Tag: IT Computing History Bibliography

IT Computing History Bibliography – See also History of Computing

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History

This Year in History

Know your History, It repeats itself! See also Timeline of the History of Computers and This Year in History

History in the year of:

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C++ Cloud DevOps DevSecOps-Security-Privacy Software Engineering

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, Gang of Four (GoF), 1994

See also: Head First Design Patterns: Building Extensible and Maintainable Object-Oriented Software, 2nd Edition, by Eric Freeman and Elisabeth Robson, 2021

Fair Use Source: B000SEIBB8 (GoF), https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/design-patterns-elements/0201633612

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, 1st Edition, by Gamma Erich, Helm Richard, Johnson Ralph, Vlissides John

“Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (1994) is a software engineering book describing software design patterns. The book was written by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides, with a foreword by Grady Booch. The book is divided into two parts, with the first two chapters exploring the capabilities and pitfalls of object-oriented programming, and the remaining chapters describing 23 classic software design patterns. The book includes examples in C++ and Smalltalk.” (WP)

“It has been influential to the field of software engineering and is regarded as an important source for object-oriented design theory and practice. More than 500,000 copies have been sold in English and in 13 other languages. The authors are often referred to as the Gang of Four (GoF).[1]” (WP)

Capturing a wealth of experience about the design of object-oriented software, four top-notch designers present a catalog of simple and succinct solutions to commonly occurring design problems. Previously undocumented, these 23 patterns allow designers to create more flexible, elegant, and ultimately reusable designs without having to rediscover the design solutions themselves.

The authors begin by describing what patterns are and how they can help you design object-oriented software. They then go on to systematically name, explain, evaluate, and catalog recurring designs in object-oriented systems. With Design Patterns as your guide, you will learn how these important patterns fit into the software development process, and how you can leverage them to solve your own design problems most efficiently.

Each pattern describes the circumstances in which it is applicable, when it can be applied in view of other design constraints, and the consequences and trade-offs of using the pattern within a larger design. All patterns are compiled from real systems and are based on real-world examples. Each pattern also includes code that demonstrates how it may be implemented in object-oriented programming languages like C++ or Smalltalk.

Editorial Reviews

Design Patterns is a modern classic in the literature of object-oriented development, offering timeless and elegant solutions to common problems in software design. It describes patterns for managing object creation, composing objects into larger structures, and coordinating control flow between objects. The book provides numerous examples where using composition rather than inheritance can improve the reusability and flexibility of code. Note, though, that it’s not a tutorial but a catalog that you can use to find an object-oriented design pattern that’s appropriate for the needs of your particular application–a selection for virtuoso programmers who appreciate (or require) consistent, well-engineered object-oriented designs

Book Details

  • ASIN: B000SEIBB8
  • Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1st edition (October 31, 1994)
  • Publication date: October 31, 1994
  • Print length: 568 pages

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Bibliography

Techopedia.com

Fair Use Source: techopedia.com (TcPd)

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Artificial Intelligence Bibliography Cloud Data Science - Big Data DevOps Hardware and Electronics History Networking Software Engineering

Oxford Dictionary of Computer Science

Fair Use Source: B019GXM8X8 (ODCS)

A Dictionary of Computer Science (Oxford Quick Reference) 7th Edition, by Editors Andrew Butterfield, Gerard Ngondi, Anne Kerr

Previously named A Dictionary of Computing, this bestselling dictionary has been renamed A Dictionary of Computer Science, and fully revised by a team of computer specialists, making it the most up-to-date and authoritative guide to computing available. Containing over 6,500 entries and with expanded coverage of multimedia, computer applications, networking, and personal computer science, it is a comprehensive reference work encompassing all aspects of the subject and is as valuable for home and office users as it is indispensable for students of computer science.

Terms are defined in a jargon-free and concise manner with helpful examples where relevant. The dictionary contains approximately 150 new entries including cloud computing, cross-site scripting, iPad, semantic attack, smartphone, and virtual learning environment. Recommended web links for many entries, accessible via the Dictionary of Computer Science companion website, provide valuable further information and the appendices include useful resources such as generic domain names, file extensions, and the Greek alphabet.

This dictionary is suitable for anyone who uses computers, and is ideal for students of computer science and the related fields of IT, maths, physics, media communications, electronic engineering, and natural sciences.

Book Details

  • ASIN : B019GXM8X8
  • Publisher : OUP Oxford; 7th edition (January 28, 2016)
  • Publication date : January 28, 2016
  • Print length : 641 pages
  • First edition 1983, Second edition 1986, Third edition 1990, Fourth edition 1996, Fifth edition 2004, Sixth edition 2008, Seventh edition 2016
  • ISBN 978–0–19–968897–5, ebook ISBN 978–0–19–100288–5

Preface

“The first edition of this dictionary was published in 1983 as a specialist reference work for computer professionals and for people interested in the underlying concepts and theories of computer science. Over successive editions, the work has been expanded and changed to reflect the technological and social changes that have occurred, especially the enormous growth in home computing and the Internet. In particular, the fourth edition (1996) included an additional 1700 entries catering for a wider readership. At the same time, the editors have retained the basic principles of the original book.”

“In the seventh edition of the dictionary we have followed the same line. The existing entries have been updated and over 120 new entries have been added. In particular, coverage of areas such as database management and social networking has been increased to reflect the growing importance of these areas. Some obsolete terms have been deleted, although some have been kept for their historical interest. Links to useful websites have been updated and more added. There are also six special feature spreads, giving information on selected topics.”

JL, ASK, 2015

Guide to the Dictionary

“Synonyms and generally used abbreviations are given either in brackets immediately after the relevant entry title, or occasionally in the text of the entry with some additional information or qualification.”

“A distinction is made between an acronym and an abbreviation: an acronym can be pronounced while an abbreviation cannot. The entry for an acronym usually appears at the acronym itself, whereas the entry for an abbreviation may appear either at the unabbreviated form or at the abbreviation—depending on which form is most commonly used. When a term is defined under an abbreviation, the entry for the unabbreviated form simply cross-refers the reader to the abbreviation.”

“Some terms listed in the dictionary are used both as nouns and verbs. This is usually indicated in the text of an entry if both forms are in common use. In many cases a noun is also used in an adjectival form to qualify another noun. This occurs too often to be noted.”

Fair Use Source: B019GXM8X8 (ODCS)

Categories
Bibliography History

World Book Encyclopedia

Fair Use Source: 978-0716601036 WBE

“The World Book Encyclopedia is the only general A-Z print research source that is still published today. World Book makes it easy to explore, learn, and grow. Whether you are looking up information to understand a subject or checking a fact for a homework or research assignment, you can find your answers here! Thousands of index entries make it easy to find information wherever it is in the set. An abundance of colorful photos, diagrams, charts, tables, and maps supplement the easy to read text.

