Alan turing's automatic computing engine

The mathematical genius Alan Turing (1912-1954) was one of the greatest scientists and thinkers of the 20th century. Now well known for his crucial wartime role in breaking the ENIGMA code, he was the first to conceive of the fundamental principle of the modern computer-the idea of controlling a computing machine's operations by means of a program of coded instructions, stored in the machine's 'memory'. In 1945 Turing drew up his revolutionary design for an electronic computing machine-his Automatic Computing Engine ('ACE'). A pilot model of the ACE ran its first program in 1950 and the production version, the 'DEUCE', went on to become a cornerstone of the fledgling British computer industry. The first 'personal' computer was based on Turing's ACE. Alan Turing's Automatic Computing Engine describes Turing's struggle to build the modern computer. The first detailed history of Turing's contributions to computer science, this text is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the computer and the history of mathematics. It contains first hand accounts by Turing and by the pioneers of computing who worked with him. As well as relating the story of the invention of the computer, the book clearly describes the hardware and software of the ACE-including the very first computer programs. The book is intended to be accessible to everyone with an interest in computing, and contains numerous diagrams and illustrations as well as original photographs. The book contains some previously unpublished work by Turing as well as data that has only recently been declassified, and there are in addition chapters describing Turing's path-breaking research in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificial Life (A-Life). The book has an extensive system of hyperlinks to The Turing Archive for the History of Computing, an on-line library of digital facsimiles of typewritten documents by Turing and the other scientists who pioneered the electronic computer.

Donald W. Davies: Foreword, B. Jack Copeland: Introduction, Part. Part 1: The National Physical Laboratory and the ACE Project. Eileen Magnello: A Century of Measurement and Computation at the National Physical Laboratory, 1900-2000, Mary Croarken: The Creation of the NPL Mathematics Division, B. Jack Copeland: The Origins and Development of the ACE Project, James H. Wilkinson: The Pilot ACE at the National Physical Laboratory, Part. Part 2: Turing and the History of Computing. Martin Campbell-Kelly: The ACE and the Shaping of British Computing, Robert Doran: Computer Architecture and the ACE Computers, B. Jack Copeland and Diane Proudfoot: Turing and the Computer, Teresa Numerico: From Turing Machine to "Electronic Brain", Part. Part 3: The ACE Computers. Henry John Norton: The Pilot ACE Instruction Format, J.G. Hayes: Programming the Pilot ACE, Robin A. Vowels: The Pilot ACE: from Concept to Reality, Robin A. Vowels: The DEUCE-a User's View, Tom Vickers: Applications of the Pilot ACE and the DEUCE, Harry D. Huskey: The ACE Test Assembly, the Pilot ACE, the Big ACE, and the Bendix G15, Michael Woodger: The ACE Simulator and the Cybernetic Model, Benjamin Wells: The Pilot Model and the Big ACE on the Web, Part. Part 4: Electronics. David O. Clayden: How Valves Work, Maurice Wilkes: Recollections of Early Vacuum Tube Circuits, David O. Clayden: Circuit Design of the Pilot ACE and the Big ACE, Part. Part 5: Technical Reports and Lectures on the ACE and the Pilot ACE. 1945-1951, Alan M. Turing: Proposed Electronic Calculator (1945), Alan M. Turing: Notes on Memory (1945), Alan M. Turing and James H. Wilkinson: The Turing-Wilkinson Lecture Series (1946-1947), Harry D. Huskey: The State of the Art in Electronic Digital Computing in Britain and the United States (1947)

Computer scientists, mathematicians, electrical and electronic engineers, philosophers, logicians, and historians of computing, mathematics, science and technology. The first detailed history of Turing's contributions to computer science, t