Computer Language Company

The Computer Language Company Inc. was founded in New York in 1978 by husband-wife team Alan Freedman and Irma Morrison. When no computer dictionary on the market would meaningfully augment the computer literacy seminars he developed, he purchased his first computer and wrote his own. Self-published with 300 terms in 1981 as "The Computer Glossary," it was a huge success in his seminars as well as hundreds of others. Over the years, the content was available in 11 book editions in English and eight foreign language editions, on floppy disk and CD-ROM, as well as licensed content on more than 25 websites. This encyclopedia has been the most successful tech reference in history.

Freedman and Morrison

In 1985, Alan and Irma migrated to beautiful Bucks County Pennsylvania where they pitched a tent and hand built the house they live and work in. They have four children and three grandchildren.

Data Processing in 1960

Alan Freedman started out when computers were fed with punch cards. Shown here running an IBM sorter, he learned data processing the hard way!

From 1978 to 1995

Freedman delivered hundreds of two-day and three-day Computer Literacy seminars to thousands of managers in Fortune 500 companies using course materials that he developed. Translated into Spanish, his unique charts and methods were used throughout Latin America.

Books, Floppies, CDs. All Gone

Our last floppy was in 1995... our last books were in 2001, and our last CD was 2009. We were happy to eliminate floppies and CDs, but after 20 years of creating books, we can't help but feel a bit sad, because nothing is as readable as print. However, the cost of paper and the rapid changes in this field make it impossible to keep up-to-date in print. In addition, the many translations into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Hebrew and Korean took even more time. Following are our last editions in English:

Computer Desktop Encyclopedia - 9th Ed. 10,000 terms, 1,000 illustrations. Includes Windows CD-ROM. 1,124 pages, (c) 2001. Published by Osborne/McGraw-Hill. (ISBN 0-07-219306-9) US$49.95.

The Computer Glossary - 9th Ed. 6,000 abbreviated terms, 125 illustrations. Includes Windows CD-ROM. 458 pages, (c) 2001. Published by Amacom. (ISBN 0-8144-7094-7) US$29.95.