* [TUHS] The birth of the Z3
@ 2018-05-13 21:30 Noel Chiappa
2018-05-13 21:44 ` Mike Markowski
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Noel Chiappa @ 2018-05-13 21:30 UTC (permalink / raw)
> From: Clem Cole
> Their is a open question about the need to support self modifying code
> too. I personally don't think of that as important as the need for
> conditional instructions which I do think need to be there before you
> can really call it a computer.
Here's one way to look at it: with conditional branching, one can always
write a program to _emulate_ a machine with self-modifying code (if that's
what floats your boat, computing-wise) - because that's exactly what older,
simple microcoded machines (which don't, of course, have self-modifying code
- their programs are in ROM) do.
Noel
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] The birth of the Z3
2018-05-13 21:30 [TUHS] The birth of the Z3 Noel Chiappa
@ 2018-05-13 21:44 ` Mike Markowski
2018-05-14 3:27 ` Dave Horsfall
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Mike Markowski @ 2018-05-13 21:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
On 05/13/2018 05:30 PM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
> > From: Clem Cole
>
> > Their is a open question about the need to support self modifying code
> > too. I personally don't think of that as important as the need for
> > conditional instructions which I do think need to be there before you
> > can really call it a computer.
>
> Here's one way to look at it: with conditional branching, one can always
> write a program to _emulate_ a machine with self-modifying code (if that's
> what floats your boat, computing-wise) - because that's exactly what older,
> simple microcoded machines (which don't, of course, have self-modifying code
> - their programs are in ROM) do.
>
> Noel
Rewording that, as I recall from Computability Theory there are three
statements needed for Turing completeness:
1. S <- 0 S is some var
2. S <- S + 1
3. if S=0 goto L L is some line#
Beyond that everything else is icing on the cake. Kind of like needing
nothing more than a bunch of NAND gates to build a computer,
disregarding practicality...
Mike Markowski
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] The birth of the Z3
2018-05-13 21:44 ` Mike Markowski
@ 2018-05-14 3:27 ` Dave Horsfall
0 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Dave Horsfall @ 2018-05-14 3:27 UTC (permalink / raw)
On Sun, 13 May 2018, Mike Markowski wrote:
> Beyond that everything else is icing on the cake. Kind of like needing
> nothing more than a bunch of NAND gates to build a computer,
> disregarding practicality...
Or a bunch of NOR gates, which are equivalent :-) I'd demonstrate the
proof here, but my TeX skills aren't up to it...
-- Dave
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] The birth of the Z3
2018-05-13 6:52 ` Greg 'groggy' Lehey
@ 2018-05-13 21:07 ` Clem cole
0 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Clem cole @ 2018-05-13 21:07 UTC (permalink / raw)
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Yes of course. I used to program the 8 so I remember. But I (sloppily) think of them the same way although you are correct they are different in implementation. But my key point is until conditional instructions that change the path come along we are not to the general purpose computing platform.
Their is a open question about the need to support self modifying code too. I personally don’t think of that as important as the need for conditional instructions which I do think need to be there before you can really call it a computer. But that’s my opinion and others clearly believe neither are needed.
Clem
Sent from my PDP-7 Running UNIX V0 expect things to be almost but not quite.
> On May 13, 2018, at 2:52 AM, Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog at lemis.com> wrote:
>
>> On Saturday, 12 May 2018 at 11:04:26 -0400, Clem Cole wrote:
>>> On Fri, May 11, 2018 at 6:21 PM, Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Way back on this day in 1941, Conrad Zuse unveiled the Z3; it was the
>>> first programmable automatic computer as we know it (Colossus 1 was not
>>> general-purpose). The last news I heard about the Z3 was that she was
>>> destroyed in an air-raid...
>>>
>>> This pretty much started computing, as we know it.
>>
>> But .. until we also include a conditional branch the ability to do
>> self modify code we don't really have the machine with think of as
>> the automatic programmable computer.
>>
>> Check out:
>> http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/rojas/1993/Who_invented_the_computer.pdf its a
>> fun read.
>
> That's an interesting document, but it refers to the Z1, not the Z3.
> But Wikipedia confirms that the Z3 also didn't have conditional
> instructions.
>
> Conditional branch is only one way to do that, of course. The PDP-8,
> for example, didn't have one, just (like many machines of the day)
> conditional skip instructions.
