[vox] Computer Science Legends

[Edwin Groot]

On 15/10/2011, Brian Lavender <brian at brie.com> wrote:
> Certainly Dennis Ritchie was a legend.
>

Hello Brian,
I would make my pitch for Konrad Zuse and his Z1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_%28computer%29

This is not because I am currently living in Germany. Zuse built the
first binary computer in 1938! This was a beauty of creativity built
in the garage style of many startup companies.

I saw the replica in action at the Berlin Technical Museum a while
back. It was mechanically run with an AC motor, and really goes
ka-chunk ka-chunk while calculating. It was fascinating to watch
because it is large enough to see all the logic components, and slow
enough to follow what it was doing.

A must-see when you are in Berlin!

Edwin
p.s. I think the language used was Planalkul.
-- 

> Some day when we are old and have gray hair (oh wait, I already have some),
> we'll say, "I remember back when...."
>
> and the story will continue with walking three miles to wherever uphill in
> the snow!
>
> So, who is working on E!
>
> Oh wait, E already stands for enlightenment.
>
> How about G?
>
> So, we have B (apparently), C and D programming languages. I think G would
> be the most appropriate. G will stand for grammar production langauge, The
> compiler of compilers! We know that for solving any complex problem, it must
> be decomposed into smaller simpler problems. Therefore, I believe that G
> is most appropriate.
>
> brian
> --
> Brian Lavender
> http://www.brie.com/brian/
>
> "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to
> make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other
> way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies."
>
> Professor C. A. R. Hoare
> The 1980 Turing award lecture
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