Re: The joy of FORTRAN

On 3/24/25 7:07 AM, Thomas Prufer wrote:

On Sat, 8 Mar 2025 23:05:11 -0500, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:
 

>
   Hmmmm ... betcha a 'hydraulic CPU' really could be made ...
>

 Logic gates and amplifiers have been made
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluidics

   Really NOT hard to make fluidic/hydraulic logic
   gates. Simple valve/cylinders. AND/OR/NOR/XOR ...
   even memory.
   Which is kinda why I thought of a fully fluidic
   digital CPU.
   STILL think something like that would make a
   great museum piece - under a few hundred square
   feet of plexiglas flooring. Use colored fluids.
   Allow patrons to add a few inputs and watch
   them ripple through the CPU. Even a 4-bitter
   would be 'educational' and really cool.
   Now how do you make a fully-fluidic 'terminal'
   display that'd run off that ???
   MIT, with donations, built at least part of the
   Babbage Difference Engine. I've seen vids - it's
   just hypnotic to watch in action. Babbage DID
   "have it" with his unaffordable Analytical Engine
   and Lovelace saw the greater possibilities ...
   but the brass-n-steel tech of the time alas .....
   In any case, the hydraulic CPU ... what do you
   figure ... 0.1 instructions-per-second ?  :-)
   Of course give it 100,000 years and .....

 Also:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONIAC_Computer

   I've seen stuff on the "Phillips Machine" before ...
   though, really, it's more analog than digital. Still
   kinda wonder why he made it using fluids rather than
   existing analog techniques.