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Why do I keep seeing this same exact line "The castle clock, a hydropowered mechanical astronomical clock invented by Al-Jazari in 1206, was the first programmable analog computer.[10][11][12]" posted on all the major computing history Wikipedia articles? For starters, I believe the claim is a bit sensationalized, as the word "programmable" is being used very loosely here. The term programmable is usually meant in the context of being able to provide instructions to a machine so that the machine can adjust its operations accordingly. In this scenario for Al-Jazari's clock (also very loosely associated with a computer, but it performs a computation of sorts, namely, keeping time and such, so I will grant that I suppose), the clock had to be manually recalibrated. Does this qualify as programmable? In addition to this, the actual cited source isn't even correct. The episode in question of Ancient Discoveries of the History Channel is Series 3 Episode 9, and the episode itself (available on YouTube) doesn't even support the claim that Al-Jazari's clock was the first programmable analog computer. The episode actually makes an even stranger claim: that Al-Jazari's clock was a "super computer". I also looked through source 11 and didn't find the claim supported on the page given. What is going on here? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:82:200:8B20:0:0:0:3C04 ( talk) 01:15, 16 June 2022 (UTC)
This is a bit off topic; if this bothers you stop reading now.
Years ago we had an engineering problem that used a PDB-8 to do a complex calculation. It gave us a correct answer, but was too slow, because the algorithm converged on the answer too slowly. If only we could start with an initial guess that was at least close to the final answer... Analog computer to the rescue! We built up a custom analog computer out of operational amplifiers and high precision hand-selected resistors and capacitors, and used the (inaccurate) answer as our initial guess for the PDP-8. Analog computers pretty much give instant answers. Worked great! -- Guy Macon ( talk) 23:43, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
As it seems to be getting a bit contentious again, can we agree that, given the title of the article, it is indeed in US English? Admittedly as much as "analog" gives me brain leprosy and my editor the red squigglies.
Okay, it'd be nice if WikipædiaWikipedia properly sorted out this problem once and for all but that's another matter and one that isn't happening soon. --
Vometia (
talk) 14:52, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
Why are Babbage's designs included here as precursors to the analog computer? The difference and analytical engines were digital. - Amcbride ( talk) 20:04, 18 January 2022 (UTC)
I removed a link from external links because there was no content to do with the title on the page. I'm not sure if analogue computers can be turing complete at this moment, maybe they can. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7E:2ECA:200:FCBB:7BD1:C6B7:A5A7 ( talk) 03:32, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
This
level-5 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
This page has archives. Sections older than 365 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III when more than 5 sections are present. |
Why do I keep seeing this same exact line "The castle clock, a hydropowered mechanical astronomical clock invented by Al-Jazari in 1206, was the first programmable analog computer.[10][11][12]" posted on all the major computing history Wikipedia articles? For starters, I believe the claim is a bit sensationalized, as the word "programmable" is being used very loosely here. The term programmable is usually meant in the context of being able to provide instructions to a machine so that the machine can adjust its operations accordingly. In this scenario for Al-Jazari's clock (also very loosely associated with a computer, but it performs a computation of sorts, namely, keeping time and such, so I will grant that I suppose), the clock had to be manually recalibrated. Does this qualify as programmable? In addition to this, the actual cited source isn't even correct. The episode in question of Ancient Discoveries of the History Channel is Series 3 Episode 9, and the episode itself (available on YouTube) doesn't even support the claim that Al-Jazari's clock was the first programmable analog computer. The episode actually makes an even stranger claim: that Al-Jazari's clock was a "super computer". I also looked through source 11 and didn't find the claim supported on the page given. What is going on here? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:82:200:8B20:0:0:0:3C04 ( talk) 01:15, 16 June 2022 (UTC)
This is a bit off topic; if this bothers you stop reading now.
Years ago we had an engineering problem that used a PDB-8 to do a complex calculation. It gave us a correct answer, but was too slow, because the algorithm converged on the answer too slowly. If only we could start with an initial guess that was at least close to the final answer... Analog computer to the rescue! We built up a custom analog computer out of operational amplifiers and high precision hand-selected resistors and capacitors, and used the (inaccurate) answer as our initial guess for the PDP-8. Analog computers pretty much give instant answers. Worked great! -- Guy Macon ( talk) 23:43, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
As it seems to be getting a bit contentious again, can we agree that, given the title of the article, it is indeed in US English? Admittedly as much as "analog" gives me brain leprosy and my editor the red squigglies.
Okay, it'd be nice if WikipædiaWikipedia properly sorted out this problem once and for all but that's another matter and one that isn't happening soon. --
Vometia (
talk) 14:52, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
Why are Babbage's designs included here as precursors to the analog computer? The difference and analytical engines were digital. - Amcbride ( talk) 20:04, 18 January 2022 (UTC)
I removed a link from external links because there was no content to do with the title on the page. I'm not sure if analogue computers can be turing complete at this moment, maybe they can. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7E:2ECA:200:FCBB:7BD1:C6B7:A5A7 ( talk) 03:32, 21 December 2023 (UTC)