Introduction to the History of Computing

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxi

   PDF

2. What Is a Computer?

   • Gerard O’Regan

   Pages 1-11

3. Computing in Early Civilizations

   • Gerard O’Regan

   Pages 13-36

4. Foundations of Computing

   • Gerard O’Regan

   Pages 37-53

5. The First Digital Computers

   • Gerard O’Regan

   Pages 55-72

6. The First Commercial Computers

   • Gerard O’Regan

   Pages 73-81

7. Early Commercial Computers and the Invention of the Transistor

   • Gerard O’Regan

   Pages 83-91

8. The Invention of the Integrated Circuit and the Birth of Silicon Valley

   • Gerard O’Regan

   Pages 93-100

9. The IBM System/360

   • Gerard O’Regan

   Pages 101-107

10. Minicomputers and Later Mainframes

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 109-117

11. The Microprocessor Revolution

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 119-125

12. Home Computers

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 127-141

13. The IBM Personal Computer

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 143-149

14. A Short History of Telecommunications

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 151-161

15. The Internet Revolution

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 163-178

16. The Smartphone and Social Media

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 179-187

17. History of Programming Languages

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 189-211

18. History of Operating Systems

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 213-223

19. History of Software Engineering

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 225-247

20. History of Artificial Intelligence

    • Gerard O’Regan

    Pages 249-273

Tracing the story of computing from Babylonian counting boards to smartphones, this inspiring textbook provides a concise overview of the key events in the history of computing, together with discussion exercises to stimulate deeper investigation into this fascinating area. Features: provides chapter introductions, summaries, key topics, and review questions; includes an introduction to analogue and digital computers, and to the foundations of computing; examines the contributions of ancient civilisations to the field of computing; covers the first digital computers, and the earliest commercial computers, mainframes and minicomputers; describes the early development of the integrated circuit and the microprocessor; reviews the emergence of home computers; discusses the creation of the Internet, the invention of the smartphone, and the rise of social media; presents a short history of telecommunications, programming languages, operating systems, software engineering, artificial intelligence, and databases.

• Early computers
• Computing history
• Artificial intelligence
• Microprocessor
• Algorithms

“The work is conceived of as a text for an undergraduate computer science class. Basic definitions are covered, and the book is more comprehensive than other standard history of computing works because it covers analog and pre-digital computing innovations. The text then is written for a basic student introduction, which includes an abstract, key topics, review questions, and summary for each chapter. Also included are abundant pictures, illustrations, graphics, and references for each topic reviewed.” (G. Mick Smith, Computing Reviews, November, 2016)

• Mallow, Ireland

  Gerard O'Regan

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 titles as A Brief History of Computing, Pillars of Computing, Giants of Computing, Mathematics in Computing, Introduction to Software Quality, Introduction to Software Process Improvement, and Mathematical Approaches to Software Quality.

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