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| Eric, the associate editor in chief of Computing Reviews since 1982, has been involved in all aspects of technical literature since he sold his first article for $25 to Hugo Gernsbach’s Radio Craft in 1940, just after graduating from Lehigh University with B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering. He started reviewing for Computing Reviews as soon as John Carr founded it in 1960. After being the one-man proceedings committee for three ACM National Meetings (1958, 1959, and 1964), he was editor in chief of Computing Reviews from 1968 to 1970, and, in 1970, was appointed chairman of the ACM Editorial Board. He then became the first chairman of the Publication Board, serving until 1973. His two best and longest lasting accomplishments in that time are evidenced first by the ACM Copyright Notice still found on the title page of all ACM periodicals, giving free reprinting permission for personal and classroom use. His second accomplishment is memorialized on the title page of Computing Reviews, where a seldom used, but effective rebuttal procedure is outlined. In addition to his reviews, he contributed writings to the Communications of the ACM, most notably in a popular series of ‘Self Assessment Procedures’ in the 1975 to 1993 period. Outside ACM, while a full-time employee of the Sun Oil Company, Eric wrote or edited seven computing textbooks, all of which are now out of print; was an advisory editor for several years for McGraw-Hill’s Control Engineering; served as associate editor for the five-year life of Abacus, a Springer-Verlag computing quarterly; and was on the editorial board of all four editions of Anthony Ralston’s The Encyclopedia of Computer Science, for which he always wrote the Literature of Computing article. He joined the editorial board of what is now the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing in 1980, was biographies editor for 16 years, and is now a contributing editor. In 1978, Eric was given the ACM Distinguished Service Award, and as a consequence, in 1993, was in the first batch of ACM Fellows. Eric, who retired from Sun Oil in 1982, and his wife of 63 years, Helen, now live in Kailua, Hawaii, which is well connected by wire to the mainland bases of the ACM, the IEEE, and Lehigh University, to all of which he sends comment, counsel, advice, criticism, and praise. |
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Terror on the Internet: the new arena, the new challenges Weimann G., The United States Institute of Peace, 2006. 256 pp. Type: Book (9781929223718)
This book is in the Chicken Little category, warning that the sky is falling because terrorists are using the Internet. It asserts that terrorist organizations exploit the Internet, tells readers how, and reviews the nonsecret counter-...
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Feb 14 2007 |
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Putt’s law and the successful technocrat: how to win in the information age Putt A., Wiley-IEEE Press, 2006. 184 pp. Type: Book (9780471714224)
Although the author denies it, this is a humorous satire, a rare form of computing literature. It is the second, slightly augmented, edition of a book first published by the IEEE in 1981, which is said to have been met with great succe...
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Feb 13 2007 |
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iWoz: from computer geek to cult icon: how I invented the personal computer, co-founded Apple, and had fun doing it Wozniak S., Smith G., W. W. Norton, New York, NY, 2006. 288 pp. Type: Book (9780393061437)
This charming personal memoir records, in extreme detail, what the author wishes to reveal about his life from 1950 to 2005. Although rambling, and clearly assembled from many long oral recitations, it is, as the author intended, enter...
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Jan 26 2007 |
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Fred Terman at Stanford: building a discipline, a university, and Silicon Valley Gillmor C., Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2004. 642 pp. Type: Book (9780804749145)
This huge book gives three intermingled histories. Overall, it is a long, detailed, and loving biography of Fred Terman (1900-1982), a brilliant, accomplished, but unassuming electrical engineer; inspiring educator; and visionary and s...
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Sep 12 2006 |
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The digital sublime: myth, power, and cyberspace Mosco V., The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005. 232 pp. Type: Book (9780262633291)
Mosco intends to build a bridge from culture, as manifested in mythology, to political economy. His myths are the dramatic warnings of popular 20th century dreamers, tricksters, writers, and talkers who predicted the ends of almost eve...
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Aug 17 2006 |
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Encyclopedia of multimedia Furht B., Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., Secaucus, NJ, 2005. 989 pp. Type: Book (9780387243955)
Weighing in at over 14 pounds and priced at $448, this 989-page monster is the largest and most expensive book that I have ever encountered in 50 years of reviewing computing literature! It is aimed extremely broadly at “anyo...
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Jun 29 2006 |
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The man who knew too much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer (Great Discoveries) Leavitt D., W. W. Norton&Company, 2005. Type: Book (9780393052367)
Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) was a world-class mathematician, logician, and cryptographer. His formalization of the concepts of algorithm and computation with his imagined Turing machine has proven to be enormously influential, and...
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Apr 10 2006 |
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Replicating the manchester baby: motives, methods, and messages from the past Burton C. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 27(3): 44-60, 2005. Type: Article
In June 1948, F.C. Williams and T. Kilburn at the University of Manchester demonstrated the operation of the first functioning stored-program computer, The University of Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), familiarly re...
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Feb 22 2006 |
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Improving Professional Conduct in Publishing Kalles D. Computer 38(10): 116-115, 2005. Type: Article
Kalles is seriously concerned about the insult caused by the hasty review of papers submitted to journals for publication. He describes two cases in which his papers were rejected, without naming the reviewers or the journals. He expre...
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Dec 8 2005 |
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Hollerith Punched Card System Development (1905-1913) Kistermann F. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 27(1): 56-66, 2005. Type: Article
This paper traces the 1905 to 1913 development of the tabulator, the most important of the three machines that then made up the Hollerith punched card system. It describes the machine and its use, and includes some discussion of the cu...
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Sep 9 2005 |
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