4 ms·

Agreed. Though I bet the performance of such a computer would barely crack kHz territory.

flohofwoe 1y ago
kilo-Hertz was sound-barrier territory even in the in the 1930s ;) E.g. Z1 was running at 1Hz, Z2 at 5Hz and Z3 at 5..10Hz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z2_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z2_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)
- TheAmazingRace 1y ago
  Then I was an order of magnitude off!
lysace 1y ago
https://technicshistory.com/2017/01/29/the-relay/ https://technicshistory.com/2017/01/29/the-relay/ > In 1837, American scientist and teacher Joseph Henry took his first tour of Europe. During his visit to London, he made a point of visiting a man he greatly admired, the mathematician Charles Babbage. Accompanying Henry were his friend Alexander Bache, and his new acquaintance and fellow experimenter in telegraphy, Charles Wheatstone. Babbage told his visitors of his upcoming appointment to demonstrate a calculating machine to a member of Parliament, but was even more excited to show them his plans for another machine, “which will far transcend the powers of the first…” Henry recorded the outlines of Babbage’s plan in his diary. So close! Henry made the electromagnet practical. Babbage "originated the concept of a digital programmable computer" as per Wikipedia.
- shakna 1y ago
  Just a note on no man being an island - there's a bit of debate on how much of the Analytical Engine was Babbage, and how much of it was Lovelace.
  - lysace 1y ago
    > there's a bit of debate on how much of the Analytical Engine was Babbage, and how much of it was Lovelace. No there isn't. That "debate" is about who wrote the first program for the Analytical Engine (which I didn't mention).
    - shakna 1y ago
      There's no debate Babbage was behind the Difference Engine. However, Lovelace's article on the Analytical Engine did not just expand it by demonstrating a programming language. It included physical differences to Babbage's - and this is because she didn't just sit and watch, she assisted on the design of the machine itself. > Again, it might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine. Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.

kilo-Hertz was sound-barrier territory even in the in the 1930s ;) E.g. Z1 was running at 1Hz, Z2 at 5Hz and Z3 at 5..10Hz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z2_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z2_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)

TheAmazingRace 1y ago
Then I was an order of magnitude off!

lysace 1y ago

https://technicshistory.com/2017/01/29/the-relay/ https://technicshistory.com/2017/01/29/the-relay/ > In 1837, American scientist and teacher Joseph Henry took his first tour of Europe. During his visit to London, he made a point of visiting a man he greatly admired, the mathematician Charles Babbage. Accompanying Henry were his friend Alexander Bache, and his new acquaintance and fellow experimenter in telegraphy, Charles Wheatstone. Babbage told his visitors of his upcoming appointment to demonstrate a calculating machine to a member of Parliament, but was even more excited to show them his plans for another machine, “which will far transcend the powers of the first…” Henry recorded the outlines of Babbage’s plan in his diary. So close! Henry made the electromagnet practical. Babbage "originated the concept of a digital programmable computer" as per Wikipedia.

shakna 1y ago
Just a note on no man being an island - there's a bit of debate on how much of the Analytical Engine was Babbage, and how much of it was Lovelace.
- lysace 1y ago
  > there's a bit of debate on how much of the Analytical Engine was Babbage, and how much of it was Lovelace. No there isn't. That "debate" is about who wrote the first program for the Analytical Engine (which I didn't mention).
  - shakna 1y ago
    There's no debate Babbage was behind the Difference Engine. However, Lovelace's article on the Analytical Engine did not just expand it by demonstrating a programming language. It included physical differences to Babbage's - and this is because she didn't just sit and watch, she assisted on the design of the machine itself. > Again, it might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine. Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.