Whrr. . . tick. . . whrrr. . . tick. . . whrrrtick whrrrtick
whrrrrr. Computers have speeded up their service and disservice to
man. How they came to be is a story of abstract
mathematics-cum-technology often told in a contemporary tongue. But
long needed has been a readable history of the people who developed
the many computational and mechanical ideas over the centuries.
Goldstine, a director of scientific development at IBM, offers just
this in an historic-scientistic, digressive, studious narrative,
covering it all meticulously from the 16th century through Pascal
and Leibnitz, Babbage's "Difference Engine," the development of
Boolean algebra, Kelvin's "Harmonic Analyzer," those now ubiquitous
punch cards, ballistics, lunar tables, Whitehead, through yon
Neumann and EDVAC - all ending in and around the mid-'50's. To the
so-minded, it can be scientific theater, what with different fields
and neoteric personalities impinging on each other, coalescing with
the acceleration of product improvement in the 20th century, thanks
to two World Wars. But the drama is lost here in this dry work, as
Goldstine seldom puts noise into his cast, failing for instance to
impart urgency in the race between IBM and Bell Telephone for a
superior computer in the '40's. Choice bits for academics, but most
others will probably be willing to wait for a better programmed
history. (Kirkus Reviews)
In 1942, Lt. Herman H. Goldstine, a former mathematics
professor, was stationed at the Moore School of Electrical
Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. It was there that he
assisted in the creation of the ENIAC, the first electronic digital
computer. The ENIAC was operational in 1945, but plans for a new
computer were already underway. The principal source of ideas for
the new computer was John von Neumann, who became Goldstine's chief
collaborator. Together they developed EDVAC, successor to ENIAC.
After World War II, at the Institute for Advanced Study, they built
what was to become the prototype of the present-day computer.
Herman Goldstine writes as both historian and scientist in this
first examination of the development of computing machinery, from
the seventeenth century through the early 1950s. His personal
involvement lends a special authenticity to his narrative, as he
sprinkles anecdotes and stories liberally through his text.
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