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This concise, easy-to-follow book introduces key topics in the history of computing from 3000 B.C. to the present. Profiles major figures in computing, covers programming, software and hardware and reviews innovations including the internet and worldwide web.

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This lively and fascinating text traces the key developments in computation - from 3000 B.C. to the present day - in an easy-to-follow and concise manner. Topics and features: ideal for self-study, offering many pedagogical features such as chapter-opening key topics, chapter introductions and summaries, exercises, and a glossary; presents detailed information on major figures in computing, such as Boole, Babbage, Shannon, Turing, Zuse and Von Neumann; reviews the history of software engineering and of programming languages, including syntax and semantics; discusses the progress of artificial intelligence, with extension to such key disciplines as philosophy, psychology, linguistics, neural networks and cybernetics; examines the impact on society of the introduction of the personal computer, the World Wide Web, and the development of mobile phone technology; follows the evolution of a number of major technology companies, including IBM, Microsoft and Apple.

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Computing in Early Civilisations
What is a Computer?
Early Computers
Developments in the 1950s to 1970s
Revolutions in the 1980s and 1990s
IBM
Technology Companies
The Internet Revolution
History of Programming Languages
History of Software Engineering
People in Computing
Foundations (Boole and Babbage)
Claude Shannon
Alan Turing
Artificial Intelligence

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From the reviews of the second edition:

"The book under review ... provides a succint (about 250 pages) reference book to computing topics (ranging from history to people to basic concepts). ... In its succint presentation the book has several strengths: It deals with pioneers (like Zuse) and historical issues ... . The book aims at the general reader or student with some general mathematical background knowledge and some experience with computers who needs a short offline encyclopedia." (Manuel Bremer, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1244, 2012)

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Dr. Gerard O´Regan is a CMMI software process improvement consultant at SQC Consulting, and a visiting lecturer at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia. He is the author of the Springer titles Introduction to Software Process Improvement, Mathematical Approaches to Software Quality and A Practical Approach to Software Quality.

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