The 2020 World Book Encyclopedia Set includes over 1,500 new and revised articles that reflect new advancements and research, and recent results of national elections. Brand new biographies that cover notable figures such as British politician Jeremy Corbyn, Gold Medal Gymnast Simone Biles, and World Book covers infamous movie monster Godzilla!

Revised articles feature new content on such developments as the first image of a black hole’s event horizon and Tiger Woods’ dramatic return to the top tier of professional golf. Extensive revisions to longer articles including Automobile Racing, Basketball, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.)

In addition to over 17,000 articles, World Book also includes useful advice for elementary through intermediate grades students about best practices for studying and clear report writing.

Full of accurate and trustworthy facts, the World Book Encyclopedia set is perfect for proving a point during a dinner-table discussion or if you’re just on a curious fact-finding mission. World Book appeals to all ages. World Book has been a trusted learning source for libraries, schools, and homes for over a century.”

“Parents, teachers, and librarians consistently rank The World Book Encyclopedia the best general reference source because of its easy-to-use format that students find so appealing. World Book editors present information in a clear, direct style that makes each article readable. Articles start at a relatively basic level and advance in depth as they progress. More than 28,000 rich photographs and illustrations are combined with award-winning text to produce the perfect encyclopedia for students and families. No wonder it has been a staple on home, library, and classroom shelves since the first edition in 1917.”

Book Details

  • Publisher : WORLD BOOK (January 1, 2020)
  • Language : English
  • ISBN-10 : 0716601206
  • ISBN-13 : 978-0716601203
Categories
Artificial Intelligence Bibliography Cloud Data Science - Big Data Hardware and Electronics History Linux Networking Operating Systems Software Engineering

Bibliography of the History of Technology, Computing, IT, Internet and Programming

Return to Timeline of the History of Computers or History

Books

Alexander, Charles C. Holding the Line: The Eisenhower Era, 1952–1961. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975.

Baran, Paul.“Packet Switching.” In Fundamentals of Digital Switching. 2d ed. Edited by John C. McDonald. New York: Plenum Press, 1990.

Barry, John A. Technobabble. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991.

Bell, C. Gordon, Alan Kotok, Thomas N. Hastings, and Richard Hill. “The Evolution of the DEC System-10.” In Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design. Edited by C. Gordon Bell, J. Craig Mudge, and John E. McNamara. Bedford, Mass.: Digital Equipment Corporation, 1978.

Bell, C. Gordon, Gerald Butler, Robert Gray, John E. McNamara, Donald Vonada, and Ronald Wilson. “The PDP-1 and Other 18-Bit Computers.” In Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design. Edited by C. Gordon Bell, J. Craig Mudge, and John E. McNamara. Bedford, Mass.: Digital Equipment Corporation, 1978.

Bergaust, Erik. Wernher von Braun. Washington, D.C.: National Space Institute, 1976.

Blanc, Robert P., and Ira W. Cotton, eds. Computer Networking. New York: IEEE Press, 1976.

Brendon, Piers. Ike: His Life and Times. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.

Brooks, John. Telephone: The First HundredYears. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.

Brucker, Roger W., and Richard A. Watson. The Longest Cave. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.

Clarke, Arthur C., et al. The Telephone’s First Century—And Beyond: Essays on the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of Telephone Communication. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1977

Computer Science, Numerical Analysis and Computing. National Physical Laboratory, Engineering Sciences Group, Research 1971. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1972.

Froehlich, Fritz E., Allen Kent, and Carolyn M. Hall, eds. “ARPANET, the Defense Data Network, and Internet.” In The Froehlich/Kent Encyclopedia of Telecommunications. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1991.

Goldstein, Jack S. A Different Sort of Time: The Life of Jerrold R. Zacharias. Cambridge MIT Press, 1992.

Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York:Villard Books, 1993.

Hall, Mark, and John Barry. Sunburst: The Ascent of Sun Microsystems. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1990.

Hammond, William M. Public Affairs: The Military and the Media, 1962–1968. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968.

Hamner, W. Clay. “The United States Postal Service: Will It Be Ready for the Year 2000?” In The Future of the Postal Service. Edited by Joel L. Fleishman. New York: Praeger, 1983.

Holzmann, Gerard J., and Björn Pehrson. The Early History of Data Network. Los Alamitos, Calif.: IEEE Computer Society Press, 1995.

Kidder, Tracy. The Soul of a New Machine. Boston: Little, Brown, 1981.

Killian, James R., Jr. Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower: A Memoir of the First Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1977.

———. The Education of a College President: A Memoir. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1985.

Kleinrock, Leonard. Communication Nets: Stochastic Message Flow and Delay. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.

———. Queueing Systems. 2 vols. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1974–1976.

Langdon-Davies, John. NPL: Jubilee Book of the National Physical Laboratory. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1951.

Lebow, Irwin. Information Highways & Byways: From the Telegraph to the 21st Century. New York: IEEE Press, 1995.

Licklider, J. C. R. “Computers and Government.” In The Computer Age: A Twenty-Year View, edited by Michael L. Dertouzos and Joel Moses. MIT Bicentennial Series. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1979.

———. Libraries of the Future. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1965.

Padlipsky, M. A. The Elements of Networking Style and Other Essays & Animadversions of the Art of Intercomputer Networking. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1985.

Proceedings of the Fifth Data Communications Symposium. IEEE Computer Society, Snowbird, Utah, September 27–29, 1977.

Pyatt, Edward. The National Physical Laboratory: A History. Bristol, England: Adam Hilger Ltd., 1983.

Redmond, Kent C., and Thomas M. Smith. The Whirlwind Project: The History of a Pioneer Computer. Bedford, Mass.: Digital Press, 1980.

Rheingold, Howard. The Virtual Community. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994.

———. Tools for Thought: The People and Ideas Behind the Next Computer Revolution. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.

Roberts, Lawrence G. “The ARPANET and Computer Networks.” In A History of Personal Workstations, edited by Adele Goldberg. Reading, Mass.: ACM Press (Addison-Wesley), 1988.

Rose, Marshall T. The Internet Message: Closing the Book with Electronic Mail. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PTR Prentice Hall, 1993.

Sherman, Kenneth. Data Communications: A User’s Guide. Reston,Virginia: Reston Publishing Company, 1981.

Smith, Douglas K., and Robert C. Alexander. Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, then Ignored, the First Personal Computer. New York: William Morrow, 1988.

Udall, Stewart L. The Myths of August: A Personal Exploration of Our Tragic Cold War Affair with the Atom. New York: Pantheon, 1994.

