Chapter 3 (1982): Toolchains and the First Pressure of Standards / 第3章(1982):工具链与标准化的开端
中文
1982 年,很多人第一次意识到:计算不是一台机器,也不是一段程序,而是一条链。
当上机不再只是“把一个结果算出来”,而是要把结果交给下一步、交给另一个人、交给另一个系统时,工具链才真正出现:输入、处理、输出、存储、备份、打印、归档。
1) 全球切片:工具链让计算变成“可持续工作”
全球环境里,个人计算继续下沉。更重要的是,人们开始形成可重复的工作方式:同类任务有默认工具,同类文件有默认格式,同类失败有默认恢复。
2) 国内切片:协作让“格式”变成问题
在国内,计算仍多在组织内部推进。只要数据需要跨部门、跨岗位流动,格式就不再是技术细节,而是协作成本。谁来定义字段、命名、版本,决定了能否长期运转。
3) 机制:标准化不是口号,是减少返工
标准化的动因往往很朴素:减少返工、减少误会、减少口径不一。标准不是为了完美,而是为了让协作可持续。
本章要点:1982 年开始,计算的扩散越来越像“流程与格式”的扩散。
English
In 1982, many people begin to sense that computing is not a machine or a single program, but a chain.
Once “getting an answer” is not enough—once the result must pass to the next step, the next person, the next system—toolchains emerge: input, processing, output, storage, backup, printing, archiving.
1) Global slice: toolchains make computing livable as work
As personal computing continues to descend, what matters is repeatability. Similar tasks acquire default tools; similar files acquire default formats; similar failures acquire default recovery paths.
2) China slice: collaboration turns formats into cost
Inside organizations, as soon as data must cross roles or departments, formats stop being a detail. They become collaboration cost. Field definitions, naming, and versioning decide whether a system can last.
3) Mechanism: standardization is not ideology; it is less rework
The motive is simple: fewer misunderstandings, fewer mismatched numbers, fewer cycles of redo. Standards are rarely about perfection; they are about survivable cooperation.
Key point: in 1982, diffusion begins to look like the spread of workflows and formats.