

Alan Turing wanted to base early computer memory on gin - JonnieCache
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/28/wilkes_centenary_mercury_memory/

======
jgrahamc
Here are Wilkes' words from 1967. The gin part is interesting, but more
interesting is that use of programming techniques based on knowing the type of
memory in use to time instructions correctly.

"In ultrasonic memories, it was customary to store up to 32 words end to end
in the same delay line. The pulse rate was fairly high, but people were much
worried about the time spent in waiting for the right word to come around.
Most delay line computers were, therefore, designed so that, with the exercise
of cunning, the programmer could place his instructions and numbers in the
memory in such a way that the waiting time was minimized. Turing himsdf was a
pioneer in this type of logical design. Similar methods were later applied to
computers which used a magnetic drum as their memory and, altogether, the
subject of optimum coding, as it was called, was a flourishing one. I felt
that this kind of human ingenuity was misplaced as a long-term investment,
since sooner or later we would have truly random-access memories. We therefore
did not have anything to do with optimum coding in Cambridge.

Although a mathematician, Turing took quite an interest in the engineering
side, of computer design. There was some discussion in 1947 as to whether a
cheaper substance than mercury could not be found for use as an ultrasonic
delay medium. Turing's contribution to this discussion was to advocate the use
of gin, which he said contained alcohol and water in just the right
proportions to give a zero temperature coefficient of propagation velocity at
room temperature"

~~~
dllthomas
Reminds me of The Story Of Mel ([http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/story-of-
mel.html](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/story-of-mel.html))

~~~
jgrahamc
Yes, this sort of programming was pretty common. Today we don't have to do
much about that but we do something very similar if we want lots of
performance: we make sure that our instructions are in the CPU cache.

~~~
demallien
Yup. GPU pipelines are another very common example, with the notable
difference that pretty much every GPU programmer will optimise for the render
pipeline, which is not the case for the CPU.

------
lgeek
> EDSAC - widely accepted as the first proper "stored program" computer

This is debatable at the very least, since Manchester Baby was completed an
year earlier[0] and Manchester Mark 1[1] was operational before EDSAC ran its
first program.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Small-
Scale_Experim...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Small-
Scale_Experimental_Machine)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1)

~~~
rootbear
That raised my eyebrow as well. The 65th anniversary of the Baby was just a
week ago, so it was fresh in my mind. It was experimental, but the follow-on
Mark-1 does seem to have beat the EDSAC by about about a month. I love reading
about those old machines, so much happening so fast.

------
JonnieCache
Posting this here in the hope that I'll see some kind of TTL+booze monstrosity
on hackaday in the near future.

~~~
Svip
You want some tonic with your memory storage?

------
sc00ter
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "drink to forget"!

------
karlkatzke
Funny. I use gin to _remove_ memories.

------
mbubb
Bender doesn't usually drink gin but would agree in principle...

