Prelude: Computing from Ancient Times to the Modern Era - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 9

Mathematics is the first of these six forms of invention. Calculating devices,
computers, and software were all first invented to speed up mathematical calcula-
tions. Mathematics probably started with addition and subtraction and were then
followed later by multiplication and division. After that, many other and more ab-
stract forms appeared: geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and calculus, for example.
The second form of invention is the recording of ideas and information so they
can be shared and transmitted and also to keep the ideas available over long time
periods. The inventions in this category include writing systems and physical stor-
age of writing. Physical storage of writing includes stone tablets, clay tablets, pa-
pyrus, animal skins, paper, and eventually magnetic and optical storage. Storage
also includes manuscripts, books, libraries, and eventually databases and cloud
storage.
The third form of invention is that of physical calculating devices that could
assist human scholars in faster and more accurate calculations than would be pos-
sible using only the human mind and the human body. Tables of useful values
were perhaps the first method used to speed up calculations. Physical devices in-
clude the abacus, protractors, astrolabes, measuring devices, mechanical calculat-
ing devices, slide rules, analog computers, and eventually electronic digital com-
puters.
A fourth form of invention involves the available channels for distributing in-
formation to many people. The first channel was no doubt word of mouth and
passing information along to be memorized by students or apprentices. But soon
information transmission started to include markings on stones and bones; mark-
ings on clay; and eventually pictographs, ideographs, and finally alphabets.
The fifth form of invention is that of software itself. This is the most recent
form of invention; essentially all software used in 2013 is less than 55 years old,
probably more than 50% of the software is less than 20 years old.
A sixth form of invention is indirect. These are enabling inventions that are not
directly connected to computers and software but that helped in their development.
One such enabling invention is the patent system. A second and very important
enabling invention was plastic.