
Transforming Computer Technology
Information Processing for the Pentagon, 1962-1986
Johns Hopkins University Press
Published on 28. March 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-8018-6369-1 (ISBN)
Description
Over the course of several decades, the Pentagon's Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) helped transform computing from a cumbersome enterprise based on batch processing to the instantly interactive, graphically rich, highly intelligent computing of today. With the purpose of improving command and control systems for the military, IPTO researchers strengthened time-sharing, laid the groundwork for graphics and parallel processing, contributed to the study of artificial intelligence, and developed the wide-area network that came to be known as the Internet. Transforming Computer Technology examines these and other developments at the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency in its heyday between 1962 and 1986. The authors show how Pentagon programs affected significant developments in both computer science and engineering. They analyze the management of the office, the origins and growth of important IPTO programs, and the interaction of the staff with the R&D community. They pay special attention to IPTO's role in executing research at the leading edge of computing and networking and in working with the military to transfer that research into practical use.
And they show how, by the 1990s, the research results had been assimilated into systems both for the military and for civilian society.
And they show how, by the 1990s, the research results had been assimilated into systems both for the military and for civilian society.
Reviews / Votes
Solid and informative... An important contribution to the history of computing. Science An important contribution to both science-policy literature and the history of computing. It will find an appreciative readership in the technology-policy community, in innovation studies, and in computer science. Computing ReviewsMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
616 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8018-6369-1 (9780801863691)
DOI
10.56021/9780801851520
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Arthur L. Norberg | Judy E. O'Neill
Transforming Computer Technology
Information Processing for the Pentagon, 1962-1986
Book
09/1996
Johns Hopkins University Press
€80.05
Article not available for order
Persons
Arthur L. Norberg and Judy E. O'Neill are the former director and associate director of the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI), Center for the History of Information Processing, University of Minnesota.
Content
Preface and Acknowledgments
List of Frequently Used Acronyms
Introduction
1. Managing for Technologial Innovation
2. Sharing Time
3. Getting the Picture: The Growth of Interactive Computer Graphics
4. Imporving Connections among Researchers: The Development of Packet-Switching Computer Networks
5. The Search for Intelligent Systems
6. Serving the Department of Defense and the Nation
Appendix: List of interview Subjects
Notes
Index
List of Frequently Used Acronyms
Introduction
1. Managing for Technologial Innovation
2. Sharing Time
3. Getting the Picture: The Growth of Interactive Computer Graphics
4. Imporving Connections among Researchers: The Development of Packet-Switching Computer Networks
5. The Search for Intelligent Systems
6. Serving the Department of Defense and the Nation
Appendix: List of interview Subjects
Notes
Index