Re: OT

On Thu, 2026-07-30 at 14:02 -0700, Van Snyder wrote:
> On Thu, 2026-07-30 at 22:56 +0200, Jan Claeys wrote:
> > On Thu, 2026-07-30 at 14:51 -0400, hlyg wrote:
> > > 1st computer ENIAC was built in US in 1945
> >=20
> > Correction: Konrad Zuse finished his Z4 computer in April 1945,
> > before ENIAC was finished in May 1945.
> >=20
> > And before that there were also programmable computers in several
> > countries that weren=E2=80=99t =E2=80=9Cpotentially universal Turing ma=
chines=E2=80=9D yet,
> > including Zuse=E2=80=99s Z1 in 1938, Zuse=E2=80=99s Z3 in 1941, the UK=
=E2=80=99s Colossus
> > in 1943, and the Harvard Mark I in 1944, etc.
>=20
> How about the ABC, or Atanasoff-Berry Computer at Iowa State in 1937-
> 1942?

It was the first to do computations electronically (with vacuum tubes)
instead of electro-mechanically (with relays) or mechanically (e.g.
Charles Babbage=E2=80=99s Analytical Engine, or Zuse=E2=80=99s Z1), but it =
wasn=E2=80=99t
programmable.  Basically it was the ALU part of a modern CPU, but
lacking the part that interprets an instruction set.

Zuse original design plan for the Z3 was also to use vacuum tubes, and
he demonstrated a small prototype, but he couldn=E2=80=99t get access to th=
e
thousands of vacuum tubes needed, so his further designs until (way)
after World War II all used mechanical relays instead.


--=20
Jan Claeys

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