Interesting read - Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era
01-14-2018, 01:26 PM
Post: #1
 Ed Wright Junior Member Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 2013
Interesting read - Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era
I ran across a very interesting book today called "Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era" published by Springer.

http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781848827417

It includes a lot of historical information on slide rules, but also the introduction of electronic calculators, most notably the HP-35 and "Lloyd’s
Accumatic electronic slide rule."

"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it." -- Albert Einstein
01-14-2018, 01:35 PM
Post: #2
 grsbanks Senior Member Posts: 566 Joined: Jan 2017
RE: Interesting read - Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era
Looks like an interesting read, but.... $113 ? 01-14-2018, 02:55 PM Post: #3  SlideRule Senior Member Posts: 432 Joined: Dec 2013 RE: Interesting read - Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era (01-14-2018 01:26 PM)Ed Wright Wrote: … a very interesting book … "Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era" … by Springer. http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781848827417 … includes a lot of historical information on slide rules, but also the introduction of electronic calculators, most notably the HP-35 … from pgs. v & vi in the Preface The arguments of the book are then developed around retrieving and interpreting a series of representative comparisons. Central here are comparisons involving the slide rule, an artifact with a uniquely rich history throughout the mechanical and the electrical eras. The book introduces it in two chapters, which offer an overview of the history of the use of the slide rule (Chap. 2) and details of its use in the context of electrification (Chap. 3). With the addition of a chapter that includes artifacts that represented the highest and the lowest ratio of machine to human computing capital, like the analyzers (Chap. 4) and the graphs (Chap. 5), respectively, the comparisons of the book open up to the whole range of computing artifacts—tools, instruments, mechanisms, machines—that have been historiographically devaluated through their a posteriori placement under the allegedly inferior class of analog computers. The book includes a chapter that focuses on comparisons undertaken from the other side, that of promoters of the class of the calculating artifacts—calculating and tabulating machines—that were a posteriori designated as preelectronic ancestors of the digital electronic computer (Chap. 6). By this chapter, all the elements are in place in order to retrieve the key role of the concealment of the laboring with the analog part of computing machines through its encasement (blackboxing), which left on display only a view of the machine as digital (numbers). It follows that this is not a book about preelectronic analog or digital computers but about the how and why the two emerged as technically different in the electronic era—the one with the concealed analogy, representing, supposedly, an evolution from an inferior to a superior class of computers. [attachment=5561] The reference to HP-35 calculator is found in 2.9 "Unfair to Compare" pages 30 thru 35. It is an interesting read! BEST! SlideRule 01-14-2018, 04:55 PM Post: #4  smp Senior Member Posts: 352 Joined: Jul 2015 RE: Interesting read - Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era (01-14-2018 01:35 PM)grsbanks Wrote: Looks like an interesting read, but....$113 ?

You missed a bargain - it's now listed at $119! 8-) smp 01-16-2018, 10:48 AM (This post was last modified: 01-16-2018 10:48 AM by toml_12953.) Post: #5  toml_12953 Senior Member Posts: 914 Joined: Dec 2013 RE: Interesting read - Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era (01-14-2018 04:55 PM)smp Wrote: (01-14-2018 01:35 PM)grsbanks Wrote: Looks like an interesting read, but....$113 ?

You missed a bargain - it's now listed at $119! 8-) smp Only$109 for eBook here (and if you use Ebates, you get 4% off)

https://www.ebooks.com/95939920/calculat...S&src=feed

I have no financial interest in this site, in Ebates or in the book. So there.

Tom L

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