Alan Turing and his contemporaries. Building the world's first computers (Q2862667)

In 1949, Alan Turing supervised a Master's thesis with the title ``On the mechanical solution of a problem in Church's lambda calculus''. The student did not continue to the doctorate; in part due to a remark by Professor Newman: ``Miss Bates, I don't think anyone will ever get a PhD involving computers''. This anecdote, and many other of the same kind, make this book a pleasant read for anybody with a passion for computing.NEWLINENEWLINEFocusing on Britain's early computer history, between 1945 and 1955, this book makes the men and women behind the development that we today all take for granted come alive. It has often been said that, to understand the future, we must first understand the past. I think this remains true in today's world of computing. In addition, the daunting speed of innovation demonstrated in the early days of computing can serve as an inspiration for today's much larger computing community.