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A History of Modern Computing
(History of Computing)
by
From the first digital computer to the dot-com crash - a story of individuals, institutions, and the forces that led to a series of dramatic transformations.
This engaging history covers modern computing from the development of the first electronic digital computer through the dot-com crash. The author concentrates on five key moments of transition: the transformation of ...more
This engaging history covers modern computing from the development of the first electronic digital computer through the dot-com crash. The author concentrates on five key moments of transition: the transformation of ...more
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Paperback, 459 pages
Published
April 8th 2003
by Mit Press
(first published October 12th 1998)
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An incredibly thorough review of computing history, it's amazing how much of today's technology is a derivative of yesterday's work. Technology is constantly improving upon itself, and it's so much easier to understand the present when we know its past. Definitely recommend to anybody who wants to understand how it all got started.

A must-read for anyone who’s ever had a glimmer of nostalgia for a computer from their childhood, no matter if an IBM PC-clone, an Apple II, a Commodore VIC-20, or an Altair kit, and wondered where those magical devices came from. Is the computer a means of freedom or control? You’ll explore this theme throughout the book, beginning with modern computing’s punch-card origins in WW2 through IBM’s dominance in mainframes to the mini-computer and personal computer eras - leaving off just as the
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An interesting and concise review of the history of computers from the 1940s through 2001. While I already knew much of this history what sets this apart is the author's approach to putting so many innovations in context, focusing not only on the technical but on the social and commercial forces which drove them (and which are sometimes overshadowed or ignored in histories which focus purely on technical leaps forward). While it's hard to really go in-depth into any particular topic here, the
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Un libro che tratta, in modo abbastanza imparziale, della storia dell'informatica, dalle origini ai giorni nostri.
Se non fosse che l'argomento mi interessa lo avrei già scagliato fuori dalla finestra perchè non riesce minimamente a invogliarmi nella lettura.
Fondamentalmente consiste in una serie di nomi e date mischiate poco abilmente in una serie di frasi con apparente senso del continuo.
Se non fosse che l'argomento mi interessa lo avrei già scagliato fuori dalla finestra perchè non riesce minimamente a invogliarmi nella lettura.
Fondamentalmente consiste in una serie di nomi e date mischiate poco abilmente in una serie di frasi con apparente senso del continuo.

My knowledge of computing begins in about 1978 with the Commodore PET and goes through the early Macintoshes to Unix/Linux today. But I have always been so curious about the early years - the REALLY early years, and in particular the years in which computer technologies advanced outside of the world of personal/desktop computers - big iron, mainframes, minicomputers, supercomputers. Understanding what happened from the 1950s to the 1980s was why I bought this book, and it was absolutely worth
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Come libro sulle macchine informatiche moderne e` un ottimo testo. Fino agli anni '90 e` esauriente e capace di proporre sintesi interessanti. I tecnici della materia rimarranno a volte delusi dalla mancanza di approfondimento dei dettagli tecnologici, ma in sostanza mi sembra che le pietre miliari, anche concettuali, ci siano tutte. L'autore mi sembra invece progressivamente in difficolta` man mano che il software diventa assai piu` rilevante dello hardware: in questo caso le caratteristiche
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