Skip Navigation



The Computer Journal Advance Access published online on March 26, 2008
The Computer Journal, doi:10.1093/comjnl/bxn019
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lavington, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Computer Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

An Appreciation of Dina St Johnston (1930–2007) Founder of the UK's First Software House

Simon Lavington*

Lemon Tree Cottage, 46 High Street, Sproughton, Suffolk, IP8 3AH, UK

* Corresponding author: lavis{at}essex.ac.uk

Received 25 September 2007; revised 27 February 2008

In the 1950s there was no software industry. Dina St Johnston, who had learned to program whilst working for the computer manufacturer Elliott-Automation, founded Vaughan Programming Services in 1959. The company began to specialise in on-line systems for digital process control at a time when industrial automation was in its infancy. In due course the company developed its own platform-independent, timesharing, mini-operating system (MACE) and, in 1970, the Vaughan 4M microprocessor. Vaughan went on to become specialists in the supply of real time controllers for passenger railways. Dina St Johnston remained an active programmer until 1996.

Key Words: Vaughan programming services • Elliott-automation • real-time process control


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.