Pierluigi Frisco
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199542864
- eISBN:
- 9780191715679
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199542864.001.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Biology
How could we use living cells to perform computation? Would our definition of computation change as a consequence of this? Could such a cell-computer outperform digital computers? These are some of ...
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How could we use living cells to perform computation? Would our definition of computation change as a consequence of this? Could such a cell-computer outperform digital computers? These are some of the questions that the study of Membrane Computing tries to answer and are at the base of what is treated by this monograph. Descriptional and computational complexity of models in Membrane Computing are the two lines of research on which is the focus here. In this context this book reports the results of only some of the models present in this framework. The models considered here represent a very relevant part of all the models introduced so far in the study of Membrane Computing. They are in between the most studied models in the field and they cover a broad range of features (using symbol objects or string objects, based only on communications, inspired by intra- and intercellular processes, having or not having a tree as underlying structure, etc.) that gives a grasp of the enormous flexibility of this framework. Links with biology and Petri nets are constant through this book. This book aims also to inspire research. This book gives suggestions for research of various levels of difficulty and this book clearly indicates their importance and the relevance of the possible outcomes. Readers new to this field of research will find the provided examples particularly useful in the understanding of the treated topics.Less
How could we use living cells to perform computation? Would our definition of computation change as a consequence of this? Could such a cell-computer outperform digital computers? These are some of the questions that the study of Membrane Computing tries to answer and are at the base of what is treated by this monograph. Descriptional and computational complexity of models in Membrane Computing are the two lines of research on which is the focus here. In this context this book reports the results of only some of the models present in this framework. The models considered here represent a very relevant part of all the models introduced so far in the study of Membrane Computing. They are in between the most studied models in the field and they cover a broad range of features (using symbol objects or string objects, based only on communications, inspired by intra- and intercellular processes, having or not having a tree as underlying structure, etc.) that gives a grasp of the enormous flexibility of this framework. Links with biology and Petri nets are constant through this book. This book aims also to inspire research. This book gives suggestions for research of various levels of difficulty and this book clearly indicates their importance and the relevance of the possible outcomes. Readers new to this field of research will find the provided examples particularly useful in the understanding of the treated topics.
B. Jack Copeland
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198565932
- eISBN:
- 9780191714016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198565932.003.0004
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
This chapter details the history of the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) project. The story of the ACE begins with John Womersley's appointment as superintendent of the newly created Mathematics ...
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This chapter details the history of the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) project. The story of the ACE begins with John Womersley's appointment as superintendent of the newly created Mathematics Division of the National Physical Laboratory. Womersley's proposed research programme for his new division included the goals ‘To explore the application of switching methods (mechanical, electrical and electronic) to computations of all kinds’, ‘Investigation of the possible adaptation of automatic telephone equipment to scientific computing’, and ‘ Development of electronic counting device suitable for rapid computing’. Womersley convinced Turing to join the ACE project.Less
This chapter details the history of the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) project. The story of the ACE begins with John Womersley's appointment as superintendent of the newly created Mathematics Division of the National Physical Laboratory. Womersley's proposed research programme for his new division included the goals ‘To explore the application of switching methods (mechanical, electrical and electronic) to computations of all kinds’, ‘Investigation of the possible adaptation of automatic telephone equipment to scientific computing’, and ‘ Development of electronic counting device suitable for rapid computing’. Womersley convinced Turing to join the ACE project.
B. Jack Copeland
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198565932
- eISBN:
- 9780191714016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198565932.003.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
This introductory chapter discusses the development of Alan Turing's ‘universal computing machine’, better known as the universal Turing Machine. The earliest large-scale electronic digital ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the development of Alan Turing's ‘universal computing machine’, better known as the universal Turing Machine. The earliest large-scale electronic digital computers, the British Colossus (1943) and American ENIAC (1945), did not store programmes in memory. In 1936, Turing came up with an idea for a machine with limitless memory, in which both data and instructions were to be stored. By 1945, groups in Britain and the US began developing hardware for a universal Turing machine. Turing headed a group at the National Physical Laboratory in London that designed the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), the first relatively complete specification of an electronic stored-programme digital computer.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the development of Alan Turing's ‘universal computing machine’, better known as the universal Turing Machine. The earliest large-scale electronic digital computers, the British Colossus (1943) and American ENIAC (1945), did not store programmes in memory. In 1936, Turing came up with an idea for a machine with limitless memory, in which both data and instructions were to be stored. By 1945, groups in Britain and the US began developing hardware for a universal Turing machine. Turing headed a group at the National Physical Laboratory in London that designed the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), the first relatively complete specification of an electronic stored-programme digital computer.
