[SIGCIS-Members] Zuse / binary

Sat Jul 8 21:16:28 PDT 2023

On 09-Jul-23 05:23, Johannah Rodgers via Members wrote:
> 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."

Thanks for reminding me of that report. On the binary v. decimal point, it is interesting to contrast it with the von Neumann report. The progress report says:

"In the EDVAC, the various digits specifying a number will be transmitted
serially through a single channel. Switching equipment is consequently
simplified and reduced. Moreover, the storage or memory elements to be
used in the EDVAC are entirely different from those used in the ENIAC."
[page 4]

"Indeed, the EDVAC will store its operating instruc-
tions in exactly the same manner as it stores numbers." [page 5]

"For the purpose of this report, it was decided to present plans based on
use of a coded decimal number representation, although a binary system may
ultimately be used. The computer elements are therefore somewhat more com-
plicated than they would be for a binary machine." [page 8]

That was dated almost exactly 3 months later than the von Neumann report, which clearly states that the machine should be binary. An interesting discrepancy. I wonder whether the progress report was aimed at a somewhat conservative management chain? Or is this simply a reflection of von Neumann's status as a brilliant outsider?

Regards,
      Brian Carpenter

> 
> All best,
> 
> Johannah
> 
> On Sat, Jul 8, 2023 at 12:43 PM Ceruzzi, Paul via Members <members at lists.sigcis.org <mailto: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 <mailto:members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org>> on behalf of Jesper Juul via Members <members at lists.sigcis.org <mailto:members at lists.sigcis.org>>
>     *Sent:* Saturday, July 8, 2023 8:05 AM
>     *To:* Evan Koblentz <evank at njit.edu <mailto:evank at njit.edu>>
>     *Cc:* members at lists.sigcis.org <mailto:members at lists.sigcis.org> <members at lists.sigcis.org <mailto: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 <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 <mailto: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 <mailto:evank at njit.edu>
>         (973) 596-3065
>         https://web.njit.edu/~evank <https://web.njit.edu/~evank>
> 
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> -- 
> johannahrodgers at gmail.com <mailto:johannahrodgers at gmail.com>
> www.johannahrodgers.net <http://www.johannahrodgers.net>
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