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"World's First Computer"

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  • K KarstenK

    The first "modern" computer build the german civil engineer Konrad Zuse. A memorial in Berlin (Germany) .

    Press F1 for help or google it. Greetings from Germany

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    den2k88
    wrote on last edited by
    #18

    Wow. Thanks for dissipating some of my ignorance :)

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    • J Jorgen Andersson

      I was going to say that you can't use it for calculations, but I know it would hit back on me. You probably could play Doom on it, even if very slowly. So, what's the definition of Computer?

      Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriff
      wrote on last edited by
      #19

      I don't know! Google defines it as: "an electronic device which is capable of receiving information (data) in a particular form and of performing a sequence of operations in accordance with a predetermined but variable set of procedural instructions (program) to produce a result in the form of information or signals." But Wiki says: "A computer is a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem." And I have to say that the google definition is closer to my ideal! But...the "electronic" bit would exclude the Jacquard Loom - and also the Babbage Difference Engine. Removing that would remove Ada Lovelace from the role of "first programmer" and I'm pretty sure she deserves that title! So my feeling is that the Google definition (sans one word) fits a computer well - and also the loom. You have to remember that all out modern computers are based on devices which worked solely from punched cards - which started life as a data storage media, which were derived from the loom! :laugh: As usual, the "Search for Beginnings" is complicated...

      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

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      • A Argonia

        OriginalGriff wrote:

        What does a computer do that this doesn't? (Apart from play Doom :laugh: )

        We can't say for sure if we didn't try. The result would be one of a kind cloth :D

        Microsoft ... the only place where VARIANT_TRUE != true

        OriginalGriffO Offline
        OriginalGriffO Offline
        OriginalGriff
        wrote on last edited by
        #20

        I think the ping time would make it kinda difficult to play! :laugh:

        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

        "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
        "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

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        • L Lost User

          Jörgen Andersson wrote:

          So, what's the definition of Computer?

          A machine that makes humans waste their lives arguing about semantics. ;)

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          Jorgen Andersson
          wrote on last edited by
          #21

          Must resist upvoting... Failed again. :)

          Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

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          • I Ian Shlasko

            Nice to know we're all descended from prehistoric hairdressers, account executives, and telephone sanitizers, huh?

            Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
            Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

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            Corporal Agarn
            wrote on last edited by
            #22

            Oh, put a towel on it.

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            • S Simon ORiordan from UK

              Here we go:[](Americas First Computer)http://www.wired.com/2014/11/eniac-unearthed While we think 'the world' of Americans, they really must resist being so inbred; the World's First Computer was Collossus at Bletchley Park, or even Charles Babbage's 'Difference Engine'. There there. Eniac was America's First Computer. :laugh:

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              Marc Clifton
              wrote on last edited by
              #23

              Leslie[^] ;) Kent beat you to it. Marc

              Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Higher Order Programming

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              • I Ian Shlasko

                Nice to know we're all descended from prehistoric hairdressers, account executives, and telephone sanitizers, huh?

                Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
                Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

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                den2k88
                wrote on last edited by
                #24

                It took me half an hour to get that reference. In my defense I can only say I read it in Italian and not in English, still... shame on me!

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                • J Jorgen Andersson

                  Hmm, lets see. Z3 was the world's first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer. (1941) Colossus is the world's first electronic digital computer that was programmable. (1944) Eniac is the first electronic general-purpose computer. (1946) Are everyone satisfied now? :laugh:

                  Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

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                  Simon ORiordan from UK
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #25

                  Quite right, I was aware of the German work. Forgot it was called the Z3. The Nazis didn't see what it was good for. Destroyed by bombing if I remember. Another first.

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                  • M Marc Clifton

                    Leslie[^] ;) Kent beat you to it. Marc

                    Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Higher Order Programming

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                    S Offline
                    Simon ORiordan from UK
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #26

                    I keep getting lost on the way to the forum. And no. It wasn't a funny thing. :laugh:

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                    • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                      I think the ping time would make it kinda difficult to play! :laugh:

                      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

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                      Nicholas Marty
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #27

                      Why? With such a low framerate you'd have plenty of time to react so you should be able to hit anything with a perfect shot :laugh:

                      OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • L Lost User

                        I'm tired of the British always trying to steal American glory. If it were up to this American we'd of never introduced tea to the British Isles.

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                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #28

                        Sometimes I bet you wish you never discovered us in the first place.

