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The Association for Computing Machinery

The Association for Computing Machinery (the ACM) was founded in 1947, immediately after Eckert and Mauchly unveiled one of the first electronic computers, the ENIAC, in 1946. Since then, the ACM has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the leading educational and scientific societies in the computer industry.

The ACM's stated purposes are:

• To advance the sciences and arts of information processing;

• To promote the free interchange of information about the sciences and arts of information processing both among specialists and among the public;

• To develop and maintain the integrity and competence of individuals engaged in the practices of the sciences and arts of information processing.

Membership in the ACM has grown from seventy-eight in September, 1947, to over 77,000 today. There are local chapters around the world, and many colleges and universities endorse student chapters. Lecturers frequent these meetings, which tend to be one step above the normal "user group" gathering. A large variety of published material is also available at discounted prices for members of the association.

The ACM has a number of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that concentrate on a certain area of computing, ranging from graphics to the Ada programming language to security. Each of the SIGs also publishes its own newsletter. There is a Usenet group, comp.org.acm, for the discussion of ACM topics. See section Usenet News for more information on reading news.

For more information and a membership application, write to:

Assocation for Computing Machinery
1515 Broadway
New York City, NY  10036
ACMHELP@ACMVM.BITNET
(212) 869-7440

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