Opinion

Session 19 of the ACM 20th Anniversary Conference on August 31, 1967, was entitled Education, Design Experiments, and Computer Appreciation. Its second half consisted of a panel discussion on computer appreciation, organized and chaired by Elliot I. Organick. The four panelists were Charles H. Davidson, Bernard A. Galler, Richard W. Hamming, and Alan J. Perlis. After making prepared statements, the panelist were joined in discussion by Andries van Dam and Arthur B. Kahn, who had presented papers in the first half. This is a transcript of the panel discussion, condensed by Dr. Organick and edited him and the panelists. Some remarks referred to papers by van Dam and Kahn or to the discussion during the first half of the session. Pertinent papers are included in the references.