Download or read book Computers in Context written by Bo Dahlbom and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 1993-10-08 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When software systems are delivered too late, when they fail to meet the needs of their users, when only a fraction of their capacity is used, when their maintenance costs more than their development, when changes are impossible – then there is a frantic search for new and better engineering techniques and tools. Dahlbom ande Mathiassen advocate a different approach to these problems: pausing and reflection. Surprisingly little time in the education of systems developers is devoted to a consideration of the methods, goals and politics of computerization. The core of the book is an examination of the notion of quality itself. The effective computer professional must arrive at his or her sense of what quality can and should mean in a particular situation in order to resolve the inevitable creative tensions between the nature of people and that of computers, between structured systems and the process of change. The authors draw on a rich range of literature from philosophy, organizational theory, and technology and social change to support their points. But, adducing many real-life examples they avoid jargon and presuppose no formal background. Computer in Context will help students, computer professionals, and managers alike understand better what it is they are trying to do with computer systems, how and why.
Download or read book Context and Consciousness written by Bonnie A. Nardi and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work brings together a collection of 13 contributions that apply activity theory - a psychological theory with a naturalistic emphasis - to problems of human-computer interaction. It presents activity theory as a means of structuring and guiding field studies of human-computer interaction.
Download or read book Code written by Charles Petzold and published by Microsoft Press. This book was released on 2022-08-02 with total page 563 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic guide to how computers work, updated with new chapters and interactive graphics "For me, Code was a revelation. It was the first book about programming that spoke to me. It started with a story, and it built up, layer by layer, analogy by analogy, until I understood not just the Code, but the System. Code is a book that is as much about Systems Thinking and abstractions as it is about code and programming. Code teaches us how many unseen layers there are between the computer systems that we as users look at every day and the magical silicon rocks that we infused with lightning and taught to think." - Scott Hanselman, Partner Program Director, Microsoft, and host of Hanselminutes Computers are everywhere, most obviously in our laptops and smartphones, but also our cars, televisions, microwave ovens, alarm clocks, robot vacuum cleaners, and other smart appliances. Have you ever wondered what goes on inside these devices to make our lives easier but occasionally more infuriating? For more than 20 years, readers have delighted in Charles Petzold's illuminating story of the secret inner life of computers, and now he has revised it for this new age of computing. Cleverly illustrated and easy to understand, this is the book that cracks the mystery. You'll discover what flashlights, black cats, seesaws, and the ride of Paul Revere can teach you about computing, and how human ingenuity and our compulsion to communicate have shaped every electronic device we use. This new expanded edition explores more deeply the bit-by-bit and gate-by-gate construction of the heart of every smart device, the central processing unit that combines the simplest of basic operations to perform the most complex of feats. Petzold's companion website, CodeHiddenLanguage.com, uses animated graphics of key circuits in the book to make computers even easier to comprehend. In addition to substantially revised and updated content, new chapters include: Chapter 18: Let's Build a Clock! Chapter 21: The Arithmetic Logic Unit Chapter 22: Registers and Busses Chapter 23: CPU Control Signals Chapter 24: Jumps, Loops, and Calls Chapter 28: The World Brain From the simple ticking of clocks to the worldwide hum of the internet, Code reveals the essence of the digital revolution.
Download or read book Computers and Design in Context written by Morten Kyng and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is organized into two parts. The first, "Artifacts and Use," focuses on the context of using computer artifacts. The second, "Process and People," focuses on the context of designing computerartifacts.
