History of Computing: Learning from the Past Why is the history of
computing important? Given that the computer, as we now know it, came
into existence less than 70 years ago it might seem a little odd to some
people that we are concerned with its history. Isn't history about 'old
things'? Computing, of course, goes back much further than 70 years with
many earlier - vices rightly being known as computers, and their history
is, of course, important. It is only the history of electronic digital
computers that is relatively recent. History is often justified by use
of a quote from George Santayana who famously said that: 'Those who
cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it'. It is arguable
whether there are particular mistakes in the history of computing that
we should avoid in the future, but there is some circularity in this
question, as the only way we will know the answer to this is to study
our history. This book contains papers on a wide range of topics
relating to the history of c- puting, written both by historians and
also by those who were involved in creating this history. The papers are
the result of an international conference on the History of Computing
that was held as a part of the IFIP World Computer Congress in Brisbane
in September 2010.