PCs Make the World Better
Computing is the ultimate example of theory put into practice
ONE OF THE BEST things about computing is the way it combines theory and practice, and often leaves you with a tangible result.
Back in 2020, I wrote a tutorial in this magazine about installing a Raspberry Pi computer and an IR camera in a bird nest box, to get an intimate view of a breeding pair as they build a nest, lay eggs, and hopefully raise their young to fledglings. As I write in mid-March from my European perch, a pair of Eurasian blue tits have been seen checking the box out, and with the help of a Wi-Fi extender, the box camera is happily streaming pictures live to YouTube. Hopefully, soon everybody will be able to see my two birds on the Internet.
This is a definite result. The theory was sound, but much could have gone wrong—I went through three power supplies and a bunch of USB cables, plus a waterproof junction, before I managed to get a powerful enough electricity supply nine feet up a tree without the rain spoiling it. The thought still haunts me that I’ll switch it on one morning and there’ll be a fizzle as the Pi sits in a pool of water.
I thought back to other features in the magazine. The Y2K bug, derided in the press as a fraud, was very real in both theory and practice, but it was the efforts of thousands of IT engineers that made sure there was no major disaster. Then, this issue, there’s the story of the invention of the first electronic, programmable computer during WWII. Now, I’m not putting myself on the same level as the Bletchley Park crew, or even the ’90s engineers who headed off the Y2K problem—I’m just a writer who knows how to use a screwdriver and can tell which end of a SATA cable is which—but all through the history of computing, the same thing has happened: Theory gets put into practice, ideas become real, and the world gets a little better every time.