Download or read book The First Computers written by Raul Rojas and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2002-07-26 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This history of computing focuses not on chronology (what came first and who deserves credit for it) but on the actual architectures of the first machines that made electronic computing a practical reality. The book covers computers built in the United States, Germany, England, and Japan. It makes clear that similar concepts were often pursued simultaneously and that the early researchers explored many architectures beyond the von Neumann architecture that eventually became canonical. The contributors include not only historians but also engineers and computer pioneers. An introductory chapter describes the elements of computer architecture and explains why "being first" is even less interesting for computers than for other areas of technology. The essays contain a remarkable amount of new material, even on well-known machines, and several describe reconstructions of the historic machines. These investigations are of more than simply historical interest, for architectures designed to solve specific problems in the past may suggest new approaches to similar problems in today's machines. Contributors Titiimaea F. Ala'ilima, Lin Ping Ang, William Aspray, Friedrich L. Bauer, Andreas Brennecke, Chris P. Burton, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Paul Ceruzzi, I. Bernard Cohen, John Gustafson, Wilhelm Hopmann, Harry D. Huskey, Friedrich W. Kistermann, Thomas Lange, Michael S. Mahoney, R. B. E. Napper, Seiichi Okoma, Hartmut Petzold, Raúl Rojas, Anthony E. Sale, Robert W. Seidel, Ambros P. Speiser, Frank H. Sumner, James F. Tau, Jan Van der Spiegel, Eiiti Wada, Michael R. Williams
Download or read book Computer Science Illuminated written by Nell B. Dale and published by Jones & Bartlett Publishers. This book was released on 2013 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised and updated with the latest information in the field, the Fifth Edition of best-selling Computer Science Illuminated continues to provide students with an engaging breadth-first overview of computer science principles and provides a solid foundation for those continuing their study in this dynamic and exciting discipline. Authored by two of today's most respected computer science educators, Nell Dale and John Lewis, the text carefully unfolds the many layers of computing from a language-neutral perspective, beginning with the information layer, progressing through the hardware, programming, operating systems, application, and communication layers, and ending with a discussion on the limitations of computing. Separate program language chapters are available as bundle items for instructors who would like to explore a particular programming language with their students. Ideal for introductory computing and computer science courses, the fifth edition's thorough presentation of computing systems provides computer science majors with a solid foundation for further study, and offers non-majors a comprehensive and complete introduction to computing. New Features of the Fifth Edition: - Includes a NEW chapter on computer security (chapter 17) to provide readers with the latest information, including discussions on preventing unauthorized access and guidelines for creating effective passwords, types of malware anti-virus software, problems created by poor programming, protecting your online information including data collection issues with Facebook, Google, etc., and security issues with mobile and portable devices. - A NEW section on cloud computing (chapter 15) offers readers an overview of the latest way in which businesses and users interact with computers and mobile devices. - The section on social networks (moved to chapter 16) has been rewritten to include up-to-date information, including new data on Google+ and Facebook. - The sections covering HTML have been updated to include HTML5. - Includes revised and updated Did You Know callouts in the chapter margins. - The updated Ethical Issues at the end of each chapter have been revised to tie the content to the recently introduced tenth strand recommended by the ACM stressing the importance of computer ethics. Instructor Resources: -Answers to the end of chapter exercises -Answers to the lab exercises -PowerPoint Lecture Outlines -PowerPoint Image Bank -Test Bank Every new copy is packaged with a free access code to the robust Student Companion Website featuring: Animated Flashcards; Relevant Web Links; Crossword Puzzles; Interactive Glossary; Step by step tutorial on web page development; Digital Lab Manual; R. Mark Meyer's labs, Explorations in Computer Science; Additional programming chapters, including Alice, C++, Java, JavaScript, Pascal, Perl, Python, Ruby, SQL, and VB.NET; C++ Language Essentials labs; Java Language Essentials labs; Link to Download Pep/8
Download or read book The Computer and the Brain written by John Von Neumann and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book represents the views of one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century on the analogies between computing machines and the living human brain. John von Neumann concludes that the brain operates in part digitally, in part analogically, but uses a peculiar statistical language unlike that employed in the operation of man-made computers. This edition includes a new foreword by two eminent figures in the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, and consciousness.
