Category Archives: 1987

Perl

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perlInvented by Bell Labs employee Larry Wall in 1987 and released to the comp.sources.misc newsgroup on December 18th, 1987, this venerable scripting language had originally been intended to manipulate text information. It was based on the C language and later went on to play an important role in the development of the web. One of the oldest, simplest, and most powerful programming languages in existence, it enjoys a hardcore following, and shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon. It’s earned it’s place in the great moments of computing history by still being in use to power websites and applications today. Perl version 5 was released on September 17th, 1994.

In 2001, it was decided that Perl 6 would run on a cross-language virtual machine called Parrot. As of 2005 both Perl 6 and Parrot were under active development. Perl 6 has yet to see the light of day and is one of the most famous pieces of vaporware ever.

VGA

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Your computer probably has a “VGA or SVGA monitor” that looks a lot like a TV but is smaller, has a lot more pixels and has a much crisper display. The CRT and electronics in a monitor are much more precise than is required in a TV; a computer monitor needs higher resolutions. In addition, the plug on a VGA monitor is not accepting a composite signal — a VGA plug separates out all of the signals so they can be interpreted by the monitor more precisely. VGA is the only video standard that can be found on nearly all PC architecture.

First introduced by IBM, the Video Graphics Array was an enhancement to EGA and CGA, two earlier types developed by Big Blue. Later SVGA was introduced by the Video Electronics Standards Association.

PS/2

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PS2IBM’s second generation of personal computers. Released to the public in 1987, the PS/2 series introduced three advances over the PC series: 3.5″ 1.44 megabyte microfloppy disks, VGA and 8514 graphics display standards, and the Micro Channel bus architecture. The 3.5″ disks and VGA can be easily installed on other PCs and will become the standard for new compatible computers. The Micro Channel bus allows for multiprocessing and less aggravation, but cannot be retrofitted to older PCs. This meant millions of add-in cards would not work with the system. IBM also went out of their way to make the machine uncloneable, and these actions would cause the company to lose the spot as number one PC manufacturer to first Compaq and then Dell.