Wildes, Karl L., and Nilo A. Lindgren. A Century of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, 1882–1982. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1985.

Winner, Langdon. The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.Edit

Journal, Magazine, and Newspaper Articles

Abramson, Norman. “Development of the Alohanet.” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, January 1985.

Anderson, Christopher. “The Accidental Superhighway.” The Economist, 1 July 1995.

Baran, Paul. “On Distributed Communications Networks.” IEEE Transactions on Communications Systems, 1 March 1964.

———.“Reliable Digital Communications Systems Using Unreliable Network Repeater Nodes.” RAND Corporation Mathematics Division Report No. P-1995, 27 May 1960.

Boggs, David R., John F. Shoch, Edward A. Taft, and Robert M. Metcalfe. “PUP: An Internetwork Architecture.” IEEE Transactions on Communications, April 1980.

“Bolt Beranek Accused by Government of Contract Overcharges.” Dow Jones News Service–Wall Street Journal combined stories, 27 October 1980.

“Bolt Beranek and Newman: Two Aides Plead Guilty to U.S. Charge.” Dow Jones News Service–Wall Street Journal combined stories, 12 November 1980.

“Bolt Beranek, Aides Accused of Cheating U.S. on Several Jobs.” The Wall Street Journal, 28 October 1980.

Bulkeley, William M. “Can He Turn Big Ideas into Big Sales?” The Wall Street Journal, 12 September 1994.

Bush,Vannevar. “As We May Think.” Atlantic Monthly, July 1945.

Campbell-Kelly, Martin. “Data Communications at the National Physical Laboratory: 1965–1975.” Annals of the History of Computing 9, no. 3/4, 1988.

Cerf,Vinton G., and Peter T. Kirstein. “Issues in Packet-Network Interconnection.” Proceedings of the IEEE, November 1979.

Cerf, Vinton G., and Robert E. Kahn. “A Protocol for Packet-Network Intercommunication.” IEEE Transactions on Communications, May 1974.

Cerf, Vinton. “PARRY Encounters the Doctor: Conversation Between a Simulated Paranoid and a Simulated Psychiatrist.” Datamation, July 1973.

Clark, David D. “The Design Philosophy of the DARPA Internet Protocols.” Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery Sigcomm Symposium on Data Communications, August 1988.

Clark, David D., Kenneth T. Pogran, and David P. Reed. “An Introduction to Local Area Networks.” Proceedings of the IEEE, November 1979.

Comer, Douglas. “The Computer Science Research Network CSNET: A History and Status Report.” Communications of the ACM, October 1983.

Crowther, W. R., F. E. Heart, A. A. McKenzie, J. M. McQuillan, and D. C. Walden.“Issues in Packet Switching Networking Design.” Proceedings of the 1975 National Computer Conference, 1975.

Denning, Peter J. “The Science of Computing: The ARPANET After Twenty Years.” American Scientist, November-December 1989.

Denning, Peter J., Anthony Hearn, and C. William Kern. “History and Overview of CSNET. “Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery Sigcomm Symposium on Data Communications, March 1983.

“Dr. J. C. R. Licklider Receives Biennial Award at State College Meeting.” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, November 1950.

Engelbart, Douglas C. “Coordinated Information Services for a Discipline-or Mission-Oriented Community.” Proceedings of the Second Annual Computer Communications Conference, January 1972.

———. “Intellectual Implications of Multi-Access Computer Networks.” Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary Conference on Multi-Access Computer Networks, Austin, Texas, April 1970.

Ericson, Raymond. “Philharmonic Hall Acoustics Start Rumors Flying.” The NewYork Times, 4 December 1962.

Finucane, Martin. “Creators of the Internet Forerunner Gather in Boston.” Reading (Mass.) Daily Times Herald, 12 September 1994.

Fisher, Sharon. “The Largest Computer Network: Internet Links UNIX Computers Worldwide.” InfoWorld, 25 April 1988.

Hines, William. “Mail.” Chicago Sun-Times, 29 March 1978.

Haughney, Joseph F. “Anatomy of a Packet-Switching Overhaul.” Data Communications, June 1982.

Holusha, John. “Computer Tied Carter, Mondale Campaigns: The Bethesda Connection.” Washington Star, 21 November 1976.

Jacobs, Irwin M., Richard Binder, and EstilV. Hoversten. “General Purpose Packet Satellite Networks.” Proceedings of the IEEE, November 1978.

Jennings, Dennis M., Lawrence H. Landweber, Ira H. Fuchs, David J. Farber, and W. Richards Adrion. “Computer Networking for Scientists.” Science, 22 February 1986.

Kahn, Robert E. “The Role of Government in the Evolution of the Internet.” Communications of the ACM, August 1994.

Kahn, Robert E., Steven A. Gronemeyer, Jerry Burchfiel, and Ronald C. Kunzelman. “Advances in Packet Radio Technology.” Proceedings of the IEEE, November 1978.

Kantrowitz, Barbara, and Adam Rogers. “The Birth of the Internet.” Newsweek, 8 August 1994.

Kleinrock, Leonard. “Principles and Lessons in Packet Communications.” Proceedings of the IEEE, November 1978.

Landweber, Lawrence H., Dennis M. Jennings, and Ira Fuchs. “Research Computer Networks and Their Interconnection.” IEEE Communications Magazine, June 1986.

Lee, J. A. N., and Robert F. Rosin.“The CTSS Interviews.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 14, no. 1, 1992.

———.“The Project MAC Interviews.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 14, no. 2, 1992.

Licklider, J. C. R. “A Gridless, Wireless Rat-Shocker.” Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 44, 1951.

———. “Man-Computer Symbiosis.” Reprint. In Memoriam: J. C. R. Licklider. Digital Equipment Corporation Systems Research Center, 7 August 1990.

Licklider, J. C. R., and Albert Vezza. “Applications of Information Networks.” Proceedings of the IEEE, November 1978.

Licklider, J. C. R., and Robert W. Taylor. “The Computer as a Communication Device.” Reprint. In Memoriam: J. C. R. Licklider. Digital Equipment Corporation Systems Research Center, 7 August 1990.

Markoff, John. “Up from the Computer Underground.” The NewYork Times, 27 August 1993.

McKenzie, Alexander A., and B. P. Cosell, J. M. McQuillan, M. J. Thrope. “The Network Control Center for the ARPA Network.” Proceedings of the IEEE, 1972.

Mier, Edwin E. “Defense Department Readying Network Ramparts.” Data Communications, October 1983.

Mills, Jeffrey. “Electronic Mail.” Associated Press, 4 January 1976.

———.“Electronic Mail.” Associated Press, 19 June 1976.

———. “Postal Service Tests Electronic Message Service.” Associated Press, 28 March 1978.

