Computing: medieval

But did any medieval monk ever actually build a real, life size computer on any significant scale Yes, indeed—at least once. Ramon Lull, Spanish theologian and visionary and of the lay Franciscan order, was blessed by a religious vision in 1274 to write a specification for a programming language and computer, whence he retired to the monastery and fully devoted himself to... 

Computers are worth a whole history library, from counting-stones and notched sticks to abacus on to today s supercomputer. It is likely that very sophisticated devices in ancient Greece were lost from history by the fires in the great library in ancient Alexandria. However, a serious contender to the medieval computer mentioned in this chapter is the antikythera mechanism, the clockwork style device discovered more than 100 years ago in a Roman shipwreck and thought to have been used by ancient Greeks to read astronomical cycles. 

Around 1970 every self-respecting university possessed a mainframe computer (in the majority of cases an IBM 360, sometimes a CDC 6600). This was usually placed in a stronghold well defended by brave knights (the computer center staff). A scientist who wanted access to the machine had to master a strange and difficult tongue (job control language) and to cross swords with computer personnel to conquer CPU cycles, RAM, tapes, and disk space. This medieval state of affairs lasted until workstations arrived at the end of the 1980s. 

One aspect, computers, will not be considered, although they are the basis of space achievements and successful remote detection. All of the calculations and maps are performed and drawn with their aid without computers, we would still be at the medieval stage of the post-second-world-war days. 

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