Routines of Substitution

John von Neumann’s Work on Software Development, 1945–1948

Mark Priestley (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

VIII, 131 Seiten

2018 | 1st ed. 2018
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-91670-5 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

This work is a historical and philosophical study of the programming work carried out by John von Neumann in the period 1945-8. At the heart of the book is an examination of a manuscript featuring the earliest known surviving example of von Neumann's coding, a routine written in 1945 to 'mesh' two sequences of data and intended to be part of a larger program implementing the algorithm now known as mergesort.

The text of the manuscript itself, along with a preliminary document describing the code he used to write this program, are reproduced as appendices. The program is approached in three chapters describing the historical background to von Neumann's work, the significance of the sorting application itself, and the development of the EDVAC, the machine for which the program was written. The subsequent chapters widen the focus again, discussing the subsequent evolution of the program and the crucial topic of subroutines, before concluding by situating von Neumann's work in a number of wider contexts. The book also offers a unifying philosophical interpretation of von Neumann's approach to coding.

Dr. Mark Priestley is a freelance writer and historian of computing based in London.

Introduction.- Sorting and Collating.- EDVAC and its Codes.- The 1945 Meshing Routine.- Planning and Coding.- Subroutines.- Contexts and Conclusions.- Appendix A: Von Neumann's Second EDVAC Code.- Appendix B: Von Neumann's Meshing Routine Manuscript.

Erscheinungsdatum	06.07.2018
Reihe/Serie	SpringerBriefs in History of Computing
Zusatzinfo	VIII, 131 p. 8 illus.
Verlagsort	Cham
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	225 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte
	Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik
	Naturwissenschaften
Schlagworte	Early Computer Programs • EDVAC • John von Neumann • software development • sorting algorithms
ISBN-10	3-319-91670-X / 331991670X
ISBN-13	978-3-319-91670-5 / 9783319916705
Zustand	Neuware