Computers (Part One)

Computers (Part One)

Swedin and Ferro provide the history or "life story" of computing technologies in their book Computers: The Life Story of a Technology. The book follows the evolution of computing technologies -- first, by making available a historical timeline (from 35,000 BCE to 2003) of significant events that helped lead to the development of computing technologies we have today, and second, by supplying relevant information to the readers concerning the inventors and inventions responsible for the transformation in computers.

Not only do Swedin and Ferro define influential parties who played their parts in the evolution of computers, they also inform the readers that major achievements in the field of computing sometimes share a common environment: war. It seems interesting to me that a country's defense needs led to some of the major accomplishments in the field of computing. For example, the creation of an electronic computer for the purpose of code-breaking, the creation of the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) for the purpose of calculating artillery ballistic tables, etc. Does the military have a "we have the technology" mentality? Perhaps. However, the state of computing technology would not be where it is now without the military's role.

Generally speaking, Swedin and Ferro did a good job supplying the readers information about the history of computing technologies and its evolution. The first half of this book focused on the history of a technology and briefly explained the fundamentals of the technologies. I do not anticipate a change for the second half of the book. This book is simply an introduction to what led us to where we are now in computing technologies. It is a good place to start for people who have no prior knowledge of the history of computing technologies.