Shifts

An engaging account of some of the most important shifts in computing and how they have changed how we design, build, program, analyze, connect, and use computers.

From a pioneer in computing and programming languages, and a best-selling author.

We live in a world with far more computers than people. Those computers affect every aspect of our lives, sometimes for better and often for worse. In Shifts, Brian Kernighan tells the story of how we got here, by describing nine shifts that dramatically changed computing—from the stored-program computer to high-level programming languages to billions of computers on the Internet to AI and LLMs. Most of these shifts werent noticed while they were happening, but they are crystal clear in retrospect. For each shift, the author describes the historical context, explains the technology at an accessible level, and presents some of the people who made it happen.

Although one could slice and dice the “shifts” in different ways, or add or subtract a few, they share the common theme of looking at major changes that have affected how people build, program, and use computers. How did we get to where we are now? What can we learn from that? Can we predict where we might be going? Shifts answers all these questions and more.