| IEEE Annals of the History of Computing | |
|---|---|
| Former name(s) | Annals of the history of computing |
| Abbreviated title (ISO) | IEEE Ann Hist Comput |
| Discipline | History of Computing |
| Language | English |
| Edited by | Jeffrey R. Yost |
| Publication details | |
| Publisher | IEEE (U.S.) |
| Publication history | 1979– |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Indexing | |
| ISSN | 1058-6180 (print) 1934-1547 (web) |
| LCCN | 92650021 |
| CODEN | IAHCEX |
| OCLC number | 44452888 |
| Links | |
The IEEE Annals of the History of Computing is a quarterly journal published by the IEEE Computer Society. It contains peer-reviewed articles and other contributions on the history of computing, computer science and computer hardware by computer scientists and historians. It is widely considered to be the leading journal in this field.[1]
The first issue of the Annals appeared in July 1979, edited by Bernard Galler. It included articles by Nancy Stern about the history of the BINAC, John Backus on the history of FORTRAN, I.J. Good on the early computers built at Bletchley Park, and F.J. Gruenberger on the history of the JOHNNIAC. With the computer industry more than 30 years old in the 1970s, the history of computing had become a hot topic with the revelation of the Colossi in England—electronic digital computers that predated the ENIAC in the United States—and the controversy spawned by the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand decision, which invalidated the ENIAC patent. The journal became an IEEE publication in 1992.
The journal publishes scholarship in computing history, interviews and memoirs by computer pioneers, and news and events in the field worldwide. Recently, in the July-September 2011 issue, Annals published the first full account of "Koomey's Law", an observation akin to Moore's Law focusing on energy efficiencies in computing.[2]