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I just recently learned just how underappreciated Zuse is. Besides the Z3 and Z4 being hugely modern machines while _also_ being the first programmable computer

I just recently learned just how underappreciated Zuse is. Besides the Z3 and Z4 being hugely modern machines while _also_ being the first programmable computers (load/store architecture, fixed length instructions, multiple stage execution with overlapping stages, 32-bit float [which he independently invented, but was previously discovered, but not implemented, once in 1914], branch delay slots), he suggested the structure for an optimizing compiler for numerical code as well as trying to patent super-scalar execution -- in the 1930s; the patent was eventually rejected as being "obvious" - in the 60s, years before the invention of Tomasulo's algorithm.

MrBuddyCasino 6y ago
„ Zuse is the nerd's nerd. Not only did he build the first programmable computer, he also was the first dude to grok digital physics and the idea that the universe may be a computer. Zuse's book 'Calculating Space' was written in the 60s, years before Fredkin et al. People thought he was insane. Consequently, he thought his intellectual life was over and actually went into startups later in life. Today, his ideas about the universe being computation are very trendy. Before his death, he was invited out to MIT and shown some love for his pioneering work.“ [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9200896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9200896