Tag Archives: Turing complete

Early Turing-complete Computers

Before and during World War II all computers were special purpose machines, each designed to solve a particular war related problem. After the war computers continued to be invented at a rapid pace, but the focus shifted to general purpose … Continue reading

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Why were early computers so late?

When I was born, in 1938, there were no computers. The word “computer” meant a person who used a calculator. I don’t know why computers did not exist then. The seeds had been planted well before. The first general-purpose computer … Continue reading

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Teaching Computing

Recently a friend of mine (I’ll call him Jim – not his name) asked me to teach him how to write computer programs. Since my current favorite language is Ruby, I suggested that he start with one of the Ruby … Continue reading

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