Moved NLS to a stand-alone CDC-3100, with online disk pack, 16K of 24-bit memory, line printer, paper-tape and punched-card I/O, custom built display. Full structured files, with in-file addressing and uniform text- and structure-manipulation commands.
Published (Rpt-62J) , which included the following: Discussion
of how the computer can give aid to the basic communication processes
between the human and his external environment (which environment
of course includes his kit of computer tools). Clear forerunner
of our later User Interface System. Uses example of introducing
a chord keyset into a user's environment to bring out specific
examples of the NEED-POSSIBILITY REVERBERATION phenomena which
was introduced in 1962, (Rpt-62J) , and which is a basic part
of all my subsequent strategic thinking. Extensive discussion
of USER-SYSTEM, SERVICE-SYSTEM DICHOTOMY, including the characteristics
of research in each domain. (CO-EVOLUTION without yet naming it
such.) Detailed description of the earliest version of our later
FLTS (oFf-Line Text System), and what eventually became our DEX
System (Deferred EXecution). Working at a Model-33 Teletype, which
makes a punched-tape record of all that is typed. Escape and Command
codes embedded anywhere in the text could cause the later "batch"
process to correct any previous error or omission, including those
in any prior commands. The Model-33 had only one case of alphabetic
characters; this process enabled me to designate cases so that
the later, processed printout on a two-case Flexowriter (paper-tape
driven) would come out with proper alphabetic cases. (I made myself
write most of that report this way. And my wife made me move out
into the garage to do it because the Model-33 was so noisy. I
remember the extra problem of typing with cold fingers.)
Showed real time movie of NLS to ARPA IPTO Principal Investigators at our May 16-17 meeting at MIT. Simple, structure-text manipulations, with very fast concurrent control (mouse and keyset), and very fast computer response (stand-alone CDC-3100). Illustrated the basic difference in perspective between our approach and the prevailing concepts of "time-shared computer support." At that evening's cocktail hour, Bob Taylor told me, "The trouble with you, Doug, is that you don't think big enough." Well, after he dragged out of me a description of what I'd really like, he encouraged me to formulate a proposal for it -- a multi-user laboratory, based on a time-shared machine, to get on with real bootstrapping.