The Computer From Pascal to Von Neumann Review
The Computer from Pascal to Von Neumann
Ratings & Reviews
Customs Reviews
While Goldstine'south historical tape is conspicuously complete and he carefully
describes the timeline of the offset digital computers, his account spends
too much fourth dimension obsesively assuring each participant gets his due
proper noun drop rather than giving me discriptions of the incredible
technical innovations I'thousand well-nigh interested in learning well-nigh.
Computing today is essential to near every process in 21st-century society. It enables science, business, entertainment, and and then much more than. But calculating needs proceed to rise in this field's version of Jevons Paradox, and today computing applications likewise heighten important ethical and legal questions. Thus, the (ongoing) history of computing is of import for almost everyone living today. Herman H. Goldstine's The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann is a history of computing from Schickard and Pascal, through Leibniz and Charles Babbage, leading to the conception and construction of the ground for today'southward computers -- the von Neumann compages for electronic, digital, general-purpose computers. Goldstine proposes a technical and mathematical perspective, and takes full benefit of his collaboration with von Neumann (and Burks, and Eckert and Mauchly) for this thou discovery of informatics. The fabric is aimed at a general audition, although a reasonable agreement of basic math is needed to sympathise some of the concepts. Overall, an splendid history, which shines in many aspects: a first-hand account of the creation of the ENIAC computer and the discovery of the von Neumann architecture, a fine interpretation of the significant of many important inventions and discoveries leading to information technology, and an excellent summary of the mathematical techniques and applications motivating computers. On the negative side, this history was completed in the early 1970s, when many facts nearly the early on computers where not clear and when much of the material on wartime computers was still classified; the author acknowledges this (p.148). As nosotros know now, non everything in this history is accurate. Too read: Martin Campbell-Kelly et al.'s Reckoner: A History of the Information Auto, Jeffrey R. Yost's Making IT Piece of work: A History of the Reckoner Services Industry. Content: What I liked: ii. The many technical and personal vignettes. For the reader interested in the engineering or people leading to the groovy discovery of the modernistic digital reckoner, there is much to like here. If you want to meet J. Presper Eckert and John Westward. Mauchly, alongside tens of names y'all may or may not already know, this is the right identify. Von Neumann appears in more humane anecdotes. Golstine creates small descriptions of the lives of the main inventors, mathematicians, and scientists involved in these processes. Goldstine also takes his time to explicate what he sees as the most important inventions and discoveries. I liked very much how this is non a teleological history; how keen inventions and discoveries appear and so are forgotten, and his analysis as to why this happened. iii. The social construction of applied science. Although the term appeared later, Goldstine understands very well, and explains it to the interested reader, how engineering appears through social construction. Next to the people, numerous (US) government agencies, businesses, and academic institutions appear and play an essential role; indeed, Goldstine acknowledges that the figurer has profoundly benefited from great interest and enormous straight investment from the U.s.a. Gov't. (We as well get to learn about how the UK Gov't. managed to squander a conceptual and technological advancement of nearly 100 years, past being too incompetent to properly support Charles Babbage'due south work. Comrie has more than on the topic.) The BRL Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the Moore School of Electric Engineering science at the University of Pennsylvania characteristic prominently. The IAS is described in great item, from formation to upcoming computer applications. iv. The reading list. Goldstine is meticulous in his statements and analysis, so the reader gets a wealth of references that appear infrequently today. Vannevar Bush'southward 2 seminal papers on the different versions of the Differential Analyzer, Comrie'south 1946 commodity Babbage'due south Dream Come Truthful, Martin H. Weik's Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems, links to JOHNNIAC and ILLIAC programmes, are only some of the links that enthuse. What I did not like: 2. This is a very personal history, biased by the author's network and country. Von Neumann is godly. We don't learn much beyond the U.s.a.. Colossus is mentioned in passing. Turing is irrelevant and lacks understanding of technological limitations. Atanasoff is dismissed as naive and unreliable. German inventors, in particular Zuse, are irrelevant. More than importantly, Eckert and Mauchly are intellectually reduced, good in building the ENIAC, just without conceptual depth and having very little to claim about the creation of the modern general-purpose reckoner and the von Neumann (and Burks, and Golstine(!)) compages. three. The volume shows its historic period. Part 3 focuses on many applications made possible past the von Neumann architecture, and by the car adult by von Neumann and his team at IAS. Computing has evolved so rapidly and with so keen variety in the past five decades, that this part appears much like a curiosity and antiques fair. TL;DR: Herman H. Goldstine'southward The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann is a must-read history of the modern computer. It is informative, presents an unique point of view, and has aged relatively well.
