IBM′s 360 & Early 370 Systems (History of Computing)

I received the book this morning. The book was in excellent condition and the packing was also very vell made. The delay in the delivery was due to the fact that the Italian Customs inspected the parcel (don't know why, and for that I had to pay an additional € 6,82 fee). Anyway, except for the cover, as advised, the book is as good as new and I satisfied.

Very good

What I especially enjoyed about this title was the IBM 'backstory' which is vital to understanding how System 360 came about. It is surprising just how many computing advances IBM appear responsible for. It can seem a little dry in parts due to some of the technical information relayed in the text but remains fascinating throughout! If you have any interest in the history of computers or historical computing you should have this book.

Overall it met my expectations. I wanted a technical as well as a corporate view of the development of the S/360 and S/370, and this delivers. Anyone who is a mainframe programmer past or present may find this story as interesting as I did. But System 360 was a huge project by a huge corporation, and involved a lot of personnel. Kudos to the authors for keeping it all straight, but sometimes I wish there was a "Dramatis Personae" section I could have quickly referred to as a reminder of who was who. The index is good. You will need at least two bookmarks; one for your current page, and another for the end notes. Perhaps a third one for the index. Despite the daunting list of people to remember, I learned an awful lot about the transition from vacuum tubes and drum memory to transistors; the birth and growth of solid-state digital computing; and how the 360's CPU architecture had a huge impact that affects system design to this very day. The computer market of the 1950s was wildly different from today, and far more widely varied. This was an experimental era, and all kinds of different technical approaches were tried by different companies. IBM's senior technical management was trying to navigate its business, its customers, and its very continuance as a market leader through a very volatile period. Not everything went well. IBM's product line was somewhat scattershot and incoherent. Mistakes were made; some product lines failed; some big successes turned out to be technical dead ends. (World's fastest punch card accounting system, anyone?) One IBM division would inadvertently obsolete the product of another division, obliterating years of work and sending talented people out the door. In 1960 IBM management realized they needed a unified approach to the computer marketplace to remain a leader in business computing and manufacturing (or even stay in business long-term), and the S/360 was conceived as the answer. They just had to convince their customers and their own employees that they were right. The latter group turned out to be harder to persuade than the former. A lot of other dreams had to die for S/360 to be born. Some of those dreamers (Gene Amdahl, Seymour Cray) ended up quitting IBM and founding their own computer companies. But IBM realized it couldn't be all things to all people if it wanted to prosper and grow. It's all in this fascinating book.

What a terrific book. I was surprised to find this book so readable given the technical nature of some of the material covered. The book is a great mix of technical detail and information about the IBM'ers involved in the creation of these systems. A must for those interested in the history of computing.

This book presents a detailed look at the origins and development of one of the most widely-known processor families. It details (among many other things) progression of magnetic core memory, including a series of technological developments that kept it moving forward with the market's ever-increasing demand for speed and capacity. I got this book for a few specific facts regarding these early mainframes, which I'm happy to say it provided. But, having spent a fair few decades in computing the historical details drew me in as well. I've read only a few chapters so far, but I'm enjoying its engaging and thoroughly-researched style. I'm interested, too, by the comparisons between technical decisions of half-a-century back vs the ones being made today. It's surprising (but probably shouldn't be) how many of those issues still matter today. I'm generally not one to love history for its own sake, and I can't say this perspective will really change my life. The few facts I wanted will help a personal project and I find some of the progressions interesting. Still, I can't think of any decisions I make these days that I'll make differently after reading this. And, if you're not already well-versed in computing, you might not find enough familiar context to offer an entry point. -- wiredweird

The authors do a great job at explaining how modern computing was born (through IBM mostly) and how System 360 was really the first complete computer line. It's fairly easy to read for the most part (i.e. it's not boring!). I found the coverage of the software side of things to be a bit light, when you consider how much of a problem it was (the hardware was on time/budget, the software wasn't!). Still a great book, very interesting, extremely well documented and well written.

It is my fading memory of main frame code that keeps this from s 5 star. The computer was eventually my best effort. Now so many decades later the PC revolution was unable to connect to Classified forms. Video made the limits on copying diminish the value of innovation.