5 ms·

Slightly OT: Does anyone know of a textbook or other resources where (dis(advantages of analog vs digital computing are discussed?

mindcrime 5y ago
I looked a while back, and it seems that most books on the topic fall into one or the other of two categories: 1. Really old, and really expensive or 2. Somewhat modern, and also pretty expensive FWIW, here's an Amazon List on this topic that I put together a while back. Looks like there are one or two that can be had for fairly cheap, if used copies are acceptable. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1ZGZWA01QFE1V?ref_=wl_share https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1ZGZWA01QFE1V?ref_=wl_... I wound up snagging a couple off of a pirate e-book site but haven't had time to really dig into the whole thing yet.
carapace 5y ago
"Why Analog Computation?", oldie but goodie unclassified NSA document. > An introduction to analog computation containing a brief description of the analog computer and problems in which it can be advantageously applied. Both analog computers and systems combining analog and digital techniques are discussed in order to show why the Agency's interest in this computation area has increased. https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/tech-journals/why-analog-computation.pdf https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/decla...
lambdatronics 5y ago
There's a fairly simple reason for the superiority of digital computing, which is that error accumulation in analog is impossible to avoid, so the accuracy of results is limited by the quality of the components, which makes them large/expensive and even then maybe only 1% accurate. Programming them is less flexible, too. The applications are pretty niche. The analog advantage is that you can directly implement differential equations, so they can be more power-efficient and faster than the equivalent digital simulation.
- Schiphol 5y ago
  Thanks for this. I am most interested in mathematical comparisons. That is to say, ways in which optimal analog computation (idealizing away from noise propagation, among other things) might be sometimes better than its digital counterpart. Your last point about diff equations is directly relevant to this.

mindcrime 5y ago

I looked a while back, and it seems that most books on the topic fall into one or the other of two categories: 1. Really old, and really expensive or 2. Somewhat modern, and also pretty expensive FWIW, here's an Amazon List on this topic that I put together a while back. Looks like there are one or two that can be had for fairly cheap, if used copies are acceptable. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1ZGZWA01QFE1V?ref_=wl_share https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1ZGZWA01QFE1V?ref_=wl_... I wound up snagging a couple off of a pirate e-book site but haven't had time to really dig into the whole thing yet.

carapace 5y ago

"Why Analog Computation?", oldie but goodie unclassified NSA document. > An introduction to analog computation containing a brief description of the analog computer and problems in which it can be advantageously applied. Both analog computers and systems combining analog and digital techniques are discussed in order to show why the Agency's interest in this computation area has increased. https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/tech-journals/why-analog-computation.pdf https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/decla...

lambdatronics 5y ago

There's a fairly simple reason for the superiority of digital computing, which is that error accumulation in analog is impossible to avoid, so the accuracy of results is limited by the quality of the components, which makes them large/expensive and even then maybe only 1% accurate. Programming them is less flexible, too. The applications are pretty niche. The analog advantage is that you can directly implement differential equations, so they can be more power-efficient and faster than the equivalent digital simulation.

Schiphol 5y ago
Thanks for this. I am most interested in mathematical comparisons. That is to say, ways in which optimal analog computation (idealizing away from noise propagation, among other things) might be sometimes better than its digital counterpart. Your last point about diff equations is directly relevant to this.