Expensive Desk Calculator

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Expensive Desk Calculator, by Robert A. Wagner, is considered computing’s first interactive calculation program. It first ran on the TX-0 computer at MIT, loaned by Lincoln Laboratory, and was later ported to the PDP-1 donated to MIT in 1961 by Digital Equipment Corporation. Wagner and fellow MIT Tech Model Railroad Club members used the large machines after classes, with supervision from Jack Dennis, John McKenzie, and faculty advisors. Because calculators were hard to access for his numerical homework, Wagner wrote the program himself. The code runs about 3,000 lines and took months to complete, but he still received a zero on the homework: “You used a computer!” Steven Levy later observed that this showed how the computer would open up limitless possibilities.