The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann

From the Publisher: In 1942, Lt. Herman H. Goldstine, a former mathematics professor, was stationed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania where he assisted in the creation of the ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer. The ENIAC was operational in 1945, but plans for a new computer were already under way. The principal source of ideas for the new computer was John von Neumann, who became Goldstine's chief collaborator. After World War II, at the Institute for Advanced Study, they built the prototype of the present-day computer. Herman Goldstine writes as both historian and scientist in this first examination of the development of computing machinery, from the seventeenth century through the early 1950s. His personal involvement lends a special authenticity to his narrative.