Bandung High Technology Valley

Bandung High Technology Valley

A Story of Bandung High-Technology Valley1

Budi Rahardjo

Pusat Penelitian Antar Universitas bidang Mikroelektronika (PPAUME)

InterUniversity Research Center on Microelectronics (IURCME)

Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB)

rahard@ieee.org

2002

Senangnya Ilmu Komputer

Kulawarga Perguruan Tinggi Bandung

Keluarga Mahasiswa Bandung

(Peneliti Muda Bandung)

Prologue

It was early in the morning. Actually, it was not too early since it was already 6 AM. A bunch of guys were still sleeping on the carpeted floor in my parent’s living room. We worked late last night. We had this job of creating a multimedia demo. At that time the term multimedia did not include streaming videos, high-fidelity music, or breath-taking animation. It was pale compared to today’s standard. But still, we were thrill with the graphical capabilities of our Apple ][ computers. Ginting was still up and looking at a glaring green screen. The Apple ][ computer stood silently waiting for his commands. We, Ginting, I, and the guys who were still sleeping were classmates. We were the 81 Electrical Engineering of Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). ITB is one of the most prestigious universities in Indonesia. The “81” signifies the year we went to the university.

Ginting was our ultimate computer nerd. He would stay up late and confronted the computer as if he is playing a long chess match. At one time, he wrote an Indonesian BASIC language interpreter. I don’t know whether he just translated words by words or he actually wrote it from scratch. At that time, I didn’t know anything about parser or compiler construction and thought Ginting did a pretty good job.

The year was early 1980s. I could not remember exactly. I think it was 1982 or 1983. But it doesn’t matter. Today, 20 years later, you can still find similar groups of students working from their rented rooms, pavilions, or university labs in Bandung. They work on computer, Internet, or other technology projects. There are many new “Gintings”. This is the spirit of Bandung High Tech Valley. The spirit lives on. …