1st Edition

Computing A Historical and Technical Perspective

    350 Pages 30 B/W Illustrations
    by Chapman & Hall

    350 Pages
    by Chapman & Hall

    Exploring a vast array of topics related to computation, Computing: A Historical and Technical Perspective covers the historical and technical foundation of ancient and modern-day computing. The book starts with the earliest references to counting by humans, introduces various number systems, and discusses mathematics in early civilizations. It guides readers all the way through the latest advances in computer science, such as the design and analysis of computer algorithms.

    Through historical accounts, brief technical explanations, and examples, the book answers a host of questions, including:

    • Why do humans count differently from the way current electronic computers do?
    • Why are there 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, etc.?
    • Who invented numbers, when were they invented, and why are there different kinds?
    • How do secret writings and cryptography date back to ancient civilizations?

    Innumerable individuals from many cultures have contributed their talents and creativity to formulate what has become our mathematical and computing heritage. By bringing together the historical and technical aspects of computing, this book enables readers to gain a deep appreciation of the long evolutionary processes of the field developed over thousands of years. Suitable as a supplement in undergraduate courses, it provides a self-contained historical reference source for anyone interested in this important and evolving field.

    The Dawn of Counting
    Archeological Evidence: Paleolithic Art
    Fingers for Counting
    The Use of Tally Sticks and Representational Symbols: The First Information Revolution
    Counting by Pebbles
    The Use of Tokens and the Second Information Revolution

    Representation of Numbers
    Positional Number Systems
    More about Number Systems
    Further Discussions of Zero

    Rational and Irrational Numbers
    Appearance of Fractions
    Rational Numbers
    Irrational Numbers

    Prime Numbers
    The Story of Prime
    The Prime Number Theorem

    Euclid’s Elements

    Diophantus of Alexandria and Arithmetica

    Secret Writing in Ancient Civilization
    Steganography
    Cryptography

    The Abacus
    The Earliest Abaci
    The Salamis Tablet and the Roman Hand Abacus
    The Chinese Abacus
    The Japanese Abacus

    Book of Calculation by Fibonacci

    Decimal Fractions and Logarithms
    Appearance of Decimal Fractions
    Logarithms

    Calculating Machines
    The Rechen Uhr or "Calculating Clock" of Wilhelm Schickard
    The Pascaline
    Leibniz and the Stepped Reckoner
    The Jacquard Loom
    Babbage’s Mechanical Computers
    Ada Lovelace, The First Computer Programmer
    Herman Hollerith and His Amazing Tabulator

    Solutions to Algebraic Equations
    Linear Equations
    Quadratic Equations
    Cubic Equations
    Quartic and Quintic Equations

    Real and Complex Numbers
    Real Numbers
    Complex Numbers
    Complex-Valued Functions

    Cardinality

    Boolean Algebras and Applications

    Computability and Its Limitations
    Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem
    Total Functions
    Turing Machines
    Church–Turing’s Thesis

    Cryptography from the Medieval to the Modern Ages
    The Arab Cryptanalysts
    Polyalphabetic Substitution Ciphers
    Homophonic Substitution Ciphers
    Enigma Machine
    Breaking Enigma Codes
    Lorenz Cipher

    Electronic Computers
    The ABC Computer
    The Z3 Computer
    The Colossus Computer
    The ENI AC Computer
    Von Neumann Architecture for Computers
    Other Notable Early Electronic Computers

    Numerical Methods
    Numerical Calculation in Ancient Civilizations
    Numerical Solution of Algebraic Equations
    Modern Numerical Analysis and Its Problem Domains

    Modular Arithmetic
    Clock Arithmetic
    Chinese Remainder Theorem
    Fermat’s Little Theorem

    Cybernetics and Information Theory
    Norbert Wiener and Cybernetics
    Shannon’s Information Theory
    Shannon–Fano Coding and Huffman Coding
    Morse Code

    Error Detecting and Correcting Codes
    Parity Check Codes
    Hamming Codes
    Linear Codes

    Automata and Formal Languages
    Autonomous Apparatus
    Automata as Computing Models
    Formal Languages

    Artificial Intelligence
    What Is AI?
    AI Timeline
    AI Pioneers
    Areas of AI

    Programming Languages
    Machine Code
    Interpretative Crutches
    The First High-Level Language: Fortran
    Overview: Imperative Programming
    Overview: Declarative Programming
    The Second High-Level Language: LIS P
    Overview: Functional Programming
    Standardization and Compromise: ALGOL 60
    From Science to Business: COBOL
    Back to the BASICs
    Overview: Logical Programming
    Programming Logic: Prolog
    Overview: Object-Oriented Programming
    The First Object-Oriented Programming Language: Smalltalk
    Imperative and Object Oriented: C++
    Object Oriented, Hold the Imperative: Java
    The Best of Both Worlds: C#

    Algorithms and Computational Complexity

    The Design of Computer Algorithms
    Sorting and Searching
    Data Structures
    Graph Algorithms
    Randomized Algorithms

    Parallel and Distributed Computing
    Dawn of Parallelism
    Parallel Computers
    Parallel Algorithms
    Distributed Computing

    Computer Networks
    Packet Switching Networks
    ARPANET and CSNET
    World Wide Web
    Cloud and Grid Computing
    Ubiquitous Computing

    Public-Key Cryptography
    The Situation in the 1960s and 1970s before the Public Keys
    The Birth of Public-Key Cryptography
    RSA Cryptography
    Digital Signatures
    Another Story of Public-Key Cryptography from England

    Quantum Computing
    The Basics of Quantum Computing
    Quantum Computation Logic and Gates
    Famous Quantum Algorithms
    Difficulties and Limits of Quantum Computing
    Closing Summary

    Index

    References appear at the end of each chapter.

    Biography

    Yoshihide Igarashi, Tom Altman, Mariko Funada, Barbara Kamiyama

    "This is a remarkable book. Written by four authors, it consists of a collection of 31 self-contained papers that explain many different concepts related to computing and place them in an historical context. The papers are generally accessible for the layman and relatively short … a compact encyclopedia of computing involving all aspects, such as mathematics, software, and hardware."
    —A. Bultheel, The European Mathematical Society, June 2014

    "... written at a reasonable level for undergraduates and some (or all) of the chapters could be assigned as supplemental reading for a variety of computer science courses. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates."
    —P. Cull, Oregon State University in CHOICE Magazine, February 2015 Vol. 52 No. 6
    Read the full review at http://choiceconnect.org/webclipping/186232/2-2i7b4u54y72-zyzzdoi2_n2p6krpzhopqiqh3j_pe2o4nbqq