Ask HN: How to learn about the history of computing?

[vanschelven]

It is often remarked in the comments here that our "field" appears to have a very bad memory; that we repeat past mistakes and ignore past learnings. I would like to interpret these remarks as an advice to "get schooled".

What are some good sources (books?) to get started on this? Most things I can find appear to stop at Turing / Von Neumann, but one would like to think that history hasn't stopped at that point in time.

[ganeumann]

The most authoritative work is Ceruzzi's A History of Modern Computing (http://amzn.to/1TiHgqd). Because it's written by an academic, not a journalist, it also has a great bibliography and footnotes. Some of the works it cites that are very valuable in themselves, depending on your area of interest, are:

- R. Hodeson, Crystal Fire (on the invention of the transistor), http://amzn.to/1RictfF

- T.R. Reid, The Chip (on the IC), http://amzn.to/1Hdbu8w

- E.W. Pugh, IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems, (on the evolution of computer architecture), http://amzn.to/1NKZcWQ

Also, as others have mentioned, Soul of a New Machine is awesome.

I feel like you may be asking about computer science, though, not computer hardware. If so, pickings are slim. Two that stand out are:

- S. Rosenberg, Dreaming in Code, http://amzn.to/1HdbJk1 (Not really a history of code, just the history of a single project)

- M. Campbell-Kelly, From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog, http://amzn.to/1RicYpS (which, while not quite as amazing as the others, is the only history of the software industry as a whole I know of.)

[krallja]

The "History of Computing" class I took in college used Ceruzzi's "A History of Modern Computing" and "From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog" as our textbooks.

[steverb]

Some that I liked:

- Hackers : http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-Anniversar...

- The Soul of a New Machine: http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491977

- Show Stopper! : http://www.amazon.com/Show-Stopper-Breakneck-Generation-Micr...

- Dealers of Lightning: http://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-Computer/...

- Where Wizards Stay Up Late: http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/06848326...

[deutronium]

I'll second Hackers Heroes of the Computer Revolution, I found that a really fascinating book.

[LarryMade2]

I'd add in that list the New Hacker's Dictionary edited by Eric S Raymond http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Hackers-Dictionary-Edition/dp/... - (aka the Jargon File http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/ ) It includes many computing terms invented over the years with their meanings and origins. You can learn a a bit about computer history by readin it.

[ctrijueque]

'Hackers' is avalaible as a free ebook too:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/729

[grkvlt]

"The Soul of a New Machine" is an excellent book. It is about the creation of the first 32 bit minicomputer hardware, complete with descriptions of ADVENTURE (aka Colossal Cave) and the "Maze of twisty passages all alike" and memorable lines such as "I am going to a commune in Vermont, and will deal with no time period shorter than a season" said after much work on gate delays and intstruction timing iassues...

[cschmidt]

I thought Hackers and Soul of a New Machine were both fantastic.

[0xdeadbeefbabe]

Dealers of Lightning because you might learn some new words, and did you know they had to fight to get the laser printer to the world?

[matt_d]

Computer History Museum: http://www.computerhistory.org/

In particular, Software Preservation Group (SPG): http://www.computerhistory.org/groups/spg/ http://www.softwarepreservation.org/

Even more in particular ;-) -- the videos at the Oral History Collection: http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/

They're also on YouTube -- https://www.youtube.com/user/ComputerHistory/playlists -- but the ones above have synced transcripts.

To get a flavor, take a look at the one with Bjarne Stroustrup, really enjoyed it: http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/vid...

// More in this category (with some big names): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQsxaNhYv8daKdGi7s85u...

[jballanc]

I'll echo the Computer History Museum suggestion. If you're in the Bay Area and haven't paid it a visit, it's well worth your time. Books are nice and all, but sometimes seeing the physical artifacts give things a nice perspective.

[bibinou]

I started Steven Levy's Hackers and I'm really enjoying it. http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/books/hackers

Seeing as he wrote Crypto and Insanely Great too, it seems to be his kind of thing.

Also folklore.org is a nice collection of fables on how the sausage got made.

Charles Petzold's Code is interspersed with enjoyable historical perspective too.

http://www.charlespetzold.com/code/

[coldpie]

Seconding Code. It's not about the history of culture, but it's a walkthrough of how computing hardware evolved to what we have today.

[nekkoru]

If you want a very detailed account of the super early history of electronic computing, George Dyson's "Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe."

http://www.amazon.com/Turings-Cathedral-Origins-Digital-Univ...

