Cyber Space: Virtual Reality and the World Wide Web (Megatech)

Jefferis, David; Jefferis, Davies; Irvine, Mat

ISBN 10: 077870047X ISBN 13: 9780778700470

Publisher: Crabtree Pub Co, 1999

Synopsis

Surveys digital technology from the early days of computers to virtual reality and the World Wide Web, describing the uses of computer simulation in flight, battle, hazardous environments, and entertainment.

About this title

Reviews

Grade 5-7-Splashy introductions to burgeoning areas of modern technology. All three titles have bright, full-color photographs on nearly every page. Many captions and sidebars combine with single paragraphs of text to trace the development of these scientific wonders. "Time Track" sections highlight historical discoveries and the scientists who made them. Two-page glossaries define technical terms in full paragraphs. In each volume, several aspects of the main topic are touched upon with enough detail to give readers a basic understanding of the technology and its significance to human life. Artificial Intelligence shows the variety of robotic devices and advances in computer power in use today and those envisioned for the near future. Cloning traces the history of genetic discoveries and theories, including the basics of cellular reproduction and describes research in the genetic engineering of plants, animals, and humans. Cyberspace relates the history of telecommunications, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. Applications of virtual reality to medicine, entertainment, military training, and space exploration indicate its potential value as it continues to be refined. Minor errors do not mar the overall value of material presented. For example, Cyberspace defines optical fiber as "ultra-fine plastic tube" when most optical fibers used in communications are actually glass encased in plastic. David Freedman's Brainmakers (S & S, 1994; o.p.), Linda Tagliaferro's Genetic Engineering (Lerner, 1997), and Sean M. Grady's Virtual Reality (Facts On File, 1998) are less colorful, but provide greater depth of coverage.
Ann G. Brouse, Big Flats Branch Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Taken from Chapter 6 : Virtual reality Virtual reality, or VR, has its origins in the 1965 work of U. S. researcher Ivan Sutherland. He said that a television screen was a window through which you see a virtual or "almost real" world. Sutherland's challenge was for researchers to make that world "look, behave, sound, and even feel real. " This concept did not sound too difficult but in practice it took until the 1990s before the technology for virtually reality was developed.

Edition details

• Publisher: Crabtree Pub Co
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 077870047X
• ISBN 13: 9780778700470
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 32