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A Brief History of Computing

  • Textbook
  • © 2012

Overview

Authors:
  1. Gerard O'Regan

    1. Mallow, Co. Cork, Ireland

  • Offers a comprehensive account of the history of computing
  • Traces the beginnings of computation from 3000 B.C. through to modern times
  • Includes helpful pedagogical elements such as exercises and chapter summaries
  • Does not require studies in computer science in order to be understood and appreciated

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About this book

This lively and fascinating text traces the key developments in computation – from 3000 B.C. to the present day – in an easy-to-follow and concise manner. Topics and features: ideal for self-study, offering many pedagogical features such as chapter-opening key topics, chapter introductions and summaries, exercises, and a glossary; presents detailed information on major figures in computing, such as Boole, Babbage, Shannon, Turing, Zuse and Von Neumann; reviews the history of software engineering and of programming languages, including syntax and semantics; discusses the progress of artificial intelligence, with extension to such key disciplines as philosophy, psychology, linguistics, neural networks and cybernetics; examines the impact on society of the introduction of the personal computer, the World Wide Web, and the development of mobile phone technology; follows the evolution of a number of major technology companies, including IBM, Microsoft and Apple.

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Computing in Early Civilisations

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 1-22

  3. What Is a Computer?

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 23-34

  4. Early Computers

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 35-52

  5. Developments in the 1950s–1970s

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 53-62

  6. Revolutions in the 1980s and 1990s

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 63-69

  7. IBM

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 71-84

  8. Technology Companies

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 85-100

  9. The Internet Revolution

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 101-119

  10. History of Programming Languages

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 121-144

  11. History of Software Engineering

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 145-170

  12. People in Computing

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 171-191

  13. Foundations (Boole and Babbage)

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 193-207

  14. Claude Shannon

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 209-218

  15. Alan Turing

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 219-228

  16. Artificial Intelligence

    • Gerard O’Regan
    Pages 229-252

  17. Back Matter

    Pages 253-264
    Download chapter PDF
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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)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Mallow, Co. Cork, Ireland

    Gerard O'Regan

About the author

Dr. Gerard O’Regan is a CMMI software process improvement consultant at SQC Consulting, and a visiting lecturer at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia. He is the author of the Springer titles Introduction to Software Process Improvement, Mathematical Approaches to Software Quality and A Practical Approach to Software Quality.

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