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Books > Computing & IT > General theory of computing
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John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing (Paperback)
Loot Price: R1,271
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John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing (Paperback)
Series: History of Computing
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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William Aspray provides the first broad and detailed account of von
Neumann's many different contributions to computing. John von
Neumann (1903-1957) was unquestionably one of the most brilliant
scientists of the twentieth century. He made major contributions to
quantum mechanics and mathematical physics and in 1943 began a new
and all-too-short career in computer science. William Aspray
provides the first broad and detailed account of von Neumann's many
different contributions to computing. These, Aspray reveals,
extended far beyond his well-known work in the design and
construction of computer systems to include important scientific
applications, the revival of numerical analysis, and the creation
of a theory of computing.Aspray points out that from the beginning
von Neumann took a wider and more theoretical view than other
computer pioneers. In the now famous EDVAC report of 1945, von
Neumann clearly stated the idea of a stored program that resides in
the computer's memory along with the data it was to operate on.
This stored program computer was described in terms of idealized
neurons, highlighting the analogy between the digital computer and
the human brain. Aspray describes von Neumann's development during
the next decade, and almost entirely alone, of a theory of
complicated information processing systems, or automata, and the
introduction of themes such as learning, reliability of systems
with unreliable components, self-replication, and the importance of
memory and storage capacity in biological nervous systems; many of
these themes remain at the heart of current investigations in
parallel or neurocomputing.Aspray allows the record to speak for
itself. He unravels an intricate sequence of stories generated by
von Neumann's work and brings into focus the interplay of
personalities centered about von Neumann. He documents the complex
interactions of science, the military, and business and shows how
progress in applied mathematics was intertwined with that in
computers. William Aspray is Director of the Center for the History
of Electrical Engineering at The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers.
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