De-Mythologising the Early History of Modern British Computing. David Anderson
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To What Extent Did British Advancements in Cryptanalysis During World War II Influence the Development of Computer Technology?
Portland State University PDXScholar Young Historians Conference Young Historians Conference 2016 Apr 28th, 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM To What Extent Did British Advancements in Cryptanalysis During World War II Influence the Development of Computer Technology? Hayley A. LeBlanc Sunset High School Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/younghistorians Part of the European History Commons, and the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y LeBlanc, Hayley A., "To What Extent Did British Advancements in Cryptanalysis During World War II Influence the Development of Computer Technology?" (2016). Young Historians Conference. 1. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/younghistorians/2016/oralpres/1 This Event is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Young Historians Conference by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. To what extent did British advancements in cryptanalysis during World War 2 influence the development of computer technology? Hayley LeBlanc 1936 words 1 Table of Contents Section A: Plan of Investigation…………………………………………………………………..3 Section B: Summary of Evidence………………………………………………………………....4 Section C: Evaluation of Sources…………………………………………………………………6 Section D: Analysis………………………………………………………………………………..7 Section E: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………10 Section F: List of Sources………………………………………………………………………..11 Appendix A: Explanation of the Enigma Machine……………………………………….……...13 Appendix B: Glossary of Cryptology Terms.…………………………………………………....16 2 Section A: Plan of Investigation This investigation will focus on the advancements made in the field of computing by British codebreakers working on German ciphers during World War 2 (19391945). -
The Eagle 2005
CONTENTS Message from the Master .. .. .... .. .... .. .. .. .. .. .... ..................... 5 Commemoration of Benefactors .. .............. ..... ..... ....... .. 10 Crimes and Punishments . ................................................ 17 'Gone to the Wars' .............................................. 21 The Ex-Service Generations ......................... ... ................... 27 Alexandrian Pilgrimage . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .................. 30 A Johnian Caricaturist Among Icebergs .............................. 36 'Leaves with Frost' . .. .. .. .. .. .. ................ .. 42 'Chicago Dusk' .. .. ........ ....... ......... .. 43 New Court ........ .......... ....................................... .. 44 A Hidden Treasure in the College Library ............... .. 45 Haiku & Tanka ... 51 and sent free ...... 54 by St John's College, Cambridge, The Matterhorn . The Eagle is published annually and other interested parties. Articles members of St John's College .... 55 of charge to The Eagle, 'Teasel with Frost' ........... should be addressed to: The Editor, to be considered for publication CB2 1 TP. .. .. .... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .... .. .. .. ... .. .. 56 St John's College, Cambridge, Trimmings Summertime in the Winter Mountains .. .. ... .. .. ... ... .... .. .. 62 St John's College Cambridge The Johnian Office ........... ..... .................... ........... ........... 68 CB2 1TP Book Reviews ........................... ..................................... 74 http:/ /www.joh.cam.ac.uk/ Obituaries -
Alan Turing's Automatic Computing Engine
5 Turing and the computer B. Jack Copeland and Diane Proudfoot The Turing machine In his first major publication, ‘On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem’ (1936), Turing introduced his abstract Turing machines.1 (Turing referred to these simply as ‘computing machines’— the American logician Alonzo Church dubbed them ‘Turing machines’.2) ‘On Computable Numbers’ pioneered the idea essential to the modern computer—the concept of controlling a computing machine’s operations by means of a program of coded instructions stored in the machine’s memory. This work had a profound influence on the development in the 1940s of the electronic stored-program digital computer—an influence often neglected or denied by historians of the computer. A Turing machine is an abstract conceptual model. It consists of a scanner and a limitless memory-tape. The tape is divided into squares, each of which may be blank or may bear a single symbol (‘0’or‘1’, for example, or some other symbol taken from a finite alphabet). The scanner moves back and forth through the memory, examining one square at a time (the ‘scanned square’). It reads the symbols on the tape and writes further symbols. The tape is both the memory and the vehicle for input and output. The tape may also contain a program of instructions. (Although the tape itself is limitless—Turing’s aim was to show that there are tasks that Turing machines cannot perform, even given unlimited working memory and unlimited time—any input inscribed on the tape must consist of a finite number of symbols.) A Turing machine has a small repertoire of basic operations: move left one square, move right one square, print, and change state. -
Social Construction and the British Computer Industry in the Post-World War II Period
The rhetoric of Americanisation: Social construction and the British computer industry in the Post-World War II period By Robert James Kirkwood Reid Submitted to the University of Glasgow for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economic History Department of Economic and Social History September 2007 1 Abstract This research seeks to understand the process of technological development in the UK and the specific role of a ‘rhetoric of Americanisation’ in that process. The concept of a ‘rhetoric of Americanisation’ will be developed throughout the thesis through a study into the computer industry in the UK in the post-war period . Specifically, the thesis discusses the threat of America, or how actors in the network of innovation within the British computer industry perceived it as a threat and the effect that this perception had on actors operating in the networks of construction in the British computer industry. However, the reaction to this threat was not a simple one. Rather this story is marked by sectional interests and technopolitical machination attempting to capture this rhetoric of ‘threat’ and ‘falling behind’. In this thesis the concept of ‘threat’ and ‘falling behind’, or more simply the ‘rhetoric of Americanisation’, will be explored in detail and the effect this had on the development of the British computer industry. What form did the process of capture and modification by sectional interests within government and industry take and what impact did this have on the British computer industry? In answering these questions, the thesis will first develop a concept of a British culture of computing which acts as the surface of emergence for various ideologies of innovation within the social networks that made up the computer industry in the UK. -
Manchester Baby Simulator Narration
Manchester Baby Simulator Narration By David Sharp The University of Warwick 11th January 2001 Geoff Tootill’s Highest Common Factor program, written in his notebook 19/6/48. Recent background1 Between 1996 and 1998 much research was done by the Manchester Computer Conservation Society in building an accurate replica of the ‘Baby’ (as of 21st June 1948) for its 50th anniversary. A competition was also staged for people to write programs for the ‘Baby’, the winning program was run on the replica on the 21st June 1998. This rebuild of the replica raised the profile of the Baby and also caused a lot of research into details of the machine that might otherwise have been lost to history. Historical accuracy The display presented by the simulator is a stylized version of the original June 1948 Baby. I have made the interface as much like the original as is possible using Java’s GUI capability. Great pains have been taken to provide an accurate rendition of the Baby’s controls and idiosyncrasies. As well as this original interface, I have borrowed from the “player” notion of Martin Campbell-Kelly’s EDSAC simulator (Raul and Hashagen, p. 400) in providing an alternative modern day interface for loading and running the ‘Baby’. The similarities between the original machine and the simulator interface are shown below in Figure 1. It would be easy for someone to learn to operate the original machine from the simulator. Figure 1: The original Baby’s (above), the replica’s (above right) and the simulator’s (right) interfaces. 1 The history and widespread influence of the development of the Baby is outlined in the introduction to the user guide. -
The Machine and the Cloud
the machine and the cloud Peter Harrington london n3 Frieze Masters Gloucester Green, Regent’s Park, London Thu 4 Oct Preview 12–8pm; Private View 5–8pm Fri 5 Oct 11am–7pm Sat 6 Oct 11am–7pm Sun 7 Oct 11am–6pm https://friezemasters.seetickets.com/tour/frieze-masters mayfair chelsea Peter Harrington Peter Harrington 43 dover street 100 FulHam road london w1s 4FF london sw3 6Hs uk 020 3763 3220 uk 020 7591 0220 eu 00 44 20 3763 3220 eu 00 44 20 7591 0220 usa 011 44 20 3763 3220 www.peterharrington.co.uk usa 011 44 20 7591 0220 Front & back cover: details from Marcel Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, page 28. Peter Harrington london the machine and the cloud an exHibition disPlayed at Frieze Masters regent’s Park, london 4–7 october 2018 2 the machine and the cloud In his 1962 book The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographical Man, Marshall McLuhan argued that the printing press wrought a profound change in human consciousness, especially as it occurred at about the same time as the emergence of perspective in art. Some of the unexpected consequences of this decisive moment, according to McLuhan, were the creation of nationalism, dualism, the dominance of rationalism, a drive towards homogeneity and repeatability in culture, and alienation of individuals. These are large claims, but we do not have to accept them in their entirety to agree with McLuhan’s general point that the invention of the printing press was one of the most significant technological advances ever to affect human consciousness. -
