Book Reviews

This treatise on problems that plague the "large, general-purpose business-oriented data processing systems" was authored by the Silt Committee of SHARE Inc., an organization of users of large data processing systems (predominantly those supplied by IBM). The book\´s basic assumption is the continued development of all phases of computer technology along their current paths. This includes such predictions as "programming practices will remain a craft," and certain assumptions of world stability: no major war, and no major political, economic, or social revolution. The book is based on a very conservative attitude towards the future–a view that includes no new technologies and ignores existing entities such as minis and micros and the effects of LSI technologies.