---
title: Very_Short_History_of_Computing_2022
tags: [literature, computer-history]
created: Friday, August 23, 2024
---

# _The History of Computing: A Very Short Introduction_ Swade

| Title                                               | Author      | Publication date | Resource type |
| --------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- |
| The History of Computing: A Very Short Introduction | Doron Swade | 2022             | Book          |

## Timeline

A typical timeline approach rooted in major innovations.

- Ancient aids to counting: knotted cords and notched sticks
- Ancient aids to calculation: counting boards and abacii
- Early mechanical calculator devices in the 17th century (number wheels,
  Pascal, Leibniz)
- Modern aids to calculation: slide rules following the discovery of
  [logarithms](Logarithms.md)
- Mechanized calculating engines of Babbage in the 19th century
- Punched-card machines leading to IBM in the early 20th century
- Analogue and electro-mechanical computers of the early 20th century inclusive
  of wartime computers
- Early valve-based (vacuum-tubed) digital computers (again wartime and early
  Cold War)
- The invention of the transistor and first fully-digital computers
- The invention of [integrated_circuits](Integrated_circuits.md)
- Supercomputers
- Minicomputers
- Consumer personal computers
- Internet and later, Web
- Smart phones