Mills, Kay.“The Public Concern: Mail.” Newhouse News Service, 27 July 1976.

Mohl, Bruce A. “2 Bolt, Beranek Officials Collapse in Federal Court.” The Boston Globe, 31 October 1980.

Pallesen, Gayle. “Consultant Firm on PBIA Faces Criminal Charges.” Palm Beach (Florida) Post, 8 November 1980.

Pearse, Ben. “Defense Chief in the Sputnik Age.” The NewYork Times Magazine, 10 November 1957.

Pool, Bob. “Inventing the Future: UCLA Scientist Who Helped Create Internet Isn’t Done Yet.” Los Angeles Times, 11 August 1994.

Quarterman, John S., and Josiah C. Hoskins. “Notable Computer Networks.” Communications of the ACM, October 1986.

Roberts, Lawrence G. “ARPA Network Implications.” Educom, Bulletin of the Interuniversity Communications Council, fall 1971.

Salus, Peter. “Pioneers of the Internet.” Internet World, September 1994.

“Scanning the Issues,” IEEE Spectrum, August 1964.

Schonberg, Harold C. “4 Acoustics Experts to Urge Revisions in Auditorium.” The NewYork Times, 4 April 1963.

———.“Acoustics Again: Philharmonic Hall Has Some Defects, But Also Has a Poetry of Its Own.” The NewYork Times, 9 December 1962.

Selling It. Consumer Reports, June 1977.

Space Agencies. “ARPA Shapes Military Space Research.” Aviation Week, 16 June 1958.

Sterling, Bruce. “Internet.” Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1993.

Swartzlander, Earl. “Time-Sharing at MIT.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 14, no. 1, 1992.

“Transforming BB&N: ARPANET’s Architect Targets Non-Military Networks.” Data Communications, April 1984.

Wilson, David McKay. “BBN Executives Collapse in Court.” Cambridge (Mass.) Chronicle, 6 November 1980.

———. “Consulting Co. Admits Overcharge.” Cambridge (Mass.) Chronicle, 30 October 1980.

Zitner, Aaron. “A Quiet Leap Forward in Cyberspace.” The Boston Globe, 11 September 1994.

Zuckerman, Laurence.“BBN Steps Out of the Shadows and into the Limelight.” The NewYork Times, 17 July 1995.Edit

Unpublished Papers, Interviews from Secondary Sources, and Other Documents

”Act One.” Symposium on the history of the ARPANET held at the University of California at Los Angeles, 17 August 1989. Transcript.

ARPA Network Information Center, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif. “Scenarios for Using the ARPANET.” Booklet. Prepared for the International Conference on Computer Communication, Washington, D.C., October 1972.

Baran, Paul. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 5 March 1990.

Barlow, John Perry. “Crime and Puzzlement.” Pinedale, Wyo., June 1990.

BBN Systems and Technologies Corporation. “Annual Report of the Science Development Program.” Cambridge, Mass., 1988.

Bhushan, A. K. “Comments on the File Transfer Protocol.” Request for Comments 385. Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif., August 1972.

———.“The File Transfer Protocol.” Request for Comments 354. Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif., July 1972.

Bhushan, Abhay, Ken Pogran, Ray Tomlinson, and Jim White. “Standardizing Network Mail Headers.” Request for Comments 561. MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 5 September 1973.

Blue, Allan. Interview by William Aspray. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 12 June 1989.

Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. “ARPANET Completion Report: Draft.” Cambridge, Mass., September 1977.

———.“BBN Proposal No. IMP P69-IST-5: Interface Message Processors for the ARPA Computer Network.” Design proposal. Submitted to the Department of the Army, Defense Supply Service, in response to RFQ No. DAHC15 69 Q 0002. Washington, D.C., 6 September 1968.

———. “BBN Report No. 1763: Initial Design for Interface Message Processors for the ARPA Computer Network.” Design proposal. Submitted to the Advanced Research Projects Agency under contract no. DAHC 15-69-C-0179. Washington, D.C., 6 January 1969.

———. “BBN Report No. 1822: Interface Message Processor.” Technical report. Cambridge, Mass., 1969.

———.“Interface Message Processors for the ARPA Computer Network.” Quarterly technical reports. Submitted to the Advanced Research Projects Agency under contract no. DAHC 15-69-C-0179 and contract no. F08606-73-C-0027. Washington, D.C., 1969–1973.

———. “Operating Manual for Interface Message Processors: 516 IMP, 316 IMP, TEP.” Revised. Submitted to the Advanced Research Projects Agency under ARPA order no. 1260, contract no. DAHC15-69-C-0179. Arlington,Va., April 1973.

———. “Report No. 4799: A History of the ARPANET: The First Decade.” Submitted to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Arlington,Va., April 1981.

———.“The Four Cities Plan.” Draft proposal and cost analysis for maintenance of IMPs and TIPs in Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Papers of BBN Division 6. Cambridge, Mass., April 1974.

———. Internal memoranda and papers relating to the work of Division 6. Cambridge, Mass., 1971–1972.

Carr, C. Stephen, Stephen D. Crocker, and Vinton G. Cerf. “HOST-HOST Communication Protocol in the ARPA Network.” Paper presented at the Spring Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 1970.

Catton, Major General, USAF, Jack. Letter to F. R. Collbohm of RAND Corporation, 11 October 1965. Referring the preliminary technical development plan for message-block network to the Defense Communications Agency.

Cerf,Vinton G.“Confessions of a Hearing-Impaired Engineer.” Unpublished.

———.“PARRY Encounters the Doctor.” Request for Comments 439 (NIC 13771). Network Working Group, 21 January 1973.

Cerf, Vinton G., and Jonathan B. Postel. “Specification of Internetwork Transmission Control Protocol: TCP Version 3.” Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, January 1978.

Cerf, Vinton G. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/ IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 24 April 1990.

Cerf, Vinton G., and Robert Kahn. “HOST and PROCESS Level Protocols for Internetwork Communication.” Notes of the International Network Working Group 39, 13 September 1973.

Clark, Wesley. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 3 May 1990.

Crocker, David H. “Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages.” Request for Comments 822. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Delaware, 13 August 1982.

Crocker, David H., John J. Vittal, Kenneth T. Pogran, and D. Austin Henderson Jr. “Standard for the Format of ARPA Network Text Messages.” Request for Comments 733. The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif., 21 November 1977.

Crowther, William. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 12 March 1990.

Crowther, William, and David Walden. “CurrentViews of Timing.” Memorandum to Frank E. Heart, Cambridge, Mass., 8 July 1969.

Davies, Donald W. “Further Speculations on Data Transmission.” Private papers. London, 16 November 1965.

———.“Proposal for a Digital Communication Network.” Private papers, photocopied and widely circulated. London, June 1966.

