From the Abacus to the Digital Revolution

Title: From the Abacus to the Digital Revolution
Author: Vicenç Torra
Publisher: RBA LIBROS
ISBN: 9788498679908
Review: Throughout its own development, calculation tools were always the result of culture specific numbering systems and available technologies at the time. From prehistorical calculation to Roman abacus, and from Arabian algorithms to the very first calculator, history of calculation is also, to a large extent, history of numbering systems. At the end of this evolutionary process, we find computers and informatics, which were developed with the same purpose: to achieve computer tools more and more powerful in order to perform more complex calculations. Through history the evolution of calculation tools leads us from Babylon to Alexandria, from Rome to China, from Egypt to India, and over the centuries we find Ramón Llull, Charles Babbage, Turing and his Colossus…until the current computer which is already part of our daily environment.