The history of computing : a very short introduction / Doron Swade.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Swade, Doron, author.

Series:

Very short introductions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computer science--History.

Computer science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2022.

Summary:

This book describes the central events, machines, and people in the history of computing, and traces how innovation has brought us from pebbles used for counting, to the modern age of the computer. It has a strong historiographical theme that offers a new perspective on how to understand the historical narratives we have constructed, and examines the unspoken assumptions that underpin them. It describes inventions, pioneers, milestone systems, and the context of their use. It starts with counting, and traces change through calculating aids, mechanical calculation, and automatic electronic computation, both digital and analogue. It shows how four threads - calculation, automatic computing, information management, and communications - converged to create the 'information age'. It examines three master narratives in established histories that are used as aids to marshal otherwise unmanageable levels detail. The treatment is rooted in the principal episodes that make up canonical histories of computing.

Contents:

1. History and computing

2. Calculation

3. Automatic computation

4. Electronic computing

5. The computer boom

6. Revolution

7. The future of history.

ISBN:

0-19-256763-2

0-19-256764-0

0-19-186961-9