3 ms·

The part you left out of the ellipses is pretty important to the meaning: "according to which devices carry out a sequence of different operations over time". T

by hcs 10y ago

The part you left out of the ellipses is pretty important to the meaning: "according to which devices carry out a sequence of different operations over time". The article is about transfer of control, which is why it focuses on looping and branches. edit: Maybe sequencing mechanisms on analog computers could have been examined more closely. It's my understanding that Claude Shannon's master's thesis on Boolean logic in hardware came out of his work with Vannevar Bush's differential analyzer at MIT, so things must have been very complex.

nickpsecurity 10y ago
"The article is about transfer of control, which is why it focuses on looping and branches." Perhaps my comment has less application for that reason. Early analog systems either computed functions or were used in control systems. They have looping mechanisms for sure. They can emulate branches as that's just a series of functions with some decision code choosing which to execute. Given these can be configurable, I could still see programs in computers that used analog model with features you describe. " It's my understanding that Claude Shannon's master's thesis on Boolean logic in hardware came out of his work with Vannevar Bush's differential analyzer at MIT" Smart observation. Claude Shannon invented the first model for general-purpose, analog computers modeling the differential analyzer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_purpose_analog_computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_purpose_analog_compute... To get you up to speed, this is a nice, short write-up on the history of analog computers and some of their advantages. You'll also see the difficulties in here vs throwing some Verilog together on Boolean. http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/1/1a/Bissell-2004.pdf http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/1/1a/Bissell-2004.pdf They have a lot of untapped potential. It's why I'm looking into them. So, I try to correct any misinformation about them as I discover the truth through my digging. They certainly have drawbacks and issues but also remarkable traits that make them a competitive advantage to this day. Today, they call them "mixed-signal ASIC's" which use analog in places it's best and digital for rest. Still mostly done by hand, though, despite advances in synthesis.

by hcs 10y ago

nickpsecurity 10y ago

"The article is about transfer of control, which is why it focuses on looping and branches." Perhaps my comment has less application for that reason. Early analog systems either computed functions or were used in control systems. They have looping mechanisms for sure. They can emulate branches as that's just a series of functions with some decision code choosing which to execute. Given these can be configurable, I could still see programs in computers that used analog model with features you describe. " It's my understanding that Claude Shannon's master's thesis on Boolean logic in hardware came out of his work with Vannevar Bush's differential analyzer at MIT" Smart observation. Claude Shannon invented the first model for general-purpose, analog computers modeling the differential analyzer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_purpose_analog_computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_purpose_analog_compute... To get you up to speed, this is a nice, short write-up on the history of analog computers and some of their advantages. You'll also see the difficulties in here vs throwing some Verilog together on Boolean. http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/1/1a/Bissell-2004.pdf http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/1/1a/Bissell-2004.pdf They have a lot of untapped potential. It's why I'm looking into them. So, I try to correct any misinformation about them as I discover the truth through my digging. They certainly have drawbacks and issues but also remarkable traits that make them a competitive advantage to this day. Today, they call them "mixed-signal ASIC's" which use analog in places it's best and digital for rest. Still mostly done by hand, though, despite advances in synthesis.