A Brief History of Computing

by Gerard O'Regan

Overview

This concise, easy-to-follow book introduces key topics in the history of computing from 3000 B.C. to the present. Profiles major figures in computing, covers programming, software and hardware and reviews innovations including the internet and worldwide web.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447123583
Publisher:	Springer London
Publication date:	03/06/2012
Edition description:	2nd ed. 2012
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dr. Gerard O'Regan is a CMMI software process improvement consultant with research interests including software quality and software process improvement, mathematical approaches to software quality, and the history of computing. He is the author of such Springer textbooks as Concise Guide to Formal Methods, Concise Guide to Software Engineering, Guide to Discrete Mathematics, and Introduction to Software Quality

Table of Contents

Preface.- What is a Computer?.- Computing in Early Civilisations.- Foundations of Computing.- The First Digital Computers.- The First Commercial Computers.- Early Commercial Computers and the Invention of the Transistor.- Integrated Circuit and Silicon Valley.- The IBM System/360.- Minicomputers and Later Mainframes.- The Microprocessor Revolution.- Home Computers.- The IBM Personal Computer.-History of Operating Systems.- Birth of Software Industry and Human Computer Interaction.- History of Programming Languages.- History of Software Engineering.- A Short History of Telecommunications.- The Internet Revolution.- The Smartphone and Social Media.- A Miscellany of Innovation.- History of Databases.- History of Artificial Intelligence.- Ethics and Professional Responsibility.- Legal Aspects of Computing.-Computer Crime and Cybersecurity.- Epilogue.- References.- Glossary.- Index.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews of the second edition:

“The book under review … provides a succint (about 250 pages) reference book to computing topics (ranging from history to people to basic concepts). … In its succint presentation the book has several strengths: It deals with pioneers (like Zuse) and historical issues … . The book aims at the general reader or student with some general mathematical background knowledge and some experience with computers who needs a short offline encyclopedia.” (Manuel Bremer, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1244, 2012)

From the Publisher