Computer Science: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
According to the viewpoint of the Machine Age, in order to understand something it has to be taken apart conceptually or physically. Then how does one come to understand its parts? The answer to this question is obvious: by taking the parts apart. But this answer obviously leads to another question: Is…
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Russell L. Ackoff • Ackoff's Best: His Classic Writings on Management
In the computer’s world, there is only data. You can read data, modify data, create new data—but that which isn’t data cannot be mentioned. All this data is stored as long sequences of bits and is thus fundamentally alike.
Marijn Haverbeke • Chapter 1Values, Types, and Operators
Knowledge and knowhow are two fundamental capacities that relate to computation, and both are crucial for the accumulation of information in the economy and society. Yet knowledge and knowhow are not the same. Simply put, knowledge involves relationships or linkages between entities. These relationships are often used to predict the outcomes of eve
... See moreCesar Hidalgo • Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies
The history of physical computers is a list of increasingly capable “bicycles for the mind” as Jobs put it. But my list of 10 conceptual advances above, along with their instrumental realizations (involving physical computers as well as other technologies), is more like a list of “telescopes for the soul.” Ways to peer into the computational heart ... See more