Download or read book Ideas That Created the Future written by Harry R. Lewis and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic papers by thinkers ranging from from Aristotle and Leibniz to Norbert Wiener and Gordon Moore that chart the evolution of computer science. Ideas That Created the Future collects forty-six classic papers in computer science that map the evolution of the field. It covers all aspects of computer science: theory and practice, architectures and algorithms, and logic and software systems, with an emphasis on the period of 1936-1980 but also including important early work. Offering papers by thinkers ranging from Aristotle and Leibniz to Alan Turing and Nobert Wiener, the book documents the discoveries and inventions that created today's digital world. Each paper is accompanied by a brief essay by Harry Lewis, the volume's editor, offering historical and intellectual context.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Human Computer Interaction written by Ghaoui, Claude and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2005-12-31 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Esta enciclopedia presenta numerosas experiencias y discernimientos de profesionales de todo el mundo sobre discusiones y perspectivas de la la interacción hombre-computadoras
Download or read book Computing for Ordinary Mortals written by Robert St. Amant and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-10-29 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Computing isn't only (or even mostly) about hardware and software; it's also about the ideas behind the technology. In Computing for Ordinary Mortals, computer scientist Robert St. Amant explains this "really interesting part" of computing, introducing basic computing concepts and strategies in a way that readers without a technical background can understand and appreciate. Each of the chapters illustrates ideas from a different area of computing, and together they provide important insights into what drives the field as a whole. St. Amant starts off with an overview of basic concepts as well as a brief history of the earliest computers, and then he traces two different threads through the fabric of computing. One thread is practical, illuminating the architecture of a computer and showing how this architecture makes computation efficient. St. Amant shows us how to write down instructions so that a computer can accomplish specific tasks (programming), how the computer manages those tasks as it runs (in its operating system), and how computers can communicate with each other (over a network). The other thread is theoretical, describing how computers are, in the abstract, machines for solving problems. Some of these ideas are embedded in much of what we do as humans, and thus this discussion can also give us insight into our own daily activities, how we interact with other people, and in some cases even what's going on in our heads. St. Amant concludes with artificial intelligence, exploring the possibility that computers might eventually be capable of human-level intelligence, and human-computer interaction, showing how computers can enrich our lives--and how they fall short.
Download or read book Human Computer Interaction in the New Millennium written by John Millar Carroll and published by Pearson Education India. This book was released on 2002 with total page 748 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In This Unique Book, John M. Carroll, Himself A Prominent Contributor To Hci Understanding, Presents Answers To These Questions From A Number Of Leaders In The Field. Half Of The Chapters Are Based On Articles That First Appeared In Special Issues Of Acm Transaction On Computer-Human Interaction And Human-Computer Interaction, Revised And Rewritten For A Broader Audience. The Other Half Are Original Contributions, Describing Some Of He Latest Work Being Done In Hci And Providing A Striking Vision Of The Future. No Single Volumes Could Cover The Entire Scope Of Hci, But These Selected Writings Will Give You A Good Glimpse F The Energy And Creativity Now Driving Hci Forward.
Download or read book Turing s Vision written by Chris Bernhardt and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-05-13 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1936, when he was just twenty-four years old, Alan Turing wrote a remarkable paper in which he outlined the theory of computation, laying out the ideas that underlie all modern computers. This groundbreaking and powerful theory now forms the basis of computer science. In Turing's Vision, Chris Bernhardt explains the theory, Turing's most important contribution, for the general reader. Bernhardt argues that the strength of Turing's theory is its simplicity, and that, explained in a straightforward manner, it is eminently understandable by the nonspecialist. As Marvin Minsky writes, "The sheer simplicity of the theory's foundation and extraordinary short path from this foundation to its logical and surprising conclusions give the theory a mathematical beauty that alone guarantees it a permanent place in computer theory." Bernhardt begins with the foundation and systematically builds to the surprising conclusions. He also views Turing's theory in the context of mathematical history, other views of computation (including those of Alonzo Church), Turing's later work, and the birth of the modern computer. In the paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem," Turing thinks carefully about how humans perform computation, breaking it down into a sequence of steps, and then constructs theoretical machines capable of performing each step. Turing wanted to show that there were problems that were beyond any computer's ability to solve; in particular, he wanted to find a decision problem that he could prove was undecidable. To explain Turing's ideas, Bernhardt examines three well-known decision problems to explore the concept of undecidability; investigates theoretical computing machines, including Turing machines; explains universal machines; and proves that certain problems are undecidable, including Turing's problem concerning computable numbers.
Download or read book But how Do it Know written by J. Clark Scott and published by John C Scott. This book was released on 2009 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book thoroughly explains how computers work. It starts by fully examining a NAND gate, then goes on to build every piece and part of a small, fully operational computer. The necessity and use of codes is presented in parallel with the apprioriate pieces of hardware. The book can be easily understood by anyone whether they have a technical background or not. It could be used as a textbook.
