Course Description
Introduces students to the history of digital computers, from their nineteenth-century antecedents to the cutting-edge technologies of the twenty-first century. Students will learn about the technologies, personalities, and businesses behind the rise of Silicon Valley, the internet, the video game industry, artificial intelligence, and other applications of modern computing.
Athena Title
History of Computing
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students should come away from this course with a thorough understanding of the origins, development, and transformative power of modern computing technology. Students will engage with the materials via lectures and readings of historical documents and modern historical interpretations. Students will be required to synthesize what they have learned in essays, written exams, and classroom discussions. These assignments and expectations are designed to hone written and spoken communication skills for students in technical fields who may not otherwise have an opportunity to develop these competencies.
Topical Outline
Week 1: Nineteenth-Century Origins: Lovelace, Boole, Babbage Week 2: Early Analog Computers and Information Processing Week 3: Enigma: Cryptography and Computers in WWII Week 4: Computers and the Cold War Week 5: Programmers: Women as Computers Week 6: IBM and the Business Mainframe: Toward System 360 Week 7: Computers and the Counterculture: Geeks, Hackers, Phreaks Week 8: Steve Jobs, Apple, and Personal Computing Week 9: Bill Gates, Microsoft, and Monopoly Week 10: ARAPNET to Internet Week 11: Pong and Beyond: The Rise of the Video Game Week 12: Digital Languages: The Software Revolution Week 13: Thinking Machines: Artificial Intelligence Week 14: The New Giants: Facebook, Google, Twitter Week 15: Cyberwarfare and the Digital Battlefield