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I just got back from a trip to Scotland and England and I had a chance to visit Bletchley Park and The National Museum of Computing. I had a discussion about co

I just got back from a trip to Scotland and England and I had a chance to visit Bletchley Park and The National Museum of Computing. I had a discussion about computing firsts with the man demonstrating the Colossus code breaking computer. It's basically useless to claim any machine was the "first" computer without dumping a lot of adjectives on it. The Baby (which I must see, if I ever get to Manchester) is considered the first _electronic_ digital stored program computer. The Z3 was not fully electronic. The Colossus has a claim to "first electronic digital computer", with the caveat that it wasn't general purpose. The ENIAC is usually described as the first fully electronic, general purpose, digital computer. The point is that arguing over firsts in this business is pointless. It took a village. I'd also like to give a hearty recommendation to anyone interested in such things that they take the time to visit Bletchley. The exhibits at Bletchley Park are fascinating and the working machines next door at TNMOC are amazing. In addition to the Colossus rebuild, I was particularly taken with the Harwell Dekatron, which has enough blinking lights and chattering relays to belong on a 50s sci-fi movie set. I was disappointed that the rebuild of the EDSAC wasn't ready, but maybe I'll get back there some day. I also hope to see the reconstructed Zuse machines if I get back to Germany.

clappski 8y ago
I’m from Bletchley (and actually lived in a housing development built on some of the land that the trust that owned the park sold, inventively named Bletchley Park)! Historically (as in,5/6 years ago), Bletchley Park was in dire need of major upkeep work and stimulus to keep it open. It’s only been since the Turing film came out that the Park received a ton of funding and managed to pull itself into the modern era as a museum and afford all of the expensive work that needed to be done to restore the machines. I remember walking around there as a kid with my dad (perhaps 15 years ago or so) and there was considerably less content and working machinery. I only remember seeing an enigma machine - the emphasis was much more around life during WW2 and general military technology. Nowadays the focus is on signal intelligence and code breaking, and is honestly much more interesting. We always go there once every year or so to check it out and see new exhibits, but still haven’t visited the now separate computing museum on the main site. Can’t recommend visiting Bletchley Park highly enough if you’re in the UK, only a 30 to 45 minute train journey out of London, and the park is literally opposite Bletchley train station. If you do visit, don’t be under the impression that the town of Bletchley that houses the park is equally as beautiful - it’s not. Don’t visit the town. You will be very, very disappointed if you’re a foreign tourist on a day trip.

clappski 8y ago

I’m from Bletchley (and actually lived in a housing development built on some of the land that the trust that owned the park sold, inventively named Bletchley Park)! Historically (as in,5/6 years ago), Bletchley Park was in dire need of major upkeep work and stimulus to keep it open. It’s only been since the Turing film came out that the Park received a ton of funding and managed to pull itself into the modern era as a museum and afford all of the expensive work that needed to be done to restore the machines. I remember walking around there as a kid with my dad (perhaps 15 years ago or so) and there was considerably less content and working machinery. I only remember seeing an enigma machine - the emphasis was much more around life during WW2 and general military technology. Nowadays the focus is on signal intelligence and code breaking, and is honestly much more interesting. We always go there once every year or so to check it out and see new exhibits, but still haven’t visited the now separate computing museum on the main site. Can’t recommend visiting Bletchley Park highly enough if you’re in the UK, only a 30 to 45 minute train journey out of London, and the park is literally opposite Bletchley train station. If you do visit, don’t be under the impression that the town of Bletchley that houses the park is equally as beautiful - it’s not. Don’t visit the town. You will be very, very disappointed if you’re a foreign tourist on a day trip.