Konrad Zuse is one of the great pioneers of the computer age. He created thefirst fully automated, program controlled, freely programmable computer using binary floating-point calculation. It was operational in 1941. He built his first machines in Berlin during the Second World War, with bombs falling all around, and after the war he built up a company that was taken over by Siemens in 1967. Zuse was an inventor in the traditional style, full of phantastic ideas, but also gifted with a powerful analytical mind. Single-handedly, he developed one of the first programming languages, the Plan Calculus, including features copied only decades later in other languages. He wrote numerousbooks and articles and won many honors and awards. This is his autobiography, written in an engagingly lively and pleasant style, full of anecdotes, reminiscences, and philosophical asides. It traces his life from his childhood in East Prussia, through tense wartime experiences and hard times building up his business after the war, to a ripe old age andwell-earned celebrity.

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From the reviews:

"The book tells the story of an inventor and an entrepreneur. It is refreshing because it allows one to see things outside of the box, beyond the more traditional story, so that he or she can better appreciate key aspects of computing and computation. Furthermore, the book tells the story of a father, a hard worker, and a recognized inventor, including pictures and plenty of anecdotes. ... The book is probably the only reliable source about Konrad Zuse's life and contributions to the world." (Hector Zenil, ACM Computing Reviews, November, 2011)

Book Information
ISBN 9783642081514
Author Konrad Zuse
Format Paperback
Page Count 246
Imprint Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K
Publisher Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG