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Tracing the story of computing from Babylonian counting boards to smartphones, this inspiring textbook provides a concise overview of the key events in the history of computing, together with discussion exercises to stimulate deeper investigation into this fascinating area. Features: provides chapter introductions, summaries, key topics, and review questions; includes an introduction to analogue and digital computers, and to the foundations of computing; examines the contributions of ancient civilisations to the field of computing; covers the first digital computers, and the earliest commercial computers, mainframes and minicomputers; describes the early development of the integrated circuit and the microprocessor; reviews the emergence of home computers; discusses the creation of the Internet, the invention of the smartphone, and the rise of social media; presents a short history of telecommunications, programming languages, operating systems, software engineering, artificial intelligence, and databases.

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What is a Computer?

Computing in Early Civilizations

Foundations of Computing

The First Digital Computers

The First Commercial Computers

Early Commercial Computers and the Invention of the Transistor

The Invention of the Integrated Circuit and the Birth of Silicon Valley

The IBM System/360

Minicomputers and Later Mainframes

The Microprocessor Revolution

Home Computers

The IBM Personal Computer

A Short History of Telecommunications

The Internet Revolution

The Smartphone and Social Media

History of Programming Languages

History of Operating Systems

History of Software Engineering

History of Artificial Intelligence

History of Databases

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Dr. Gerard O´Regan is a CMMI software process improvement consultant with research interests including software quality and software process improvement, mathematical approaches to software quality, and the history of computing. He is the author of such Springer titles as A Brief History of Computing, Pillars of Computing, Giants of Computing, Mathematics in Computing, Introduction to Software Quality, Introduction to Software Process Improvement, and Mathematical Approaches to Software Quality.

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