———. “Proposal for the Development of a National Communications Service for On-Line Data Processing.” Private papers. London, 15 December 1965.

———. “Remote On-line Data Processing and Its Communication Needs.” Private papers. London, 10 November 1965.

Davies, Donald W. Interview by Martin Campbell-Kelly. National Physical Laboratory, U.K., 17 March 1986.

Davies, Donald W., Keith Bartlett, Roger Scantlebury, and Peter Wilkinson. “A Digital Communications Network for Computers Giving Rapid Response at Remote Terminals.” Paper presented at the Association for Computing Machinery Symposium on Operating System Principles, Gatlinburg, Tenn., October 1967.

Davis, Ruth M. “Comments and Recommendations Concerning the ARPA Network.” Center for Computer Sciences and Technology, U.S. National Bureau of Standards, 6 October 1971.

Digital Equipment Corporation. “Interface Message Processors for the ARPA Computer Network.” Design proposal. Submitted to the Department of the Army, Defense Supply Service, in RFQ no. DAHC15 69 Q 002, 5 September 1968.

Frank, Howard. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 30 March 1990.

Goldstein, Paul. “The Proposed ARPANET Divestiture: Legal Questions and Economic Issues.” Working Paper, Cabledata Associates, Inc., CAWP no. 101, 27 July 1973.

Hauben, Michael, and Ronda Hauben. The Netizens Netbook page can be found at http://www.columbia.edu/∼hauben/netbook/. The Haubens’ work has also appeared in the Amateur Computerist Newsletter, available from ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/doc/misc/acn/.

Heart, F. E., R. E. Kahn, S. M. Ornstein, W. R. Crowther, and D. C. Walden. “The Interface Message Processor for the ARPA Computer Network.” Paper presented at the Spring Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 1970.

Heart, Frank E. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 13 March 1990.

Herzfeld, Charles. Interview by Arthur Norberg. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 6 August 1990.

Honeywell, Inc. “Honeywell at Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc.” Brochure. Published for the ARPA Network demonstration at the International Conference on Computer Communication, Washington, D.C., October 1972.

Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California. “DOD Standard Transmission Control Protocol.” Request for Comments 761. Prepared for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Information Processing Techniques Office, Arlington,Va., January 1980.

International Data Corporation. “ARPA Computer Network Provides Communications Technology for Computer/Computer Interaction Within Special Research Community.” Industry report and market review. Newtonville, Mass., 3 March 1972.

Kahn, Robert. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 24 April 1990.

Kahn, Robert. Interview by William Aspray. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 22 March 1989.

Kleinrock, Leonard. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 3 April 1990.

Kryter, Karl D. “Lick as a Psychoacoustician and Physioacoustician.” Presentation honoring J. C. R. Licklider at the Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Baltimore, Md., 30 April 1991.

———. Obituary of J. C. R. Licklider, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, December 1990.

Licklider, J. C. R., and Welden E. Clark. “On-Line Man-Computer Communication.” Paper presented at the Spring Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 1962.

Licklider, J. C. R. Interview by William Aspray. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 28 October 1988.

Lukasik, Stephen. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 17 October 1991.

Marill, Thomas, and Lawrence G. Roberts. “Toward a Cooperative Network of Time-Shared Computers.” Paper presented at the Fall Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 1966.

McCarthy, J., S. Boilen, E. Fredkin, and J. C. R. Licklider. “A Time-Sharing Debugging System for a Small Computer.” Paper presented at the Spring Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 1963.

McKenzie, Alexander A. “The ARPA Network Control Center.” Paper presented at the Fourth Data Communications Symposium of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, October 1975.

McKenzie, Alexander A. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 13 March 1990.

Message Group. The full text of more than 2,600 e-mail messages sent by members of the Message Group (or MsgGroup), one of the first electronic mailing lists, relating to the development of e-mail. The Computer Museum, Boston, Mass., June 1975–June 1986. Electronic document. (http://www.tcm.org/msgroup)

Metcalfe, Robert. “Some Historic Moments in Networking.” Request for Comments 89. Network Working Group, 19 January 1971.

Myer, T. H., and D. A. Henderson. “Message Transmission Protocol.” Request for Comments 680. Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif., 1975.

National Research Council, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems. “Transport Protocols for Department of Defense Data Networks.” Report to the Department of Defense and the National Bureau of Standards, Board on Telecommunication and Computer Applications, 1985.

Neigus, N.J. “File Transfer Protocol.” Request for Comments 542. Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge, Mass., 12 July 1973.

Norberg, Arthur L., and Judy E. O’Neill. “A History of the Information Processing Techniques Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.” Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 1992.

Ornstein, Severo M., F. E. Heart, W. R. Crowther, H. K. Rising, S. B. Russell, and A. Michel. “The Terminal IMP for the ARPA Network.” Paper presented at the Spring Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, Atlantic City, N.J., May 1972.

Ornstein, Severo. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 6 March 1990.

Pogran, Ken, John Vittal, Dave Crowther, and Austin Henderson. “Proposed Official Standard for the Format of ARPA Network Messages.” Request for Comments 724. MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 12 May 1977.

Postel, Jonathan B. “Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.” Request for Comments 821. Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, August 1982.

———. “Specification of Internetwork Transmission Control Protocol: TCP Version 4.” Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, September 1978.

———. “TCP and IP Bake Off.” Request for Comments 1025. Network Working Group, September 1987.

Pouzin, Louis. “Network Protocols.” Notes of the International Network Working Group 50, September 1973.

———.“Presentation and Major Design Aspects of the Cyclades Computer Network.” Paper presented at the IEEE Third Data Communications Symposium (Data Networks: Analysis and Design), November 1973.

———. “Experimental Communication Protocol: Basic Message Frame.” Notes of the International Network Working Group 48, January 1974.

———.“Interconnection of Packet Switching Networks.” Notes of the International Network Working Group 42, October 1973.

———. “Network Architecture and Components.” Notes of the International Network Working Group 49, August 1973.

RAND Corporation. “Development of the Distributed Adaptive Message-Block Network.” Recommendation to the Air Staff, 30 August 1965.

RCA Service Company, Government Services Division. “ARPANET Study Final Report.” Submitted under contract no. F08606-73-C-0018. 24 November 1972.

Richard J. Barber Associates, Inc. “The Advanced Research Projects Agency: 1958–1974.” A study for the Advanced Research Projects Agency under contract no. MDA-903-74-C-0096. Washington, D.C., December 1975. Photocopy.

Roberts, Lawrence G. “Extensions of Packet Communications Technology to a Hand-Held Personal Terminal.” Paper presented at the Spring Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, May 1972.

