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Cyhist Mar 17 1997 E
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Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 12:47:10 EST
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: keith reid-green <kreid-green@ETS.ORG>
Subject: CM>History of Computing texts
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
Joan asked:
>I am teaching a college course in "Computer Science History" for Computer Science majors. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good textbook for this course?
I was recovering from spinal surgery in 1965 when I decided to write a book about the history of computing. Since I had to stay home and be pretty much flat on my back for two months, it was a way of not going crazy (or crazier). I abandoned the project about a year later when I realized that my publisher was gradually working me around to writing a book about programming. However, I still have the text (naturally not in any computer-readable form--not even via OCR, because the copies are too poor.)
I suggest that any good computer history text should begin with a survey of number notation, including, say, Mayan and Ancient Egyptian, and another survey of interesting calculating machinery that is not restricted to the usual Pascal, Leibniz and Babbage machines but also refers to clocks, particularly Harrison's, and special purpose devices like the dipstick that calculates the number of gallons left in a barrel of beer, taking the curvature of the barrel into account. The Antikythera calculator is a must,
and so are Napier's bones. Early (pre-1945) methods for calculating Pi are worth discussing in some detail, all of which can be found in "A History of Pi", which is at home right now and I am at work, so a correct citation isn't possible. It was written by Petr (sic) Beckmann(?). I can give the details if anybody is interested. Some time should be given to electromechanical calculators, too, but not too much.
A good history of computing course, especially for computer science students, should include sections on how early computers were programmed. I would include the Edsac, the IBM 650, the IBM 704, and the IBM 1401 for sure, and of course everybody will disagree with this list since everybody has favorite computers. I think a really good history of computing course would include simulators for these machines, so students can debug programming assignments.
I think that the history of peripheral equipment has received short shrift.
This is probably because there's such a lot of it. But the development of magnetic tape and magnetic disk must be reviewed, and the history of punched cards and electric accounting machines can't be ignored. Personally, I would want to see a chronology of plotters and display devices, and of course volatile storage (not 'memory', please) is another essential.
Now, where does an author stop? I have a large four-volume set called The History of Technology that stops at the Industrial Revolution. I would stop a computer history at 1965, when the so-called Third Generation, integrated circuit computers, were announced. Not a word about the upstart personal computer...
I'd like to read other people's ideas on this subject.
Keith Reid-Green
KReid-Green@ets.org
Princeton, NJ
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: keith reid-green <kreid-green@ETS.ORG>
Subject: CM>History of Computing texts
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
Joan asked:
>I am teaching a college course in "Computer Science History" for Computer Science majors. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good textbook for this course?
I was recovering from spinal surgery in 1965 when I decided to write a book about the history of computing. Since I had to stay home and be pretty much flat on my back for two months, it was a way of not going crazy (or crazier). I abandoned the project about a year later when I realized that my publisher was gradually working me around to writing a book about programming. However, I still have the text (naturally not in any computer-readable form--not even via OCR, because the copies are too poor.)
I suggest that any good computer history text should begin with a survey of number notation, including, say, Mayan and Ancient Egyptian, and another survey of interesting calculating machinery that is not restricted to the usual Pascal, Leibniz and Babbage machines but also refers to clocks, particularly Harrison's, and special purpose devices like the dipstick that calculates the number of gallons left in a barrel of beer, taking the curvature of the barrel into account. The Antikythera calculator is a must,
and so are Napier's bones. Early (pre-1945) methods for calculating Pi are worth discussing in some detail, all of which can be found in "A History of Pi", which is at home right now and I am at work, so a correct citation isn't possible. It was written by Petr (sic) Beckmann(?). I can give the details if anybody is interested. Some time should be given to electromechanical calculators, too, but not too much.
A good history of computing course, especially for computer science students, should include sections on how early computers were programmed. I would include the Edsac, the IBM 650, the IBM 704, and the IBM 1401 for sure, and of course everybody will disagree with this list since everybody has favorite computers. I think a really good history of computing course would include simulators for these machines, so students can debug programming assignments.
I think that the history of peripheral equipment has received short shrift.
This is probably because there's such a lot of it. But the development of magnetic tape and magnetic disk must be reviewed, and the history of punched cards and electric accounting machines can't be ignored. Personally, I would want to see a chronology of plotters and display devices, and of course volatile storage (not 'memory', please) is another essential.
Now, where does an author stop? I have a large four-volume set called The History of Technology that stops at the Industrial Revolution. I would stop a computer history at 1965, when the so-called Third Generation, integrated circuit computers, were announced. Not a word about the upstart personal computer...
I'd like to read other people's ideas on this subject.
Keith Reid-Green
KReid-Green@ets.org
Princeton, NJ
______________________________________________________________________
