[John Maddox Roberts]

Originally Posted by JScott

Doesn't the noir era extend back to the 1930s? Or even the Twenties? 'Computer' back then had quite a different meaning. It was a person, not a machine.

From my pre-WWII Webster's Dictionary:

COM-PUT'ER, n. One who computes; a reckoner; a calculator.
COM-PUT'ING, ppr. Counting; numbering; reckoning; estimating.
COM'PU-TIST, n. A computer.

A computer, or computist, would find employment at a bank, a mortgage lender, an actuary, insurance company, or in some other business-related field.

WWII warships had a calculating instrument called a "computer." It was used to calibrate the trajectories of the big guns and it was mechanical rather than electronic. It was right around this time that the first true computers were developed and the word ceased to be used for non-electronic instruments.