James H. Wilkinson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198565932
- eISBN:
- 9780191714016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198565932.003.0005
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
This chapter discusses the pilot Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) project at the National Physical Laboratory. The Pilot ACE had been designed purely as an experimental machine to demonstrate the ...
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This chapter discusses the pilot Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) project at the National Physical Laboratory. The Pilot ACE had been designed purely as an experimental machine to demonstrate the competence of the team as computer engineers. It was originally intended that when it was successfully completed a full-scale computer would be built. However, when it was successful, it was the only electronic computer in a government department and the engineers came under very heavy pressure to use the Pilot ACE for serious computing. They implemented a small set of modifications which included the addition of an automatic multiplier and improvements to the control unit which made programming a little less arduous. The computer was then put into general use and did yeoman service for a number of years.Less
This chapter discusses the pilot Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) project at the National Physical Laboratory. The Pilot ACE had been designed purely as an experimental machine to demonstrate the competence of the team as computer engineers. It was originally intended that when it was successfully completed a full-scale computer would be built. However, when it was successful, it was the only electronic computer in a government department and the engineers came under very heavy pressure to use the Pilot ACE for serious computing. They implemented a small set of modifications which included the addition of an automatic multiplier and improvements to the control unit which made programming a little less arduous. The computer was then put into general use and did yeoman service for a number of years.
Robin A. Vowels
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198565932
- eISBN:
- 9780191714016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198565932.003.0015
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
This chapter describes the origins and development of the English Electric DEUCE (Digital Electronic Universal Computing Engine), the production machine derived from the ACE Pilot Model. The DEUCE ...
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This chapter describes the origins and development of the English Electric DEUCE (Digital Electronic Universal Computing Engine), the production machine derived from the ACE Pilot Model. The DEUCE was an outstanding commercial success due to its high speed, huge programme and subroutine library, fast magnetic drum, enhanced peripheral equipment, and extraordinary reliability. The first DEUCE was installed in early 1955. Most DEUCEs saw a decade of service, and approximately twenty were still operating in 1965, some continuing to the end of the decade.Less
This chapter describes the origins and development of the English Electric DEUCE (Digital Electronic Universal Computing Engine), the production machine derived from the ACE Pilot Model. The DEUCE was an outstanding commercial success due to its high speed, huge programme and subroutine library, fast magnetic drum, enhanced peripheral equipment, and extraordinary reliability. The first DEUCE was installed in early 1955. Most DEUCEs saw a decade of service, and approximately twenty were still operating in 1965, some continuing to the end of the decade.
Christopher S. Yoo and Jean-Francois Blanchette (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029407
- eISBN:
- 9780262331166
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029407.001.0001
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Programming Languages
Cloud computing has emerged as one of the most salient recent developments in information technology. Predictions about its future run the gamut, with some believing that it represents a fundamental ...
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Cloud computing has emerged as one of the most salient recent developments in information technology. Predictions about its future run the gamut, with some believing that it represents a fundamental change the nature of computing and others arguing that it is nothing more than overhyped repackaging of existing technologies. This book represents the first effort to bridge this gap by exploring cloud computing’s implications from a wide range of interdisciplinary perspectives. Individual chapters analyze the business case for cloud computing, the changing nature of reliability in the Internet, the implications of treating the Internet as critical infrastructure, architectural changes to make cloud computing more contractible, and the impact of cloud computing on copyright, privacy, and consumer protection.Less
Cloud computing has emerged as one of the most salient recent developments in information technology. Predictions about its future run the gamut, with some believing that it represents a fundamental change the nature of computing and others arguing that it is nothing more than overhyped repackaging of existing technologies. This book represents the first effort to bridge this gap by exploring cloud computing’s implications from a wide range of interdisciplinary perspectives. Individual chapters analyze the business case for cloud computing, the changing nature of reliability in the Internet, the implications of treating the Internet as critical infrastructure, architectural changes to make cloud computing more contractible, and the impact of cloud computing on copyright, privacy, and consumer protection.
