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Ask HN: Where to learn about computer science and software engineering history?

I'm a CS major who has started to be interested in Computer Science and Software Engineering's history. The reason is that I would like to make a show like Extra Credits on YouTube but specific to tech. The goal is to tell the history of Computer Science and Software Engineering through drawings because I also have drawing skills. What would be good ressources for learning more on the topic? What do you recommend? Thanks in advance :)

jonjacky 5y ago
The standard textbooks by historians are: A History of Modern Computing by Paul Ceruzzi Computer: A History of the Information Machine by Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray There are good books by journalists and popular writers. Favorites on HN are: The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal by W. Mitchell Waldrop Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet by Katie Hafner and Matthey Lyon These and many many other books are recomended and described in this HN thread from two years ago: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22692281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22692281
- nassimsoftware 5y ago
  Thanks!
jonjacky 5y ago
PS - If you are interested in drawing, you might look up books and especially pictures of ENIAC, often called the first electronic computer. It was programmed with patchcords so it's visually more interesting than all the gray boxes that came after. It looks more like a giant Moog synthesizer. Try an image search on: Eniac monte carlo patch cords Or look in the book Eniac in Action by Thomas Haigh et al. Lots of ENIAC-related diagrams linked to this page: https://eniacinaction.com/the-book/supporting-technical-materials/ https://eniacinaction.com/the-book/supporting-technical-mate... for example this flowchart: https://eniacinaction.com/docs/MonteCarloSecondRunFlowDiagramFromCode.pdf https://eniacinaction.com/docs/MonteCarloSecondRunFlowDiagra...
- ThrowawayR2 5y ago
  Another interesting thing to look at, from the drawing perspective, is Larry Gonick's "Cartoon Guide to Computer Science": https://archive.org/details/TheCartoonGuideToComputerScience/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TheCartoonGuideToComputerScience...
ThrowawayR2 5y ago
PBS has a similar video series from perhaps which you can draw inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpIctyqH29Q&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNlUrzyH5r6jN9ulIgZBpdo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpIctyqH29Q&list=PL8dPuuaLjX...

jonjacky 5y ago

The standard textbooks by historians are: A History of Modern Computing by Paul Ceruzzi Computer: A History of the Information Machine by Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray There are good books by journalists and popular writers. Favorites on HN are: The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal by W. Mitchell Waldrop Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet by Katie Hafner and Matthey Lyon These and many many other books are recomended and described in this HN thread from two years ago: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22692281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22692281

nassimsoftware 5y ago
Thanks!

jonjacky 5y ago

PS - If you are interested in drawing, you might look up books and especially pictures of ENIAC, often called the first electronic computer. It was programmed with patchcords so it's visually more interesting than all the gray boxes that came after. It looks more like a giant Moog synthesizer. Try an image search on: Eniac monte carlo patch cords Or look in the book Eniac in Action by Thomas Haigh et al. Lots of ENIAC-related diagrams linked to this page: https://eniacinaction.com/the-book/supporting-technical-materials/ https://eniacinaction.com/the-book/supporting-technical-mate... for example this flowchart: https://eniacinaction.com/docs/MonteCarloSecondRunFlowDiagramFromCode.pdf https://eniacinaction.com/docs/MonteCarloSecondRunFlowDiagra...

ThrowawayR2 5y ago
Another interesting thing to look at, from the drawing perspective, is Larry Gonick's "Cartoon Guide to Computer Science": https://archive.org/details/TheCartoonGuideToComputerScience/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TheCartoonGuideToComputerScience...

ThrowawayR2 5y ago

PBS has a similar video series from perhaps which you can draw inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpIctyqH29Q&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNlUrzyH5r6jN9ulIgZBpdo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpIctyqH29Q&list=PL8dPuuaLjX...