Software: A Technical History

by Kim W Tracy

Overview

Software history has a deep impact on current software designers, computer scientists, and technologists. System constraints imposed in the past and the designs that responded to them are often unknown or poorly understood by students and practitioners, yet modern software systems often include “old” software and “historical” programming techniques. This work looks at software history through specific software areas to develop student-consumable practices, design principles, lessons learned, and trends useful in current and future software design. It also exposes key areas that are widely used in modern software, yet infrequently taught in computing programs. Written as a textbook, this book uses specific cases from the past and present to explore the impact of software trends and techniques.

Building on concepts from the history of science and technology, software history examines such areas as fundamentals, operating systems, programming languages, programming environments, networking, and databases. These topics are covered from their earliest beginnings to their modern variants. There are focused case studies on UNIX, APL, SAGE, GNU Emacs, Autoflow, internet protocols, System R, and others. Extensive problems and suggested projects enable readers to deeply delve into the history of software in areas that interest them most.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781450387248
Publisher:	Association for Computing Machinery and Morgan & C
Publication date:	09/01/2021
Series:	ACM Books
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Kim W. Tracy has a long and varied history in many different aspects of software. Trained as a second-generation computer scientist with many of his professors being first-generation computer scientists, he’s worked on a wide variety of software ranging from system software (UNIX® at Bell Labs) to database systems and expert systems. While at Bell Labs, he worked on a number of different products including the 5ESS® Telephone Switch, as well as consulting for clients around the world. He has since served as Chief Information Officer at Northeastern Illinois University and oversaw all aspects of the technology used by the university. He’s also taught many courses in computer science that range over traditional computer science, software engineering, and information technology. He currently teaches computer science and software engineering full-time at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He is co-author of the textbook Object-Oriented Artificial Intelligence Using C++. He’s also been involved with university-level computing program accreditation with ABET for several decades. He’s a senior member of ACMand IEEE and a member of the Society for the History of Technology. He serves on the ACM History Committee and has served as editor-in-chief of IEEE Potentials magazine as well as other IEEE boards and committees.