William Lehr
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029407
- eISBN:
- 9780262331166
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029407.003.0003
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Programming Languages
The Internet is evolving from a best-effort, unregulated, data transport network overlaid on the legacy telephone network (or PSTN) into the global platform (the new PSTN) for a much more complex ...
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The Internet is evolving from a best-effort, unregulated, data transport network overlaid on the legacy telephone network (or PSTN) into the global platform (the new PSTN) for a much more complex array of computing, storage and data transport services (the Internet Cloud). Policymakers confront numerous questions in crafting an appropriate market-based regulatory framework to protect the public interest with respect to the Internet's new role as essential socio-economic infrastructure. This chapter discusses the technical, business, and policy trends driving this transition, with special focus on the complex challenge of ensuring reliability in the Internet cloud.Less
The Internet is evolving from a best-effort, unregulated, data transport network overlaid on the legacy telephone network (or PSTN) into the global platform (the new PSTN) for a much more complex array of computing, storage and data transport services (the Internet Cloud). Policymakers confront numerous questions in crafting an appropriate market-based regulatory framework to protect the public interest with respect to the Internet's new role as essential socio-economic infrastructure. This chapter discusses the technical, business, and policy trends driving this transition, with special focus on the complex challenge of ensuring reliability in the Internet cloud.
Nayan B. Ruparelia
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262529099
- eISBN:
- 9780262334129
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262529099.001.0001
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Programming Languages
Most of the information available on cloud computing is either highly technical, with details that are irrelevant to non-technologists, or pure marketing hype, in which the cloud is simply used as a ...
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Most of the information available on cloud computing is either highly technical, with details that are irrelevant to non-technologists, or pure marketing hype, in which the cloud is simply used as a selling point. This book, however, explains the cloud from the user's viewpoint. The author explains what the cloud is, when to use it (and when not to), how to select a cloud service, how to integrate it with other technologies, and what the best practices are for using cloud computing. A simple and basic definition of cloud computing from the National Institute of Science and Technology is considered: a model enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources. Thus businesses, individuals and communities can harness information technology resources usually available only to large enterprises. This, as the author demonstrates, represents a paradigm shift for businesses and individuals alike. In additon, the book considers the contractual, legal, financial, security and risk related aspects of adopting and migrating to the cloud. Cloud patterns are examined in terms of five deployment models; and a cloud computing maturity model is derived to align the use of cloud computing with best practices.A unique aspect of the book is that it provides innovative constructs that affect the way cloud computing shall be viewed and used in the future. In particular, it addresses novel concepts for cloud computing: cloud cells, or specialist clouds for specific uses; the personal cloud; the cloud of things and services; and cloud service exchanges.Less
Most of the information available on cloud computing is either highly technical, with details that are irrelevant to non-technologists, or pure marketing hype, in which the cloud is simply used as a selling point. This book, however, explains the cloud from the user's viewpoint. The author explains what the cloud is, when to use it (and when not to), how to select a cloud service, how to integrate it with other technologies, and what the best practices are for using cloud computing. A simple and basic definition of cloud computing from the National Institute of Science and Technology is considered: a model enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources. Thus businesses, individuals and communities can harness information technology resources usually available only to large enterprises. This, as the author demonstrates, represents a paradigm shift for businesses and individuals alike. In additon, the book considers the contractual, legal, financial, security and risk related aspects of adopting and migrating to the cloud. Cloud patterns are examined in terms of five deployment models; and a cloud computing maturity model is derived to align the use of cloud computing with best practices.A unique aspect of the book is that it provides innovative constructs that affect the way cloud computing shall be viewed and used in the future. In particular, it addresses novel concepts for cloud computing: cloud cells, or specialist clouds for specific uses; the personal cloud; the cloud of things and services; and cloud service exchanges.
Geoffrey Rockwell and Stéfan Sinclair
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034357
- eISBN:
- 9780262332064
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034357.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
What can you actually do with text analysis? Chapter 4 is the first Interlude or example of text analysis in action with Voyant. This Interlude asks about computing in the humanities and shows how ...
