1970 to 1979: Computers and Software Begin Creating Wealth - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 167

In 1972, Hamilton introduced the first digital watch, the Pulsar. This watch cost
about $2,100 when it first came out. Earlier, Hamilton had built a digital clock that
appeared in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey .
In today's world, digital quartz movements are inexpensive and dominate time-
keeping. Billions of timekeeping and timing devices are available in watches,
timers, medical devices, military devices, and anything else that needs accurate
timekeeping.
1970 marked the start of the UNIX operating system, which would become one
of the most popular software applications in history.
This decade also witnessed the rise of minicomputers and the rise of specialized
computers for word processing and office tasks. Among the companies in this
niche were DEC with its PDP and VAX computers, Wang with both specialized
word processing machines and small computers, and Prime Computers.
The physical reduction in the size and weight of computers from mainframes to
minicomputers made it obvious that it would soon be possible to have computers
that were small enough to carry around and be portable.
The IBM 5100 computer, released in September 1975, was the first computer
that could be carried from place to place, although it required some physical
strength because it weighed about 55 pounds.
In 1976, this “portable” computer was followed by the NoteTaker from Xerox
Park, which was a prototype that would later be the pattern for the Osborne and
Compaq portables in the next decade. These portables each weighed about 26
pounds.
In the 1970s, the need for portable computers was seen, but the technology to
shrink computers down to a truly portable form factor would not surface until later
decades.
Also in 1976, the mathematician Tom McCabe developed the cyclomatic com-
plexity metric . This measures the control of the paths through a software applica-
tion. It has remained a key metric for more than 35 years.
This decade also saw the use of embedded software in an ever-growing family
of physical devices. For example, the first widely used cochlear implant was de-
veloped in 1972. Cochlear implants surgically embed wires that replace damaged
cochlea, and sound quality is adjusted by software in the embedded device.
In October 1978, Al Albrecht of IBM in White Plains gave the first public
speech on function points at the joint IBM/SHARE/GUIDE conference in