{"product_id":"it-began-with-babbage-the-genesis-of-computer-science-9780199309412","title":"It Began with Babbage: The Genesis of Computer Science","description":"As a field, computer science occupies a unique scientific space, in that its subject matter can exist in both physical and abstract realms. An artifact such as software is both tangible and not, and must be classified as something in between, or liminal. The study and production of liminal\u003cbr\u003eartifacts allows for creative possibilities that are, and have been, possible only in computer science. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eIt Began with Babbage\u003c\/em\u003e, computer scientist and writer Subrata Dasgupta examines the distinct history of computer science in terms of its creative innovations, reaching back to Charles Babbage in 1819. Since all artifacts of computer science are conceived with a use in mind, the computer scientist\u003cbr\u003eis not concerned with the natural laws that govern disciplines like physics or chemistry; instead, the field is more concerned with the concept of purpose. This requirement lends itself to a type of creative thinking that, as Dasgupta shows us, has exhibited itself throughout the history of computer\u003cbr\u003escience. More than any other, computer science is the science of the artificial, and has a unique history to accompany its unique focus. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe book traces a path from Babbage's Difference Engine in the early 19th century to the end of the 1960s by when a new academic discipline named computer science had come into being. Along the way we meet characters like Babbage and Ada Lovelace, Turing and von Neumann, Shannon and Chomsky, and a\u003cbr\u003ehost of other people from a variety of backgrounds who collectively created this new science of the artificial. And in the end, we see how and why computer science acquired a nature and history all of its own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Subrata Dasgupta\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/05\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 342\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.20w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780199309412\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSubrata Dasgupta is a scholar, teacher, and author. He holds the Computer Science Trust Fund Eminent Scholar Chair in the School of Computing \u0026amp; Informatics, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he also teaches in the Department of History. For the past thirty years he has studied and written on the historical and cognitive nature of creativity in various fields including computer science, design theory, cultural and intellectual movements, science, technology, and art. He is the author of thirteen previous books, including \u003cem\u003eTechnology and Creativity\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eJagadis Chandra Bose and\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ethe Indian Response to Western Science\u003c\/em\u003e, both published by Oxford University Press, and a childhood memoir, \u003cem\u003eSalaam Stanley Matthews\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":40234706272371,"sku":"9.7802E+12","price":46.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_1076e481-ac1f-46a6-aebe-c969ea14bca1.jpg?v=1657026757","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/it-began-with-babbage-the-genesis-of-computer-science-9780199309412","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}