Invisible wrote:
> I had always assumed that the first computers were like current 
> computers, just using relays or whatever instead of transistors, and 
> with vastly inferior specifications.

A lot of the theory behind information processing, and especially on 
finding the most efficient algorithm to accomplish a specific task, 
comes from this era.  When a single clock cycle of computer time costs 
enough money to show up on a balance sheet, efficiency in computing 
becomes something of interest.

> For that matter, does anybody have a broad timeline of when various 
> technologies were in use? What are the dates for things like core 
> memory, drum memory, punch cards, magnetic tape, relays, vacuum tubes, 
> transistors, ICs, etc?

In the early 80s my high school went and bought a card reader for use in 
quickly tallying input from the 2000+ students on things like student 
council elections and so forth.  They wanted me to help get the system 
going, but I never spent more than an hour or so with it.

The US military had 50s-era cryptologic equipment, using vacuum tubes 
and magnetic cores, in active service until the late 80s.  The 
transmitter and receiver together took up an entire equipment rack.  It 
was widely rumored among Air Force crypto technicians that the designer 
of the system had been committed to an insane asylum, and that nobody 
else fully understood how it worked.

Regards,
John

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