computer science

Hal Prewitt

Hal Prewitt is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hal Prewitt rather than just read about it. In short: Harold D. Prewitt Jr.

Key takeaways

Hal Prewitt belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hal Prewitt to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hal Prewitt from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Harold D. Prewitt Jr. (born October 1, 1954, in Hutchinson, Kansas) is an American businessman, inventor, artist, and race car driver. During the 1970s and 1980s, he worked on the development of personal computer software and hardware for IBM microcomputer systems. Prewitt founded and managed several technology companies, including Core International, which developed disk array, data storage, and backup products. The company produced hot-swappable disk drives, controllers, host adapters, and power supplies. Prewitt served as chairman and chief executive officer until 1993, when the company was acquired by Aiwa.

Early life

Youth Prewitt was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. His father was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, who later worked as a mailman for the United States Postal Service and was honored as a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor of Kentucky. His mother was a nurse. Prewitt grew up in the Daytona Beach, Florida, area from 1963 to 1976. Here, he had his first exposure to auto racing, volunteering at Daytona International Speedway. In 1967, at the age of 13, he built his first computer, which performed simple math and operated his phonograph.

Prewitt joined the Civil Air Patrol as a cadet and earned the second-highest rank (Cadet Lt. Colonel). He sold his first artwork, a painting, at the age of 16. As a teenager, Prewitt learned sailing, fishing, boating, and scuba diving and developed skills in mechanics, engineering, electronics, navigation, and construction. He was interested in painting and photography, producing and selling a number of images. After graduating from high school, Prewitt continued building boats, managing his business, and began to focus on computer programming. Between 1972 and 1975, he learned various programming languages using an IBM 1130. In the early 1970s, Prewitt unsuccessfully sought venture capital in a plan to design, build, and sell small business computers at lower prices than available at the time. In 1975, he built an Altair 8800. That same year, Prewitt obtained his first business application customer when he sold, designed, and wrote computer programs for the IBM 5100 and System/32 as part of the business he had started at age 16. He joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and participated in autocross events.

Education After high school, Prewitt attended Daytona Beach Community College (1972–76), studying business and computer science, but left without earning a degree. He transferred to Florida Atlantic University (1976–78), Boca Raton, Florida, where he continued his studies in business and computer science; however, he eventually dropped out of college to focus on his business.

Business career Prewitt began working at an early age. As a teenager, he held various jobs, including construction work for a home builder in Ormond Beach, Florida, as well as restaurant work as a busser, dishwasher, and cook. By the mid-1970s, he had started a small business and sold a painting. While attending community college, Prewitt worked in boat construction and marina operations at Howard Boat Works, and also held positions as a painter and accountant. His later employment included work as a laboratory assistant at his college and as a computer programmer for a firm providing business applications for mainframe and minicomputer systems.

Ranger Systems

In 1970, while in high school, Prewitt started his first business, Ranger Systems. The company had four divisions: Ranger Manufacturing, Business World, Rent a Houseboat and Ranger Automotive Engineering. Prewitt used the manufacturing part of the business to build electronics, computers, and fiberglass boats. Business World did marketing, photography, printing and advertising. Prewitt wrote brochures, shot pictures, placed ads and ran a printing press. The largest and most profitable division was Rent a Houseboat, through which Prewitt rented out his family's boat. He sometimes used a small boat to travel to school and quickly reach the houseboat. Prewitt did everything from writing contracts to maintenance, while the automotive division focused on repairs. Prewitt operated Ranger Systems until 1975, when his focus switched to computer programming and the personal computer industry.

International Computer In 1975, Prewitt created International Computer to continue building, selling, installing and programming computers. He also started developing storage devices, which later became his most successful products. Prewitt's customer base was located from mid to south Florida in manufacturing, hotel, service, legal, medical, construction and agricultural industries. Prewitt flew to their offices by initially renting aircraft and then by using his own.

Prewitt started Southeast Computer Consultants with a partner in late 1977.

Core International (Core)

In late 1979, Prewitt founded Core International from the assets of International Computer and Southeast Computer Consultants. The company developed hardware and software for IBM 5110-series systems, including external storage products addressing the lack of built-in hard drives. Core later expanded into disk arrays, data storage, and backup products, and grew to operate internationally, with offices in Europe and Asia. In 1986, Inc. magazine ranked Core 21st on its Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies. Prewitt served as chairman and chief executive officer until 1993, when the company was sold to Aiwa.

Later career Prewitt is the managing member of Prewitt Enterprises, a Florida-based agricultural and investment business he founded in 2004, with offices in Boca Raton and Miami, Florida, and in Park City, Utah. The agricultural part of the business grows oranges, and is a major supplier of orange juice to Tropicana's Pure Premium. In 2012, Prewitt founded Prewitt Management, a Florida-based art business with offices in Boca Raton and Miami, Florida and Park City, Utah. Prewitt's art includes oils, acrylics, pencil drawings and photography, and some of his artworks were displayed in his gallery on Main Street, Park City, Utah until the summer of 2017.

Sporting career

Racing

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hal Prewitt

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hal Prewitt claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hal Prewitt before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hal Prewitt ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hal Prewitt

In research: Hal Prewitt appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hal Prewitt in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hal Prewitt is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1954 births, 20th-century American artists, 20th-century American businesspeople, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hal Prewitt outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hal Prewitt in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hal Prewitt means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hal Prewitt out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hal Prewitt in simple terms?

Harold D. Prewitt Jr.

Why does Hal Prewitt matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hal Prewitt?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hal Prewitt.