Talk:History of computing hardware

First programmable analog computer?

Why do I keep seeing this same exact line "The castle clock, a hydropowered mechanical astronomical clock invented by Al-Jazari in 1206, was the first programmable analog computer.[10][11][12]" posted on all the major computing history Wikipedia articles? For starters, I believe the claim is a bit sensationalized, as the word "programmable" is being used very loosely here. The term programmable is usually meant in the context of being able to provide instructions to a machine so that the machine can adjust its operations accordingly. In this scenario for Al-Jazari's clock (also very loosely associated with a computer, but it performs a computation of sorts, namely, keeping time and such, so I will grant that I suppose), the clock had to be manually recalibrated. Does this qualify as programmable? In addition to this, the actual cited source isn't even correct. The episode in question of Ancient Discoveries of the History Channel is Series 3 Episode 9, and the episode itself (available on YouTube) doesn't even support the claim that Al-Jazari's clock was the first programmable analog computer. The episode actually makes an even stranger claim: that Al-Jazari's clock was a "super computer". I also looked through source 11 and didn't find the claim supported on the page given. What is going on here? 2601:82:200:8B20:0:0:0:3C04 (talk) 01:24, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

It seems clear that the castle clock is programable in adjusting the flow for unequal hours of a day. Whether it is earliest remains to be shown. Tom94022 (talk) 02:58, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Sequencing of Turing and Von Neumann

@TedColes: My edit [1] which you reverted, corrected the suggestion in the article that Turing's designs was independent of the work done by Mauchly and Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania, as reported by John von Neumann in his "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC." My correction gave references which you removed.

The version prior to my edits and the current version after being reverted says:

In 1945 Turing joined the National Physical Laboratory and began his work on developing an electronic stored-program digital computer. His 1945 report 'Proposed Electronic Calculator' was the first specification for such a device.

Meanwhile, John von Neumann at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, circulated his First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC in 1945. Although substantially similar to Turing's design and containing comparatively little engineering detail, the computer architecture it outlined became known as the "von Neumann architecture".

However Turing himself states on page 3 of his 'Proposed Electronic Calculator':

"The present report gives a fairly complete account of the proposed calculator. It is recomended however that it be read in conjunction with J. von Neumann's 'Report on the EDVAC',"

Turing indeed wrote a more full worked out design, but he does not claim to have written the "first specification for such a device." My edits which correct the timing, without denigrating Turing's contribution in any way, should be restored.--agr (talk) 19:57, 27 August 2023 (UTC) agr (talk) 19:57, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

I agree with agr that sequencing JvN before Turing is supported by the historical record and therefore his edit should be restored Tom94022 (talk) 23:18, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

It can be difficult to present developments that happened in parallel in a linear medium such as a Wikipedia article. Turing’s 1936 paper is, however, widely accepted as being seminal and there was a lot of transatlantic exchanging and sharing of ideas. As Copeland puts it in his 2004 book The Essential Turing

The idea of a universal stored-programme computing machine was promulgated in the USA by von Neumann and in the UK by [Max] Newman, the two mathematicians who, along with Turing himself, were by and large responsible for placing Turing’s abstract universal machine into the hands of electronic engineers.

I reverted the edit by ArnoldReinhold (talk · contribs) because it left nothing immediately under the heading "Theory". I think that it is important to recognise that parallel developments took place on the two sides of the Atlantic. It should be possible to arrive at a consensus on an acceptable re-sequencing of the material.--TedColes (talk)

It's important to recognize that WWII secrecy played a role in the development of the ideas: Gordon Bell and Allen Newell's 1971 Computer Structures page xiii acknowledges 64 names (including M.V. Wilkes but skipping over Turing). When even Bell and Newell fail to cite, it's not through lack of diligence, but likely by government directive at the organizational level (which got superseded when economics and electronics finally showed the importance of computing hardware in everyday life). The evidence is that information flowed asymmetrically across the Atlantic. --Ancheta Wis   (talk | contribs) 10:46, 28 August 2023 (UTC)

Turing's 1936 paper already is the first sentence of the section. The rest of the first paragraph seems out of context since it jumps to his 1945 work placing it ahead of JvN and apparently out of context. The simple solution seems to be to move the rest of the first paragraph, something like this:

The theoretical basis for the stored-program computer had been proposed by Alan Turing in his 1936 paper.

Meanwhile, John von Neumann at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, circulated his First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC in 1945. Although substantially similar to Turing's design and containing comparatively little engineering detail, the computer architecture it outlined became known as the "von Neumann architecture". Turing presented a more detailed paper to the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Executive Committee in 1946, giving the first reasonably complete design of a stored-program computer, a device he called the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE). However, the better-known EDVAC design of John von Neumann, who knew of Turing's theoretical work, received more publicity, despite its incomplete nature and questionable lack of attribution of the sources of some of the ideas.[54]

In 1945 Turing joined the National Physical Laboratory and began his work on developing an electronic stored-program digital computer. Turing thought that the speed an ...

Tom94022 (talk) 23:38, 28 August 2023 (UTC)

I appreciate the way the topic is presented in light of @TedColes latest edit. Turing's undeniable role in laying the theoretical foundation of the stored program computer with his Turing machine is evident and well established in the article. Meanwhile, the Moore School, von Neumann, Wilkes and others worked assiduously to translate theory into practical reality. The first stored program computers emerged as products of brilliant teamwork, where all actors, including Turing, acknowledged, cited and respected each other's contributions. I think it's important to recognize that no major figure should be overshadowed by another, as they all played significant roles in shaping the course of the stored program development. Damien.b (talk) 11:28, 29 August 2023 (UTC)

I have re-written the section and hope that I have represented as many as possible of the different ideas presented here.--TedColes (talk) 12:12, 29 August 2023 (UTC)

• Section references

Commercial Computer

Why does the article claim that 'The first commercial computer was the Ferranti Mark 1, built by Ferranti and delivered to the University of Manchester in February 1951. ' when the Z4 was already rented to ETH and in operation there in 1950? This in my view clearly makes the Z4 the first commercial computer. The Z4 article even says (with references) that 'In 1950/1951, the Z4 was the only working digital computer in Central Europe, and the second digital computer in the world to be sold or loaned,[1]: 981  beating the Ferranti Mark 1 by five months and the UNIVAC I by ten months, but in turn being beaten by the BINAC (although that never worked at the customer's site[19]).' Claiming a computer that never really worked the 'firs commercial computer' seems rather misleading, so the first computer working for money is clearly the Zuse Z4. --85.169.148.50 (talk) 22:36, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

New section

@Nathansanni: The new sub section Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Computing Hardware being added in section 1, "Early devices" seems both out of place and redundant to material already in section 2, First proposed general-purpose computing device. Please consider moving it. Tom94022 (talk) 18:30, 30 October 2024 (UTC)

Hey, just merged both of these articles so they would not seem redundant. Nathansanni (talk) 19:07, 30 October 2024 (UTC)