Re: Rewriting SSA. Is This A Chance For GNU/Linux?

On 08/04/2025 12:59, Farley Flud wrote:

On Mon, 07 Apr 2025 17:59:45 -0400, c186282 wrote:
 

>
    Indeed ! However ... probably COULD be done, it's
    a bunch of shifting values - input to some accts,
    calx ops, shift to other accts ....... lots and
    lots of rheostats ........
>

 How is conditional branching (e.g. an if-then-else statement)
to be implemented with analog circuits?  It cannot be
done.
 

You can do better than boolen logic
You can use an adder and a comparator.
If the sum of all the inputs is greater than X then Y, Else not Y#
You can use Y to switch another set of analogue circuits off or on.
Or even use the sum of all the inputs to modify the gain of an amplifier.
If you have a digital problem use a digital computer if not then think again

Analog computers are good for modelling systems that are
described by differential equations.  Adders, differentiators,
and integrators can all be easily implemented with electronic
circuits.  But beyond differential equation sytems analog
computers are useless.
 

Exactly

The Norden bomb site of WWII wan an electro-mechanical
computer.  It's job was to calculate the trajectory of
a bomb released by an aircraft and the trajectory is described
by a differential equation.
 

And it was the biggest heap of shit ever missold to the USAAF

One of my professors told a story about a common "analog"
practice among engineers of the past.  To calculate an integral,
which can be described as the area under a curve, they would plot
the curve on well made paper and then cut out (with scissors)
the plotted area and weigh it (on a lab balance).  The ratio
of the cut-out area with a unit area of paper would be the
value of the integral.  (Multi-dimensional integrals would
require carving blocks of balsa wood or a similar material.)
 Of course it worked but today integration is easy to perform
to unlimited accuracy using digital means.
 

Not unlimited either in precision or in compute time

 

--
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.
Jonathan Swift