My impression of the Computer History Museum was that it was way bigger and more interactive than I expected. The exhibits showed how computers changed from these huge machines that filled entire rooms to personal devices we use everyday.
I learned about the ENIAC and other early computers that we didn’t really talk about in class, especially how much manual work people had to do to program them using switches and punch cards. Like you couldn’t just type code, you had to physically flip switches and feed cards into the machine which seems crazy now.
My favorite thing was probably the original Apple I computer because it showed how creativity and simple design ideas can lead to huge technological changes. It’s just this basic circuit board but it basically started the whole personal computer revolution. It made me think about how interaction design connects technology and people in meaningful ways – like it’s not just about making something work, it’s about making it usable for regular people not just engineers.
I was also surprised by how many failed projects and dead-end technologies there were. Not everything became successful even if it was innovative at the time.