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                        • S Simon ORiordan from UK

                          Here we go:[](Americas First Computer)http://www.wired.com/2014/11/eniac-unearthed While we think 'the world' of Americans, they really must resist being so inbred; the World's First Computer was Collossus at Bletchley Park, or even Charles Babbage's 'Difference Engine'. There there. Eniac was America's First Computer. :laugh:

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                          Lost User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #29

                          Many first computers here, however this one has a lawsuit attached to it :) Says in the 1930s should be earlier than 1940s :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vincent_Atanasoff[^]

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                          • S Simon ORiordan from UK

                            Quite right, I was aware of the German work. Forgot it was called the Z3. The Nazis didn't see what it was good for. Destroyed by bombing if I remember. Another first.

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                            Jochen Arndt
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #30

                            It has been rebuild twice. First by Konrad Zuse himself (1961). That can be seen in the Deutsches Museum: http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/exhibitions/communication/computers/universal-computers/[^]. The second has been build by Horst Zuse (2011-2013): http://www.z3-computer.de/[^] (German page).

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                            • N Nicholas Marty

                              Why? With such a low framerate you'd have plenty of time to react so you should be able to hit anything with a perfect shot :laugh:

                              OriginalGriffO Offline
                              OriginalGriffO Offline
                              OriginalGriff
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #31

                              By which time it's in a different county, never mind room! :laugh:

                              Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                              "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                              "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

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                              • S Simon ORiordan from UK

                                Here we go:[](Americas First Computer)http://www.wired.com/2014/11/eniac-unearthed While we think 'the world' of Americans, they really must resist being so inbred; the World's First Computer was Collossus at Bletchley Park, or even Charles Babbage's 'Difference Engine'. There there. Eniac was America's First Computer. :laugh:

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                                Mark_Wallace
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #32

                                Simon O'Riordan from UK wrote:

                                the World's First Computer was Collossus at Bletchley Park, or even Charles Babbage's 'Difference Engine'

                                The difference engine may or may not really count as a computer, but the Royal Navy had genuine analogue computers during World War 1 -- a major historical point is that the Admiralty refused to use them for targeting at the battle of Jutland. A major not-really-historical point is that some countries' armed forces manage to actually keep things secret, no matter how much money can be made from selling them or claiming ownership.

                                I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

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                                • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                                  You can program it, it has input and output - heck, it's even got a graphics display(if a bit low resolution, unless it is working with really fine silk). What does a computer do that this doesn't? (Apart from play Doom :laugh: )

                                  Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

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                                  Mark_Wallace
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #33

                                  OriginalGriff wrote:

                                  What does a computer do that this doesn't? (Apart from play Doom :laugh: )

                                  It took me Four Hours to make that f***in' cacodemon, and you just chopped it up with a f***in' chainsaw!

                                  I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

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                                  • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                                    I think the ping time would make it kinda difficult to play! :laugh:

                                    Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

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                                    Argonia
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #34

                                    The Ping is the excuse of the weak !

                                    Microsoft ... the only place where VARIANT_TRUE != true

                                    OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • A Argonia

                                      The Ping is the excuse of the weak !

                                      Microsoft ... the only place where VARIANT_TRUE != true

                                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                                      OriginalGriff
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #35

                                      Argonia wrote:

                                      The Ping is the excuse of the weak week!

                                      FTFY!

                                      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                                      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                                      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                                        Um...maybe not. I'd be tempted to throw the Jacquard Loom[^] into the picture: programmable, digital, working (and still in use in some places) - invented in 1801 - and kick started the Industrial Revolution.

                                        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

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                                        BillWoodruff
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #36

                                        Yes, Charles Babbage went to France and saw a Jacquard loom that created a multi-color silk portrait of Napoleon using over a million cardboard rectangles into which holes were punched to regulate weaving. But, I'm not sure I'd call that digital.

                                        «If you search in Google for 'no-one ever got fired for buying IBM:' the top-hit is the Wikipedia article on 'Fear, uncertainty and doubt'»  What does that tell you about sanity in these times?

                                        OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • S Simon ORiordan from UK

                                          Here we go:[](Americas First Computer)http://www.wired.com/2014/11/eniac-unearthed While we think 'the world' of Americans, they really must resist being so inbred; the World's First Computer was Collossus at Bletchley Park, or even Charles Babbage's 'Difference Engine'. There there. Eniac was America's First Computer. :laugh:

                                          B Offline
                                          B Offline
                                          BillWoodruff
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #37

                                          Well, how about the Antikythera Mechanism circa 3rd. century BCE (Before Common Era). It's age has, recently, been reported to be at least a century older than previously thought: [^]. The Antikythera Project and Musuem: [^]. Another Antikythera site: [^]. Videos: [^]. But, it's not digital.

                                          «If you search in Google for 'no-one ever got fired for buying IBM:' the top-hit is the Wikipedia article on 'Fear, uncertainty and doubt'»  What does that tell you about sanity in these times?

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