Anyone looking at this is probably interested in how computers evolved, here are some of the best links I have found.

The following is a list of Computers I have programmed or obtained manuals for and written programs for. This is more or less in the order that I encountered them:

1. IBM 650 Took an evening class on while studying Meteorology at University Utah.
2. Burroughs Datatron 205 This was first computer at University of Utah I was not there when it arrived; but I did get in on some pre arrival training by Bob Albrecht out of the Denver Burroughs office.
3. Burroughs E-101 Bob got me the manuals on this small desk sized computer. It was programmed by putting pins into holes in a removable panel. (Not truly a stored program computer.)
4. IBM 704 was the hot thing at the time I went to England in the Air Force. With some persistence I was able to get a manual from IBM.
5. Cyclone, at Iowa State was patterned after the ILLIAC; but different enough that the software was different. This was the first computer that I actually got to run programs on. I was a graduate student. Myself and Bob Sharpe (A professor in the Electrical Engineering Department) wrote virtually all the software for this machine. The first were diagnostics to test out the instructions of the machine, this was all done in hexadecimal. I wrote a program that played music and was interviewed and played music for about 15 minutes on NBC, in spring of 1961. Then we wrote an Assembler, SAR (Symbolic Assembly Routine). I think I am unique in that the first Assembler I used was written by me.
6. IBM 1620 We planned to simulate this machine on the Cyclone in hopes of being able to run the 1620 Fortran compiler. I got, from IBM the Fortran on punched paper tape. Other fires burned brighter, like floating point routines, and transcendental functions; so the simulator never got completed.
7. IBM 7090 This was the transistorized version of the 709 which was an enhanced version of the IBM 704.
8. IBM 7070 This was a decimal arithmetic machine (ten digit words) with 100 index registers. While I was at Iowa State they planned to get a 7070 and I was part of the customer training.
9. IBM 1401 Used as a peripheral for the 7070, and the first computer I was hired to program. First at Reynolds Electric (Prime contractor for the Nevada AEC test site.) and then for the telephone company in Las Vegas. This was the first computer that phone company had.
10. CDC 1604 This was the first computer that Control Data marketed, although the small 160 probably got onto the market before it. In theory the 160 was a peripheral for the 1604. We looked at this while I was at Iowa State. In many ways it was an enhanced Cyclone.
11. CDC 160A Just a latter 160
12. IBM 1410 An enhanced version of the 1401 which Reynolds planned to get, but I left there before it arrived.
13. DEC PDP-1, PDP-4, PDP-5, PDP-7, PDP-8, and PDP-15. Digital Equipment Corp. had a very simple naming scheme for their "Programmed Data Processors". In fact the PDP-2 and PDP-3 were designed and aborted before they were ever sold, but I did get a manual for a PDP-3. (Possibly a collectors item, but I am not sure I could find it now.) The PDP-1 was an 18-bit word machine, which was simplified and hence the price lowered for the PDP-4. The PDP-5 was a 12-bit word machine which was replaced by a cheaper and faster program compatible machine, the PDP-8. The PDP-7 and PDP-15 were enhanced PDP-4's.

    I programmed the communications front end on a PDP-8, supporting 64 telephone lines for the time sharing company that I worked for in Boston. The main computer "behind" the PDP-8 was a CDC 3600.

14. Honeywell 800 was a large machine competing with the IBM 7090. It's claim to fame, was superior tape drives, and 3 address logic.
15. SDS-910 and SDS-920 were powerful small computers in a single 19 inch wide cabinet. They had a very clever way of making the cheaper 910 run programs written for the larger 920. Scientific Data Systems deserves credit (often given to IBM in their 360's) for Upward and Downward compatibility. After they were bought by Xerox, Xerox's lack of ability to market computers killed them and their great Sigma 7 and 5 which by design should have killed IBM's 360 line.
16. RCA 301 When I left Nevada in 1963 and went to work for RCA this was their workhorse, although the 3301 was supposed to be bigger and greater. RCA's television engineering mentality kept them from ever making a reliable computer. They went out of business in 1970 or 1971, fortunately for the good of data processing.

    I am just going to list the rest, for the time being:

17. Burroughs B-5000
18. Interdata 3
19. Varian 620i
20. HP 2116
21. CCC 116
22. DEC PDP-6
23. IBM 360
24. IBM 1130
25. RCA Spectra 70
26. SDS Sigma 7
27. SDS Sigma 5
28. DEC PDP-10
29. Data General Nova
30. Honeywell 316
31. Honeywell 220
32. CDC 3200
33. DEC PDP-11
34. CDC 3600
35. IBM 370
36. Intel 8008
37. Interdata 7/32 Used in the Tektronix 4081 that I supported. When I worked for Tektronix.
38. Motorola 6800
39. Mos Technology 6502
40. Motorola 6801
41. Motorola 68000
42. Hewlett-Packard 3000
43. Intel 8080
44. Intel 8086 (IBM PC) family of personal computers used a cut down version: 8088)
45. Intel 80386 A supped up version of the 8086 with a wider data buss and a crude extension to add 16 bits to the registers. This is what the Pentium is today.)
46. IBM/Motorola PowerPC 601 a great RISC architecture, that Apple is trying to support; but IBM never introduced the personal computer using this chip, they used the PowerPC in an overpriced work station.

Latter I will list the Languages that I have worked with. Sometimes called the "Higher Level Languages". I think that is bad terminology. The highest level should be the binary for the machine, and the lowest would be whatever is furthermost from the actual machine instructions. This would extend Down to just supplying data for an application.

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