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Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

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Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#81

Post by omeze »

srvmshr wrote: post #4

I think the way to go about it is read some books gradually on history of computing & the various designs and rationale that evolved over time. Consider these sources: 1. The Annotated Turing. 2. A History of Modern Computing 3ed 3. The ACM Turing award lectures 4. Theory of computation - Dexter Kozen 5. Coders at Work 6. Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution Additionally, you could subscribe to Communications o…

A History of Modern Computing is great

Would add:

- How The Internet Happened (history of the internet)

- To The Digital Age (transistor history)

Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#82

Post by SilasX »

PAPPPmAc wrote: post #74
SilasX wrote: post #62

Just to piggyback on, I'd be interested in the pre-computer history of computing. That is, a survey of how they handled all the computation problems before (electronic) computers. Like, storing large amounts of data, having "databases" that need to answer queries over a large geographic area, how they replicated "databases", how they indexed information, how they did backups, and so on.

Michael R. Williams' "A History of Computing Technology" ( ISBN-13: 978-0818677397 ) talks a lot about pre-electronic-computer technologies and techniques for calculation and information management. It's a solid suggestion for history of computing books in general. I like it better in several ways than the more common Ceruzzi book (especially because it starts much earlier and situates better), but it hasn't been upd…

Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll take a look!

Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#83

Post by pxeger1 »

Tmkly wrote: post #16
RugnirViking wrote: post #5

There are also several good museums dedicated to the subject. I used to work for the national museum of computing at bletchley park in the UK, and there they have a lot of good exhibits that teach basics of how computers and networking works and has evolved over the years. Another good approach one can take to learn is starting with a simple system with well-defined rules, and making a simple computer out of it. Many…

I've been meaning to visit Bletchley! thanks, these suggestions are helpful

If you go to Bletchley Park, don't go on a hot day in summer! Those old machines massively heat up the room.

Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#84

Post by wantoncl »

ecliptik wrote: post #52

I haven’t read it, but heard good things about “The Soul of a New Machine” about Data Generals efforts create a new 32-bit superminicomputer. https://www.tracykidder.com/the-soul-of-a-new-machine.html Another comment mentioned “Pirates of Silicon Valley” as a good dramatization of MS/Apple and there’s also the miniseries “Valley of the Boom” about the rise and fall of Netscape and “Halt and Catch Fire” which is a fic…

Soul of a New Machine is absolutely classic. You'll learn just how much, and how little, computers and programming have changed since the 70s. And some interesting takes on microcoding, if you're already dealing with APIs on APIs, you'll get a better understanding.

If you want some Apple history, particularly on the early days of Macintosh, check out folklore.org. DO NOT start reading it if you have anything important to do for the next 24 hours.

Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#86

Post by asteroidimpact »

I found this to be a pleasant primer before delving deeper into the subject. Though, as you can see, as with all things, there are different takes on it's merit based on where people are coming from.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/191355.Darwin_Among_The_...

Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#87

Post by SkyMarshal »

Code, by Charles Petzold: http://www.charlespetzold.com/code/

Explains how we got from Boolean logic to microchips and software.

Also, the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley has an excellent exhibit containing both early computing devices and the seminal papers that were the precursors and enablers of modern computers: https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/; https://computerhistory.org/timelines/;

Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#88

Post by asteroidimpact »

asteroidimpact wrote: post #86

I found this to be a pleasant primer before delving deeper into the subject. Though, as you can see, as with all things, there are different takes on it's merit based on where people are coming from. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/191355.Darwin_Among_The_...

Then again, I found myself here after reading:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16634.The_Glass_Bead_Gam...

and

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/189989.Finite_and_Infini...

Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#89

Post by type0 »

spogbiper wrote: post #85

The Advent of Computing podcast may be of interest. The host really strives to find accurate historical information about a variety of early computing topics. https://adventofcomputing.com/ It's also fairly entertaining

That's been one of my favorite tech podcasts, for sure one of the gems.

Re: Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?

#90

Post by psahgal »

I have a bachelor's in Computer Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and several of my courses covered how computers work in detail!

- ECE 190 and ECE 290 covered basic programming, logic gates, and the basics of software processor architecture.

- ECE 391 (one of the hardest courses in the school) covered x86 assembly and operating system design. The capstone project for the course was to build a simple OS with terminal input.

- ECE 411 covered processor architecture in detail, and how a modern x86 processor is built.

There should be courses from other universities that cover the same topics. Here's some similar courses I found on MIT's OpenCourseware platform.

- Computation Structures covers logic gates and other standard electronic constructs. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-004-computation-structures-spr...

- Operating Systems Engineering covers fundamentals of operating system design: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-828-operating-system-engineeri...

Best of luck!

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