Manufacturing computers in series was quite a feat in the 1950s. As mathematical as it gets
the machines discussed here were called X1 and X8. The industrial achievement combined with the
background in a mathematical research center made the company Electrologica a legend in Dutch
computing. The tales in this book are told by those who have a right to tell. Highly engaged
professionals take readers back to their pioneering work with the machines and in retrospect
unveil some of the values which went without saying in the 1960s. To disagree Paul Klint
relates the contrasting views on software in Dutch research traditions. ALGOL culture: Frans
Kruseman Aretz takes the reader along to the detailed decisions on constructing compilers and
shows the values of an ALGOL culture transpiring. Signposts: Dirk Dekker for the first time
'owns' his algorithm for mutual exclusion. In particle physics: René van Dantzig's use case was
an Electrologica X8 computer controlling two other computers in three-dimensional detection of
colliding particles. Early steps in AI: Lambert Meertens' tale of the X8 machine composing a
violin quartet comes with his original presentation as well as the code in ALGOL 60. The
reflections of first hand experiences combine well with the second thoughts of historical
research into archival sources. Historians Huub de Beer and Gerard Alberts offer a view into
the boardrooms of the local enterprise Electrologica and of the electronics multinational
Philips. Where pioneers and historians meet in an inspiring dialogue the reader gains a view
on the often implicit decisions constituting the field. Fortuitously a copy of the X8 was
retrieved from Kiel Germany and put on display at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave Leiden. Sparked by
the very material presence of an X8 the present book takes stock of the state of
historiography of Electrologica. Gerard Alberts is an associate professor in History of Digital
Cultures retired from the University of Amsterdam. Jan Friso Groote is a full professor of
Formal Methods at the Eindhoven University of Technology.
