[ih] "The First Router" on Jeopardy

[Dan Lynch]

Steve is right. But he skirts the real world reality that once the engineers give birth to a technology the marketers take over and all is lost with terminology from then on. Sigh…

Dan

Cell 650-776-7313

> On Nov 23, 2021, at 6:59 AM, Steve Crocker via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> 
> I have no problem referring to the Arpanet IMPs as routers.  They weren't
> *called* routers at the time, but their function was indeed to route
> packets.  So, when explaining things to a modern audience, I say "these
> boxes were routers -- we called them IMPs -- and it was a key
> breakthrough in the design process to decide to put the routing function in
> separate machines."
> 
> It's of some historical interest to trace the introduction and use of
> various terms, but, in my view, that's a separate and distinct concern from
> presenting an understandable description of the function.
> 
> That said, I'll acknowledge that a bridge, which simply flooded the
> channels with whatever came in, doesn't quite rise to the level of being a
> router.  I'm not sure whether a switch deserves to be classified as a
> router, and I'd prefer not to debate it.
> 
> Steve
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