Nathan Ensmenger eBooks

This is a book about the computer revolution of the mid-20th century and the people who made it possible. Unlike most histories of computing, it is not a book about machines, inventors, or entrepreneurs. Instead, it tells the story of the vast but largely anonymous legions of computer specialists-programmers, systems analysts, and other software developers-who transformed the electronic computer from a scientific curiosity into the defining technology of the modern era. Known alternatively as whiz kids, hackers, and gurus, this new breed of technical specialists were alternately admired for their technical prowess and despised for their eccentric mannerisms and the disruptive potential of the technologies they developed. As the systems that they buil...