The Computer Boys Take Over : Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (331 pages)
- History of Computing Series .
- History of Computing Series .
Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- The Computer People -- A Brief History of Programming -- The "Labor Crisis" in Programming -- A Crisis in Programmer Management -- Computing as a Human Activity -- Chapter 2. The Black Art of Programming -- An Unexpected Revolution -- The Origins of Computer Programming -- " Glorifi ed Clerical Workers " -- The Art of Programming -- Building Castles in the Air -- Chapter 3. Chess Players, Music Lovers, and Mathematicians -- In Search of "Clever Fellows" -- The Persistent Personnel Problem -- Wayne State Conference -- Aptitude Tests and Psychological Profi les -- IBM PAT -- Personality Profi les -- The Situation Can Only Get Worse -- Making Programming Masculine -- The Search for Solutions -- Chapter 4. Tower of Babel -- Automatic Programmers -- Assemblers, Compilers, and the Origins of the Subroutine -- FORTRAN -- COBOL -- ALGOL, Pascal, ADA, and Beyond -- No Silver Bullet -- Chapter 5. The Rise of Computer Science -- The Humble Programmer -- Comptologist, Turingeer, or Applied Epistomologist? -- Computer Bureaus and Computing Laboratories -- Trading Zones -- Is Computer Science Science? -- Fundamental Algorithms -- "Cute Programming Tricks" -- Science as Professional Identity -- Chapter 6. The Cosa Nostra of the Data Processing Industry -- Unsettling the Desk Set -- Computers Can't Solve Everything -- Seat-of-the-Pants Management -- Management, Information, and Systems -- A New Theocracy-or Industrial Carpetbaggers? -- The Revolt of the Managers -- The Road to Garmisch -- Chapter 7. The Professionalization of Programming -- The Certified Public Programmer -- The Association for Computing Machinery -- The Data Processing Management Association -- Professional Societies or Technician Associations? -- The Limits of Professionalism -- Chapter 8. Engineering a Solution. Industrializing Software Development -- Aristocracy, Democracy, and Systems Design -- Armies of Programmers -- Superprogrammer to the Rescue -- Computer Programming as a Human Activity -- From Exhilaration to Disillusionment -- Chapter 9. Conclusions -- Software's Chronic Crisis -- Drawing Boundaries/Construction Disciplines -- Visible Technicians -- Where Did All the Women Go? -- From Crisis to Opportunity -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.
The contentious history of the computer programmers who developed the software that made the computer revolution possible.