Dynabook

The Dynabook was a conceptual computer system that was developed in the early 70s by Alan Kay at Xerox PARC. It should be the merging of intuitive usage and programming with a high-quality graphical output and a powerful but inexpensive hardware.

It was planned that the data is entered by an integrated keyboard. However, the input options should not be limited, as was also planned to take account of sensorimotor skills of the user, as it is already a reality in many modern appliances. The screen should be directly integrated in the device. Also, a graphical user interface was planned. With a size of 12 " × 9" × 0.75 " ( which is roughly 30 × 23 × 2 cm equivalent ) should not be larger than a notebook in order to always have it to the device. According to Alan Kay was planned to set the selling price as low as possible ($ 500 maximum) to allow a large number of people to access.

Kay Seymour Papert in 1968 learned to know who had investigated the possibilities of the computer in the education of children at MIT and to develop the Logo programming language, with which the children of a primary school, learned the art of programming. About Papert Kay learned the learning theories of Jerome Bruner and Jean Piaget know. They were pioneers of a development and educational theory, which was based on cognitive psychology.

According to Kay, a computer should be unconditionally adapted to the abilities and needs of the people and he concluded that a Dynabook could therefore be to use not only at the symbolic level, but also support the sensorimotor and iconic skill of the operator had (to quote Alan Kay: "Doing with Images makes Symbols" ).

At Xerox PARC, Kay began with the design of a prototype for the Dynabook called minicom. He was from 1972 to the starting point for the construction of a small interactive computer. The ideas behind the Dynabook concept led to the development of the Xerox Alto computer, a prototype, which had all the elements of the graphical user interface ( GUI) already in 1972. Here, the pioneering software Smalltalk was developed.

The Dynabook concept shaped the current understanding of a portable computer.

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