Abstract
The early history of digital computers (refs. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5) is of considerable interest and serves to emphasise that many of the ideas fundamental to modern machines had been incorporated into computers as early as 1950 or thereabouts (ref. 1.6). Thereafter the progress with respect to the physical equipment, the hardware, though spectacular, has been confined largely to the use of enhanced technology. Progress on the programming side, the software, has been spectacular also, involving the provision of a hierarchy of programming languages, the development of software aids to programming, so-called debug facilities and finally software-based operating systems which permit the overall control of machines, large and small, and their associated peripheral equipment.
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References
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© 1988 M. G. Hartley, M. Healey and P. G. Depledge
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Hartley, M.G., Healey, M., Depledge, P.G. (1988). Introduction. In: Mini and Microcomputer Systems. Macmillan Computer Science Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19315-8_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19315-8_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
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