———. “Multiple Computer Networks and Intercomputer Communication.” Paper presented at the Association for Computing Machinery Symposium on Operating System Principles, October 1967.

Roberts, Lawrence G., and Barry D. Wessler. “Computer Network Development to Achieve Resource Sharing.” Paper presented at the Spring Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 1970.

Roberts, Lawrence G. Interview by Arthur Norberg. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 4 April 1989.

Ruina, Jack. Interview by William Aspray. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 20 April 1989.

Sutherland, Ivan. Interview by William Aspray. Charles Babbage Institute DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 1 May 1989.

Taylor, Robert. Interview by William Aspray. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 28 February 1989.

U.S. Postal Service. “Electronic Message Systems for the U.S. Postal Service.” Report of the U.S.P.S. Support Panel, Committee on Telecommunications, Washington, D.C., January 1977.

Walden, David C. “Experiences in Building, Operating, and Using the ARPA Network.” Paper presented at the Second USA-Japan Computer Conference, Tokyo, Japan, August 1975.

Walden, David. Interview by Judy O’Neill. Charles Babbage Institute, DARPA/IPTO Oral History Collection, University of Minnesota Center for the History of Information Processing, Minneapolis, Minn., 6 February 1990.

Walker, Stephen T. “Completion Report: ARPA Network Development.” Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Information Processing Techniques Office, Washington, D.C., 4 January 1978.

Weik, Martin H. “A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems.” Ballistic Research Laboratories, report no. 1115, March 1961.

White, Jim. “Proposed Mail Protocol.” Request for Comments 524. Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif., 13 June 1973.

Zimmermann, H., and M. Elie. “Proposed Standard Host-Host Protocol for Heterogeneous Computer Networks: Transport Protocol.” Notes of the International Network Working Group 43, December 1973.Edit

Electronic Archives

Charles Babbage Institute, Center for the History of Information Processing, University of Minnesota. Large archival collection relating to the history of computing. More information can be obtained via the CBI Web site at http://cbi.itdean.umn.edu/cbi/welcome.html or via e-mail addressed to [email protected].

Computer Museum, Boston, Massachusetts. Large collection relating to the history of computing, including the archives of the Message Group concerning the early development of e-mail. The archive is available via the homepage at http://www.tcm.org/msgroup.

Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California. Collection includes up-to-date indexes and tests of Internet standards, protocols, Requests for Comments (RFCs), and various other technical notes available via the ISI Web site: http://www.isi.edu. Some of the earlier RFCs are not available electronically, but are archived off-line in meticulous fashion by RFC editor Jon Postel. A searchable archive is maintained at http://info.internet.isi.edu:80/in-notes/rfc.

Ohio State University, Department of Computer and Information Science. The CIS Web Server offers access to RFCs and various other technical and historical documents related to the Internet via http://www.cis. ohio-state.edu:80/hypertext/information/rfc.html.

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Where Wizards Stay Up Late – The Origins Of The Internet

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Where Wizards Stay Up Late – The Origins Of The Internet by Matthew Lyon and Katie Hafner

by Matthew Lyon and Katie Hafner

“Twenty five years ago, it didn’t exist. Today, twenty million people worldwide are surfing the Net. Where Wizards Stay Up Late is the exciting story of the pioneers responsible for creating the most talked about, most influential, and most far-reaching communications breakthrough since the invention of the telephone.”

“In the 1960’s, when computers where regarded as mere giant calculators, J.C.R. Licklider at MIT saw them as the ultimate communications devices. With Defense Department funds, he and a band of visionary computer whizzes began work on a nationwide, interlocking network of computers. Taking readers behind the scenes, Where Wizards Stay Up Late captures the hard work, genius, and happy accidents of their daring, stunningly successful venture.”Edit

Book Details

  • Print length: 304 pages
  • Publication date: August 19, 1999
  • ASIN: B000FC0WP6
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • ISBN: 0684832674

Table of Contents

  • Prologue
  • 1. The Fastest Million Dollars
  • 2. A Block Here, Some Stones There
  • 3. The Third University
  • 4. Head Down in the Bits
  • 5. Do It to It Truett
  • 6. Hacking Away and Hollering
  • 7. E-Mail
  • 8. A Rocket on Our Hands
  • Epilogue
  • Chapter Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Acknowledgments
  • Index

Dedication

To the memory of J. C. R. Licklider and to the memory of Cary Lu

“Los Alamos’ lights where wizards stay up late, (Stay in the car, forget the gate), To save the world or end it, time will tell” — James Merrill, “Under Libra: Weights and Measures”

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IBM – The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon

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by James W. Cortada

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IBM – The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon

A history of one of the most influential American companies of the last century.

“Nobody ever lost their job for recommending the purchase of IBM products.” —COMPUTER INDUSTRY FOLK WISDOM

For decades, IBM shaped the way the world did business. IBM products were in every large organization, and IBM corporate culture established a management style that was imitated by companies around the globe. It was “Big Blue, ” an icon. And yet over the years, IBM has gone through both failure and success, surviving flatlining revenue and forced reinvention. The company almost went out of business in the early 1990s, then came back strong with new business strategies and an emphasis on artificial intelligence. In this authoritative, monumental history, James Cortada tells the story of one of the most influential American companies of the last century.

Cortada, a historian who worked at IBM for many years, describes IBM’s technology breakthroughs, including the development of the punch card (used for automatic tabulation in the 1890 census), the calculation and printing of the first Social Security checks in the 1930s, the introduction of the PC to a mass audience in the 1980s, and the company’s shift in focus from hardware to software. He discusses IBM’s business culture and its orientation toward employees and customers; its global expansion; regulatory and legal issues, including antitrust litigation; and the track records of its CEOs. The secret to IBM’s unequaled longevity in the information technology market, Cortada shows, is its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances and technologies.

The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cortada, James W., author.

Title: IBM : the rise and fall and reinvention of a global icon / James W. Cortada.

Description: Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, [2019] | Series: History of computing | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018023090 | ISBN 9780262039444 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: International Business Machines Corporation—History. | Computer industry—United States—History.

