| Description |
1 online resource (xxi, 354 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Part I. Precursor machines ; Konrad Zuse's computers -- The Atanasoff-Berry computer -- Stibitz's relay computers -- Colossus -- Aiken's ASCC/Mark I -- Harvard Mark machines -- IBM's selected sequence electronic calculator -- Who invented the computer? -- Part II. Pre-stored program machines ; ENIAC -- EDVAC -- EDSAC -- Manchester SSEM -- BINAC -- Pilot ACE -- BRLESC -- Part III. Vacuum tube machines ; Engineering Research Associates -- UNIVAC 1103 -- NBS computing machines -- MIT whirlwind -- The IAS machine -- MANIAC I -- The ORDVAC computer -- UNIVAC I -- English Electric DEUCE -- Ferranti Pegasus -- Ferranti Mark I/II -- Ferranti Mercury -- Univac file computers -- IBM 305 RAMAC |
| Summary |
"Birthing the Computer: From Relays to Vacuum Tubes" is the first in a multi-volume series on historical computing machines. This series will span the development of computer systems from the Zuse machines of the early 1930s to about 1995 when microprocessors began to be commoditized. Each volume will focus on a range of technologies, or a class of machines or a particular vendor, and will describe the hardware of the machines and its peripherals, the operating system and system software, and its influence upon programming languages. This volume begins with the Zuse--constructed from relays and containing the basic elements of a computer system: input, computing engine, and output. By the mid-to-late '50s, computing machines were being built by universities, governments, and industry. Most of these machines were constructed using the von Neumann architecture and represent an evolution of thinking in how computing machines were to operate along with some innovative ideas in software and programming languages. By the end of the 1950s, the design, development, programming, and use of computing machines were in full ferment as many new ideas were proposed, many different machines were designed, and some were constructed. Computing machines became a commercial enterprise. Governments receded from building machines to levying requirements and funding construction, while universities continued to explore new architectures, new operating systems, and new programming languages |
| Bibliography |
Includes further reading and exercises at the end of each part, glossary (pages 335-336), bibliographical references (pages 337-348) , and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Computers -- History
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Humanities.
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COMPUTERS -- Computer Literacy.
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COMPUTERS -- Computer Science.
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COMPUTERS -- Data Processing.
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COMPUTERS -- Hardware -- General.
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COMPUTERS -- Information Technology.
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COMPUTERS -- Machine Theory.
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COMPUTERS -- Reference.
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Computers
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781443896313 |
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1443896314 |
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