18 Jun
1998
18 Jun
'98
8:55 p.m.
HRK wrote:
A neat (english) description of the Z1 and Z3 could be
found at
http://www.zib.de/prospekt/zuse/zusez1z3.html
(Hard code documentation) or
http://bang.lanl.gov/video/sunedu/computer/z1z4.html
(soft :)
Thanks - I'll have a look at those!
The first programable general purpose computer is for
shure
the Z1. And the first electronic computer is the Z3 since
the Z1 was just mechanical. Also both are the first binary
floating point computers (Babage used decimal wheels).
Hey! They can't both be the first floating point binary machine!
Presumably the Z1 was.
And (though no doubt I'll find I'm wrong when I look at those web pages)
I thought Z3 was a relay machine, not electronic.
[Distinction. Relay - switching is performed by moving parts of the
circuit. Electronic, whether tubes or solid state, switching acts
directly on the electrons (or holes), hence the term]
Was the Z3 like the Z4 in using old 35mm cine film for punched tape?
(don't try and read it with an optical reader!!!!)
P.S.: The first calculatin machine might be the one of
Wilhelm Schickard from 1623.
What date was Pascal's calculator, someone? Irony of the week: the
Pascal calculator in the London Science Museum is a decimal model. That
in the Deutches Museum is a Pounds, Shillings and Pence model. :-)
Philip.