A Brief History of Computing

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

   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

    PDF

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.

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)

• Mallow, Co. Cork, Ireland

  Gerard O'Regan

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.

Policies and ethics