Contrary to what many believe, Alan Turing is not the father of the all-purpose computer. Engineers were, independently of Turing, already building such machines during World War II. Turing's influence was felt more in programming after his death than in computer building during his lifetime. The first person to receive a Turing award was a programmer, not a computer builder. This book presents a revealing synthesis for the modern software engineer and, by doing so, deromanticizes Turing's role in the history of computing.