Flynn R.R. (Ed.) Computer Sciences. Volume 4. Electronic Universe

New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. — 335 p. — (Macmillan Science Library). — ISBN10: 0-02-865570-2. — ISBN13: 978-0-0286-5570-2.Volume 4 delves into our interconnected, networked society. The Internet is explored in detail, including its history, applications, and backbone. Molecular computing and artificial life are discussed, as are mobile computing and encryption technology. The reader will find articles on electronic banking, books, commerce, publishing, as well as information access and overload. Ethical matters pertaining to the electronic universe are also addressed.Volume 4 extends our aesthetic interest with articles on photography and the use of computers in art. Readers will learn more about how cybercafes keep friends and family connected as well as the type of social impact that computers have had on society. Data gathering, storage, and retrieval are investigated in topics such as data mining and data warehousing. Similarly, Java applets, JavaScript, agents, and Visual Basic are featured.Among the people highlighted in Volume 4 are Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937), inventor of wireless communications; American engineer Claude E. Shannon (1916–2001), a pioneer of information theory; and Soviet mathematician Victor M. Glushkov (1923–1982),
who advanced the science of cybernetics.The Many Facets of Computer Science Computer science has many interesting stories, many of which are told in this volume. Among them are the battle between John Atanasoff and John Mauchley and J. Presper Eckert Jr. over the patent to the electronic digital computer and regenerative memory, symbolized and embodied in the lawsuits between Sperry-Rand (Mauchley-Eckert) and Honeywell (Atanasoff) and Sperry-Rand (Mauchley-Eckert) and CDC (Atanasoff). The lawsuits are not covered here, but the principal actors are. And there is Thomas J. Watson’s prediction, possibly apocryphal, of the need (“demand”) for 50 computers worldwide! Plus, Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, became famous for a reason other than being British poet Lord George Gordon Byron’s daughter. And German inventor Konrad Zuse (1910–1995) saw his computers destroyed by the Allies during World War II, while Soviet mathematician Victor M. Glushkov (1923–1982) had an institute named after him and his work.Scientific visualization is now a topic of interest, while data processing is passé. Nanocomputing has become a possibility, while mainframes are still
in use and e-mail is commonplace in many parts of the world. It has been a great half-century or so (60 some years) for a fledgling field that began, possibly, with the Abacus!Organization of the Material Computer Sciences contains 286 entries that were newly commissioned for this work. More than 125 people contributed to this set, some from academia, some from industry, some independent consultants. Many contributors are from the United States, but other countries are represented including Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and Germany. In many cases, our contributors have written extensively on their subjects before, either in books or journal articles. Some even maintain their own web sites providing further information on their research topics.A
Agents
Amdahl, Gene Myron
Art
Artificial Life
Assistive Computer Technology for Persons with Disabilities
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
(ATM)
Authentication
B
Bandwidth
Browsers
C
Censorship: National, International
Chemistry
Computer Vision
Cookies
Copyright
Credit Online
Cryptography
Cybercafe
Cybernetics
D
Data Mining
Data Warehousing
Digital Images
Digital Libraries
Digital Signatures
E
E-banking
E-books
E-commerce: Economic and Social
Aspects
E-journals and E-publishing
Electronic Campus
Electronic Markets
Entrepreneurs
Ethics
F
Feynman, Richard P
Fiction, Computers in
Firewalls
FTP
G
Global Positioning Systems
Global Surveillance
Glushkov, Victor M
Guru
H
Hackers
Home Entertainment
Human Factors: User Interfaces
I
Information Access
Information Overload
Information Theory
Internet: Applications
Internet: Backbone
Internet: History
Intranet
J
Java Applets
JavaScript
Journalism
M
Marconi, Guglielmo
Mobile Computing
Molecular Computing
N
Nanocomputing
Newell, Allen
Nyquist, Harry
P
Patents
Photography
Political Applications
R
Routing
S
Search Engines
Service Providers
Shannon, Claude E
Simon, Herbert A
Social Impact
T
TCP/IP
Telnet
U
Urban Myths
V
Visual Basic
Photo and Illustration
CreditsTopic Outline