The book is structured in iii master parts: (I) the historical evolution of computing, with a few references until 1600 and much more item after 1800; (Ii) the ENIAC computer, the von Neumann compages and its relationship to the EDVAC (and EDSAC) computers; and (III) the von Neumann and successor machines originating at the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS; host, side by side to John von Neumann, to bang-up intellectuals such as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, and Hermann Weyl). There are also several adept photos of early computing devices through the ENIAC and IAS machines.
1. The description of the ENIAC calculator. This office is developed with fine mathematical and technical insight. I liked in detail how the elegant mathematical concepts meet the reality of performance and reliability needs. Ultimately, ENIAC was to become a applied science monster, combining over 17,000 electronic (vacuum) tubes of 16 different types, with restrictive operating weather condition lest they should fail, combined with tens of thousands of other electric devices, all put together to implement (one of?) the first parallel calculator in the world. It turns out the ENIAC made computer systems designers of the performance-programmability merchandise-off, and led to the creation of the stored program concept credited by Goldstine primarily to von Neumann. Many other concepts important today---reliability and energy-efficiency, ease of use and portability, various trade-offs, applications, systems and operations research, etc.---appear here.
1. Goldstine does not understand the importance of parallelism. In Affiliate eight, we larn how the pattern of ENIAC's successor the EDVAC includes a critical decision: "to abandon the highly parallel operation of the ENIAC" (p.205). Because parallelism (and its more complex course, distribution) is the about of import mode of figurer operation in the 21st century (post-Moore'southward Law), I would have liked for Goldstine to cover more this decision and analyze deeper its implications. (We actually learn more than in this book about delay lines and their importance for in-memory computation, than about parallelism. But information technology is easy to dismiss before histories with hindsight...)
Goldstine worked with Eckert and Mauchly on the ENIAC, with them and Von Neumann on the EDVAC, and the joined VN at the IAS, and then there'due south a clear slant, and a fleck of score settling, to that section of the history, merely it's too a plus in its hands on participant signal of view. The first third of the volume is really about the Victorian and Belle Époque precursors to modern computers, (Pascal, Babbage, etc) which was surprisingly entertaining. Some sections become bogged down in some pretty heavy math/computational theory, but you can lightly skim those parts without missing any of the history...
Mr hermann, a ibm fellow gives an exhaustive account virtually the creation and evolution of computer as we see at present. Though the reader could clearly see bias towards IBM during the course of development, it likewise lays emphasis on importance of enquiry and innovation for survival of a company. Though the account contains lot of names, but I feel everyone of them did more than ordinary to be mentioned and easy to forget them or overlook them.
The Computer From Pascal to Von Neumann is a estimator history book by Herman H. Goldstine which surveys the history from the laws of thought from earliest philosophers similar Pascal, Mathematicians like George Bool, to implementors similar Von Neumann. The author takes how each similar was congenital on superlative of others, and well-nigh anybody involved had a shared objective for computers. These inventors wanted to "gratis" flesh from the mundane tasks. And these inventors lived in different eras similar Leibniz lived in 1600s, Charles Babbage in 1800s and Dijskstra (1930-2002). When introducing Charles Babbage, author directly goes the motivation that derived the inventor. The theme of Leibniz— to free men from slavery by the automation of dull just simple - tasks was next taken up by 1 of the almost unusual figures in modern intellectual history, Charles Babbage And here is how Dijskstra explains how and why Computers will exceed human reasoning. In the long run I expect computing science to transcend its parent disciplines, mathematics and logic, past effectively realizing a significant role of Leibniz'south Dream of providing symbolic calculation every bit an culling to human being reasoning. - Dijskstra (Please note the difference betwixt "mimicking" and "providing an alternative to": alternatives are allowed to be meliorate.) Author likewise associated United States Military and Government to various advancements in Computers. The final chapters gave references to when other parts of the world got their offset computer. I noted that India'due south outset computers were in 1960s with Tata institute of Fundamental research. I have some interesting photos from this volume in my blog: http://xtoinfinity.com/posts/2021/01/...
Uma história da criação dos computadores eletrônicos due east da própria era digital em que vivemos contada em primeira mão, por Herman Goldstine, que colaborou com John Von Neumann na criação dos primeiros computadores eletrônicos que iniciaram o processo que molda o mundo em que vivemos. A reparar, somente o pouco destaque dado a Alan Turing, contemporâneo practice autor eastward peça primal no desenvolvimento de conceitos hoje banais, como a existência de sistemas operacionais e a noção de computador de múltiplos propósitos, com uma diferenciação entre hardware e software
This entire review has been subconscious considering of spoilers.
It's awesome ... for anyone interested in history of Computers ...
swell stories about the nascency of the digital computer. information technology sometimes got too technical for me to follow, but overall it was pretty interesting.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/436893.The_Computer_from_Pascal_to_Von_Neumann
0 Response to "The Computer From Pascal to Von Neumann Review"
Post a Comment