Other great titles I'd recommend is Steven Levy's "Hackers" http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Heroes-Computer-Revolution-Ann... and Phil Lapsley's "Exploding the Phone" http://www.amazon.com/Exploding-Phone-Untold-Teenagers-Outla...

Hope you enjoy!

[rcruzeiro]

George Dyson's Turing's Cathedral is by far the best book I have read on this subject.

[csixty4]

Lots of great book suggestions here. I'm going to throw in a video series put out by PBS in the 90s in cooperation with the Boston Computer Museum (now the Computer History Museum in California).

"The Machine that Changed the World"

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYFRdV1r4nU

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krlZf5H7Hp4

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwEpKy_7mYM

Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXMaFhO6dIY

Of course, a lot of computer history materials are going to focus on the commercial aspects, hardware and software, rather than advances in Computer Science itself.

One thing that might help there is to track down old CS textbooks on eBay to understand what used to be the state of the art. The "dinosaur book" on operating systems usually has a bonus chapter on the architecture behind some recent operating system. It was Windows XP when I took my OS class. I found an older copy that talked about VMS once.

[csixty4]

Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z8OmqY3zJI

[brudgers]

One of the features of Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming is a thorough documentation of the history of ideas. Given that Knuth has been writing for the majority of the period in which we have had digital computers [and nearly all of the time in which we have had high level languages] he has been able to document many things as they have happened. TAoCP has created much of contemporary computing practice and the history of the field.

There is no replacement for primary sources. If you want to understand what makes Lisp the object of love songs, Graham's On Lisp is the book to read. If you want to understand what made Smalltalkers so smug, then grab you a Smalltalk manual and take the time to learn it [and here Knuth's patient approach to "really knowing" is informative...and there's a Norvig short course for just-get-to-the-point Pythonistas].

The pre-internet history of computing lives on the web in PDF's and in boxes at the used book store. Our quilt of knowledge is mostly missing patches and there are a lot of candidate patches sitting unconnected in the box. Even Knuth knows he'll never know it all.

Good luck.

[maxiepoo]

Sorry to be pedantic, but in what way is 'On Lisp' a primary source? Especially compared to a Smalltalk manual.

[bsdpython]

- Steve Jobs' biographer wrote a book last year called "Innovators" which I found to be one of the best works I have read: http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Hackers-Geniuses-Created-Re...

- Robert X. Cringely's book "Accidential Empires" is definitely dated but you can read most of the chapters on his blog here: http://www.cringely.com/tag/accidental-empires/

- Cringely also did a three part special back in the 90s that I like revisiting every once in a while. Again, pretty dated but entertaining nevertheless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuBXbvl1Sg4

- Skip the newer Steve Jobs movies and watch the history of Apple and Microsoft with Pirates of Silicon Valley. It's said to be mostly accurate: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v46093745wbEGkakh

- Kind of random but if you want a look back at what the 90s tech bubble was like then watch Startup.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibuiUXOTE4M

[var_eps]

I second the recommendation of Innovators. Even though it does not go into deep detail, it provides a good overview of the history of computing. It is easy to then follow-up with specific literature if a topic piques one's interest.

In addition, I would also recommend "Intel Trinity" by Michael Malone (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Trinity-Robert-Important-Compa...). It covers the post-Fairchild era from Intel's point of view.

[santiagobasulto]

I'm close to finish Walter Isaacson's Innovators. It's a great book and he's a great writer. Really enjoying it.

[grosales]

The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal. I read this book 8 years ago and I still feel like quoting it sometimes. It's not just a biography but a well researched work on the history of the later part of computing history. http://www.amazon.com/The-Dream-Machine-Licklider-Revolution...

[RNeff]

Gordon Bell and Allen Newell edited wrote "Computer Structures: Readings and Examples" 1971, which is a collection of original technical papers and their commentary on significant computers. It is online at: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Computer...

With Daniel P. Siewiorek, they revised the book in 1982 as "Computer Structures: Principles and Examples" with new material, it is online at: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Computer...

There are lots of inexpensive copies of the books available at used book sites or Amazon. All of Gordon Bell's publications are at: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Pubs.htm

In 2011, Ron Mak taught a course at San Jose State University: CS 185C: The History of Computing. He invited a number of famous experts to speak to the class, including Bell, Knuth, Kay, Gosling, Feigenbaum, Alcorn, etc. (I am certainly not famous; I gave a lecture on the HP-35 and other early pocket calculators). http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/~mak/CS185C/

There are a lot of links to papers and other videos. The textbook used in the class was "A History of Modern Computing, 2nd edition" by Paul E. Ceruzzi

Visit the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, Paul Allen's Living Computer Museum in Seattle, WA (computers that still run), and London's Science Museum.

