The Universal History of Computing
Subtitle: From the Abacus to the Quantum Computer
Publisher: Wiley
Published: November 6, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 416
ISBN-13: 9780471396710
First sentence: The writing of words and the writing of numbers show many parallels in their histories.
Table of contents: title: Historical summary of arithmetic, numerical notation, and writing systems -- From the particular to the general : arithmetic leads to algebra -- From calculation to calculus -- Binary arithmetic and other non-decimal systems -- From clockwork calculator to computer : the history of automatic calculation. Introduction -- Human calculation and machine calculation -- Pre-renaissance obstacles to mechanical calculation and the beginnings of the breakthrough -- The calculating machine -- The keyboard comes on the scene. From adding machine to cash register -- From mechanization of simple arithmetic to automatic arithmetic on an industrial scale -- Analogue computation. Origins and development -- The contribution of automata -- The development of punched-tape solutions -- Charles Babbage, his analytical engine, and his followers -- Developments in electromechanical calculating machines -- The electronic revolution -- Fully programmed machines -- On the road to the computer : recapitulation -- The contribution of the mathematical logicians -- The advent of set theory -- The contribution of Alan Turing -- Further progress towards the computer with John Von Neumann -- The first generation of true computers -- The pocket calculator -- What is a computer? -- Information, the new universal dimension -- Conclusion : intelligence, science, and the future of mankind -- List of abbreviations -- Bibliography.