Occasional Research Reports
History of Computing Collection Occasional Reports
Swansea University’s History of Computing Collection is a resource for original research and teaching on information and communication technologies and their impact on the world. In this series of AdHoCC Occasional Reports we collect some notes and articles written about, or with the support of the Collection.
Separately, we will also make available selected work by students.
The index xy.z denotes report number z made available at HoCC in the year 20xy; note that the year 20xy may not be the year the piece was first published.
Occasional Reports
John Tucker, The Computer Revolution and Us: Computer Science at Swansea University from the 1960s.
A history of early computing in research, teaching and civic mission at Swansea University from up to 1989. Published: Swansea University Digital Collections, Centenary Essays 2020.
John Tucker, History of Computing Collection at Swansea University.
An introduction to Swansea University's History of Computing Collection that focuses on its archives and their relevance for the science of computer programming. Published: BCS FACS FACTS, Issue 2021-1, February 2021, 10-17.
21.2 J V Tucker, History of Computing Collection at Swansea University.
John Tucker, Peter Landin Lecture 2020 Algol 60 @ 60: Its place in Formal Semantics: by Tim Denvir and Troy Astarte.
A commentary of the 2020 Peter Landin Lecture celebrating 60 years of Algol 60. Published: BCS FACS FACTS, Issue 2021-1, February 2021, 30-37.
John Tucker, Haskell B Curry at War.
An article on ENIAC Report 615 by Haskell B Curry and Willa Wyatt from the Collection. Published: BCS FACS FACTS, Issue 2021-2, July 2021, 30-34.
21.4 J. V Tucker, Haskell B Curry at War.
John Tucker, Unfinished Business: Abstract Data Types and Computer Arithmetic.
An article on papers in the Collection about early attempts to model mathematically and analyse computer arithmetics by Goldstine and von Neumann (1947) and van Wijngaarden (1966). Published: BCS FACS FACT Issue 2022-1, January 2022, 60-68.
21.5 J V Tucker, Unfinished Business: Abstract Data Types and Computer Arithmetic.
John Tucker, PL/1 in New York, Winchester and Vienna.
An article on IBM Vienna Laboratory Reports in the Collection about the formal specification of the language PL/1. Published: BCS FACS FACTS, Issue 2022-2, July 2022, 5-15.
22.6 J V Tucker, PL/1 in New York, Winchester and Vienna.
John Tucker, Origins and Development of Formal Methods for Software Engineering.
An essay on the origins and development of formal methods for programming and software engineering. Theories of programming languages and methods for programming and reasoning about programs form one of the specialist areas of the Collection. The essay was published in the advanced textbook: Roggenbach, M., Cerone, A., Schlingloff, H., Schneider, G., Shaikh, S.A. (ed.), Formal Methods for Software Engineering: Languages, Methods, Application Domains, Springer, 2021, 455-488.
22.7 J V Tucker, Origins and Development of Formal Methods for Software Engineering
Mary Croarken, L.J. Comrie Collection at Swansea University.
The L.J. Comrie Collection is part of the History of Computing Collection at Swansea University. L.J. Comrie (1893 - 1950) was a significant pioneer of scientific computation in the twentieth century. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was the UK’s foremost expert in mathematical tables and their computation as well as on the application of commercial calculating machines to scientific problems. The L.J. Comrie Collection is focused on mathematical and scientific tables and is large in number of items and broad in the scope of topics covered.
22.8 M Croarken, Introduction to the Comrie Collection at Swansea University
Troy K Astarte, From Monitors to Monitors: A Primitive History.
As computers became multi-component systems in the 1950s, the desire for better understanding and control of `concurrency' spread. This paper examines the way in which the problem emerged and was handled across various computing cultures from 1955 to 1985. From the late 1950s, system programs called `monitors' were used for directly managing synchronisation.
23.9 T K Astarte, From Monitors to Monitors A Primative History
Troy K Astarte, Difficult Things are Difficult to Describe.
This paper explores the context of formal semantics for programming language and situates the work within the history of computer science, discussing how and why the community involved changed their focus to program correctness.
23.10 T K Astarte, Difficult Things are Difficult to Describe
