Leith lectures in information technology and law at the Queen’s University of Belfast and occupies a position halfway between computer science and law. His book is a text on the philosophy and sociology of computer science.
The author defines “formalism” as “the attempt, in computer science, to state that all problems are technical and mathematical.” His thesis is that “in computer science the major limiting factor is…the social.” The book is divided into ten chapters:
The Concept of Formalism
The Call to Formalism
Logic and Information
Post-Medieval Information Processing
Axiomatic Strategies in Computers and the Law
Computer Models and Their Social Framework
The Expertise in an Expert System
Engineering and Mathematics in the Software Crisis
Computer Science Education
The Sociology of Computing as a Science
The author acknowledges that this selection excludes a discussion of the computer and language and the relationship of hardware to software. The book is a plea for broader thinking by those involved in computer science. The book does not require any particular technical background to be understood. Overall, it is well written, but for use as a classroom text it would have been desirable to include some questions for discussion and some treatment of the omitted topics. The book does contain a lengthy bibliography and index.
