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Sixty Years of Computation - The Machines of Konrad Zuse

Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-2203
  • This paper provides the {\em first} detailed description of the architecture of the computing machines Z1 and Z3 designed by Konrad Zuse in Berlin between 1936 to 1941. The necessary information was obtained from a careful evaluation of the patent application filed by Zuse in 1941. Additional insight was gained from a software simulation of the machine's logic. The Z1 was built using purely mechanical components, the Z3 using electromechanical relays. However, both machines shared a common logical structure and the programming model was exactly the same. We argue that both the Z1 and the Z3 possessed features akin to those of modern computers: memory and processor were separate units, the processor could handle floating-point numbers and compute the four basic arithmetical operations as well as the square root of a number. The program was stored on punched tape and was read sequentially. In the last section of this paper we bring the architecture of the Z1 and Z3 into historical perspective by offering a comparison with computing machines built in other countries.

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Metadaten
Author:Raul Rojas
Document Type:ZIB-Report
Date of first Publication:1996/03/25
Series (Serial Number):ZIB-Report (SC-96-09)
ZIB-Reportnumber:SC-96-09
Published in:Appeared under the title: "Konrad Zuse's Legacy" in: Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 19, No. 2, 1997, pp. 5-16
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