Download or read book A History of Modern Computing second edition written by Paul E. Ceruzzi and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-04-08 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the first digital computer to the dot-com crash—a story of individuals, institutions, and the forces that led to a series of dramatic transformations. This engaging history covers modern computing from the development of the first electronic digital computer through the dot-com crash. The author concentrates on five key moments of transition: the transformation of the computer in the late 1940s from a specialized scientific instrument to a commercial product; the emergence of small systems in the late 1960s; the beginning of personal computing in the 1970s; the spread of networking after 1985; and, in a chapter written for this edition, the period 1995-2001. The new material focuses on the Microsoft antitrust suit, the rise and fall of the dot-coms, and the advent of open source software, particularly Linux. Within the chronological narrative, the book traces several overlapping threads: the evolution of the computer's internal design; the effect of economic trends and the Cold War; the long-term role of IBM as a player and as a target for upstart entrepreneurs; the growth of software from a hidden element to a major character in the story of computing; and the recurring issue of the place of information and computing in a democratic society. The focus is on the United States (though Europe and Japan enter the story at crucial points), on computing per se rather than on applications such as artificial intelligence, and on systems that were sold commercially and installed in quantities.
Download or read book Principles of Computer System Design written by Jerome H. Saltzer and published by Morgan Kaufmann. This book was released on 2009-05-21 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Principles of Computer System Design is the first textbook to take a principles-based approach to the computer system design. It identifies, examines, and illustrates fundamental concepts in computer system design that are common across operating systems, networks, database systems, distributed systems, programming languages, software engineering, security, fault tolerance, and architecture.Through carefully analyzed case studies from each of these disciplines, it demonstrates how to apply these concepts to tackle practical system design problems. To support the focus on design, the text identifies and explains abstractions that have proven successful in practice such as remote procedure call, client/service organization, file systems, data integrity, consistency, and authenticated messages. Most computer systems are built using a handful of such abstractions. The text describes how these abstractions are implemented, demonstrates how they are used in different systems, and prepares the reader to apply them in future designs.The book is recommended for junior and senior undergraduate students in Operating Systems, Distributed Systems, Distributed Operating Systems and/or Computer Systems Design courses; and professional computer systems designers. - Concepts of computer system design guided by fundamental principles - Cross-cutting approach that identifies abstractions common to networking, operating systems, transaction systems, distributed systems, architecture, and software engineering - Case studies that make the abstractions real: naming (DNS and the URL); file systems (the UNIX file system); clients and services (NFS); virtualization (virtual machines); scheduling (disk arms); security (TLS) - Numerous pseudocode fragments that provide concrete examples of abstract concepts - Extensive support. The authors and MIT OpenCourseWare provide on-line, free of charge, open educational resources, including additional chapters, course syllabi, board layouts and slides, lecture videos, and an archive of lecture schedules, class assignments, and design projects
Download or read book Text Context and Hypertext written by Edward Barrett and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 1991-10-01 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Text, ConText, and HyperText presents recent developments in three related and important areas of technical communication: the design of effective documentation; the impact of new technology and research on technical writing; and the training and management of technical writers.The contributors are all authorities drawn from universities and industry who are active in defining and analyzing the role of computing in technical documentation and the role of documentation in the development of computing technology. This first synthesis of their diverse but related research provides a unique conceptualization of the field of computers and writing and documentation.The book first examines techniques for writing online documentation and the value of usability testing. It presents new research into the impact of human factors in screen design and designing online help, and looks at the impact of desktop publishing on documentation, and at visual literacy and graphic design.Artificial intelligence and documentation processing are then addressed with discussion of data acquisition, automated formatting in expert systems, and document databases; the uses of HyperText in documentation; and the future of technical writing in this new environment.Text, ConText, and HyperText concludes by examining the training and management of documentation groups: how they "learn to write" in industry, management of large-scale documentation projects and their effect on product development; and the "two cultures" of engineering and documentation.Edward Barrett is a Lecturer in the Writing Program at MIT. Text, ConText, and HyperText is included in the Information Systems series, edited by Michael Lesk.
Download or read book Computer Organization and Design written by David A. Patterson and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2012 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rev. ed. of: Computer organization and design / John L. Hennessy, David A. Patterson. 1998.
