{"product_id":"computing-a-concise-history-9780262517676","title":"Computing: A Concise History","description":"\u003cb\u003eA compact and accessible history, from punch cards and calculators to UNIVAC and ENIAC, the personal computer, Silicon Valley, and the Internet.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe history of computing could be told as the story of hardware and software, or the story of the Internet, or the story of \"smart\" hand-held devices, with subplots involving IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter. In this concise and accessible account of the invention and development of digital technology, computer historian Paul Ceruzzi offers a broader and more useful perspective. He identifies four major threads that run throughout all of computing's technological development: digitization--the coding of information, computation, and control in binary form, ones and zeros; the convergence of multiple streams of techniques, devices, and machines, yielding more than the sum of their parts; the steady advance of electronic technology, as characterized famously by \"Moore's Law\"; and the human-machine interface.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCeruzzi guides us through computing history, telling how a Bell Labs mathematician coined the word \"digital\" in 1942 (to describe a high-speed method of calculating used in anti-aircraft devices), and recounting the development of the punch card (for use in the 1890 U.S. Census). He describes the ENIAC, built for scientific and military applications; the UNIVAC, the first general purpose computer; and ARPANET, the Internet's precursor. Ceruzzi's account traces the world-changing evolution of the computer from a room-size ensemble of machinery to a \"minicomputer\" to a desktop computer to a pocket-sized smart phone. He describes the development of the silicon chip, which could store ever-increasing amounts of data and enabled ever-decreasing device size. He visits that hotbed of innovation, Silicon Valley, and brings the story up to the present with the Internet, the World Wide Web, and social networking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Mit Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/15\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262517676\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 199\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.02h x 5.19w x 0.74d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/15\/2012 pg. 93\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2013\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Paul E. Ceruzzi","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36635399749788,"sku":"9780262517676","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_8d8201e3-3247-422d-9bb5-afe85863d3bb.jpg?v=1603839444","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/computing-a-concise-history-9780262517676","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}