Bit by Bit: An Illustrated History of Computers

344 Pages·1984·53.525 MB·English

by  Stan Augarten

An
History of Computers
Illustrated
STAN AUGARTEN
FPT ISBN -5bfi-fl >$2T.15
BITbyBIT
An Illustrated HistoryofComputers
STAN AUGARTEN
Just forty years ago, there wasn't a single
computer in the world. Today, there are
millions, and they touch the lives ofevery
one of us.
Like most revolutionary inventions, the
computer was the culmination of a long
chain of technological developments,
beginningwiththe inventionoftheabacus
five thousand years ago.
Now,BitbyBittellsthewholecomputer
storyforthefirsttime—fromgrooves inthe
dirtand beadson a frametotoday's super-
fast computers. Entertaining, comprehen-
sive, and visually stunning, Bit by Bit
brings this incredible technology within
the grasp of us all.
But Bit by Bit is much more than a story
of machines; it is also about the brilliant,
forward-looking, and often eccentric men
and women who have shaped the com-
puter's history—from Wilhelm Schickard,
the obscure German professor who
invented thefirst mechanical calculator in
1623; to Charles Babbage, the debonair
nineteenth-centurygeniuswhoseAnalyti-
cal Engine came within an inch of being a
full-fledged computer; to Stephen Woz-
niak, the young electronics wizard who
founded Silicon Valley's Apple Computer
Company.
With magnificent photos culled from
around the world, and a superbly written
text, Bit by Bit is both a guided tour of the
world of the computer and an absorbing
account of its evolution.
IIETMSAM
—
3 -*> >
Augarten, Stan
Bit by bit
621.3819 AUGARTEN
3 1111 00904 8230
SAUSALITO PUBLIC LIBRARY
DATE DUE
MAR. 1 3 1985
MAPRfQ19S
5jjo^
tm J999-
^Pfc-6
— 7 1936
T-
DEC
MV 2 WS7 !
» ijf MAY 2 6 2000
DEC
MAY 2 2 1985 1 1 1997
£0
9*5 mJAN 2m1997 r-Ufl- 2086
:
AU6. 1 7 1986 !) 5 rrrfr ST
OCT 6 199 ^JOV 7 2001
*M»
19w **
«0V. * DEC 1
193P^
MAR 1
!i
tm
aa
U
iUW m1991
4
MAY 5 1988 ^
SEP 1 k 19
DCC t.
1
OCT 2 « i:W

by
Bit Bit

BIT BIT
by
An
Illustrated History
Computers
of
Stan Augarten
TICKNOR & FIELDS NEW YORK 1984
nuSAOTO
PUBLIC
LIBRJir*
Copyright © 1984 by Stan Augarten
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or
retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976
Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission
should be addressed in writing to Ticknor & Fields, 52 Vanderbilt
Avenue, New York. New York 10017.
Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data
Augarten, Stan.
Bit by bit.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
—
1. Computers History. I. Title.
QA76.17.A94 1984 621.3819V09 84-2508
ISBN 0-89919-268-8
ISBN 0-89919-302-1 (pbk.)
0987654321
k
1
Acknowledgment is gratefully extended to the following:
Arthur W. Burks for excerpt on page 99 from his speech "Who
Invented the General-Purpose Electronic Digital Computer?"
IBM Corporation for IBM song on page 69; for quotations of
Thomas Watson, Sr., on page 167; for CTR song on page 179; and for IBM
song on page 180.
W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., for excerpt on page 195 from Sciencefor
the Citizen by Lancelot Hogben. Published by W. W. Norton & Co. in
1957.
Ziff-Davis Publishing Company for excerpt on pages 273-74 from
editorial by Arthur Salsberg, reprinted from Popular Electronics, January
1975. Copyright © 1975 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company.
Illustration on title page: A wafer of memory chips manufactured by
American Microsystems, Inc., of Santa Clara, California (photo courtesy
of American Microsystems, Inc.)
O dear Ophelia!
I am ill at these numbers:
I have not art to reckon my groans.
- Hamlet, act II, scent? 2
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012
in
http://archive.org/details/bitbybitOOstan