In the Beginning 2.0: Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers

Author Robert L. Glass has prepared a guided tour through the personal historical recollections of 18 software pioneers-himself counted among them--including three female pioneers added for this new edition. In the Beginning 2.0: Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers is a history of early computing and software engineering, covering decades and spanning continents. These stories fill in important details of how the age we are living in now was made possible through the ideas and innovations of software practitioners, researchers, and businesspeople.

People are at the center of these stories. Every one of the pioneering contributors recognizes by name what amounts to 243 separate people mentioned in this book, many of them more than once by different contributors. Scientists, programmers, designers, clerks, managers, sales people, consultants, professors, investors, generals, inventors, collaborators, innovators, competitors, and nemeses--all these stories are here.

The stories also cover a full scope of early computing contexts: business, scientific, laboratory, service computing, and time sharing. On the earth, flying above it, and outside the atmosphere. The Index of this book records 83 companies, 36 organizations, 30 government entities, and 46 schools and universities.

Nearly every one of these software stories is intertwined with at least one hardware story, if not several. 

At least 27 different programming languages are discussed in this book, but also 80 distinct computers and computer models, plus 45 computing technologies.

Showing this is no mere collection of yarns, many contributors provide detailed technical explanations that include formulas, diagrams, and examples. The Index records 116 distinct computing concepts and 89 entries for coinage, invention, and early use.

The book is tied together and guided along by the well-informed perspective of Robert L. Glass, who gathered these recollections from his fellow pioneers and organized them into a conceptual framework of computing eras and contexts. Glass introduces each chapter and contributes several recollections of his own. The book is illustrated throughout with figures provided by the contributors and with original drawings by P.Edward Presson.

In the Beginning 2.0 should stand the test of time as an important contribution to computing and software history.

Full list of contributing software pioneers:



Robert L. Baber

John M. Bennett

Bruce I. Blum

Barry W. Boehm

Robert N. Britcher

Peter J. Denning

Robert L. Glass

Harold Joseph Highland

Raymond C. Houghton, Jr.

Watts S. Humphrey

Frank Land

Ben G. Matley

Ann Moffatt

David Myers

Donald J. Reifer

Linda Rising

Norman F. Schneidewind

Jennifer Seberry



A detailed biographical sketch of each contributor is included.