History of Computing: Software Issues

Abstract

This book is based on the international conference "Mapping the History of Computing: Software Issues", held in April 2000 at the Heinz Nixdorf Museums Forum in Paderborn, Germany. The primary objective of the conference was to review our present understanding of the history of software and to establish an agenda for further research. By exploring our current understanding of software and its history, speakers and commentators investigated the fundamental elements of software. The problems and questions addressed at the conference ranged from purely technical to societal issues. Thus, the articles presented in this book offer a fresh view of this history with new categories and interrelated themes, comparing and contrasting software with artefacts in other disciplines, so as to ascertain in what ways software is similar to and different from other technologies.