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What can you actually do with text analysis? Chapter 4 is the first Interlude or example of text analysis in action with Voyant. This Interlude asks about computing in the humanities and shows how one can study the evolution of discourse about a discipline like the digital humanities though the Humanist discussion list that has been a central place for discussion and announcements since 1987. Studying 21 years of discourse shows how the emergence of the web as a platform for electronic resources was a turning point. Attention shifted from hardware and software to services and social media.Less
What can you actually do with text analysis? Chapter 4 is the first Interlude or example of text analysis in action with Voyant. This Interlude asks about computing in the humanities and shows how one can study the evolution of discourse about a discipline like the digital humanities though the Humanist discussion list that has been a central place for discussion and announcements since 1987. Studying 21 years of discourse shows how the emergence of the web as a platform for electronic resources was a turning point. Attention shifted from hardware and software to services and social media.
Seb Franklin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029537
- eISBN:
- 9780262331135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029537.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
This chapter evaluates the ways in which literary texts can be read as aesthetic formulations of control. The chapter first examines Deleuze’s positioning of Franz Kafka’s The Trial at the emergence ...
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This chapter evaluates the ways in which literary texts can be read as aesthetic formulations of control. The chapter first examines Deleuze’s positioning of Franz Kafka’s The Trial at the emergence of control societies, before working through the ways in which language and literature were addressed by cyberneticians in the 1940s and 1950s. The second half of the chapter draws on the work of Deleuze, Friedrich Kittler, and Lev Manovich in order to track a series of parallel developments in user-oriented computing, conceptualizations of labor, and Samuel Beckett’s prose, plays, and television works. In so doing the chapter posits control as a cultural logic grounded in the ideal of producing action from discrete symbols and vice versa—an ideal that reveals complex connections between histories of technology, economy, and aesthetic production. The chapter ends by returning to the concept of exclusion discussed in chapter 3 in order to suggest some ways in which this concept, properly examined and historicized, might point not only towards the forms of violence that are specific to control, but also towards new sources of critique and political action.Less
This chapter evaluates the ways in which literary texts can be read as aesthetic formulations of control. The chapter first examines Deleuze’s positioning of Franz Kafka’s The Trial at the emergence of control societies, before working through the ways in which language and literature were addressed by cyberneticians in the 1940s and 1950s. The second half of the chapter draws on the work of Deleuze, Friedrich Kittler, and Lev Manovich in order to track a series of parallel developments in user-oriented computing, conceptualizations of labor, and Samuel Beckett’s prose, plays, and television works. In so doing the chapter posits control as a cultural logic grounded in the ideal of producing action from discrete symbols and vice versa—an ideal that reveals complex connections between histories of technology, economy, and aesthetic production. The chapter ends by returning to the concept of exclusion discussed in chapter 3 in order to suggest some ways in which this concept, properly examined and historicized, might point not only towards the forms of violence that are specific to control, but also towards new sources of critique and political action.
Daniel Punday
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696994
- eISBN:
- 9781452953601
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696994.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Writing has long been used as a metaphor to understand computing. From the virtual desktop of modern operating systems to the way we name portable devices (the notebook computer, the iPad), writing ...
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Writing has long been used as a metaphor to understand computing. From the virtual desktop of modern operating systems to the way we name portable devices (the notebook computer, the iPad), writing provides a seemingly inevitable model for computing. This book explores the implications and contradictions of this metaphor. Writing not only provides a way to think about the operation of the computer, it also embodies the way that we think about the work that we do on the computer (programmers “writing code”) and how the often muddy line between our home and work life today. In the last decade, scholarship on digital media has sought rigor by limiting its work to particular hardware and software platforms. This book argues, instead, that we should embrace the power and muddiness of the writing metaphor for computing. Because computing isn’t simply a discipline or set of technologies, but also an idea that plays a role in contemporary culture, the cross-disciplinary migration of the writing metaphor is so important. This book seeks out the unlikely places where computing and writing, creativity and corporations converge—from debates about the scope of patent law in the U.S. to design trends within computer user interfaces to the representations of archaic writing technologies in the video games. These kinds of cross-disciplinary comparisons are only possible if we are willing to tolerate a broad understanding of the digital and the ways that it can invoke writing.Less
Writing has long been used as a metaphor to understand computing. From the virtual desktop of modern operating systems to the way we name portable devices (the notebook computer, the iPad), writing provides a seemingly inevitable model for computing. This book explores the implications and contradictions of this metaphor. Writing not only provides a way to think about the operation of the computer, it also embodies the way that we think about the work that we do on the computer (programmers “writing code”) and how the often muddy line between our home and work life today. In the last decade, scholarship on digital media has sought rigor by limiting its work to particular hardware and software platforms. This book argues, instead, that we should embrace the power and muddiness of the writing metaphor for computing. Because computing isn’t simply a discipline or set of technologies, but also an idea that plays a role in contemporary culture, the cross-disciplinary migration of the writing metaphor is so important. This book seeks out the unlikely places where computing and writing, creativity and corporations converge—from debates about the scope of patent law in the U.S. to design trends within computer user interfaces to the representations of archaic writing technologies in the video games. These kinds of cross-disciplinary comparisons are only possible if we are willing to tolerate a broad understanding of the digital and the ways that it can invoke writing.