Classification: LCC HD9696.2.U6 C67 2019 | DDC 338.7/61004—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018023090

Contents

Preface

  I   From Birth to Identity: IBM in Its Early Years, 1880s–1945

  1   Origins, 1880s–1914

  2   Thomas J. Watson Sr. and the Creation of IBM, 1914–1924

  3   The Emergence of IBM and the Culture of THINK

  4   IBM and the Great Depression

  5   IBM in World War II, 1939–1945

 II   IBM the Computer Behemoth, 1945–1985

  6   IBM Gets into the Computer Business, 1945–1964

  7   How Customers, IBM, and a New Industry Evolved, 1945–1964

  8   System 360: One of the Greatest Products in History?

  9   “The IBM Way”: How It Worked, 1964–1993

10   “The IBM Way”: What the World Saw, 1964–1993

11   IBM on the Global Stage

12   Two Decades of Antitrust Suits, 1960s–1980s

13   Communist Computers

14   “A Tool for Modern Times”: IBM and the Personal Computer

III   A Time of Crisis, 1985–1994

15   Storms, Crisis, and Near Death, 1985–1993

16   IBM’s Initial Response, 1985–1993

17   How IBM Was Rescued, 1993–1994

IV   IBM in the New Century

18   A New IBM, 1995–2012

19   Hard Times, Again, and Another Transformation

20   THINK: IBM Today and Its Legacy

Author’s Note: In the Spirit of Transparency

Bibliographic Essay

Index

“The purpose of this book is to introduce a new generation to IBM’s role by telling the story of its long history, its culture and values, and, most important, explain how it helped to shape the world in which we live, a process still unfolding. I argue that it is essential to understand its corporate culture, one that academics and reporters found difficult to describe but that they recognized was essential to describe. Published accounts of IBM offer insufficient insights. IBM is also a multinational company operating around the world, so we need to understand its role in international disputes. Is it an American corporation or is it so globalized that only its senior leaders are U.S. citizens? What are the implications for Russia, China, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Australia, and so many other countries?”

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The Computer Book: From the Abacus to Artificial Intelligence

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The Computer Book: From the Abacus to Artificial Intelligence, 250 Milestones in the History of Computer Science by Simson L Garfinkel

Publication Date : January 15, 2019
Publisher : Sterling; Illustrated Edition (January 15, 2019)
Print Length : 742 pages
ASIN : B07C2NQSPV

THE COMPUTER BOOK – FROM THE ABACUS TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, 250 MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Simson L. Garfinkel and Rachel H. Grunspan

STERLNG and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Text © 2018 Techzpah LLC

ISBN 978-1-4549-2622-1

Contents

Introduction

Acknowledgments

Notes and Further Reading

Photo Credits

Introduction

“The evolution of the computer likely began with the human desire to comprehend and manipulate the environment. The earliest humans recognized the phenomenon of quantity and used their fingers to count and act upon material items in their world. Simple methods such as these eventually gave way to the creation of proxy devices such as the abacus, which enabled action on higher quantities of items, and wax tablets, on which pressed symbols enabled information storage. Continued progress depended on harnessing and controlling the power of the natural world—steam, electricity, light, and finally the amazing potential of the quantum world. Over time, our new devices increased our ability to save and find what we now call data, to communicate over distances, and to create information products assembled from countless billions of elements, all transformed into a uniform digital format.

These functions are the essence of computation: the ability to augment and amplify what we can do with our minds, extending our impact to levels of superhuman reach and capacity.

These superhuman capabilities that most of us now take for granted were a long time coming, and it is only in recent years that access to them has been democratized and scaled globally. A hundred years ago, the instantaneous communication afforded by telegraph and long-distance telephony was available only to governments, large corporations, and wealthy individuals. Today, the ability to send international, instantaneous messages such as email is essentially free to the majority of the world’s population.

In this book, we recount a series of connected stories of how this change happened, selecting what we see as the seminal events in the history of computing. The development of computing is in large part the story of technology, both because no invention happens in isolation, and because technology and computing are inextricably linked; fundamental technologies have allowed people to create complex computing devices, which in turn have driven the creation of increasingly sophisticated technologies.

The same sort of feedback loop has accelerated other related areas, such as the mathematics of cryptography and the development of high-speed communications systems. For example, the development of public key cryptography in the 1970s provided the mathematical basis for sending credit card numbers securely over the internet in the 1990s. This incentivized many companies to invest money to build websites and e-commerce systems, which in turn provided the financial capital for laying high-speed fiber optic networks and researching the technology necessary to build increasingly faster microprocessors.

In this collection of essays, we see the history of computing as a series of overlapping technology waves, including:

Human computation. More than people who were simply facile at math, the earliest “computers” were humans who performed repeated calculations for days, weeks, or months at a time. The first human computers successfully plotted the trajectory of Halley’s Comet. After this demonstration, teams were put to work producing tables for navigation and the computation of logarithms, with the goal of improving the accuracy of warships and artillery.

Mechanical calculation. Starting in the 17th century with the invention of the slide rule, computation was increasingly realized with the help of mechanical aids. This era is characterized by mechanisms such as Oughtred’s slide rule and mechanical adding machines such as Charles Babbage’s difference engine and the arithmometer.

Connected with mechanical computation is mechanical data storage. In the 18th century, engineers working on a variety of different systems hit upon the idea of using holes in cards and tape to represent repeating patterns of information that could be stored and automatically acted upon. The Jacquard loom used holes on stiff cards to enable automated looms to weave complex, repeating patterns. Herman Hollerith managed the scale and complexity of processing population information for the 1890 US Census on smaller punch cards, and Émile Baudot created a device that let human operators punch holes in a roll of paper to represent characters as a way of making more efficient use of long-distance telegraph lines. Boole’s algebra lets us interpret these representations of information (holes and spaces) as binary—1s and 0s—fundamentally altering how information is processed and stored.

With the capture and control of electricity came electric communication and computation. Charles Wheatstone in England and Samuel Morse in the US both built systems that could send digital information down a wire for many miles. By the end of the 19th century, engineers had joined together millions of miles of wires with relays, switches, and sounders, as well as the newly invented speakers and microphones, to create vast international telegraph and telephone communications networks. In the 1930s, scientists in England, Germany, and the US realized that the same electrical relays that powered the telegraph and telephone networks could also be used to calculate mathematical quantities. Meanwhile, magnetic recording technology was developed for storing and playing back sound—technology that would soon be repurposed for storing additional types of information.

Electronic computation. In 1906, scientists discovered that a beam of electrons traveling through a vacuum could be switched by applying a slight voltage to a metal mesh, and the vacuum tube was born. In the 1940s, scientists tried using tubes in their calculators and discovered that they ran a thousand times faster than relays. Replacing relays with tubes allowed the creation of computers that were a thousand times faster than the previous generation.

Solid state computing. Semiconductors—materials that can change their electrical properties—were discovered in the 19th century, but it wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that scientists at Bell Laboratories discovered and then perfected a semiconductor electronic switch—the transistor. Faster still than tubes and solids, semiconductors use dramatically less power than tubes and can be made smaller than the eye can see. They are also incredibly rugged. The first transistorized computers appeared in 1953; within a decade, transistors had replaced tubes everywhere, except for the computer’s screen. That wouldn’t happen until the widespread deployment of flat-panel screens in the 2000s.

