The First Computers

History and Architectures
Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-0-262-68137-7
Verlag: MIT Press

Buch, Englisch, 472 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 678 g

Reihe: History of Computing

This history of computing focuses not on chronology (what came first and who deserves credit for it) but on the actual architectures of the first machines that made electronic computing a practical reality. The book covers computers built in the United States, Germany, England, and Japan. It makes clear that similar concepts were often pursued simultaneously and that the early researchers explored many architectures beyond the von Neumann architecture that eventually became canonical. The contributors include not only historians but also engineers and computer pioneers. An introductory chapter describes the elements of computer architecture and explains why "being first" is even less interesting for computers than for other areas of technology. The essays contain a remarkable amount of new material, even on well-known machines, and several describe reconstructions of the historic machines. These investigations are of more than simply historical interest, for architectures designed to solve specific problems in the past may suggest new approaches to similar problems in today's machines.ContributorsTitiimaea F. Ala'ilima, Lin Ping Ang, William Aspray, Friedrich L. Bauer, Andreas Brennecke, Chris P. Burton, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Paul Ceruzzi, I. Bernard Cohen, John Gustafson, Wilhelm Hopmann, Harry D. Huskey, Friedrich W. Kistermann, Thomas Lange, Michael S. Mahoney, R. B. E. Napper, Seiichi Okoma, Hartmut Petzold, Raúl Rojas, Anthony E. Sale, Robert W. Seidel, Ambros P. Speiser, Frank H. Sumner, James F. Tau, Jan Van der Spiegel, Eiiti Wada, Michael R. Williams

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rojas, Raul

Rojas, Raúl

Hashagen, Ulf

Aspray, William

Misa, Thomas J.

Fachgebiete

• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technikgeschichte
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Informatik Rechnerarchitektur

Über Autor(innen)

Hashagen, Ulf
Ulf Hashagen is affiliated with the Munich Center for the History and Science and Technology, Deutsches Museum.

Misa, Thomas J.
Thomas J. Misa is ERA-Land Grant Professor of the History of Technology at the University of Minnesota, where he directs the Charles Babbage Institute. His books include Modernity and Technology (coedited with Philip Brey and Andrew Feenberg; MIT Press, 2003).

Aspray, William
William Aspray is Bill and Lewis Suit Professor of Information Technologies in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the coeditor of Women and Information Technology: Research on Underrepresentation (2006) and The Internet and American Business (2008), both published by the MIT Press.

Rojas, Raúl
Raúl Rojas is Professor of Computer Science at the Free University of Berlin.

Raúl Rojas is Professor of Computer Science at the Free University of Berlin.