Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 35 posts

Re: How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

#21

Post by masklinn »

bachback wrote: post #13

Time to correct the record: the World's first electronic, programmable computer was build by a German by the name of Konrad Zuse in May 1941 [1] called Z3 [2]. He designed a language for it called Plankalkül [3]. Eniac was announced in 1946. Incidentally Turing wanted to be build one in 1945, called Electronic Brain. His paper "on computable numbers" was published in 1936. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse…

The Z3 was electromechanical (it used relays) not electronic.

Re: How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

#22

Post by CmonDev »

Hermel wrote: post #11
frtab wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zuse Z3? Babbage's Analytical Engine!

The Z3 was the first operational turing-complete computer (May 1941, a few years before ENIAC). Babbage's analytical engine was never actually built.

For me, as a software developer, it's about detailed design rather than implementation. 1837-s design is much more impressive than 1941-s implementation (100+ years later - you'd better build something with all that time).

Re: How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

#23

Post by CmonDev »

Malic wrote: post #12
cabalamat wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it would be about the Analytical Engine.

Funny, I was expecting the Antikythera mechanism.

Antikythera is not Turing-complete unlike the brain. So which prehistoric creature did they resurrect?

Re: How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

#25

Post by mnw21cam »

flurdy wrote: post #18

Eniac? Z3? It was Baby! http://www.computer50.org/mark1/new.baby.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1 Disclaimer: University of Manchester Alumni

It is no small source of acrimony in the University of Cambridge that Manchester beat them to the first stored-program computer by one month with the Baby. However, once the Baby had been demonstrated, it was promptly dismantled, leaving Cambridge's EDSAC with the title of the world's first practical stored-program computer. The EDSAC was then used for nine years at the Mathematical Laboratory before being shut down in favour of the EDSAC 2.

Back when I was doing my degree, the 50th anniversary of the EDSAC came around, and we were given a project of creating a simulator for the machine. This we did, even including the rather interesting sound that the original machine made from a loudspeaker connected across the main mercury delay line. Yes, RAM was implemented as a long tube of mercury with sound pulses travelling down it and fed back into the beginning again.

Re: How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

#26

Post by terhechte »

bachback wrote: post #13

Time to correct the record: the World's first electronic, programmable computer was build by a German by the name of Konrad Zuse in May 1941 [1] called Z3 [2]. He designed a language for it called Plankalkül [3]. Eniac was announced in 1946. Incidentally Turing wanted to be build one in 1945, called Electronic Brain. His paper "on computable numbers" was published in 1936. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse…

Interestingly, the Z3 was not meant to be Turing complete (by Zuse) (that is, he did not intend the functionality that Turing completeness describes. Living in Germany back then he did not know about Turing nor about the "on computable numbers" paper).

Only in 1998 did people find out that the Z3 was indeed Turing complete.

What's also impressive is that Zuse didn't know about Charles Babbage either.

Re: How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

#27

Post by waterlesscloud »

bachback wrote: post #13

Time to correct the record: the World's first electronic, programmable computer was build by a German by the name of Konrad Zuse in May 1941 [1] called Z3 [2]. He designed a language for it called Plankalkül [3]. Eniac was announced in 1946. Incidentally Turing wanted to be build one in 1945, called Electronic Brain. His paper "on computable numbers" was published in 1936. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse…

In college, I had a very old professor from... I think it was Romania, or possibly Bulgaria. Anyway, one day he was saying he had worked for Konrad Zuse, and I blurted out "Wait, you worked for the N..." and stopped there, thinking better of it. He laughed and claimed it had been after the war. I did later learn not to spit out every thought that entered my head.

Re: How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap

#30

Post by hga »

mnw21cam wrote: post #25
flurdy wrote: post #18

Eniac? Z3? It was Baby! http://www.computer50.org/mark1/new.baby.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1 Disclaimer: University of Manchester Alumni

It is no small source of acrimony in the University of Cambridge that Manchester beat them to the first stored-program computer by one month with the Baby. However, once the Baby had been demonstrated, it was promptly dismantled, leaving Cambridge's EDSAC with the title of the world's first practical stored-program computer. The EDSAC was then used for nine years at the Mathematical Laboratory before being shut down…

The Whirlwind Project seriously considered using a microwave "delay line", a round trip microwave connection a long distance across the state of Massachusetts. Ended up using Williams tubes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_tube) as did the Mark 1 and a number of other early computers (their random access had an advantage over delay lines), and eventually invented 3D magnetic core memory.
Post reply on HN