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Problems of teaching computer history in introductory courses

Published:01 February 1978Publication History
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References

  1. Goldstine, Herman G. The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. Mayr, Otto. The Origins of Feedback Control. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1970. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. Randell, Brian, ed. The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1973. See also his The Origins of Digital Computers: Supplementary Bibliography. Computing Laboratory Technical Report Series, Number 91. Newcastle upon Tyne: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1976. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. Rosen, Saul. "Electronic Computers: A Historical Survey." Computing Surveys 1 (March 1969. 7--36. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  5. Morrison, J., and Tashjian, S. Review of the exhibit A Computer Perspective. Computing Reviews 12 (May 1971): 203.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. Eames, Charles and Ray. A Computer Perspective. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  7. Howlett, J. "International Research Conference on History of Computing." Comm. of the ACM 19 (Aug. 1976): 481--2; and Yasaki, Edward K. "Fragments of Computer History," Datamation 22 (Sept. 1976): 131, 134--5.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  8. In the case of mechanical, electromechanical, and electronic calculators, there are contenders for the position of "first". Goldstine (ibid., pp. 6--7) refers to letters to Johannes Kepler, discovered in 1957, indicating that Wilhelm Schickard, Professor at the University of Tubingen, designed and had constructed a mechanical adder in the year 1623. Unfortunately, the single working model was destroyed in a fire, and the Schickard family died in one of the plagues which swept Europe during the Thirty Years War. However, based on the information found in Schickard's letters, a second working model was constructed in 1960.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  9. Again, a claimant for first electromechanical calculator is Konrad Zuse, who applied in 1936 for a patent on his relay machine (see Randell, ibid., pp. 155--86).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  10. Finally, the Atanasoff-Berry machine, constructed at the University of Iowa between 1939 and 1942, contends for electronic "first" (ibid., pp. 305--25). Recently, a Federal Court honored Atanasoff's claim in a civil suit decision. See Gardner, W. David. "Will the Inventor of the First Digital Computer Please Stand Up?" Datamation 20 (Feb. 1974): 84, 88--90.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

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  • Published in

    cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
    ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 10, Issue 1
    The papers of the SIGCSE/CSA technical symposium on computer science education
    February 1978
    296 pages
    ISSN:0097-8418
    DOI:10.1145/990654
    Issue’s Table of Contents
    • cover image ACM Conferences
      SIGCSE '78: Papers of the SIGCSE/CSA technical symposium on Computer science education
      February 1978
      311 pages
      ISBN:9781450374767
      DOI:10.1145/990555
      • Conference Chair:
      • Kenneth Williams

    Copyright © 1978 ACM

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    • Published: 1 February 1978

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