Computers = Gone!

Andrew2020

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This is a question I ask myself everyday. What if all the computers where not invented and nothing like them where invented. What would you be doing now?
 
The very first computer was made during WW2 to break the German's codes. It was vital during the war, and we probably wouldn't have won without it.

If it wasn't invented, the germans would have won, German would have become the world-wide standard and the world would be messed to shit.
 
... You're joking right, Lacey? That is just... well.. wrong o_O

Where do you gather your information from? No offense but that sounds like you pulled it out of your ass
 
lol

hmm, skate
yeah, but i wudnt know that ther wer no comps so i dunno
but yeah skateboard or snowboard
 
Paradox said:
... You're joking right, Lacey? That is just... well.. wrong o_O

Where do you gather your information from? No offense but that sounds like you pulled it out of your ass

hey, do do have that little faith in me?

http://www.open2.net/peopleswar/computing2.html

Colossus I was delivered to Bletchley Park in December 1943 and immediately set to work cracking Tunny. It replaced one of the paper reels of the Heath Robinsons with an electronic representation in memory of the possible Tunny settings. Paper tape fed encrypted messages into Colossus at a rate of 5,000 characters per second where they were compared against the possible settings. Perhaps remarkably, a modern desktop computer is only slightly faster at cracking Tunny than its distant ancestor.

Colossus II arrived only six months later. Using 2,500 valves it was five times faster than its predecessor, (clearly computers going out of date as soon as they were built is not a modern problem), and proved so successful that a further nine machines were completed before the end of the war. Using Colossus the British regularly read Tunny messages before their opponents.

Despite early worries, valves proved to be extremely reliable. Colossus' designers realised that most valve failures were caused when machines were turned on and off; therefore the Colossi ran almost uninterrupted from the time of its installation to the end of the war. Such was the prodigious amount of heat pouring from the machine that the Women's Royal Naval Service operators were reduced to working in their underwear!

At the end of the war, on the express orders of Winston Churchill, eight of the Colossus computers were reduced to scrap. Every part of Ultra was classified and Tommy Flowers was ordered to burn the original plans. He complied and Colossus vanished from sight for almost thirty years. The two remaining Colossus machines were rebuilt at GCHQ near Cheltenham where they remained in service until 1960.

Such was the secrecy surrounding Ultra and Colossus that their very existence only became public knowledge in 1974. Until that time, it was widely believed that the first computer was 1945's ENIAC, a colossal machine designed for the United States Army.

There you have it, the British invented the first computer, not you yanks.
 
Lac3y said:
There you have it, the British invented the first computer, not you yanks.

Only problem was, we couldn't prove it at the time - the Colossi (yes, there was more than one in operation) officially didn't exist, they were top secret. Rumour has it there's still one complete, fully-working Colossus within GHCQ headquarters.

We've just been studying this. A "computer" was actually a term to describe somebody who did calculations with a pencil. Babbage devised the Difference Engine to eliminate the problem of human error. So even us Brits can argue that Colossus wasn't the first computer.

Oh yeah, if we didn't have computers, we'd be screwed. We watched this video with Jeremy Clarkson (it wasn't all about cars, honest) talked about the development of the computer. They did this experiment where they fired off an EMP Pulse in this test chamber, the old PC inside still worked, sort of - the computer literally lost its identity, none of the components had any record of their serial numbers etc., the HDD was basically nailed, but the BIOS still seemed to work. Worrying stuff, considering what would happen if a real EMP Pulse went off.
 
Paradox said:
... You're joking right, Lacey? That is just... well.. wrong o_O

Where do you gather your information from? No offense but that sounds like you pulled it out of your ass


Dude she's right. Technically the first ELECTRIC computer was made in the 40's with Alan Turring's good help. It was used to crack German U-boat codes. I did a whole 6 page essay on it. :)
 
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