Humans have always had the need to tell. In the dark
millennia of prehistory, people used fingers or made incisions
on bones. There are about 4000 years early civilizations
developed elaborate numbering system to record transactions
from business to astronomical cycles. The hand tools calculation
appear millennia later. Today, the prodigious complexity of
calculations, as well as the whole set of activities with no
apparent relationship to numbers are made by these
sophisticated "electronic brains" called computers. Experts are
rushing to point out that a computer is a brain, is just another
tool, another machine designed to reduce the work or extend
our dominion over the world.
In this book, you will learn more about the science of
computing through subtle explanations and summarized
chapters. Once pointed out the importance and necessity of the
study of history in general and, more specifically, the history of
science and technology, it is easy to see that the study of the
History of Computing is an impressive relief in the vast
landscape of scientific knowledge. Just remember that the
impact of this technology in our society is immense and our
increasing dependence on it.
