We may not get updates but we do get viruses.
Barry - N4BUQ
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The great thing about the "human computer" is that we don't need updates!? Maybe
a generational re-alignment or two...
-Dave
On Friday, February 23, 2024 at 07:20:12 PM PST, Tom Lee
<tomlee@...> wrote:
Yes, the DA was a mechanical analog computer. You programmed it with a
wrench (and typically a bunch of grad students).
If something computes, wouldn't it be odd */not /*to call it a computer?
A DA certainly computes (up to fifth-order differential equations, IIRC).
Requiring that it have a stored operating system is much too
restrictive. We had computers long before the advent of digital things,
and therefore of OSs. The first computers were humans, after all!
-- Cheers
Tom
--
Prof. Thomas H. Lee
Allen Ctr., Rm. 205
420 Via Palou Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4070
On 2/23/2024 7:02 PM, greenboxmaven via groups.io wrote:
Is a differential analyzer a form of analog computer? There is a good
scene of one operating in the beginning of the film "When Worlds
Collide". Other amazing analog computers are the mechanical fire
control computers for battleships and submarines, and the Norden
bombsite. Despite all of these, can they correctly be called
computers? The definition of a computer I was told some time ago is "A
control or calculating apparatus with a stored operating system"
?? Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY
On 2/23/24 18:30, EJP via groups.io wrote:
When you think about it, the analogue computer is really a Laplace
Transform.
EJP
