Upcoming Readings & Assignments

• For next series of readings (in computer history):
  • Read the essay (selections) by Vannevar Bush as a principal statement of its times about the possible future of information technology.
  • Read the histories of computing for background, paying attention to:
    • The main historical narrative of the rise of the computer and Internet.
    • Main technical developments. You need to know only the standout developments–key figures, machines, and technologies (e.g., John von Neumann, the Univac computer and other famous machines, the rise of the ARPAnet and Internet, etc., but not the detail of all historical figures, machines, technologies, etc.)
    • Main conceptual and logical principles (e.g., von Neumann computer, stored program computer, networking)
  • For  the reading assignment about HTML, just look through the document to get an orientation about how HTML works.
• Get started reading the novel: Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 — by next Friday read at a minimum the first two chapters, pp. 1-30. (If possible, read to p. 88.)
• First essay assignment (due end of next week)
  • “AI Challenge” option
  • Prof. Liu’s “Intellectual Property and Academic Integrity Guidelines”
    • Section on “Use of AI”

The Communications Revolution & the Digital Principle (continued)

Computer Revolution (1): History of the Computer