diff --git a/.zk/notebook.db b/.zk/notebook.db index 7d2d756..3024232 100644 Binary files a/.zk/notebook.db and b/.zk/notebook.db differ diff --git a/zk/The_History_of_Computing_Swade.md b/zk/The_History_of_Computing_Swade.md index d98ee09..88f9b15 100644 --- a/zk/The_History_of_Computing_Swade.md +++ b/zk/The_History_of_Computing_Swade.md @@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ tags: [literature, computer-history] created: Friday, August 23, 2024 --- -# _The History of Computing: A Very Short Introduction_ - | Title | Author | Publication date | Resource type | | --------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | | The History of Computing: A Very Short Introduction | Doron Swade | 2022 | Book | @@ -135,6 +133,36 @@ Digital machines produce results by _calculation_ whereas analogue machines produce results by _measurement_, e.g. the height of liquid in a tank or the time it taks for a tank to be emptied, +### Examples + +#### The Phillips Hydraulic Computer + +This used fluid to model the workings of the British economy. It consisted of a +series of transparent plastic tanks and pipes which were fastened to a wooden +board. + +![Philips Hydraulic Computer](../img/hydraulic_computer.jpg) + +Each tank represented some aspect of the UK national economy and the flow of +money around the economy was illustrated by coloured water. At the top of the +board was a large tank called the treasury. Water (representing money) flowed +from the treasury to other tanks representing the various ways in which a +country could spend its money. For example, there were tanks for health and +education. To increase spending on health care a tap could be opened to drain +water from the treasury to the tank which represented health spending. + +#### Bush's Differential Analyser + +This was designed to solve differential equations by integration. In contrast to +the Philips Computer it was general enough to be used to solve problems from +different contexts. Examples of these contexts: heat flow, ballistics, +mechanics, population growth, chemical interactions, astronomy. + +![Differential Analyser](../img/differential_analyser_bush.jpg) + +It was about the size of a room and used shafts, motgors, discs and wheels to +work. + ### Historiography There is a tendency in the history of computing to downplay or diminish the