>> 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.
Z1 first computer, first floating point and binary computer
but mechanical. Z3 the same (but better) and electronical.
> 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]
Different definition:
In mechanical computers (and calculators) the information is
proccessed and transported by mechanical actions/things - like
wheels or pushin/pulling bars.
In electronical computers information is processed and transported
by flow of electricity.
So the Z1 is pure mechanical (the only electrcal component
was (is) the motor to drive all bars), while the Z3 is
electronical. The Z2 was in fact a mixed up - The storage
memory was mechanical (used from the Z1) but the CPU was
electronic (Relais). You see ? There are mix ups already
in the early evolution - Zuse even thought about using
tubes instead of relais, but they have been way to expensive.
Later on there have been again mixed ups. Relais + mechanical
+ tubes - or Tubes plus transistors + relais ... and so on.
(Oh and even my APPPLE ][+ was a mixed up - he utilized
a relay on the 80 colum card for switching :)
> 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!!!!)
Never heard of opto-mechanics ? *g*
In fact all early Zuse computers used old cine tapes.
Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4.
>> P.S.: The first calculatin machine might be the one of
>> Wilhelm Schickard from 1623.
> What date was Pascal's calculator, someone?
1642
> 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. :-)
Afaik they also own a decimal one, but Pounds, Shillings and Pence
ar _way_way_way_ more exotic :) - It gets a lot more attention than
'just' decimal calculaters, althrough the difference are only some
of the wheels.
Gruss
H.
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
Received on Fri Jun 19 1998 - 10:48:35 BST