A Brief History of Computing

The history of computing has its origins at the outset of civilization. As towns and communities evolved there was a need for increasingly sophisticated calculations. This book traces the evolution of computation, from early civilisations 3000 B.C. to the latest key developments in modern times.


This useful and lively text provides a comprehensive introduction to the key topics in the history of computing, in an easy-to-follow and concise manner. It covers the significant areas and events in the field - from the ancient Egyptians through to the present day - and both gives the reader a flavour of the history and stimulates further study in the subject.


Features:

• Ideal for undergraduate courses, it offers many pedagogical features such as chapter-opening key topics, chapter introductions, exercises, chapter summaries, glossary, etc.

• Offers detailed information on major figures in computing, such as Boole, Babbage, Shannon , Turing and Von Neumann

• Includes a history of programming languages, including syntax and semantics

• Presents an overview of the history of software engineering

• Discusses the progress of artificial intelligence, with extension to such key disciplines as philosophy, psychology, linguistics, neural networks and cybernetics

• Examines the history of the Internet revolution, World Wide Web and Dot-Com Bubble

• Follows the evolution of a number of major technology companies such as IBM, Motorola and Microsoft


Focusing on the fundamental areas in the computing field, this clearly written and broad-ranging text will capture the attention of the reader and greatly benefit computer science students. In addition, it is suitable for self-study, and will also be of interest to the more casual reader.

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 has published A Practical Approach to Software Quality and Mathematical Approaches to Software Quality.