"Basics of Analog Computers" book

From: ajp166 <ajp166_at_bellatlantic.net>
Date: Wed Nov 8 18:46:25 2000

From: Mark Gregory <gregorym_at_cadvision.com>



>Well this has certainly been an informative (and eye-opening) thread for
me.
>I had no idea that analogue computers were as common and as long-lived
as
>they were.

That last word should be not WERE but, ARE. They still are used.

> In the only "History of Computation" course that was included in

>my Comp Sci program, analogue computers were treated only incidentally,
with
>the implication that development ceased with the advent of digital
computers
>(whether electro-mechanical or electronic) in the mid 1940s. In that
course
>and in other computing histories I've read, analogue computers seem to
be an
>unfairly neglected topic.


They were not always thought of as computers, hence the neglect. Think
servo
systems and they come back as those very non digital systems. They may
have been part of a larger mixed system like a attitude control system in
a
missle or autopilot for an airplane. The systems encompassed in the
analog
computers are around us still.

Allison
Received on Wed Nov 08 2000 - 18:46:25 GMT