
When mechanical analog computers ruled the waves - Tomte
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/05/gears-of-war-when-mechanical-analog-computers-ruled-the-waves/
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phab
The second page ("Coding in Metal"), illustrating how computations occur using
mechanical intrinsics like differentials, is where this gets fascinating.

[https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2020/05/gears...](https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2020/05/gears-of-war-when-mechanical-analog-computers-ruled-the-
waves/2/)

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eesmith
People referred to these sorts of fire control systems as "super-computing
machines" back in the 1930s. Here's a Nov. 1930 example -
[https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA502646/page/n11/mode/2up...](https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA502646/page/n11/mode/2up/search/%22a+super-
computing+machine%22?q=%22a+super-computing+machine%22) .

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tabulating_machine#First_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tabulating_machine#First_use_of_the_term_.22Super_Computing.22)
says there are some earlier uses too.

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tingletech
When my great grandfather was drafted into WWI he was a chemistry professor at
Berkeley. They sent him to Annapolis and then he was an ensign. I found a
ship's roster last summer helping to clean my grandma's estate. I can't
remember his exact job title from the roster, but it seemed clear he was
working the target computer.

