SPACEWAR

2 definitions found

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  SPACEWAR n. A space-combat simulation game, inspired by E. E. "Doc"
     Smith's "Lensman" books, in which two spaceships duel around a central
     sun, shooting torpedoes at each other and jumping through hyperspace.
     This game was first implemented on the PDP-1 at MIT in 1962. In 1968-69,
     a descendant of the game motivated Ken Thompson to build, in his spare
     time on a scavenged PDP-7, the operating system that became {{Unix}}.


     Less than nine years after that, SPACEWAR was commercialized as one of
     the first video games; descendants are still {feep}ing in video arcades
     everywhere.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  SPACEWAR
       
           A space-combat simulation game, inspired by
          E. E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" books, in which two spaceships
          duel around a central sun, shooting torpedoes at each other
          and jumping through hyperspace.  This game was first
          implemented on the PDP-1 at MIT in 1960--61.
       
          SPACEWAR aficionados formed the core of the early hacker
          culture at {MIT}.  Nine years later, a descendant of the game
          motivated {Ken Thompson} to build, in his spare time on a
          scavenged {PDP-7}, the {operating system} that became {Unix}.
          Less than nine years after that, SPACEWAR was commercialised
          as one of the first video games; descendants are still
          {feep}ing in video arcades everywhere.
       
          ["SPACEWAR" or "Space Travel"?]
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1994-11-07)