Editing Connection Machine (section)

==Visual design==
[[File:Thinking Machines CM-5 LED pattern animation.gif|thumb|upright|The CM-5 LED panels could show randomly generated moving patterns that served purely as eye candy, as seen in ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]''.]]

Connection Machines were noted for their striking visual design.  The CM-1 and CM-2 design teams were led by [[Tamiko Thiel]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thiel |first=Tamiko |date=1994 |title=The Design of the Connection Machine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1511650 |journal=Design Issues |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=5–18 |doi=10.2307/1511650 |jstor=1511650 |issn=0747-9360}}</ref> The physical form of the CM-1, CM-2, and CM-200 chassis was a cube-of-cubes, referencing the machine's internal 12-dimensional [[hypercube]] network, with the red [[light-emitting diode]]s (LEDs), by default indicating the processor status, visible through the doors of each cube.

By default, when a processor is executing an instruction, its LED is on.  In a SIMD program, the goal is to have as many processors as possible working the program at the same time – indicated by having all LEDs being steady on. Those unfamiliar with the use of the LEDs wanted to see the LEDs blink – or even spell out messages to visitors.  The result is that finished programs often have superfluous operations to blink the LEDs.

The CM-5, in plan view, had a staircase-like shape, and also had large panels of red blinking LEDs. Prominent sculptor-architect [[Maya Lin]] contributed to the CM-5 design.<ref name="IT2014">{{cite web |title=Bloodless Beige Boxes: The Story of an Artist and a Thinking Machine |url=https://www.ithistory.org/blog/bloodless-beige-boxes-story-artist-and-thinking-machine |publisher=IT History Society |access-date=2015-01-16 |date=2014-09-02}}</ref>