Brief history of computers and error-correcting codes and my work with Gus Solomon
I.S. Reed · 2002
The author give a history of his early work in the development of digital computers. He contributed to an early digital computer which was suggested for the control of SNARK, a US cruise missile. It was called MADDIDA for magnetic drum digital differential analyser. It was developed in 1949 by the Northrop guidance group. This class of machines was never used to guide SNARK. However, it is his belief that MADDIDA was the earliest working electronic digital computer built on the West Coast. His work with Gus Solomon led to the Reed-Solomon code which is now widely used in industrial and consumer electronic devices.