>
> Greg
> --
> Sent from my desktop computer.
> Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key.
> See complete headers for address and phone numbers.
> This message is digitally signed. If your Microsoft mail program
> reports problems, please read http://lemis.com/broken-MUA
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] The birth of the Z3
2018-05-12 15:04 ` Clem Cole
@ 2018-05-13 6:52 ` Greg 'groggy' Lehey
2018-05-13 21:07 ` Clem cole
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Greg 'groggy' Lehey @ 2018-05-13 6:52 UTC (permalink / raw)
On Saturday, 12 May 2018 at 11:04:26 -0400, Clem Cole wrote:
> On Fri, May 11, 2018 at 6:21 PM, Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> wrote:
>
>> Way back on this day in 1941, Conrad Zuse unveiled the Z3; it was the
>> first programmable automatic computer as we know it (Colossus 1 was not
>> general-purpose). The last news I heard about the Z3 was that she was
>> destroyed in an air-raid...
>>
>> This pretty much started computing, as we know it.
>
> But .. until we also include a conditional branch the ability to do
> self modify code we don't really have the machine with think of as
> the automatic programmable computer.
>
> Check out:
> http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/rojas/1993/Who_invented_the_computer.pdf its a
> fun read.
That's an interesting document, but it refers to the Z1, not the Z3.
But Wikipedia confirms that the Z3 also didn't have conditional
instructions.
Conditional branch is only one way to do that, of course. The PDP-8,
for example, didn't have one, just (like many machines of the day)
conditional skip instructions.
Greg
--
Sent from my desktop computer.
Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key.
See complete headers for address and phone numbers.
This message is digitally signed. If your Microsoft mail program
reports problems, please read http://lemis.com/broken-MUA
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* [TUHS] The birth of the Z3
2018-05-11 22:21 Dave Horsfall
@ 2018-05-12 15:04 ` Clem Cole
2018-05-13 6:52 ` Greg 'groggy' Lehey
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Clem Cole @ 2018-05-12 15:04 UTC (permalink / raw)
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On Fri, May 11, 2018 at 6:21 PM, Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> wrote:
> Way back on this day in 1941, Conrad Zuse unveiled the Z3; it was the
> first programmable automatic computer as we know it (Colossus 1 was not
> general-purpose). The last news I heard about the Z3 was that she was
> destroyed in an air-raid...
>
> This pretty much started computing, as we know it.
Again be careful -- we don't want to go down that rat hole. There has
been always been an argument since it (as well as Atanasoff and Aiken's
machines all) lacks a conditional branch. Although, I do believe some
one the UK proved the Z3 to be Turing complete; but the argument will
always be there.
What I tell people is that Babbage theorized the computational device and
Lady Ada extended the theorized to general programmability (to play music
I believe) but it was never built and she and Babbage argued a bit about
it. The Loom folks demonstrated that the idea programmability was
possible. Zuse put the two idea together and reduce it practice.
But .. until we also include a conditional branch the ability to do self
modify code we don't really have the machine with think of as the automatic
programmable computer.
Check out:
http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/rojas/1993/Who_invented_the_computer.pdf its a
fun read.
There is a nice table in it:
Machine Memory & CPU Separated Conditional Branching
Soft or Hard Programming Support Self Modify Indirect
Addressing
Babbage yes
yes soft
proposed no
Zuse yes
no soft
no no
Atanasoff yes
no hard
no no
Aiken Mark1 no
no soft
no no
ENIAC no
partial hard
no no
Manchester yes
yes soft
yes no
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* [TUHS] The birth of the Z3
@ 2018-05-11 22:21 Dave Horsfall
2018-05-12 15:04 ` Clem Cole
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Dave Horsfall @ 2018-05-11 22:21 UTC (permalink / raw)
Way back on this day in 1941, Conrad Zuse unveiled the Z3; it was the
first programmable automatic computer as we know it (Colossus 1 was not
general-purpose). The last news I heard about the Z3 was that she was
destroyed in an air-raid...
This pretty much started computing, as we know it.
-- Dave
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2018-05-13 21:30 [TUHS] The birth of the Z3 Noel Chiappa
2018-05-13 21:44 ` Mike Markowski
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2018-05-11 22:21 Dave Horsfall
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2018-05-13 21:07 ` Clem cole
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