Supercomputers: Charting the Future of Cybernetics (Science and Technology in Focus)

Grade 8 Up–This revised and expanded edition of Supercomputers: Shaping the Future (Facts On File, 1995) updates that source's account of achievements in high-end computing over the past decade and concludes with a discussion of optical and quantum computers' exciting potential. Rather nebulously defining "supercomputers" as "usually... the fastest, and most expensive, computers available at any given time," the authors present a thorough history of data storage and manipulation devices, from ancient Sumerian clay tablets through Charles Babbage's "Difference Engine" to ENIAC, the sexy-looking creations of Seymour Cray, and the recent growth of multiple-unit cluster systems–not to mention the Internet. The development of office machines in general and the many uses to which computers have been put in business, science, military pursuits, and film animation are also examined. Though the newest entries in the list for further reading date from early 2003, and the scant, poorly reproduced mix of diagrams and black-and-white photos give the book a deceptively drab, assignment-title look, this volume merits a place in collections as a replacement for the old edition, or simply as a systematic study of one of the most cogent, rapidly changing topics in the history of technology.–John Peters, New York Public Library
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