Using this encyclopedia is a rather like asking a knowledgeable friend to tell you about a topic in computer science. The entries tend to be narrative and explanatory with a breezy, conversational style. This makes for easy and unthreatening reading, although the lack of formal structure occasionally leads to cases in which the less computer‐literate will be confused (“OS” for “operating system” is sometimes used without being explicitly defined; in the discussion of Perl’s “unless” command, the non‐programmer would be less confused if told that the exclamation mark in “if!” stands for “not”).
The encyclopedia’s more than 400 entries cover a wide range of areas. The introduction categorizes the entries into 22 subject groupings such as “Graphics and multimedia”, “Legal and social issues”, “Software development and engineering” and “Future computing”. There are many entries on computing as it relates to other fields such as business, libraries, disability, education, and linguistics. There are also many entries on the hardware components and the basic functions of computers, as well as on various programming languages and operating systems. Biographical entries on major innovators in computing and articles on the logical and arithmetic underpinnings of computer operations are additionally included.
Although coverage is broad, there are a few curious omissions in content. The once popular Napster file‐sharing service is mentioned briefly, there are no articles on the increasingly popular phenomenon of peer‐to‐peer networks or file‐sharing networks. In a book published in 2003, these services and the innovative architecture behind them surely deserve their own entry. Ada Lovelace, widely regarded as the first computer program, gets a total of one sentence in the article on Charles Babbage and a similarly brief mention in the chronology at the back of the book; she deserves better. The inclusion of the Linux operating system only in the last few paragraphs of the UNIX entry may be justifiable, but a separate entry was probably warranted even though Linux’s creator Linus Torvalds does have an entry of his own. The article on graphics formats does not mention the proprietary nature of the CompuServe GIF format (of which much has been made in recent years), nor does it mention the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format that many Web designers now use in place of GIF. Taken together, these omissions point to a pattern of mainstream bias discounting the contributions of non‐commercial and cooperative endeavours in computing.
The information is generally correct, although the text contains some errors. JavaScript is not, as the article on scripting languages claims “a sort of subset of the full Java language”; and the article on libraries and computing misidentifies preservation activist Nicholson Baker as “Nicholas Baker”. Other errors (including a misspelled UNIX command and an incorrect page number in the index) are typographical, but problematic all the same.
Entries range in length from half a page to three or four pages, but none provide much depth. Suggestions for further reading, usually including at least one freely available Web site, are provided. In keeping with the “asking a knowledgeable friend” approach, the further reading list does not appear to represent a selection of the most authoritative resources on a subject, just convenient sources for more information.
In addition to the main body of the work there are three appendices: a list of print and Web‐based bibliographies on computing, a chronology of computing (1617‐2002) and a list of major computing awards and their recipients over time. The book’s layout is clean and attractive, and a number of tables, photographs and diagrams provide visual appeal. The only problem with the format is some irregularity and awkwardness regarding the use of see/see‐also references in the text. These are occasionally achieved through the inline use of references in small capitals, but more often using parenthetical references after a passage of text in which an inline pointer would have been subtler and more appropriate. There are also places were references would be expected and appropriate but do not appear at all (e.g. the entry on Richard Stallman mentions Linus Torvalds but does not include a reference to his entry.)
This encyclopedia has its limitations, particularly in that it does not provide much depth on any topic. This may stem in part from its nature as a single‐author encyclopedia; an encyclopedia compiled by a range of experts would allow for more depth and precision. This title will be welcome, however, in public libraries as well as libraries serving high school students and undergraduates other than computer science majors. Serious students will want the more comprehensive and detailed Reilly et al (2000). Rojas (2001) provides slightly more depth than the present title, and has better coverage of historical topics, but does not cover current topics as broadly. The Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology will serve users seeking basic knowledge on most current topics in computing, and do so in a pleasant and readable style.
