This book presents a historical and philosophical analysis of programming systems, intended as large computational systems like, for instance, operating systems, programmed to control processes. The introduction to the volume emphasizes the contemporary need of providing a foundational analysis of such systems, rooted in a broader historical and philosophical discussion. The different chapters are grouped around three major themes. The first concerns the early history of large systems developed against the background of issues related to the growing semantic gap between hardware and code. The second revisits the fundamental issue of complexity of large systems, dealt with by the use of formal methods and the development of `grand designs' like Unix. Finally, a third part considers several issues related to programming systems in the real world, including chapters on aesthetical, ethical and political issues. This book will interest researchers from a diversity of backgrounds. It will appeal to historians, philosophers, as well as logicians and computer scientists who want to engage with topics relevant to the history and philosophy of programming and more specifically the role of programming systems in the foundations of computing.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 17th Conference on Computability in Europe, CiE 2021, organized by the University of Ghent in July 2021. Due to COVID-19 pandemic the conference was held virtually. The 48 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 50 submissions. CiE promotes the development of computability-related science, ranging over mathematics, computer science and applications in various natural and engineering sciences, such as physics and biology, as well as related fields, such as philosophy and history of computing. CiE 2021 had as its motto Connecting with Computability, a clear acknowledgement of the connecting and interdisciplinary nature of the conference series which is all the more important in a time where people are more than ever disconnected from one another due to the COVID-19 pandemic.