This is a summary of the book Human factors in simple and complex systems for the course Human factors.
The summary contains the chapters: 1,3,4,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17
Summary book: Human factors in simple and complex systems
Chapter 1: Historical Foundations of Human factors
Introduction
The first textbook devoted specifically to human factors is Applied Experiemental Psychology: Human
Factors in Engineering Design by Chapanis, Garner and Morgan (1949).
Every system has a purpose or a goal.
The efficiency of the inanimate parts of this system in part determines whether the system goal can
be met.
The ability of the system to meet the goals also depends on the human components of the systems.
Thus, the total efficiency of the system depends on both the performance of the inanimate
component and the performance of the human component. A failure of any one can lead to failure of
the entire system.
Electronic and digital equipment
The things that modern electronic and digital equipment can do are amazing. However, how well
these gadgets work (the extent to which they accomplish the goals intended by their designers) is
often limited by the human component.
Computer technology
Perhaps nowhere is rapid change more evident than in the development and proliferation of
computer technology.
The first generation of modern computers were introduced in the mid-1940s. For example, in 1944,
the Harvard-IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC).
Grace Hopper is the first programmer for the ASCC. Hopper went on to develop one of the first
compliers for a programming language, and in her later life championed standards testing for
computers and programming languages.
The computers that came after the ASCC in the 1950s were considerably smaller but still filled a large
room. These computers were more affordable and available to a wider range of users at business and
universities. They were also easier to program using assembly language, which allowed abbreviated
programming codes.
High-level programming languages such as COBOL and FORTRAN, which used English-like language
instead of machine codes, were developed, marking the beginning of the software industry. During
this period, most computer programs were prepared on decks of cards, which the programmer then
submitted to an operator.
In the late 1970s, after the development of the microprocessor, the first desktop-sized personal
computers became widely available. These included the Apple II, Commodore PET, IBM PC, and Radio
Shack TRS-80.
These machines changed the face of computing, making powerful computers available to everyone.
However, a host of usability issues arose when computers, once accessible only by a small, highly
trained group of users, became accessible to the general public.
Only 7 years after Apple introduced the Apple II, they presented the Macintosh, the first PC to use a
window-based graphical interface. Such interfaces are now an integral part of any computer system.
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