Book ID: CBB001251885

Histories of Computing (2011)

unapi

Mahoney, Michael Sean (Author)
Haigh, Thomas (Author)


Harvard University Press


Publication Date: 2011
Physical Details: 250 pp.; ill.; bibl.; index
Language: English

Computer technology is pervasive in the modern world, its role ever more important as it becomes embedded in a myriad of physical systems and disciplinary ways of thinking. The late Michael Sean Mahoney was a pioneer scholar of the history of computing, one of the first established historians of science to take seriously the challenges and opportunities posed by information technology to our understanding of the twentieth century. Mahoney's work ranged widely, from logic and the theory of computation to the development of software and applications as craft-work. But it was always informed by a unique perspective derived from his distinguished work on the history of medieval mathematics and experimental practice during the Scientific Revolution. His writings offered a new angle on very recent events and ideas and bridged the gaps between academic historians and computer scientists. Indeed, he came to believe that the field was irreducibly pluralistic and that there could be only histories of computing. In this collection, Thomas Haigh presents thirteen of Mahoney's essays and papers organized across three categories: historiography, software engineering, and theoretical computer science. His introduction surveys Mahoney's work to trace the development of key themes, illuminate connections among different areas of his research, and put his contributions into context. The volume also includes an essay on Mahoney by his former students Jed Z. Buchwald and D. Graham Burnett. The result is a landmark work, of interest to computer professionals as well as historians of technology and science.

...More

Description Includes 13 essays by historian of computing Michael Mahoney on historiography, software engineering, and theoretical computer science.


Reviewed By

Review Priestley, Mark (2012) Review of "Histories of Computing". British Journal for the History of Science (pp. 703-704). unapi

Essay Review Mccarty, Willard (2013) Getting into the Driver's Seat. Metascience: An International Review Journal for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (pp. 99-104). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001251885/

Similar Citations

Book Daylight, Edgar G.; Grave, Kurt De; (2012)
The Dawn of Software Engineering: From Turing to Dijkstra (/isis/citation/CBB001214448/)

Book Daylight, Edgar G.; Naur, Peter; De Grave, Kurt; (2011)
Pluralism in Software Engineering: Turing Award Winner Peter Naur Explains (/isis/citation/CBB001214446/)

Article Haigh, Thomas; Priestley, Mark; Rope, Crispin; (2014)
Engineering “The Miracle of the ENIAC”: Implementing the Modern Code Paradigm (/isis/citation/CBB001214453/)

Article Mote, C. D.; (Winter 2020)
Ruth Davis, Tech Pioneer (/isis/citation/CBB315440638/)

Thesis Joy Marie Lisi Rankin; (2015)
Personal Computing Before Personal Computers: The Origins of America's Digital Culture (/isis/citation/CBB900832288/)

Article Toomey, Warren; (2010)
First Edition Unix: Its Creation and Restoration (/isis/citation/CBB001231732/)

Article Mendelsohn, Andrew; (2013)
The Oracle Story: 1984--2001 (/isis/citation/CBB001212984/)

Article S. Robertson; (2019)
A Brief History of Search Results Ranking (/isis/citation/CBB189020916/)

Thesis Gerardo Con Diaz; (2016)
Intangible Inventions: A History of Software Patenting in the United States, 1945-1985 (/isis/citation/CBB374973840/)

Article Martin, Shawn; (2010)
The “Marriage” of Technology and History (/isis/citation/CBB001201135/)

Article Z. Stachniak; (2017)
MCM on Personal Software (/isis/citation/CBB801943675/)

Article Nofre, David; Priestley, Mark; Alberts, Gerard; (2014)
When Technology Became Language: The Origins of the Linguistic Conception of Computer Programming, 1950--1960 (/isis/citation/CBB001421225/)

Article Ensmenger, Nathan L.; (2001)
The “Question of Professionalism” in the Computing Fields (/isis/citation/CBB000102452/)

Article Guy C. Fedorkow; (January-March 2021)
Recovering Software for the Whirlwind Computer (/isis/citation/CBB869829437/)

Article Kidwell, Peggy Aldrich; (1998)
Stalking the Elusive Computer Bug (/isis/citation/CBB000112057/)

Article Johnson, Luanne (James); (1998)
A View From the 1960s: How the Software Industry Began (/isis/citation/CBB000112054/)

Thesis Ensmenger, Nathan Lee; (2001)
From “black art” to industrial discipline: The software crisis and the management of programmers (/isis/citation/CBB001562603/)

Authors & Contributors
Ensmenger, Nathan Lee
Priestley, Mark
Kevles, Daniel J.
Grave, Kurt De
Daylight, Edgar G.
Guy C. Fedorkow
Concepts
Software
Computers and computing
Computer science
Technology
Engineering
Programming languages
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, late
21st century
Places
United States
Minnesota (U.S.)
Institutions
Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium
Micro Computer Machines
Dartmouth University
International Business Machines Corporation
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment