Introduction to the History of Computing

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.

• 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.

“The work is conceived of as a text for an undergraduate computer science class. Basic definitions are covered, and the book is more comprehensive than other standard history of computing works because it covers analog and pre-digital computing innovations. The text then is written for a basic student introduction, which includes an abstract, key topics, review questions, and summary for each chapter. Also included are abundant pictures, illustrations, graphics, and references for each topic reviewed.” (G. Mick Smith, Computing Reviews, November, 2016)