012) - A documentary on the workings and beliefs of the self-described "hacktivist" collective, Anonymous <sup>[7.3/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2177843/)</sup>
- [Silicon Valley](https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-silicon-valley/) (2013) - A PBS "American Experience" documentary about the start of Silicon Valley <sup>[7.9/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2547530/)</sup>
- [TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTOKXCEwo_8) (2013) <sup>[7.6/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2608732/)</sup>
- [DEFCON: The Documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ctQOmjQyYg) (2013) - Documentary about DEFCON, the biggest hacker conference <sup>[5.8/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3010462/)</sup>
- [Downloaded](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSZqkn9hT5w) (2013) - The Napster Revolution, a documentary that explores the downloading revolution <sup>[6.9/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2033981/)</sup>
- [Birth of BASIC](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPNjSoDrqw) (2014) - Invention of the Basic computer language.
- [The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXr-2hwTk58) (2014) - The story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz <sup>[8.1/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3268458/)</sup>
- [Rise of the Hackers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQnAEiGx1-4) (2014) - Harnessing [cryptography](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/computer-science/cryptography) to stay a step ahead of cybercriminals <sup>[7.5/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3979842/)</sup>
- [Silicon Cowboys](https://www.netflix.com/title/80104318) (2016) - Documentary detailing the story of Compaq, its three founders and how it took on IBM at the height of its PC dominance. <sup>[6.8/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4938484/)</sup>

### Reflective interviews

- [Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRZAJY23xio) (2012) - A conversation with Steve Jobs as he was running NeXT, the company he had founded after leaving Apple <sup>[8.1/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2104994/)</sup>
- [The Great 202 Jailbreak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVxeuwlvf8w) (2013) - David Brailsford
- [UNIX Special: Profs Kernighan & Brailsford](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT_J6xc-Az0) (2015) - David Brailsford interviews Brian Kernighan

### Talks & Lectures

- [Computers From The Inside Out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWGGDXe5MA) (1985) - Richard Feynman Computer Heuristics Lecture. Not about computer history per se, but about how computers work
- [The Origins of [Linux](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/linux) - Linus Torvalds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVTWCPoUt8w) (2001) - Linus Torvalds tells the story of how he went from writing code as a graduate student to become an icon for open source software.
- [The Secret History of Silicon Valley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo) (2008) - Talk by Steve Blank at the Computer History Museum
- [Crockford on [JavaScript](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/javascript) - Volume 1: The Early Years](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxAXlJEmNMg) (2011) - Not actually about [JavaScript](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/javascript), but about early computing history
- [Bret Victor - The Future of Programming](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4) (2013..ehh 1973) - Humorous talk about the future of programming as seen from 1973

### Movies

_Dramatized versions of real events_

- [Pirates of Silicon Valley](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/) (1999) - History of Apple and Microsoft <sup>[7.3/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/)</sup>
- [Micro Men](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBxV6-zamM) (2009) - History of Acorn Computers and Sinclair Research <sup>[7.6/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1459467/)</sup>
- [The Social Network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network) (2010) - The history of the birth of Facebook <sup>[7.7/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/)</sup>
- [Halt and Catch Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_(TV_series)) (2014-2017) - Set in the 1980s, this series dramatizes the personal computing boom <sup>[8.4/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543312/)</sup>
- [Steve Jobs](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2080374/) (2015) - The story shows Steve Jobs behind the scenes of Apple's iconic product launches. <sup>[7.2/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2080374/)</sup>

### Commercials

- [Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA) (1984) - Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing Macintosh Computer <sup>[7.8/10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4227346/)</sup>

## Audio

### Podcasts

- [Internet History Podcast](http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/) ([subscribe](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/internet-history-podcast/id829119009))

## Texts

### Folklore

- [The Humble Programmer](https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd03xx/EWD340.PDF) (1972) - Dijkstra's overview of the programming universe as he saw it in 1972
- [Real Programmers Don't Use PASCAL](https://web.mit.edu/humor/Computers/real.programmers) (1982)
- [Epigrams on Programming](http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html) (1982)
- [The Story of Mel](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/story-of-mel.html) (1983)
- [Unix Recovery Legend](https://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/recovery.html) (1986)
- [The Conscience of a Hacker](http://phrack.org/issues/7/3.html) (1986) - The Hacker Manifesto
- [The Jargon File](https://www.dourish.com/goodies/jargon.html) (1988)
- [The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto](https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/crypto-anarchy.html) (1992)
- [A Cypherpunk's Manifesto](https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html) (1993)
- [The Story of Getting SSH Port 22](https://www.ssh.com/ssh/port) (1995)
- [In the Beginning…Was the Command Line](http://cristal.inria.fr/~weis/info/commandline.html) (1999)
- [The case of the 500-mile email](https://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html) (2002)
- [UTF-8 history](https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/utf-8-history.txt) (2003)
- [20 Years — One Standard: The Story of TCP/IP](http://www.cbi.umn.edu/iterations/spira.html) (2003)
- [How Steve Wozniak Wrote BASIC for the Original Apple From Scratch](https://gizmodo.com/how-steve-wozniak-wrote-basic-for-the-original-apple-fr-1570573636) (2014)
- [The Story of the PING Program](http://ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/ping.html) (undated)

### Announcements and Memos

- [What would you like to see most in minix?](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.os.minix/dlNtH7RRrGA%5B1-25%5D) (1991) - First public mention of what would later become [Linux](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/linux)
- [The Internet Tidal Wave](http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/07/internet-tidal-wave.html) (1995) - Bill Gates' memo to all executive staff within Microsoft on assigning the Internet the highest level of importance
- [A bike shed (any colour will do) on greener grass...](http://phk.freebsd.dk/sagas/bikeshed.html) (1999) - Poul-Henning Kamp coining the term bikeshedding

## Source Code

- [Apollo 11 Guidance Computer](https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11) (1969) - Original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer (AGC) source code for the command and lunar modules
- [C compiler](https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/primevalC.html) (1972) - The earliest known versions of Dennis Ritchie's first C compiler ([GitHub code mirror](https://github.com/mortdeus/legacy-cc))
- [UNIX](https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history-repo/tree/Research-Release) (1972) - Continuous Unix commit history from 1972 until today
- [MS-DOS](https://github.com/Microsoft/MS-DOS) (1982, 1983) - Version 1.25 and 2.0
- [Adobe Photoshop](http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/adobe-photoshop-source-code/) (1990) - The first version of Adobe Photoshop (written in Pascal)

## Websites

- [First website ever made](http://info.cern.ch/) (1990) - CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research Organisation) website
- [The Amazing FishCam](http://fishcam.com/) (1994) - The Fishcam was the second live camera on the web and is the oldest camera site still in existence

## License

[![CC0](https://licensebuttons.net/p/zero/1.0/88x31.png)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

To the extent possible under law, [Thomas Watson](https://github.com/watson) has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.
