| Colossal Typewriter | |
| Screenshot Alt: | Restored PDP-1 with monitor and keyboard |
| Author: | John McCarthy and Roland Silver |
| Released: | 1960 |
| Platform: | PDP-1 and possibly TX-0 |
| Genre: | Text editor |
| Website: | PDP-1 Restoration Project |
Colossal Typewriter by John McCarthy and Roland Silver was one of the earliest computer text editors.[1] The program ran on the PDP-1 at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) by December 1960.[2] [3]
About this time, both authors were associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but it is unclear whether the editor ran on the TX-0 on loan to MIT from Lincoln Laboratory or on the PDP-1 donated to MIT in 1961 by Digital Equipment Corporation. A "Colossal Typewriter Program" is in the BBN Program Library, and, under the same name, in the DECUS Program Library as BBN- 6 (CT).[4]