[SIGCIS-Members] Zuse / binary

[Johannah Rodgers]

Thanks everyone for this fascinating discussion.  While I cannot offer any
contribution to Zuse's decision to use binary notation, I do have an
opinion to offer re: the decision to use binary rather than decimal
notation with the EDVAC.  In their 1945 report entitled "Automatic High
Speed Computing: A Progress Report on the EDVAC," Eckert and Mauchly write
that "accuracy is ensured by digital methods" (6) but, there is also an
indication that the reliability of vacuum tubes is greatly increased by the
use of "digital methods."

All best,

Johannah

On Sat, Jul 8, 2023 at 12:43 PM Ceruzzi, Paul via Members <
members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

> Fascinating discussion. Zuse told me that he was taught binary arithmetic
> in grade school, but he only learned of Leibniz's essay on binary (ca.
> 1680) after Zuse began work on computers. Babbage was an admirer of
> Leibniz's work but did not consider binary for his engines.  The Z1, which
> had a binary calculating unit, did not work well, and therefore Zuse
> adopted electromagnetic relays (a technology not available to Babbage) for
> his later machines, which did work. Attempts to reconstruct the Z1 for the
> Deutsches Technikmuseum using late 20th-Century machine tools also failed
> --  please correct me if I am mistaken. But note that Zuse built a
> successful mecahnical binary *memory*​ unit for the Z4, which not only
> worked well but which was in steady service at the ETH in Switzerland for
> years. The joke was that the clicking of the Z4 relays was the loudest
> noise in Zurich on any given evening. The Z4 is now at the Deutsches Museum
> in Munich.
>
> Paul Ceruzzi
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Jesper
> Juul via Members <members at lists.sigcis.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, July 8, 2023 8:05 AM
> *To:* Evan Koblentz <evank at njit.edu>
> *Cc:* members at lists.sigcis.org <members at lists.sigcis.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Zuse / binary
>
>
> *External Email - Exercise Caution*
> In Raúl Rojas' paper on the Z1/Z3(1), he writes that "instead of using
> gears (as Babbage had done in the previous century), Zuse implemented
> logical and arithmetical operations using sliding metallic rods. The rods
> could move in only one of two directions (forward or backward) and
> therefore were appropriate for a binary machine." The Z1 is 1936-38.
>
> This doesn't quite explain if rods or binary arithmetic came first, but
> there is a footnote to Zuse's book "Der Computer mein Lebenswerk".
>
> As a side note, I can recommend seeing the Z1 in the Technical Museum in
> Berlin if you are near.
>
> Jesper Juul
>
> 1) https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/Zuse_Z1_and_Z3.pdf
>
> On Fri, 7 Jul 2023 at 18:34, Evan Koblentz via Members <
> members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:
>
> What are some good articles addressing why Zuse, Aiken, Stibitz, etc.
> decided to use binary (or not)?
>
> --
> Evan Koblentz
>
> New Jersey Institute of Technology
> - Senior Writer, Office of Communications and Marketing
> - Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing
> - Faculty/Staff Advisor, NJIT Lego Club
>
> evank at njit.edu
> (973) 596-3065
> https://web.njit.edu/~evank
>
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-- 
johannahrodgers at gmail.com
www.johannahrodgers.net
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