Barry M. Katz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029636
- eISBN:
- 9780262330923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029636.003.0003
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
The 1979 Palo Alto telephone directory lists exactly 9 “design” firms-squeezed between “detective agencies” and “diaper services.” Today there are, arguably, more designers working in the San ...
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The 1979 Palo Alto telephone directory lists exactly 9 “design” firms-squeezed between “detective agencies” and “diaper services.” Today there are, arguably, more designers working in the San Francisco Bay Area than anywhere else in the world. This chapter traces the further evolution of professional practice, but also the formation of a professional design community and the “sea change” that resulted in, literally, the fusion of European design and American engineering. By the mid-1970s a small but growing number of technology companies had created internal design groups, several independent consultancies had been formed, and this nascent community had begun to contribute a distinctive voice to the national professional societies. The passage of computing out of the laboratory and into the office, the classroom, and ultimately the home, proved to be the decisive catalyst.Less
The 1979 Palo Alto telephone directory lists exactly 9 “design” firms-squeezed between “detective agencies” and “diaper services.” Today there are, arguably, more designers working in the San Francisco Bay Area than anywhere else in the world. This chapter traces the further evolution of professional practice, but also the formation of a professional design community and the “sea change” that resulted in, literally, the fusion of European design and American engineering. By the mid-1970s a small but growing number of technology companies had created internal design groups, several independent consultancies had been formed, and this nascent community had begun to contribute a distinctive voice to the national professional societies. The passage of computing out of the laboratory and into the office, the classroom, and ultimately the home, proved to be the decisive catalyst.
Thomas J. Misa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816683314
- eISBN:
- 9781452948973
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816683314.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Digital State tells the long overdue history of Minnesota’s world famous computer industry. The book profiles each of the most notable Minnesota companies, beginning with the founding of the ...
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Digital State tells the long overdue history of Minnesota’s world famous computer industry. The book profiles each of the most notable Minnesota companies, beginning with the founding of the Engineering Research Associates (in St. Paul) in 1946. Univac was a local successor to ERA, while Control Data was a spinoff that became a billion dollar a year concern by the 1960s. Honeywell was the state’s largest private sector employer, and IBM Rochester was a prominent outpost of that global company. The book is based on archival records of ERA, Control Data, and Univac and draws extensively on 60-plus oral histories collected at the Charles Babbage Institute as well as interviews done by the author. The book’s two final chapters consider how Minnesota embraced the coming of the “information economy” with assessments of its changing workforce and activities of prominent institutions (such as the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium). A unique firm-level dataset of nearly 250 Minnesota computer companies (1980-2011) anatomizes significant connections between the computing industry and today’s medical device industry. The “industrial district” concept used in the book meaningfully ties together the company case studies as well as has direct implications for the state’s economic development strategy. There is no other book that tells the history (1940s–today) of Minnesota’s computer industry and high tech economy.Less
Digital State tells the long overdue history of Minnesota’s world famous computer industry. The book profiles each of the most notable Minnesota companies, beginning with the founding of the Engineering Research Associates (in St. Paul) in 1946. Univac was a local successor to ERA, while Control Data was a spinoff that became a billion dollar a year concern by the 1960s. Honeywell was the state’s largest private sector employer, and IBM Rochester was a prominent outpost of that global company. The book is based on archival records of ERA, Control Data, and Univac and draws extensively on 60-plus oral histories collected at the Charles Babbage Institute as well as interviews done by the author. The book’s two final chapters consider how Minnesota embraced the coming of the “information economy” with assessments of its changing workforce and activities of prominent institutions (such as the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium). A unique firm-level dataset of nearly 250 Minnesota computer companies (1980-2011) anatomizes significant connections between the computing industry and today’s medical device industry. The “industrial district” concept used in the book meaningfully ties together the company case studies as well as has direct implications for the state’s economic development strategy. There is no other book that tells the history (1940s–today) of Minnesota’s computer industry and high tech economy.
