The Dynabook was a conceptional computer system, which was devised in and the 70's 60's with Xerox PARC. It should be the unification of intuitive usability and programming with a high-quality graphic expenditure and an efficient, but inexpensive hardware. Main advocate of the Dynabooks was Alan Kay.

Kay became acquainted with 1968 Seymour Papert, which to WITH the possibilities of the computer during the education of children examined and in addition Logo had developed the programming language, with that the children of a primary school programming learned. Over Papert Kay became acquainted with the learning theories of Jerome Bruner and Jean Piaget. They were pioneers of a development and an educating theory, which relied on the cognitive psychology.

After Kay a computer should be unconditionally adapted to the abilities and needs of humans and it concluded that a Dynabook could not therefore only have to be served on the symbolic level, but also the sensomotorischen and ikonischen abilities of the operator to support had (quotation A. Kay: "„Doing with images of makes symbol "“).

With Xerox PARC Kay began with the draft of a prototype for the Dynabook with the name miniCOM. It became starting from 1972 the starting point for the construction of a small interactive computer. The ideas behind the Dynabook concept led to the development Xerox of the Alto computer, a prototype, which already exhibited all elements of the graphic user surface (GUI) in the year 1972. Also the software pointing the way Smalltalk was developed.

The Dynabook concept led in the long run to what we understand today by a portable computer.

Literature

• Michael peace forest: The computer as tool and medium - GNT publishing house, 1999

Articles in category "Dynabook"

We found here 8 articles.

Related Websites

We found here 5 related websites.

• Dynabook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Alan Kay was the main proponent of the Dynabook concept. ... Alan Kay on the Flex, the KiddiComp, the Dynabook and his other work · Dynabook Revisited ...


• From Dynabook to Squeak: A Study in Survivals
  Part of a historical research project, tracing the evolution of Alan Kay's Dynabook vision over 3+...


• Multimedia
  "We wanted the Dynabook to be like the HP calculator except to be a real live computer. This was the inspiration for all that we were thinking about" ...


• Toshiba Dynabook SX Review - Summary - Notebook Computers ...
  Prices review specifications performance discuss and user reviews for Toshiba Dynabook SX from Toshiba at Digital Trends your source for digital cameras ...


• Welcome to Squeakland
  Yet even before his years at Xerox PARC, Kay had envisioned the Dynabook, ... The Dynabook would be linked to a network and offer users a synthesis of text, ...