Overview
- First in-depth exploration of Zuse's contribution
- Definitive reference on all of Zuse's early machines
- Covers all machines designed and built from 1936 to 1945 (Z1,Z2,Z3,Z4)
Part of the book series: History of Computing (HC)
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About this book
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.
Keywords
Table of contents (14 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“This book explicitly aims to pay tribute to Zuse’s wide-ranging merits. … All chapters (some translated from German) are meant to be read as stand-alone pieces, tied together by an instructive preface. The book is intended to address ‘curious and adventurous’ students and practitioners of computer sciences, yet it can also inspire readers from historical disciplines. Compiling thirty years of research, however, this book documents Rojas’s remarkable, long-lasting efforts to keep the memory of Zuse alive.” (Michael Homberg, Technology and Culture, Vol. 66 (1), January, 2025)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Raul Rojas is Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Freie Universität Berlin from 1997 to 2020. Previously, he held professorships at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Technical University of Vienna. Raul Rojas' field of research is the theory and applications of artificial intelligence algorithms. He has published two books on neural networks with Springer-Verlag, as well as the book “Die Rechenmaschinen von Konrad Zuse” (1998), a volume that finds its continuation in this new book. Prof. Rojas is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, received the National Science Prize of Mexico in 2015, and was named Professor of the Year in Germany in 2014.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Konrad Zuse's Early Computers
Book Subtitle: The Quest for the Computer in Germany
Authors: Raúl Rojas
Series Title: History of Computing
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39876-6
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Computer Science, Computer Science (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-39875-9Published: 14 October 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-39878-0Published: 14 October 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-39876-6Published: 13 October 2023
Series ISSN: 2190-6831
Series E-ISSN: 2190-684X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XX, 229
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: History of Computing, History of Technology, Processor Architectures, Computer Hardware