Summary

Sleeve/cover for Friden Code and Flow Charting Template (missing). The missing template was used by the donor as an indispensable tool for flowcharting systems, procedures and 8 channel code references for Friden equipment. Donor worked as a programmer for the company that provided Friden equipment in Australia.

Physical Description

Rectangular paper envelope with information about the Code & Flow Chart Template, with opening at top of object. Diagram of actual object on front of sleeve with accompanying text (other side is blank). Template is no longer in envelope. The edges of the envelope have been reinforced with sticky tape.

Significance

This item gives insight into the work practices of programmers in the 1950s and 1960s, who relied on manual tools such as templates to manually draw / write program flowcharts.

It shows the logical processes that computer systems of the time followed; that each proprietary computer design, such as IBM, UNIVAC and Friden, had their own conventions and requirements. The various stages and equipment involved in each is also evident from the options provided on the various templates - eg paper tape, punch card, manual operation, extract and so on.

The donor worked for the company that provided Friden equipment to Australia, and hence the Flexowriter that was used with CSIRAC in the early 1960s. Whilst most users of CSIRAC wrote their own programs using methods particular to CSIRAC, the Friden code chart and template packet shows how programs were prepared by Friden for other commercial clients who were using Friden equipment on more modern computers. The items therefore show an interesting comparison with CSIRAC, which in the early 1960s was already an obsolete computing technology, albeit a much used and still successful one.

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