27 Jun
2007
27 Jun
'07
1:02 p.m.
The first "computer" that I got to see up close (rather than at a
distance as in "that's our computer over there") was a tic-tac-toe
machine that employed Stroger switches. It was mechanical enough to
be fun to watch.
Wasn't there a turn-of-the-century electromechanical gizmo built by a
Frenchman to solve the three queens problem? I seem to recall that
when it won, it played a phonograph recording of "?chec et mat".
Can someone refresh my hazy memory? Would that qualify as a
"computer"?
Cheers,
Chuck