79390 History of Computing and Computer Science: Perspectives on the Digital Age
Units: 6.0
Instructors: McGee
Schedule: MW 10:10-11:30
BH 235A
Description:
How did the computer come to be, and why did the practice of computer science develop historically the way it did? This course provides a general overview of the history of computer technology and computer science as an intellectual field of inquiry. Focusing on the scientific, technological, political, cultural, and business contexts that formed modern computing, the class explores computers as objects, ideas, and embodiments of broader emerging digital society. From early modern efforts to calculate the natural world through World War II codebreaking to present-day Silicon Valley, this course examines the computer as a transformative object and contextualizes its origins and development.