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Cardiac: CARDboard Illustrative Aid to Computation (1969)

geomark 5y ago
There is an Instructable for making one yourself https://www.instructables.com/CARDIAC-CARDboard-Illustrative-Aid-to-Computation-/ https://www.instructables.com/CARDIAC-CARDboard-Illustrative...
dang 5y ago
One past thread: CARDIAC simulator in JavaScript - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 - Sept 2014 (5 comments - thanks miles) CARDIAC Cardboard Computer Emulator - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=641032 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=641032 - June 2009 (5 comments) Tangentially related: PAPAC-00, a Do-It-Yourself Paper Computer (1958) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15026101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15026101 - Aug 2017 (12 comments) I think there have been others...anyone? Edit: A fun comment from a different thread (Aug 2012): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4416054 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4416054
- miles 5y ago
  Here's all I could find: CARDIAC simulator in JavaScript (2014) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 CARDIAC (2014) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8439443 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8439443 Cardiac – A cardboard illustrative aid to computation (Bell Labs 1968) (2018) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18433504 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18433504 Cardiac: Portable cardboard computer (2016) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12949393 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12949393
  - dang 5y ago
    Thanks! I've added https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 to my comment above since it has comments.
- Donckele 5y ago
  The dale miller domain for the link (dang) above is down.
bregma 5y ago
My first computer. Inspired me to becomes a computer scientist when I was 10, in the early 1970s. I still have mine but the accumulator is burned out after too many write/erase cycles and I may have lost the "bug" (memory pointer). It's probably the only computer I have from last century that still works.
- a4isms 5y ago
  Me too! My mother sent me to an enriched program on Saturdays, and one of the “classes” they had was called “Queries and Theories” after a very interesting game. That class introduced me to Mathematical Recreations, Raymond Smullyan, and computing. We had a CARDIAC we played with, and later went to the University to write FORTRAN programs on punch cards.
adyer07 5y ago
This is delightful. The paper sliders are especially charming. I wonder if the tactility of it helped make assembly easier to learn - or harder, because it didn't have immediate feedback.
jleyank 5y ago
It was a match that burned twice. First, you could play with the cardboard computer then you could use it as a prototype to make a software version. In my case it was a gateway into 370 compatible assembler on an rca/univac.

There is an Instructable for making one yourself https://www.instructables.com/CARDIAC-CARDboard-Illustrative-Aid-to-Computation-/ https://www.instructables.com/CARDIAC-CARDboard-Illustrative...

dang 5y ago

One past thread: CARDIAC simulator in JavaScript - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 - Sept 2014 (5 comments - thanks miles) CARDIAC Cardboard Computer Emulator - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=641032 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=641032 - June 2009 (5 comments) Tangentially related: PAPAC-00, a Do-It-Yourself Paper Computer (1958) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15026101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15026101 - Aug 2017 (12 comments) I think there have been others...anyone? Edit: A fun comment from a different thread (Aug 2012): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4416054 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4416054

miles 5y ago
Here's all I could find: CARDIAC simulator in JavaScript (2014) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 CARDIAC (2014) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8439443 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8439443 Cardiac – A cardboard illustrative aid to computation (Bell Labs 1968) (2018) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18433504 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18433504 Cardiac: Portable cardboard computer (2016) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12949393 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12949393
- dang 5y ago
  Thanks! I've added https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8348615 to my comment above since it has comments.
Donckele 5y ago
The dale miller domain for the link (dang) above is down.

bregma 5y ago

My first computer. Inspired me to becomes a computer scientist when I was 10, in the early 1970s. I still have mine but the accumulator is burned out after too many write/erase cycles and I may have lost the "bug" (memory pointer). It's probably the only computer I have from last century that still works.

a4isms 5y ago
Me too! My mother sent me to an enriched program on Saturdays, and one of the “classes” they had was called “Queries and Theories” after a very interesting game. That class introduced me to Mathematical Recreations, Raymond Smullyan, and computing. We had a CARDIAC we played with, and later went to the University to write FORTRAN programs on punch cards.

adyer07 5y ago

This is delightful. The paper sliders are especially charming. I wonder if the tactility of it helped make assembly easier to learn - or harder, because it didn't have immediate feedback.

jleyank 5y ago

It was a match that burned twice. First, you could play with the cardboard computer then you could use it as a prototype to make a software version. In my case it was a gateway into 370 compatible assembler on an rca/univac.