O’Regan G. Giants of Computing: A Compendium of Select, Pivotal Pioneers

Springer, 2013. — 297 p. — ISBN 9782013944069, 2013944063.It has been upon the shoulders of giants that the modern world has been forged. This accessible compendium presents an insight into the great minds responsible for the technology which has transformed our lives. Each pioneer is introduced with a brief biography, followed by a concise account of their key contributions to their discipline. The selection covers a broad spread of historical and contemporary figures from theoreticians to entrepreneurs, highlighting the richness of the field of computing. Suitable for the general reader, this concise and easy-to-read reference will be of interest to anyone curious about the inspiring men and women who have shaped the field of computer science.Background.
Introduction.
Digital Computers.
Hardware and Software.
Giants of Computing.
Howard Aiken.
Harvard Mark I.
Later Work.
Gene Amdahl.
Amdahl Corporation.
Amdahl’s Law.
Archimedes.
John Atanasoff.
Controversy (Mauchly and Atanasoff).
Charles Babbage.
Difference Engine.
Finite Differences.
Analytic Engine.
John Backus.
FORTRAN.
Backus-Naur Form.
Gordon Bell.
Bell’s Law of Computer Classes.
PDP and VAX Series of Minicomputers.
Computer History Museum.
Tim Berners-Lee.
Applications of the World Wide Web.
Dines Bjørner.
Formal Methods.
Vienna Development Method.
RAISE.
George Boole.
Modern Boolean Algebra.
Switching Circuits and Boolean Algebra.
Fred Brooks.
Mythical Man-Month.
No Silver Bullet.
Vannevar Bush.
The Differential Analyzer.
Bush’s Influence on Scientific Research.
The Memex.
Vint Cerf.
TCP/IP.
Alonzo Church.
Lambda Calculus.
Decidability.
Computability.
Noam Chomsky.
Chomsky Hierarchy.
Computational Linguistics.
Edgar Codd.
The Relational Model.
Structured Query Language (SQL).
Rene Descartes.
Cartesian Dualism and AI.
Cartesian Geometry.
Tom DeMarco.
Structured Analysis and Data Flow Diagrams.
Management and Organization Development.
Edsger Dijkstra.
Calculus of Weakest Preconditions.
Properties of Weakest Preconditions.
Formal Program Development with WP.
George Devol.
Robotics.
Larry Ellison.
Oracle Corporation.
Oracle Database.
Don Estridge.
IBM Personal PC.
Michael Fagan.
Fagan Inspection Process.
Tommy Flowers.
Colossus.
Vernam Cipher.
Robert Floyd.
Bill Gates.
Microsoft.
Microsoft Windows and Apple GUI.
The Browser Wars.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
James Gosling.
Java.
Java Programming Language.
Java Virtual Machine.
C.A.R. Hoare.
Hoare Logic.
Axiomatic Definition of Programming Languages.
Communicating Sequential Processes.
Herman Hollerith.
Watts Humphrey.
Software Process Improvement.
Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI).
PSP and TSP.
Kenneth Iverson.
Turing Award (Notation as a Tool of Thought).
APL.
Ivar Jacobson.
Specification and Description Language (SDL).
Object-Oriented Software Engineering (OOSE).
Unified Modeling Language.
Rational Unified Process.
Steve Jobs.
Apple Computers.
NeXT and Pixar.
Apple (Return of Jobs).
Gary Kildall.
Licensing CP/M to IBM.
Computer Chronicles.
36 Donald Knuth.
Art of Computer Programming.
TeX.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
Step Reckoner Calculating Machine.
Binary Numbers.
Differential and Integral Calculus.
Philosophy.
Ada Lovelace.
Applications of Analytic Engine.
John McCarthy.
Artificial Intelligence.
40 John Mauchly.
ENIAC.
EDVAC.
Controversy: ABC and ENIAC.
Marvin Minsky.
Artificial Intelligence.
Gordon Moore.
Intel.
Moore’s Law.
Grace Murray Hopper.
COBOL.
John von Neumann.
von Neumann Architecture.
Ken Olsen.
Digital Equipment Corporation.
David Parnas.
Tabular Expressions.
Classical Engineering Education.
Dennis Ritchie.
C Programming Language.
Unix.
Dana Scott.
Automata Theory.
Scott-Strachey Approach.
Domain Theory.
John Searle.
Searle’s Chinese Room.
Strong AI.
Weak AI.
The Thought Experiment.
Claude Shannon.
Boolean Algebra and Switching Circuits.
Information Theory.
Cryptography.
William Shockley.
Invention of Transistor.
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory.
52 Richard Stallman.
Free Software Foundation.
GNU.
Bjarne Stroustrup.
CCC Programming Language.
Object-Oriented Languages.
Alan Turing.
Turing Machines and Computability.
Bletchley Park.
National Physical Laboratory.
Turing Test in AI.
Thomas Watson Sr. and Jr..
Thomas Watson Sr.
Thomas Watson Jr.
Joseph Weizenbaum.
Eliza.
Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.
Frederick Williams.
Williams Tube.
Manchester Baby.
Manchester Mark I.
Ferranti Mark I.
Niklaus Wirth.
Pascal Programming Language.
Program Development by Stepwise Refinement.
Ed Yourdon.
Yourdon Structured Method.
Konrad Zuse.
Zuse’s Machines.
Zuse and Plankalkul.
Epilogue.
Quo Vadimus?
Test Yourself (Quiz 1).
Test Yourself (Quiz 2).
Test Yourself (Quiz 3).
Glossary.
References.
Index.