In the Beginning: Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers (Perspectives) - Hardcover

Glass, Robert L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0818679999 ISBN 13: 9780818679995

Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr, 1997

Synopsis

Capturing where we are today through a tour of yesterday's achievements and helping us better understand the evolution of computing technology, this book recounts the experiences of those who formed and functioned in the "Pioneering Era." In the Beginning: Recollections of Software Pioneers records the stories of computing's past enabling today's professionals to improve on the realities of yesterday.

The stories in this book clearly show modern concepts such as data abstraction, modularity, and structured approaches date much earlier in the field than their appearance in academic literature. These stories help capture the true evolution. The book illustrates human experiences and industry turning points through personal recollections of the pioneers themselves.

About this title

About the Author

Robert L. Glass is the author of twenty-eight books on computing subjects, including the bestselling Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering. He has written nearly one hundred articles on computing subjects and has served as a columnist for three leading publications: Communications of the ACM, IEEE Software, and Information Systems Management.

Review

Read the entire review of this book.

Glass, who is editor of the Journal of Systems and Software and a computer pioneer in his own right, is not so much the author of the book as the manager. In putting together In the Beginning, Glass asked a number of other pioneers in the computing field--David Myers, Watts Humphrey, Norman Schneidewin, Barry Boehm, Robert Britcher, Donald Reifer, Frank Land, Ben Matley, Harold Highland, Robert Babor, John Bennett, Bruce Blum, Peter Denning, and Raymond Houghton--for their personal recollections of computing way back when (well, mainly in the 1960s)...The result is an entertaining, informative, and up-front and personal view of what computing was like when punch cards were king. In the process, we learn that "modern" concepts such as data abstraction, modularity, and structured programming have been around longer than today's software marketeers would have us expect.

-- Jonathan Erickson, Dr. Dobb's Journal -- Dr. Dobb's Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0818679999
• ISBN 13: 9780818679995
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 326