91685 - History of Informatics and Computing Systems

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students know where the logical and formal basis of informatics come from. More specifically the aim of the course in brief is: to show how every scientific discipline came out in the melting pot of problem solving and knowledge research; ii) to point out three fundamental dimensions for evolution of the informatics: time dimension to keep up with times, linguistic dimension to understand the basis of the discipline, technological dimension which is needed to sustain development in any discipline.

Course contents

This course will present some milestones in the construction of the current form of computer science. We will introduce the main ideas, thought patterns and principles that have contributed to the birth and evolution of certain areas of computer science, through certain architectures, machines and languages, but without dwelling too much on their details.

The reference period is from 1945 (first general purpose programmable electronic computer) to the early 1980s. In the various (temporal or conceptual) segments, we will see the evolution of architectures, operating systems and programming languages, showing how these topics are interconnected.

Given the lecturer's expertise, programming languages will receive special attention.

1. Introduction: what it means to ‘do computer science history’
2. Prehistory: before 1945
3. First programmable electronic computers
4.  Calculators find a market, indeed more than one: the 1950s
5.  Mainframes and the birth of computing as a discipline
6.  Mini-computers and microprocessors
7.  Communicating and collaborating
8.  Personal computers

 

Readings/Bibliography

One possible textbook:

Thomas Haigh, Paul E. Ceruzzi. A New History of Modern Computing. MIT Press, 2021.

Some sources in: Brian Randell (a cura di). The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers. Springer, 1982.

Other texts:

1. Martin Campbell-Kelly, William F. Aspray, Jeffrey R. Yost, Honghong Tinn, Gerardo Con Díaz and Nathan Ensmenger. Computer–A History of the Information Machine (Fourth Edition). Routledge, 2023.

2. Tedre, Matti (2014). The Science of Computing: Shaping a Discipline. Chapman Hall.

3.  Mark Priestley (2011). A Science of Operations. Springer

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminar discussion of documents

Assessment methods

Oral examination.

The examination will test knowledge of the material presented in class. Rather than individual details, it is important to be able to recognise and articulate the lines of development and fractures in evolution, as well as the connections between various topics or periods.

The examination will begin with a topic of one's choice, chosen from those presented in the lecture, or an in-depth study of them, or a topic not covered (agreed beforehand with the lecturer). This first part is the starting point for the questions, which will test the ability to identify connections between the various topics of the programme.

Teaching tools

The material (slides, documents, etc.) of the lectures will be available on virtuale.unibo.it as the course develops.

Office hours

See the website of Simone Martini