3forge Publishes The Stack: How Layers of Software Built the Modern World

The definitive new history of computing from scholar and technologist authors reveals how decades of innovation built the digital foundations driving today’s economy, from wartime codebreaking to the rise of AI

3forge, the application engine focused on financial services, today released The Stack: How Layers of Software Built the Modern World, a sweeping history of computing co-authored by Philip Truscott, Ph.D. and Michael Korns.

The Stack examines how every generation of software has built upon the last, and by understanding that lineage, today’s architects of AI and data systems can modernize without repeating past fragile transitions. From wartime relays to mainframes and the digital networks that now power global finance, the book invites readers to look back at the 80 years of engineering, experimentation, and policy decisions that quietly built the world’s digital infrastructure.

"Artificial Intelligence is taking center stage as the next layer in the stack," said Robert Cooke, Founder and CEO of 3forge. “Those that will succeed in this evolution will embrace the logic of the systems that brought us here, and learn from the pioneers of the past century.”

The Stack ultimately explores the central question facing every enterprise that relies on technology: how do we continue to modernize without losing sight of the foundations that make progress possible? By examining the most consequential ideas of the past 80 years, Truscott and Korns show how the same engineering values reappear at every major inflection point, including the rise of AI.

Authors’ Perspectives

Truscott and Korns bring a rare interdisciplinary partnership to The Stack. Their decade of joint research, including work on symbolic regression, evolutionary algorithms, and the modeling of complex real-world systems, grounds the book’s historical narrative in both data and human behavior.

“Every system we build, whether social, political, or computational, carries the logic of its time,” said Truscott. “In The Stack, we trace nearly a century of that very evolution. The story of computing isn’t just about machines; it’s about the people and societies that made them.”

“The progression of computing has always been a story of layering,” added Korns. “From the relay circuits that guided the Battle of the Atlantic to the punch cards behind Apollo, each breakthrough laid the groundwork for the next. The Stack shows how today’s AI models stand in that same lineage, an unbroken chain of ingenuity from mechanical logic to machine learning.”

Availability:

The Stack is immediately available on Amazon via hardcover (ISBN: 9798266695986) and paperback (ISBN: 9798266843028) formats: https://www.amazon.com/Stack-Layers-Software-Built-Modern/dp/B0G4DWM7TC

About the Authors:

Philip Truscott, Ph.D. is a sociologist, researcher, and author whose work spans technology, policy, and human behavior. He holds an M.A. in Politics and Social Administration from the University of Edinburgh and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Surrey. Over a career that has taken him from Singapore University of Technology and Design to Ateneo de Manila University and International University Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Truscott has explored how systems, social, technical, and economic, interact to shape decision-making and society. His published research includes studies on consumer choice modeling, symbolic regression, and the intersection of technology and social policy.

Michael F. Korns is an expert in symbolic regression, genetic and evolutionary programming, Internet search, and the semantic web. With over 50 years of professional experience and numerous peer-reviewed publications, Korns began his career in 1969 working at IBM in Advanced Engineering, and he has served as Vice President of Information Sciences at Tymshare Transactions Corporation and Vice President Chief Scientist of Xerox Imaging Corporation. Currently, Korns is President of Korns Associates, a privately held applied research company founded in 1993. Korns Associates develops sophisticated agent technology, development tools, and applications, and has pioneered the use of “intelligent agents” for securities investing, using a business model wherein its research is self-funding.

Truscott and Korns’ previous joint peer-reviewed research, published in Springer’s Genetic Programming Theory and Practice series and other international journals, demonstrates how computational models can uncover the same patterns of complexity that shape markets and societies.

About 3forge:

3forge is a technology innovator specializing in real-time data streaming and enterprise application development. Headquartered in New York with offices in major financial centers worldwide, 3forge provides an application engine that gives engineers a complete foundation for building high-performance enterprise systems while accelerating the creation of custom business logic. Its integrated development environment, optimized scripting language, and unified stack streamline the development of complex, data-intensive applications. Trusted by leading buy-side and sell-side firms, 3forge connects to virtually any data source and transforms fragmented workflows into unified, responsive systems built for reliability, performance, and ease of use. For more information, visit 3forge.com

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From wartime relays to mainframes and the digital networks that now power global finance, The Stack invites readers to look back at the 80 years of engineering, experimentation, and policy decisions that quietly built the world’s digital infrastructure.