The contentious history of the computer programmers who developed the software that made the computer revolution possible. This is a book about the computer revolution of the mid-twentieth century and the people who made it possible. Unlike most histories of computing, it is not a book about machines, inventors, or entrepreneurs. Instead, it tells the story of the vast but largely anonymous legions of computer specialists—programmers, systems analysts, and other software developers—who transformed the electronic computer from a scientific curiosity into the defining technology of the modern era. As the systems that they built became increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, these specialists became the focus of a series of critiques of the social and organizational impact of electronic computing. To many of their contemporaries, it seemed the “computer boys” were taking over, not just in the corporate setting, but also in government, politics, and society in general. In The Computer Boys Take Over, Nathan Ensmenger traces the rise to power of the computer expert in modern American society. His rich and nuanced portrayal of the men and women (a surprising number of the “computer boys” were, in fact, female) who built their careers around the novel technology of electronic computing explores issues of power, identity, and expertise that have only become more significant in our increasingly computerized society. In his recasting of the drama of the computer revolution through the eyes of its principle revolutionaries, Ensmenger reminds us that the computerization of modern society was not an inevitable process driven by impersonal technological or economic imperatives, but was rather a creative, contentious, and above all, fundamentally human development.
Author(s): Nathan L. Ensmenger
Series: History Of Computing
Edition: 1
Publisher: The MIT Press
Year: 2010
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF | Full TOC
Pages: 331
Tags: Computer Programming; Computer Programmers; Software Engineering: History; Computer Software: Development: Social Aspects
Cover
Half title
Series title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
The Computer People
A Brief History of Programming
The “Labor Crisis” in Programming
A Crisis in Programmer Management
Computing as a Human Activity
Chapter 2. The Black Art of Programming
An Unexpected Revolution
The Origins of Computer Programming
“Glorified Clerical Workers”
The Art of Programming
Building Castles in the Air
Chapter 3. Chess Players, Music Lovers, and Mathematicians
In Search of “Clever Fellows”
The Persistent Personnel Problem
Wayne State Conference
Aptitude Tests and Psychological Profiles
IBM PAT
Personality Profiles
The Situation Can Only Get Worse
Making Programming Masculine
The Search for Solutions
Chapter 4. Tower of Babel
Automatic Programmers
Assemblers, Compilers, and the Origins of the Subroutine
FORTRAN
COBOL
ALGOL, Pascal, ADA, and Beyond
No Silver Bullet
Chapter 5. The Rise of Computer Science
The Humble Programmer
Comptologist, Turingeer, or Applied Epistomologist?
Computer Bureaus and Computing Laboratories
Trading Zones
Is Computer Science Science?
Fundamental Algorithms
“Cute Programming Tricks”
Science as Professional Identity
Chapter 6. The Cosa Nostra of the Data Processing Industry
Unsettling the Desk Set
Computers Can’t Solve Everything
Seat-of-the-Pants Management
Management, Information, and Systems
A New Theocracy—or Industrial Carpetbaggers?
The Revolt of the Managers
The Road to Garmisch
Chapter 7. The Professionalization of Programming
The Certified Public Programmer
The Association for Computing Machinery
The Data Processing Management Association
Professional Societies or Technician Associations?
The Limits of Professionalism
Chapter 8. Engineering a Solution
Industrializing Software Development
Aristocracy, Democracy, and Systems Design
Armies of Programmers
Superprogrammer to the Rescue
Computer Programming as a Human Activity
From Exhilaration to Disillusionment
Chapter 9. Conclusions
Software’s Chronic Crisis
Drawing Boundaries/Construction Disciplines
Visible Technicians
Where Did All the Women Go?
From Crisis to Opportunity
Notes
Bibliography
Index
