ES1.1 History of the development and impact of computer technology.

To set the stage for an understanding of the professionalism, ethics and social impact of computing, it is necessary for students to see how computing has evolved in the historical and social context. Tracing the history of the mechanization of computation, the development of programmable devices, and the evolution of information representation, transmission and storage will help students to understand how computers are a cultural artifact with profound social impact. When students realize how young the computing profession is relative to other professions and how rapidly it is changing, they have a better appreciation about why there are so many unresolved ethical and social issues with which they will have to deal.