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The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation (Springer Praxis Books)

Frank O'Brien · 6 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation (Springer Praxis Books)" by Frank O'Brien.
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Amazon Summary
Designing a mission for a flight to the Moon requires balancing the demands of a wide array of spacecraft systems, with the details of tending each component generating complex and often contradictory requirements. More than any other system in the Apollo spacecraft, the Apollo Guidance Computer drove the capabilities of the lunar missions. In the 1960's, most computers filled an entire room yet the spacecraft's computer was required to be compact and require little power.  When compared to modern systems, the AGC's design limitations and lack of speed presented formidable challenges. Yet, hardware and software engineers overcame these difficulties, and their creation was able to guide a new and complex spacecraft and its precious human cargo away from the safety of Earth and towards a new world. Although people today find it difficult to accept that it was possible to control a spacecraft using such a 'primitive' computer, it nevertheless had capabilities that are advanced even by today's standards. The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation is the first comprehensive description of the Apollo computer, beginning with its internal organization to its user interface and flight software. Particular emphasis is placed on the instruction set, Executive capabilities, the Interpreter and the detailed procedures for mission application software. Launch, landing on the Moon and entry back on Earth are explained in rich detail and show how the computer was an integral part of the spacecraft operation. As a comprehensive account, it spans the disciplines of computer science, aerospace engineering and spacecraft operations. The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation is an essential reference for space historians and engineers, and serves well as a complementary text for computer science courses.
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If you like this, you may also like this book that goes into crazy detail about the design and architecture of the AGC:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Apollo-Guidance-Computer-Architect...

See also Fran's pages; she does some reverse engineering with X ray micrographs:

http://www.frantone.com/designwritings/design_writings_LVDC....

Some important developments in computing in the sixties and early seventies were driven by the NASA space programs. Some sources:

Computers in Spaceflight - The NASA Experience: http://history.nasa.gov/computers/contents.html

Digital Apollo, by David A. Mindell - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/digital-apollo

The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation by Frank O'Brien - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Apollo-Guidance-Computer-Archite... (highly detailed)

I'd also recommend Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson and The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder.

Many early IT systems used special-purpose hardware, and boundary between the software and hardware development wasn't as clear as it is now. For this reason, I think, many surveys tend to emphasise the hardware aspect.

For those interested, there is also a fascinating book The Apollo Guidance Computer : Architecture and Operation

http://www.apolloguidancecomputer.com/index.html

http://www.amazon.com/The-Apollo-Guidance-Computer-Architect...

⬐ nimzo
Incidentally, the publisher of the AGC book, Praxis Publishing, has a whole collection of well-written, engaging, and technically deep books in their space exploration category, namely, 'How Apollo Flew to the Moon'. http://www.praxis-publishing.co.uk/books.php
While looking at this another book came up in Amazon's recommendation: The Apollo Guidance Computer Architecture. Luckily almost whole books is available for reading in Amazon't Look Inside feature: http://www.amazon.com/The-Apollo-Guidance-Computer-Architect...
For those interested in this subject, I highly recommend "The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation":

http://www.amazon.com/The-Apollo-Guidance-Computer-Architect...

John Pultorak built a Block I AGC (think "version 1") and provides all of his work in the Public Domain here:

http://klabs.org/history/build_agc/

⬐ dbarlett
I haven't read that one, but enjoyed Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight http://web.mit.edu/digitalapollo/
I think most of us would love to see your take on that. However, in case anyone's interested, a book like that does already exist:

http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Guidance-Computer-Architecture-...

I haven't bought it yet but it's in my wishlist pending an Xmas purchase ;-)

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