3 credits
Spring 2025 Lecture Lower Division
In this course we will explore the history of computin--from the pre-electronic days through the computer's ascent in the twentieth century to the various electronic computing and communications technologies that surround us today. This course will investigate why there was a desire to create computing machines in the first place, the economic and political arrangements that brought computers into existence, the debates over what computers could (and should) be used for, the development of the IT profession, and the gradual shift from computers being room-sized specialty machines to everyday objects that people carry around in their pockets.
Learning Outcomes1Identify social, economic, political, and historic factors that have shaped the development and application of computer technology.
2Describe the history of computing and its relevance for the world today.
3Locate primary source materials, critically analyze those sources by considering their context and the reasons for their creation.
4Examine work produced by, and arguments made by, historians.
5Discuss the role that computers play in everyday life with an expansive view of the wide breadth of computerized systems that surround us.
Attachments
made by Purdue students.