h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Early Electronic Computers - A951860
Author: Who? - U202489

Some more British Firsts.

Another excellent article Who. I’m glad to see that Colossus and LEO get the credit they deserve with no mention of ENIAC. One wonder where it all went wrong.

An interesting aside that the British and American Intelligence services where supplying Enigma coding machines to Third World Countries right up to the 1970s on the basis that they produced an un-crackable code. One wonder who much information was gleaned from that. Actually I think you will find it was 1976 when COLOSSUS eventually became public.

I’m surprised that there is no mention of the Manchester Mark 1, the worlds first stored programme computer. LEO claims the accolade of being the first stored programme computer, but I suppose it is because it was the first commercial computer where the Manchester Mk 1 was largely an experimental machine.

http://www4.wittenberg.edu/academics/mathcomp/bjsdir/madmmk1.shtml

Alun Turing, who did a lot of the mathematical work on the development of the Manchester Mk 1 was heard to say that two or three computer like this could supply the worlds computing needs for the foreseeable future. As it happened the foreseeable future was about six months. Almost as bad as Bill Gates proclaiming that he could not foresee a situation where a desktop computer would need more than 65kbs of RAM.

Stuart

Another good entry Who?

No mention for Babbage and his thinking engine though ?

Quick typo for you "The report they produced a report for the Lyons board said that electronic computers would improve efficiency. For £100,000, Lyons could build one themselves which would save some £50,000 per year." As you can see an extra 'a report' there.

Ta. Noted and corrected

The Manchester Mk I was essentially a 'university' computer, one of those that was developed 'academically' after the war. The reason why I picked LEO was that it was designed to do a specific and useful job, just like Collossus.

Don't you just love picking up the forecasts of early computer specialists? Rather like Arthur C Clark who forecast telecommunications satellites back in 1945. They would have to be big though - to hold the ten or so men needed to change the valves!

It's a good job not everything can be forecast, isn't it?

although to be fair to clarke, at the time he predicted it, you didn't really have rocketry, there was no practical alternatives to valves, and the nearest thing that most scientist could find to a computer was a radar station (which wasn't that near).

when he wrote "prelude to space" a few years later, he was jumped upon for being wildly optimistic about the dates for space flight, which eventually occured years before his predictions.

in fact, practical application of satellite technology was so far in the future that it was only an error not patenting it because of revolutionary change in multiple industries.

"when he wrote "prelude to space" a few years later, he was jumped upon for being wildly optimistic about the dates for space flight, which eventually occured years before his predictions."

And then everyone started writing about robot maids and holidays on the moon, which we haven't got yet.

Good entry! You write: "The credit for the first programmable binary ?computer? seems to belong to Germany and Konrad Zuse?s Z3 of 1941. It was, however, an electro-mechanical calculator for the Aerodynamic Research Institute but it was not developed into an electronic system.
"

Shouldn't it be: "_and_ it was not developed"?

The book Cryptonomicon is a fairly interesting work of fiction involving British code-breaking during WWII, but I can't judge how accurate the historic bits are...

Given the fact that Zuse wanted to go onto valves for the Z3 but was prevented from doing so by higher authority, I'll stick to 'but'.

I wasn't being harsh on Arthur C Clark, but rather illustrating the way that technological development goes, by leaps and bounds and unpredicably at that.

Seeing as English is not my mother tongue I guess I shouldn't stick my head out on this, but..

"It was, however, an electro-mechanical calculator for the Aerodynamic Research Institute but it was not developed into an electronic system."

As I understand the sentence, the "however" is meant to point out that as an "electro-mechanical calculator" the Z3 doesn't qualify as the first binary programmable computer. In that context the word 'but' doesn't fit. If it _had_ been developed into an electronic system, then there wouldn't have been an 'however'. Pruning away extraneous information you get: "It was, however, an electro-mechanical calculator and not an electronic system." I challenge you to be happy with a 'but' in that version.

Oh! Doh!

Very well then. If you insist.

(Face reddens)

Thanks.

no mention of the Manchester MK1

See Posts Two and Five.

Stuart

An excellent article. Having scanned the peer review section from 1-200+ I finally came upon this gem. It's readable, and a decent length, unlike the 20 or so articles I read before. Could you come up with a biog of the unsung genius Tommy Flowers just to fill in a little background? He was severely shafted by the establishment and deserves much more recognition.
Regards sbe

still think the Manchester Mk1 deserves a mention baecause
(a) it's association with Alan Turing
(b) for the exact reasion that you have not included it, because it was not designed with a comerical role in mind but as a 'university' computer, not designed to do a specific job.

Tommy Flowers to follow within the week. I quite agree that he did not receive the proper recognition, but I reserve judgement on others until later.

Thanks for the compliments too!

I needed to keep this entry brief, hence the concentration on these two milestones. I try to make my entries fairly simple to avoid over-running my word count and yet still provide a reasonable cover for the subjects.

I am still disinclined to include Manchester Mk 1 as Alan Turing is NOT a link between these two systems (he had only a peripheral role in Colossus)and it was not an applications system. It was not a first, just a step in the right direction.

Sorry to disappoint you. If you feel that it is a subject to be covered, it may warrant a place in an entry on the development of the computer for example, make an entry yourself.

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Congratulations Who - another nice entrey for the EG

Stuart

Dear Who,
Many congratulations. At least you weren't ignored as long as poor old Tommy!!!!!
Regards sbe

Well done, Who?

Just to let you know, I've got your entry to sub and will let you know when I've subbed it.

RhoMuNuQ