Prologue

This special issue of the Annals of the History of Computing does not present a formal history of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS). Instead, it is an attempt-at a quarter-century milestone-to take a look at how AFIPS got to where it is today, as viewed by some of the key leaders in both its formation and its brief existence. A formal history will only be possible at some distant time. For now, AFIPS´s corporate presence is in itself a phenomenon of interest not only to its component individuals, but also to the ever-expanding constituency evolving from the current computer revolution.