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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Stone Age</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../S.html" title="S"/><link rel="previous" href="stomp-on.html" title="stomp on"/><link rel="next" href="stone-knives-and-bearskins.html" title="stone knives and bearskins"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Stone Age</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="stomp-on.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">S</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="stone-knives-and-bearskins.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="Stone-Age"/><dt xmlns="" id="Stone-Age"><b>Stone Age</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.,adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> 1. In computer folklore, an ill-defined period from ENIAC (ca. 1943)
to the mid-1950s; the great age of electromechanical
<a href="../D/dinosaur.html"><i class="glossterm">dinosaur</i></a>s. Sometimes used for the entire period up
to 1960--61 (see <a href="../I/Iron-Age.html"><i class="glossterm">Iron Age</i></a>); however, it is funnier
and more descriptive to characterize the latter period in terms of a
&#8216;Bronze Age&#8217; era of transistor-logic,
pre-ferrite-<a href="../C/core.html"><i class="glossterm">core</i></a> machines with drum or CRT mass
storage (as opposed to just mercury delay lines and/or relays). See also
<a href="../I/Iron-Age.html"><i class="glossterm">Iron Age</i></a>. </p><div class="mediaobject"><a id="crunchly76-05-01"/><img src="../graphics/76-05-01.png"/><div class="caption"><p>How things weren't in the <a href="Stone-Age.html"><i class="glossterm">Stone Age</i></a>.</p><p>(The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is
<a href="../C/core-dump.html#crunchly76-07-18">76-07-18</a>. The previous
cartoon was <a href="../F/flush.html#crunchly-5678">76-03-14:5-8</a>.)</p></div></div></dd><dd><p> 2. More generally, a pejorative for any crufty, ancient piece of
hardware or software technology. Note that this is used even by people who
were there for the <a href="Stone-Age.html"><i class="glossterm">Stone Age</i></a> (sense 1).</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="stomp-on.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../S.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="stone-knives-and-bearskins.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">stomp on </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> stone knives and bearskins</td></tr></table></div></body></html>