The Early History of Music Programming and Digital Synthesis, Session 20
Chapter 20. Meeting 20, Languages: The Early History of Music Programming and Digital Synthesis 20.1. Announcements • Music Technology Case Study Final Draft due Tuesday, 24 November 20.2. Quiz • 10 Minutes 20.3. The Early Computer: History • 1942 to 1946: Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the Colossus, the Harvard Mark I, and the Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator (ENIAC) • 1942: Atanasoff-Berry Computer 467 Courtesy of University Archives, Library, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. Used with permission. • 1946: ENIAC unveiled at University of Pennsylvania 468 Source: US Army • Diverse and incomplete computers © Wikimedia Foundation. License CC BY-SA. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. 20.4. The Early Computer: Interface • Punchcards • 1960s: card printed for Bell Labs, for the GE 600 469 Courtesy of Douglas W. Jones. Used with permission. • Fortran cards Courtesy of Douglas W. Jones. Used with permission. 20.5. The Jacquard Loom • 1801: Joseph Jacquard invents a way of storing and recalling loom operations 470 Photo courtesy of Douglas W. Jones at the University of Iowa. 471 Photo by George H. Williams, from Wikipedia (public domain). • Multiple cards could be strung together • Based on technologies of numerous inventors from the 1700s, including the automata of Jacques Vaucanson (Riskin 2003) 20.6. Computer Languages: Then and Now • Low-level languages are closer to machine representation; high-level languages are closer to human abstractions • Low Level • Machine code: direct binary instruction • Assembly: mnemonics to machine codes • High-Level: FORTRAN • 1954: John Backus at IBM design FORmula TRANslator System • 1958: Fortran II 472 • 1977: ANSI Fortran • High-Level: C • 1972: Dennis Ritchie at Bell Laboratories • Based on B • Very High-Level: Lisp, Perl, Python, Ruby • 1958: Lisp by John McCarthy • 1987: Perl by Larry Wall • 1990: Python by Guido van Rossum • 1995: Ruby by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto 20.7. -
Simply Turing
Simply Turing Simply Turing MICHAEL OLINICK SIMPLY CHARLY NEW YORK Copyright © 2020 by Michael Olinick Cover Illustration by José Ramos Cover Design by Scarlett Rugers All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below. [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-943657-37-7 Brought to you by http://simplycharly.com Contents Praise for Simply Turing vii Other Great Lives x Series Editor's Foreword xi Preface xii Acknowledgements xv 1. Roots and Childhood 1 2. Sherborne and Christopher Morcom 7 3. Cambridge Days 15 4. Birth of the Computer 25 5. Princeton 38 6. Cryptology From Caesar to Turing 44 7. The Enigma Machine 68 8. War Years 85 9. London and the ACE 104 10. Manchester 119 11. Artificial Intelligence 123 12. Mathematical Biology 136 13. Regina vs Turing 146 14. Breaking The Enigma of Death 162 15. Turing’s Legacy 174 Sources 181 Suggested Reading 182 About the Author 185 A Word from the Publisher 186 Praise for Simply Turing “Simply Turing explores the nooks and crannies of Alan Turing’s multifarious life and interests, illuminating with skill and grace the complexities of Turing’s personality and the long-reaching implications of his work.” —Charles Petzold, author of The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour through Alan Turing’s Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine “Michael Olinick has written a remarkably fresh, detailed study of Turing’s achievements and personal issues. -
The Manchester University "Baby" Computer and Its Derivatives, 1948 – 1951”
Expert Report on Proposed Milestone “The Manchester University "Baby" Computer and its Derivatives, 1948 – 1951” Thomas Haigh. University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee & Siegen University March 10, 2021 Version of citation being responded to: The Manchester University "Baby" Computer and its Derivatives, 1948 - 1951 At this site on 21 June 1948 the “Baby” became the first computer to execute a program stored in addressable read-write electronic memory. “Baby” validated the widely used Williams- Kilburn Tube random-access memories and led to the 1949 Manchester Mark I which pioneered index registers. In February 1951, Ferranti Ltd's commercial Mark I became the first electronic computer marketed as a standard product ever delivered to a customer. 1: Evaluation of Citation The final wording is the result of several rounds of back and forth exchange of proposed drafts with the proposers, mediated by Brian Berg. During this process the citation text became, from my viewpoint at least, far more precise and historically reliable. The current version identifies several distinct contributions made by three related machines: the 1948 “Baby” (known officially as the Small Scale Experimental Machine or SSEM), a minimal prototype computer which ran test programs to prove the viability of the Manchester Mark 1, a full‐scale computer completed in 1949 that was fully designed and approved only after the success of the “Baby” and in turn served as a prototype of the Ferranti Mark 1, a commercial refinement of the Manchester Mark 1 of which I believe 9 copies were sold. The 1951 date refers to the delivery of the first of these, to Manchester University as a replacement for its home‐built Mark 1. -