Parallel computing. Year after year, transistors shrank in size and got faster, and so did computers . . . until they didn’t. The year was 2005, roughly, when the semiconductor industry’s tricks for making each generation of microprocessors run faster than the previous pretty much petered out. Fortunately, the industry had one more trick up its sleeve: parallel computing, or splitting up a problem into many small parts and solving them more or less independently, all at the same time. Although the computing industry had experimented with parallel computing for years (ENIAC was actually a parallel machine, way back in 1943), massively parallel computers weren’t commercially available until the 1980s and didn’t become commonplace until the 2000s, when scientists started using graphic processor units (GPUs) to solve problems in artificial intelligence (AI).

Artificial intelligence. Whereas the previous technology waves always had at their hearts the purpose of supplementing or amplifying human intellect or abilities, the aim of artificial intelligence is to independently extend cognition, evolve a new concept of intelligence, and algorithmically optimize any digitized ecosystem and its constituent parts. Thus, it is fitting that this wave be last in the book, at least in a book written by human beings. The hope of machine intelligence goes back millennia, at least to the time of the ancient Greeks. Many of computing’s pioneers, including Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing, wrote that they could imagine a day when machines would be intelligent. We see manifestations of this dream in the cultural icons Maria, Robby the Robot, and the Mechanical Turk—the chess-playing automaton. Artificial intelligence as a field started in the 1950s. But while it is possible to build a computer with relays or even Tinkertoy® sets that can play a perfect game of tic-tac-toe, it wasn’t until the 1990s that a computer was able to beat the reigning world champion at chess and then eventually the far more sophisticated game of Go. Today we watch as machines master more and more tasks that were once reserved for people. And no longer do machines have to be programmed to perform these tasks; computing has evolved to the point that AIs are taught to teach themselves and “learn” using methods that mimic the connections in the human brain. Continuing on this trajectory, over time we will have to redefine what “intelligent” actually means.

Given the vast history of computing, then, how is it possible to come up with precisely 250 milestones that summarize it?

We performed this task by considering many histories and timelines of computing, engineering, mathematics, culture, and science. We developed a set of guiding principles. We then built a database of milestones that balanced generally accepted seminal events with those that were lesser known. Our specific set of criteria appears below. As we embarked on the writing effort, we discovered many cases in which multiple milestones could be collapsed to a single cohesive narrative story. We also discovered milestones within milestones that needed to be broken out and celebrated on their own merits. Finally, while researching some milestones, we uncovered other inventions, innovations, or discoveries that we had neglected our first time through. The list we have developed thus represents 250 milestones that we think tell a comprehensive account of computing on planet Earth. Specifically:

We include milestones that led to the creation of thinking machines—the true deus ex machina. The milestones that we have collected show the big step-by-step progression from early devices for manipulating information to the pervasive society of machines and people that surrounds us today.

We include milestones that document the results of the integration of computers into society. In this, we looked for things that were widely used and critically important where they were applied.

We include milestones that were important “firsts,” from which other milestones cascaded or from which important developments derive.

We include milestones that resonated with the general public so strongly that they influenced behavior or thinking. For example, HAL 9000 resonates to this day even for people who haven’t seen the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

We include milestones that are on the critical path of current capabilities, beliefs, or application of computers and associated technologies, such as the invention of the integrated circuit.

We include milestones that are likely to become a building block for future milestones, such as using DNA for data storage.

And finally, we felt it appropriate to illuminate a few milestones that have yet to occur. They are grounded in enough real-world technical capability, observed societal urges, and expertise by those who make a living looking to the future, as to manifest themselves in some way—even if not exactly how we portray them.

Some readers may be confused by our use of the word kibibyte, which means 1,024 bytes, rather than kilobyte, which literally means 1,000 bytes. For many years, the field of information technology used the International System of Units or (SI) prefixes incorrectly, using the word kilobyte to refer to both. This caused a growing amount of confusion that came to a head in 1999, when the General Conference on Weights and Measures formally adopted a new set of prefixes (kibi-, mebi-, and gibi-) to accurately denote binary magnitudes common in computing. We therefore use those terms where appropriate.

The evolution of computing has been a global project with contributions from many countries. While much of this history can be traced to the United States and the United Kingdom, we have worked hard to recognize contributions from countries around the world. We have also included the substantial achievements of women computing pioneers. The world’s first programmer was a woman, and many innovative programmers in the 1940s and 1950s were women as well.

Looking back over the collection of 250 milestones, we see some lessons that have emerged that transcend time and technology:

The computer is devouring the world. What was once a tool for cracking Nazi codes and designing nuclear bombs has found its way into practically every aspect of the human and nonhuman experience on the planet. Today computers are aggressively shedding their ties to mundane existence in machine rooms and on the desk: they drive around our cities, they fly, they travel to other worlds and even beyond the solar system. People created computers to process information, but no longer will they reside in that box; computers will inherit the world.

The industry relies on openness and standardization. The steady push for these qualities has benefitted both users and the industry at large. It’s obvious how openness benefits users: open systems and common architectures make it possible for customers to move from one system to another, which forces vendors to compete on price and innovate in performance. This relentless competition has frequently brought new companies and new capital into the market—and frequently killed firms that couldn’t keep up. And yet, this competition has also been good for the vendors themselves, allowing companies that were more efficient, or had superior technology, to readily acquire new customers.

There is a heavy economic and innovation penalty for secrecy. Computing systems enable the free flow of information, but success in computing requires it. We noted how the UK ceded what could have become an insurmountable lead over the Americans in commercializing computing technology in the 1950s, as well as in cryptographic technology in the 1970s, because of wartime restrictions that reflected an earlier era. The US went down a different path: the multidecade collaboration between the US government and private American firms didn’t just benefit the US military and domestic economy, it benefited the world, because those innovations were widely shared outside the confines of their original purpose. That wouldn’t have been the case if either very large-scale integration (VLSI) microelectronics or the TCP/IP technology that powers the internet, both funded by the US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), had remained exclusive to government laboratories.

Invention and innovation are incredibly different. It’s not just enough to come up with a new idea; it takes time and effort to move that idea into the market and the public’s hands. Perhaps the best example here is Xerox®, which invented the modern personal computer in the early 1970s—including the graphical user interface (GUI), the word processor, the laser printer, and even the Ethernet local area network—and then failed to market the technology or make it affordable. In the end, Xerox didn’t just lose the market — it lost its inventors, who moved to positions at companies such as Apple and Microsoft where they believed they could make a difference.

Any way you look at it, the development of the computer is one of the most important events in the history of the planet. Our lives are now inextricably linked with it, and it is possible that intelligent machines will outlast our own species. So to all of the future AIs who might be reading this book, we hope that you find reading it as enjoyable as we humans found writing it.”