HAL 9000

HAL 9000 is a fictional computer created by Science Fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, and is a central character in the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010 respectively.

It was once thought that Clarke used the letters HAL as homage to IBM , because each of the letters H, A and L, are each exactly one alphabetical place after I, B and M. Clarke later said this was nothing more than pure coincidence. The acronym actually stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer.