THESE DAYS the information technology industry is making headlines for the wrong reasons. But the edifice on which it stands today has been carefully built over the past three decades and more, and this could give hope for its long-term survival.
The initial software writing skills in India developed parallel to hardware design innovation. In the era of mainframe computers, software came bundled with hardware. Application software had to be written specifically for each computer. Since all commercial computers came from multinationals, software writing skills also developed on these computers with the help of US firms. This made IBM and ICL storehouses of programmers. When TIFR acquired the large mainframe from CDC,it got its scientists trained in programming at CDC. Subsequently, these skills spread to others through training and hands-on experience. Initial training skills in programming developed at the IITs through interaction with IBM, which supplied computers, and faculty from collaborating American universities.
(Extracted from The Long Revolution, by Dinesh C. Sharma, with permission from HarperCollins)
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