Thomas J. Misa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816683314
- eISBN:
- 9781452948973
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816683314.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
‘Corporate Computing’ relates how the local Univac division created a large-scale industry in the state, employing 10,000 people by the 1960s and developing networking technologies for the U.S. navy ...
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‘Corporate Computing’ relates how the local Univac division created a large-scale industry in the state, employing 10,000 people by the 1960s and developing networking technologies for the U.S. navy and air-traffic control, and working a ‘quality revolution’ that paved the way for the semiconductor industry to achieve “Moore’s Law” improvements.Less
‘Corporate Computing’ relates how the local Univac division created a large-scale industry in the state, employing 10,000 people by the 1960s and developing networking technologies for the U.S. navy and air-traffic control, and working a ‘quality revolution’ that paved the way for the semiconductor industry to achieve “Moore’s Law” improvements.
Nayan B. Ruparelia
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262529099
- eISBN:
- 9780262334129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262529099.003.0001
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Programming Languages
What is the optimum investment required to provide computational resources? Since demand for computing varies, businesses face a dilemma: if they under-invest, then business suffers; if they ...
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What is the optimum investment required to provide computational resources? Since demand for computing varies, businesses face a dilemma: if they under-invest, then business suffers; if they over-invest, then they are utilizing their money inefficiently. Cloud computing resolves this dilemma by allowing businesses to invest in computing resources on an as needed basis. Thus, capital expenditure for computing is minimized since cloud computing provides a route to utilizing computational resources as operational expenditures.The NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) defines clould computing as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or interaction. This model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.The definition is extended by including Business-Process-as-a-Service (BpaaS) and Information-as-a-Service (INaaS) as cloud service models in addition to the Infrastructure-, Platform-and Software-as-a-Service models of NIST. In addition, the four deployment models of cloud computing (public, private, community and hybrid) are discussed in terms of their scope and capabilities.Finally, the roles and responsibilities of cloud computing actors are outlined as creators, producers, brokers and consumers.Less
What is the optimum investment required to provide computational resources? Since demand for computing varies, businesses face a dilemma: if they under-invest, then business suffers; if they over-invest, then they are utilizing their money inefficiently. Cloud computing resolves this dilemma by allowing businesses to invest in computing resources on an as needed basis. Thus, capital expenditure for computing is minimized since cloud computing provides a route to utilizing computational resources as operational expenditures.The NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) defines clould computing as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or interaction. This model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.The definition is extended by including Business-Process-as-a-Service (BpaaS) and Information-as-a-Service (INaaS) as cloud service models in addition to the Infrastructure-, Platform-and Software-as-a-Service models of NIST. In addition, the four deployment models of cloud computing (public, private, community and hybrid) are discussed in terms of their scope and capabilities.Finally, the roles and responsibilities of cloud computing actors are outlined as creators, producers, brokers and consumers.
Mikael Wiberg
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262037518
- eISBN:
- 9780262344692
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262037518.003.0002
- Subject:
- Art, Design
Computing, and human interaction with these computational machines, has commonly been thought of as a kind of abstract activity where we manipulate digital objects on glossy screens. It is abstract ...
