Top

Minds and Machines

Published in:

24-08-2018

A Computational Conundrum: “What is a Computer?” A Historical Overview

Author: Istvan S. N. Berkeley

Published in: Minds and Machines | Issue 3/2018

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

This introduction begins by posing the question that this Special Issue addresses and briefly considers historical precedents and why the issue is important. The discussion then moves on to the consideration of important milestones in the history of computing, up until the present time. A brief specification of the essential components of computational systems is then offered. The final section introduces the papers that are included in this volume.

next article What is a Computer? A Survey

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

For a more detailed technical discussion, see Campbell-Kelly and Garcia-Swartz (2015).

Calvo, P. (2016). The philosophy of plant neurobiology: A manifesto. Synthese, 193(5), 1323–1343.CrossRef

Campbell-Kelly, M., & Garcia-Swartz, D. (2015). From mainframes to smartphones: A history of the international computer industry. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRef

Copeland, B. J. (2017). The modern history of computing. In Edward N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/computing-history/.

Hafner, K., & Lyon, M. (1996). Where wizards stay up late: The origins of the internet. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Harland, M. (1869). Phemie’s temptation: A novel. New York: Carlton Publisher.

Hayes, P., Berkeley, I., Bringsjord, S., Hardcastle, V., McKee, G., & Stufflebeam, R. (1997). What is a computer? An electronic discussion. The Monist, 80(3), 389–404.CrossRef

Hodges, A. (2014). Alan Turing: The enigma. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefMATH

Hollingdale, S., & Tootill, G. (1965). Electronic computers. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books.

Jacobowitz, H. (1963). Electronic computers. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co.

McCartney, S. (1999). ENIAC: The triumphs and tragedies of the worlds first computer. New York, NY: Berkley Books.

Moody, G. (2001). Rebel code: Linux and the open source revolution. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Piccinini, G. (2015). Physical computation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefMATH

Potter, D. (1998). Entrepreneurship: Psion and Europe. Business Strategy Review, 9(1), 15–20.CrossRef

Raymond, E. (1999). The Cathedral and the Bizarre: Musings on Linux and open source by an accidental revolutionary. Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly Media.

Rojas, R., & Hashagen, U. (Eds.). (2000). The first computers: History and architectures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Rothman, L. (2015). A brief guide to the tumultuous 30-year history of AOL. Time.

Shurkin, J. (1996). Engines of the mind: The evolution of the computer from mainframes to microprocessors. New York, NY: Norton and Co.

Soare, R. (1996). Computability and recursion. Bulletin of Symbolic Logic, 2, 284–321.MathSciNetCrossRefMATH

Stephenson, N. (1999). In the beginning…was the command line. New York, NY: HarperCollins Books.

Swade, D. (2001). The cogwheel brain: Charles Babbage and the quest to build the first computer. Pittsford, NY: Abacus Books.MATH

Turing, A. (1937). On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem. Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, 42(2), 230–265.MathSciNetCrossRefMATH

Turing, A. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59(236), 433–460.MathSciNetCrossRef

von Neumann, J. (1945). First draft report on EDVAC. Moore School of Electrical Engineering, The University of Pennsylvania.

Title: A Computational Conundrum: “What is a Computer?” A Historical Overview
Author: Istvan S. N. Berkeley
Publication date: 24-08-2018
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Minds and Machines / Issue 3/2018
Print ISSN: 0924-6495
Electronic ISSN: 1572-8641
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-018-9475-4

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 3/2018

Computers in Abstraction/Representation Theory

Super Artifacts: Personal Devices as Intrinsically Multifunctional, Meta-representational Artifacts with a Highly Variable Structure

The Swapping Constraint

Virtual Machines and Real Implementations

From Computer Metaphor to Computational Modeling: The Evolution of Computationalism

What is a Computer? A Survey

Premium Partner