Post #1555059

@amoroso @bitsplusatoms I attended a circa-1978 Bell Labs talk that discussed the computer replacement for edge-notched cards, Bloom filters, which are extremely heavily used these days, although only mentioned occasionally (and I don't see them linked in the wikipedia Hashing related articles, hmm) Apparently Bell used to actually use edge-notched cards. I used to think Bloom filters were invented by Bell, but I'm not sure Bloom worked there, so perhaps the talk was just about their use of them. Bloom CACM paper: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/362686.362692 Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_filter These are more generally a kind of Superimposed code: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superimposed_code *That* article *does* mention edge-notched cards. And: 'Calvin Mooers invented Zatocoding at M.I.T., a mechanical information retrieval system based on superimposed codes, and formed the Zator Company in 1947 to commercialize its applications.[4] The particular superimposed code used in that system is called Zatocoding, while the marginal-punched card information retrieval system as a whole is called "Zator".' Note: "Calvin Mooers Imagines the "DOKEN" (Documentary Engine), a Hypothetical Machine to Search the World's Literature" 1951 https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3785 Although he coined the term "information retrieval" in 1950, he is probably best remembered for his TRAC programming language, as discussed by Ted Nelson in "Computer Lib / Dream Machines" http://www.dalkescientific.com/writings/diary/archive/2014/06/19/Calvin_Mooers.html I feel like Ted Nelson mentioned Calvin Mooers in connection with hypertext, too,, but I don't see a reference for that at the moment.