The Influence of ULTRA in the Second World War [ Changed 26Th November 1996 ]
The Influence of ULTRA in the Second World War [ Changed 26th November 1996 ] Last year Sir Harry Hinsley kindly agreed to speak about Bletchley Park, where he worked during the Second World War. We are pleased to present a transcript of his talk. Sir Harry Hinsley is a distinguished historian who during the Second World War worked at Bletchley Park, where much of the allied forces code-breaking effort took place. We are pleased to include here a transcript of his talk, and would like to thank Susan Cheesman for typing the first draft and Keith Lockstone for adding Sir Harry's comments and amendments. Security Group Seminar Speaker: Sir Harry Hinsley Date: Tuesday 19th October 1993 Place: Babbage Lecture Theatre, Computer Laboratory Title: The Influence of ULTRA in the Second World War Ross Anderson: It is a great pleasure to introduce today's speaker, Sir Harry Hinsley, who actually worked at Bletchley from 1939 to 1946 and then came back to Cambridge and became Professor of the History of International Relations and Master of St John's College. He is also the official historian of British Intelligence in World War II, and he is going to talk to us today about Ultra. Sir Harry: As you have heard I've been asked to talk about Ultra and I shall say something about both sides of it, namely about the cryptanalysis and then on the other hand about the use of the product - of course Ultra was the name given to the product. And I ought to begin by warning you, therefore, that I am not myself a mathematical or technical expert. -
1. Types of Computers Contents
1. Types of Computers Contents 1 Classes of computers 1 1.1 Classes by size ............................................. 1 1.1.1 Microcomputers (personal computers) ............................ 1 1.1.2 Minicomputers (midrange computers) ............................ 1 1.1.3 Mainframe computers ..................................... 1 1.1.4 Supercomputers ........................................ 1 1.2 Classes by function .......................................... 2 1.2.1 Servers ............................................ 2 1.2.2 Workstations ......................................... 2 1.2.3 Information appliances .................................... 2 1.2.4 Embedded computers ..................................... 2 1.3 See also ................................................ 2 1.4 References .............................................. 2 1.5 External links ............................................. 2 2 List of computer size categories 3 2.1 Supercomputers ............................................ 3 2.2 Mainframe computers ........................................ 3 2.3 Minicomputers ............................................ 3 2.4 Microcomputers ........................................... 3 2.5 Mobile computers ........................................... 3 2.6 Others ................................................. 4 2.7 Distinctive marks ........................................... 4 2.8 Categories ............................................... 4 2.9 See also ................................................ 4 2.10 References -
Manchester Baby Simulator Narration
Manchester Baby Simulator Narration By David Sharp The University of Warwick 11th January 2001 Geoff Tootill’s Highest Common Factor program, written in his notebook 19/6/48. Recent background1 Between 1996 and 1998 much research was done by the Manchester Computer Conservation Society in building an accurate replica of the ‘Baby’ (as of 21st June 1948) for its 50th anniversary. A competition was also staged for people to write programs for the ‘Baby’, the winning program was run on the replica on the 21st June 1998. This rebuild of the replica raised the profile of the Baby and also caused a lot of research into details of the machine that might otherwise have been lost to history. Historical accuracy The display presented by the simulator is a stylized version of the original June 1948 Baby. I have made the interface as much like the original as is possible using Java’s GUI capability. Great pains have been taken to provide an accurate rendition of the Baby’s controls and idiosyncrasies. As well as this original interface, I have borrowed from the “player” notion of Martin Campbell-Kelly’s EDSAC simulator (Raul and Hashagen, p. 400) in providing an alternative modern day interface for loading and running the ‘Baby’. The similarities between the original machine and the simulator interface are shown below in Figure 1. It would be easy for someone to learn to operate the original machine from the simulator. Figure 1: The original Baby’s (above), the replica’s (above right) and the simulator’s (right) interfaces. 1 The history and widespread influence of the development of the Baby is outlined in the introduction to the user guide.