The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise (History of Computing)
暫譯: 電腦男孩的接管:電腦、程式設計師與技術專業的政治(計算機歷史)

Nathan L. Ensmenger

  • 出版商: MIT
  • 出版日期: 2012-08-17
  • 售價: $1,930
  • 貴賓價: 9.5$1,834
  • 語言: 英文
  • 頁數: 336
  • 裝訂: Paperback
  • ISBN: 0262517965
  • ISBN-13: 9780262517966
  • 海外代購書籍(需單獨結帳)

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商品描述

This is a book about the computer revolution of the mid-twentieth 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. As the systems that they built became increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, these specialists became the focus of a series of critiques of the social and organizational impact of electronic computing. To many of their contemporaries, it seemed the "computer boys" were taking over, not just in the corporate setting, but also in government, politics, and society in general. In The Computer Boys Take Over, Nathan Ensmenger traces the rise to power of the computer expert in modern American society. His rich and nuanced portrayal of the men and women (a surprising number of the "computer boys" were, in fact, female) who built their careers around the novel technology of electronic computing explores issues of power, identity, and expertise that have only become more significant in our increasingly computerized society.

In his recasting of the drama of the computer revolution through the eyes of its principle revolutionaries, Ensmenger reminds us that the computerization of modern society was not an inevitable process driven by impersonal technological or economic imperatives, but was rather a creative, contentious, and above all, fundamentally human development.

商品描述(中文翻譯)

這是一本關於二十世紀中期電腦革命及其背後推動者的書籍。與大多數計算機歷史書籍不同,這本書並不是關於機器、發明家或企業家的故事。相反,它講述了那些龐大但大多數是匿名的電腦專家——程序員、系統分析師和其他軟體開發者——的故事,他們將電子計算機從一種科學好奇心轉變為現代時代的定義性技術。隨著他們所建造的系統變得越來越強大且無處不在,這些專家成為了一系列對電子計算的社會和組織影響的批評焦點。對於許多當時的人來說,似乎「電腦男孩」不僅在企業環境中佔據主導地位,還在政府、政治和社會中普遍影響著。 在《電腦男孩的接管》中,Nathan Ensmenger 描繪了電腦專家在現代美國社會中崛起的過程。他對那些圍繞電子計算這一新技術建立職業生涯的男女(驚人的是,許多「電腦男孩」實際上是女性)的豐富而細緻的描繪,探討了權力、身份和專業知識等問題,這些問題在我們日益電腦化的社會中變得愈加重要。

在他通過主要革命者的視角重新詮釋電腦革命的戲劇時,Ensmenger 提醒我們,現代社會的電腦化並不是一個由非人性化的技術或經濟驅動的必然過程,而是一個創造性的、有爭議的,最重要的是,根本上是人性的發展。