Conclusion

Abstract

The great number of classes (and subclasses) of computing artifacts introduced over the course of this book offers testimony of an extremely rich world of computing experiences throughout the mechanical and the electrical eras, which accumulated so as to prepare for the electronic one. Any attempt to place this world under one interpretative scheme seems destined to omit important details. On the other hand, without attempting to provide such a scheme, we run the risk of missing an important historical pattern. The scheme that I here advanced is organized around one thematic anchor: the relationship between human-variable and machine-constant computing capital. According to this scheme, in going from the highest to the lowest ratio of human-variable to machine-constant computing capital, the list of the artifacts encounter goes as following: graphs (Chap. 5), slide rules (Chaps. 2 and 3), calculating machines (Chap. 6), and analyzers (Chap. 4).