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Computing, and human interaction with these computational machines, has commonly been thought of as a kind of abstract activity where we manipulate digital objects on glossy screens. It is abstract in the sense that it is hands-on in terms of working with the computer, but still abstract in terms of how that work is to a great extent about arranging and re-arrange ‘painted bits’, click on virtual ‘buttons’, and about processing symbols, work with representations, and even store and access data in ‘the cloud’. How can all of this be even remotely related to materials? And does it really make sense to talk about the materiality of interaction in the context of human-computer interaction (HCI) and interaction design? In short, is materiality really a concern for interaction design? And accordingly, is it meaningful to talk about the materiality of interaction? In this chapter I dwell into these essential questions for interaction design. I do so by revisiting some examples from the early days of computing, and through one such historical backdrop I illustrate how computing was in its early days enabled through material configurations, and how we since then have tried to uphold various distinctions between the material and the immaterial, between the physical and the digital, between the virtual and the real (most recently in the current debate about skeuomorphic versus non-skeuomorphic design), and how computing has always been, and will continue to be a material concern. Less
Computing, and human interaction with these computational machines, has commonly been thought of as a kind of abstract activity where we manipulate digital objects on glossy screens. It is abstract in the sense that it is hands-on in terms of working with the computer, but still abstract in terms of how that work is to a great extent about arranging and re-arrange ‘painted bits’, click on virtual ‘buttons’, and about processing symbols, work with representations, and even store and access data in ‘the cloud’. How can all of this be even remotely related to materials? And does it really make sense to talk about the materiality of interaction in the context of human-computer interaction (HCI) and interaction design? In short, is materiality really a concern for interaction design? And accordingly, is it meaningful to talk about the materiality of interaction? In this chapter I dwell into these essential questions for interaction design. I do so by revisiting some examples from the early days of computing, and through one such historical backdrop I illustrate how computing was in its early days enabled through material configurations, and how we since then have tried to uphold various distinctions between the material and the immaterial, between the physical and the digital, between the virtual and the real (most recently in the current debate about skeuomorphic versus non-skeuomorphic design), and how computing has always been, and will continue to be a material concern.
Thomas J. Misa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816683314
- eISBN:
- 9781452948973
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816683314.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
‘St. Paul Start Up’ locates the pioneering Engineering Research Associates company in the Midway industrial district, which gave it the talent and special skills to succeed in building an early ...
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‘St. Paul Start Up’ locates the pioneering Engineering Research Associates company in the Midway industrial district, which gave it the talent and special skills to succeed in building an early digital computer.Less
‘St. Paul Start Up’ locates the pioneering Engineering Research Associates company in the Midway industrial district, which gave it the talent and special skills to succeed in building an early digital computer.
Thomas J. Misa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816683314
- eISBN:
- 9781452948973
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816683314.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
‘Industrial Dynamics’ outlines how Minnesota embraced the “information economy” in its workforce and notable institutions (inc. Minneapolis Federal Reserve, University, and statewide educational ...
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‘Industrial Dynamics’ outlines how Minnesota embraced the “information economy” in its workforce and notable institutions (inc. Minneapolis Federal Reserve, University, and statewide educational computing). Missed opportunities in the state’s 1990s industrial strategies, including Internet developments.Less
‘Industrial Dynamics’ outlines how Minnesota embraced the “information economy” in its workforce and notable institutions (inc. Minneapolis Federal Reserve, University, and statewide educational computing). Missed opportunities in the state’s 1990s industrial strategies, including Internet developments.
Thomas J. Misa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816683314
- eISBN:
- 9781452948973
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816683314.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
‘Philadelphia Story’ identifies the origin of Minnesota’s computing industry in the military, industrial, and intelligence mobilizations of the second world war. Pearl Harbor to secret code-breaking.
‘Philadelphia Story’ identifies the origin of Minnesota’s computing industry in the military, industrial, and intelligence mobilizations of the second world war. Pearl Harbor to secret code-breaking.
Thomas J. Misa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816683314
- eISBN:
- 9781452948973
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816683314.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
‘Innovation Machine’ presents the best available account of Control Data, a pivotal company active in supercomputing, computer services, and social vision. Assessments of computer guru Seymour Cray ...
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‘Innovation Machine’ presents the best available account of Control Data, a pivotal company active in supercomputing, computer services, and social vision. Assessments of computer guru Seymour Cray and business leader Bill Norris.Less
‘Innovation Machine’ presents the best available account of Control Data, a pivotal company active in supercomputing, computer services, and social vision. Assessments of computer guru Seymour Cray and business leader Bill Norris.
