This book describes the historical development of the architectures of the first computers built by the German inventor Konrad Zuse in Berlin between 1936 and 1945. Zuse's machines are historically important because they anticipated many features of modern computers. Specifically, these include the separation of processor and memory, the ability to compute with floating-point numbers, a hardware architecture based on microprogramming of the instruction set, and a layered design with a high-level programming language on top. In fact, Zuse's early computers are closer to modern computers than the Harvard Mark I or ENIAC, two other contenders for the title of "world's first computer." The theoretical program first conceived by Zuse in 1936/37 was fulfilled with a series of machines built before and during World War II: the Z1, Z2, Z3, and Z4. Separate chapters deal with the architecture of each computer, culminating in the description of Plankalkül, the first proposal for a high-level programming language. Students of the sciences and practitioners of computer science should have no trouble following the material. The concise introductory summary sets the reader on the historical path to retrace this remarkable intellectual adventure.
Author(s): Raúl Rojas
Series: History Of Computing
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 240
Tags: History Of Computing; History Of Technology; Processor Architectures; Computer Hardware
Foreword
Preface
References
Acknowledgements
Contents
1 Konrad Zuse and the Dawn of the Computer Age
1.1 Birth and Education
1.2 First Ideas: The Spreadsheet Computer
1.3 The Z1 and Z3 Machines
1.4 Construction and Capabilities of the Z1, Z3, and Z4
1.5 The Aftermath of the War and Plankalkül
1.6 Rebirth of Zuse's Company
1.7 Epilogue
References
2 The Race to Build the Computer in World War II
2.1 Berlin Between the Wars
2.1.1 Science and Art in Berlin
2.1.2 The Years of Computability
2.2 Computers in Wold War II
2.2.1 John Atanasoff's ABC
2.2.2 The Harvard Mark I
2.2.3 The ENIAC
2.2.4 Wunderwaffen and the Z4
2.2.5 The First Computers
2.3 Helmut Schreyer and the Electronic Computer
2.3.1 The Closest Friend
2.3.2 The Electronic Computer
2.4 Conclusion
References
3 The Z1: Architecture and Algorithms of Zuse's First Computer
3.1 Konrad Zuse and the Z1
3.2 Block Architecture
3.3 Layout of the Mechanical Components
3.4 The Mechanical Gates
3.4.1 The Mechanical Clock Cycle
3.4.2 Transmission of Impulses
3.4.3 An Example: The Mechanical Addition Unit
3.4.4 Preliminary Summary of the Mechanical Principles
3.5 The Memory of the Z1
3.6 The Addition Unit of the Z1
3.7 The Sequencer of the Z1
3.8 The Processor's Datapath
3.9 Conclusions
Appendix: The Arithmetic Instructions
Addition/Subtraction
The Problem of Zero
Multiplication
Division
Input and Output
References
4 The Z2 and the Cipher Machine
4.1 Architecture of the Z2
4.2 Konrad Zuse's Proposal for a Cipher Machine
4.2.1 The Context of the Invention
4.2.2 Konrad Zuse's Letter
4.2.3 Discussion
References
5 The Architecture of the Z3
5.1 Early Computing Machines
5.2 Architectural Overview of the Z3
5.2.1 Block Structure
5.2.2 Floating-Point Representation
5.2.3 Instruction Set
5.2.4 Number of Cycles
5.2.5 Programming Model
5.3 Block Diagram of the Z3
5.3.1 The Processor
5.3.2 The Control Unit
5.3.3 Microcontrol of the Z3
5.3.4 The Adders
5.4 Numerical Algorithms
5.4.1 Floating-Point Exceptions
5.4.2 Addition and Subtraction
5.4.3 Multiplication
5.4.4 Division
5.4.5 Square Root Extraction
5.4.6 Read and Display Instructions
5.5 Complete Architecture of the Z3
References
6 How to Make Zuse's Z3 a Universal Computer
6.1 Universal Machines and Single Loops
6.2 Simulating Branches
6.3 Halting the Computation
6.4 Conclusions
References
7 The S1 and S2: Zuse's Work for the German Military 1941–1945
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The HS-293 Flying Bomb
7.3 Block Architecture of the S1
7.4 Operation of the S1
7.5 The S2 and Automatic Process Control
7.6 Discussion
References
8 The Architecture of the Z4
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Block Architecture
8.3 Architectural Details
8.4 The Arithmetic Instruction Set
8.5 Conditionals and Control Transfer
8.6 Conclusions
References
9 The Conditional Jump: Making the Z4 Universal
9.1 Coding for the Z4
9.2 The Punched Tape of the Z4
9.3 Conditional Commands
9.4 The Conditional Jump
9.5 The Competitors
References
10 Plankalkül
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Origins of the Plankalkül
10.3 Symbolic Computation
10.4 The Syntax of the Plankalkül
10.4.1 Variables and Data Types
10.4.2 Arithmetic and Logic Statements
10.4.3 Guarded Commands
10.4.4 Iterations
10.4.5 Examples of the Implicit Form of Plankalkül
10.4.6 Linearized Form of the Plankalkül
10.4.7 Functions and Function Calls
10.4.8 Input and Output
10.5 Implementation Issues
10.5.1 The Editor
10.5.2 The Parser
10.5.3 The Runtime System
10.6 Sample Programs
10.7 Conclusions
Appendix: Syntax of the Implementation of Plankalkül 2000
Symbols
Data Types
Variables
Function Call
Arithmetic Operations
Logic Operations
Assignment
IF-THEN
WHILE
Statements
Programs
Randauszug
References
11 Zuse's Computer for Binary Logic
11.1 Introduction
11.2 General Structure of the Logic Machine
11.3 Encoding of the Instruction Set
11.4 The Control and Decoding Unit
11.5 The Memory Unit
11.6 The Processor
11.7 Was the Machine Arithmetically Complete?
11.8 Discussion
References
12 The First Code for Computer Chess
12.1 Computer Chess
12.2 Prehistory of Computer Chess
12.3 Enter Turing
12.4 Zuse's Chess-Playing Program
12.5 Move Generation in Zuse's Notebooks
12.6 Computer Chess After Zuse, Turing, and Shannon
References
13 The Reconstruction of Konrad Zuse's Z3
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Architecture of the Z3
13.3 The Konrad Zuse Internet Archive
13.4 Reconstruction of the Addition Unit
13.5 Full Reconstruction of the Z3
13.6 The Virtual Z3
13.7 Conclusions
References
14 Epilogue
14.1 A Hierarchy of Architectural Levels
14.2 Celebrating the Z1 in 2038?
14.3 Acknowledgments for Figures
References
References
