This film is about an idea.
An idea we call the polymorphic concept of data processing system design,
which is a complicated name for an idea, we admit.
But the idea itself isn't so complicated when you think of it in terms of how
people get machines to help solve their problems. Now if you have a problem to be
computed, you take it to a computer, and as your problems get bigger,
you need a bigger computer. As more and more guys like you have problems to
solve, they take turns on the computer, which isn't so bad if the computer is
fast enough, which it can be if it is big enough and expensive enough. But
as the number of guys and the number of problems increase, the machine gets huge.
Isn't that a waste? Because while one guy is using the computer to solve an easy
problem, which may only be taking one thousandth of the computer, everyone else
has to wait. Unless you spend still more money and buy a still bigger
computer. But worse, if one piece fails, the whole computer will probably
quit, even though most of it is perfectly good, ready and willing to work.
What's wrong here? To start with, if you look inside, you see that it
isn't just one solid hunk of computer, but a lot of individual parts and circuits
which each have specialized functions. Now it would be nice if someone would
divide the huge computer into little parts, and solder the connections, so that
everybody could get a chance to use the parts he needs for his particular
problem. Next, you will want to organize things a little. Not in the
usual way, where the brainy computer part not only supervises everything, but
also insists on doing a large share of the detailed work. What you want is more
delegation, a more easygoing cooperative relationship between all the parts, so
that they can associate freely and directly with one another and in various ways.
Isn't this a lot of fun? Actually, of course, the electronic boxes don't move.
You just make a nice, flexible automatic switchboard connection, like the
telephone company does. That way, the computer boxes, the real brains of the
system, don't have to waste their time and talents acting like telephone
operators trying to handle every single message personally. They can stick to
computing and let the other boxes do the detailed work, such as remembering large
number of facts or sending messages from one box to another or carrying out
simple logical routines. And so, each computer box doesn't have to be so big
now. This is distributed control, distributed memory,
distributed arithmetics, distributed everything. And it makes sense, because now
more than one guy can be using the system at the same time to solve a number of
easy problems. And when those occasional crash problems come along, your system
can reconnect itself in a matter of microseconds to get the big urgent jobs done,
as well as an ordinary giant computer could do them. And
if one box quits, it's no great catastrophe. The system just automatically
switches the job to another box. If you find yourself getting the busy signal too
often, you buy more of exactly the kind of boxes you need. That's like adding on
new subscribers as they move in. Or you can add more displays so that more people
can see what goes on. Suppose you have problem calls for a lot of detailed work
to do most of the time. Then you buy boxes to give you all the memory or
messenger service or whatever else you need. On the other hand, if your problems
are mostly heavy duty brain work, you can load your system up with computer
boxes. When you really need it and can prove you need it, you can put together
a big system or even a really, really big one without over-investing early or
throwing anything away or starting from scratch again.
So you save money. And all the while you have better reliability and multiple use
and better access. You can even switch together two complexes or three
or four, like a nationwide telephone system. Or you can connect in one of those
ordinary giant computers as a subscriber if
you end up with one big party line.
You can keep some of the lines private by opening a few switches permanently so
that certain information won't be available to nosy subscribers. And so now you
see that it wasn't just exactly a computer you wanted, but a group of guys with
brains and a group of boxes with electronic brains and consoles and displays all
connected together in varying ways and growing together so that the partnership
can solve more problems per dollar than each group could solve by itself.
And this is all there is to the data processing concept known as polymorphic,
many shaped, or multiple mode, or the matrix concept,
or maybe just the common sense switchboard systems. Now it just so
happens that Thomson-Reymoor-Woolbridge has been working on the polymorphic idea
for several years. And in case you hadn't already guessed, we
have built the first actual polymorphic system. If you are
interested, let us know.
[...]