Software history has a deep impact on current software designers, computer scientists, and technologists. System constraints imposed in the past and the designs that responded to them are often unknown or poorly understood by students and practitioners, yet modern software systems often include “old” software and “historical” programming techniques. This work looks at software history through specific software areas to develop student-consumable practices, design principles, lessons learned, and trends useful in current and future software design. It also exposes key areas that are widely used in modern software, yet infrequently taught in computing programs. Written as a textbook, this book uses specific cases from the past and present to explore the impact of software trends and techniques. Building on concepts from the history of science and technology, software history examines such areas as fundamentals, operating systems, programming languages, programming environments, networking, and databases. These topics are covered from their earliest beginnings to their modern variants. There are focused case studies on UNIX, APL, SAGE, GNU Emacs, Autoflow, internet protocols, System R, and others. Extensive problems and suggested projects enable readers to deeply delve into the history of software in areas that interest them most.

No product offering has had greater impact on the computer industry than the IBM System/360. This book describes the creation of this remarkable system and the developments it spawned, including its successor, System/370.

A lucid statement of the philosophy of modular programming can be found in a 1970 textbook on the design of system programs by Gouthier and Pont [1, l Cfl0. 23], which we quote below: A well-defined segmentation of the project effort ensures system modularity. Each task fonos a separate, distinct program module. At implementation time each module and its inputs and outputs are well-defined, there is no confusion in the intended interface with other system modules. At checkout time the in tegrity of the module is tested independently; there are few sche duling problems in synchronizing the completion of several tasks before checkout can begin. Finally, the system is maintained in modular fashion; system errors and deficiencies can be traced to specific system modules, thus limiting the scope of detailed error searching. Usually nothing is said about the criteria to be used in dividing the system into modules. This paper will discuss that issue and, by means of examples, suggest some criteria which can be used in decomposing a system into modules. A Brief Status Report The major advancement in the area of modular programming has been the development of coding techniques and assemblers which (1) allow one modu1e to be written with little knowledge of the code in another module, and (2) alJow modules to be reas sembled and replaced without reassembly of the whole system.

The Electrical Engineer's Handbook is an invaluable reference source for all practicing electrical engineers and students. Encompassing 79 chapters, this book is intended to enlighten and refresh knowledge of the practicing engineer or to help educate engineering students. This text will most likely be the engineer's first choice in looking for a solution; extensive, complete references to other sources are provided throughout. No other book has the breadth and depth of coverage available here. This is a must-have for all practitioners and students! The Electrical Engineer's Handbook provides the most up-to-date information in: Circuits and Networks, Electric Power Systems, Electronics, Computer-Aided Design and Optimization, VLSI Systems, Signal Processing, Digital Systems and Computer Engineering, Digital Communication and Communication Networks, Electromagnetics and Control and Systems.About the Editor-in-Chief...Wai-Kai Chen is Professor and Head Emeritus of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has extensive experience in education and industry and is very active professionally in the fields of circuits and systems. He was Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, Series I and II, President of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society and is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Circuits, Systems and Computers. He is the recipient of the Golden Jubilee Medal, the Education Award, and the Meritorious Service Award from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, and the Third Millennium Medal from the IEEE. Professor Chen is a fellow of the IEEE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.* 77 chapters encompass the entire field of electrical engineering.* THOUSANDS of valuable figures, tables, formulas, and definitions.* Extensive bibliographic references.