[dwarman]

And the CCS at Bletchley. http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/index.htm

Simon Lavington wrote a book about the Elliott Brothers company, one of the earliest UK computer manufacturers. They did a lot of stuff. I worked there for a couple of years at their end-of-life (ICL mergers) on the 4100 series, and some prototype peripherals.

http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Targets-Elliott-Automation-Comp...

[alricb]

For programming languages, the HOPL papers, many of which can be found online for free. http://www.multicians.org/ is also a fascinating site on the OS that served as an inspiration/opposite for Unix. On that note, you can gain a good amount of perspective by reading on the "losing side" of history: Ada, Multics, Wirth's languages, Lisp machines, Smalltalk, etc.

[sitruc]

To echo everyone; Hackers is a great book. Steven Levy books are both compelling reads and content rich. Crypto and In the plex both have their place as well. http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field... I would also say "The Information" by James Gleick. It is a page turner with some neat concepts. Which is not so easy to do. http://www.amazon.ca/Information-History-Theory-Flood/dp/140...

[anaximander]

Seconding "The Information". I had it on audiobook and listened to it during long car trips. It was very compelling and informative.

[pjmlp]

Check Niklaus Wirth work on Modula-2 and Oberon, and its respective OS.

http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/

http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/projects.html

http://www.ethoberon.ethz.ch/books.html

http://www.modulaware.com/mwbiblio.htm

Noteworthy

"Compiler Construction" -

"Project Oberon" both 1992 and 2013 versions

Oberon descedents "EthOS", "Active Oberon" and "Component Pascal":

http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/view/eth:38713

http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/view/eth:27966

All the Xerox PARC stuff about Mesa, Cedar, Interlisp-D, Smalltalk,

http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.bitsavers.org/pdf/xer...

How Apple used Common Lisp, Object Pascal, UNIX, Hypercard and lots of other goodies on their early systems

http://basalgangster.macgui.com/RetroMacComputing/The_Long_V...

Smalltalk books, specially

http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks.html

[dyates]

I highly recommend Jimmy Maher's Digital Antiquarian blog at http://www.filfre.net/

The focus is mainly on computer games from the late 70s (and currently up to the late 80s), but that includes general posts about personal computers like the Apple ][, TRS-80, Commodore 64 and Amiga and the personalities behind them, on programming languages like Forth and the various tricks and inventions required to get complex games to run on very restrained hardware. It's all very readable, meticulously researched and quite in-depth.

[bitsbytesbikes]

"Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age" is a great book:

http://www.amazon.com/Invention-Information-Lemelson-Studies...

[andyjohnson0]

Some important developments in computing in the sixties and early seventies were driven by the NASA space programs. Some sources:

Computers in Spaceflight - The NASA Experience: http://history.nasa.gov/computers/contents.html

Digital Apollo, by David A. Mindell - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/digital-apollo

The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation by Frank O'Brien - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Apollo-Guidance-Computer-Archite... (highly detailed)

I'd also recommend Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson and The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder.

Many early IT systems used special-purpose hardware, and boundary between the software and hardware development wasn't as clear as it is now. For this reason, I think, many surveys tend to emphasise the hardware aspect.

[spion]

"Coders at Work" [1] had some really great insights about the history of programming. I particularly liked the interview with Fran Allen. Her thoughts on the disastrous effect that the C programming language had on the development of computer science were very interesting.

[1]: http://www.codersatwork.com/

[a3n]

Many good sources mentioned already.

In addition, these, and most importantly where they lead you according to your interests. "Use the links, Luke."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_science

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_technology

E. W. Dijkstra Archive http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/

There are academic disciplines and degree programs in the history of science and subsets of science, with different subset emphasis depending on where you go and who is there.

http://hssonline.org/about/

[DanBC]

http://history-computer.com/MechanicalCalculators/Pioneers/M...

Take a look at the ancient work in the field, and how those principles got dragged into computing.

https://calculating.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/calculators-for...

This used to be a web-museum of Russian calculators: http://www.taswegian.com/MOSCOW/

And there are emulators here: http://www.emulator3000.org/c3.htm

But really, Shannon's Mathematical Theory of Communication crams in so much stuff that it's not too surprising that we don't go back further.

[TheOtherHobbes]

http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/

A mountain of original docs, including memos of old design meetings at DEC, lots of brochures and manuals, and copies of relics like the first edition of the Unix Programmers' Manual.

Not much overview, but still a fascinating resource.