The Expert Test Manager

Introduction

The Industrial Revolution is commonly said to have started with the invention of the steam engine in 1712, which means that this book was written shortly after the 300th anniversary of the Industrial Revolution. This period has been one of ever-accelerating technological progress, a period that has brought with it tremendous increases in human health, wealth, convenience, and life span. We are truly fortunate to live in such times, when many people take for granted things that even the emperors of Rome, Egypt, and China could not obtain.

At the beginning of the last quarter of this 300-year period—that is, 75 years ago—Konrad Zuse built what is arguably the first computer. It was primarily mechanical rather than electrical, but it ...