Zuse??™s first computer, the Z1, was built between 1936 and 1938. The
machine contained all of the parts of a modern computer; however, it was not reliable. Its mechanical construction
was very complex and error-prone. Zuse??™s Z3 was the first fully functional program-controlled computer in
the world.
The Z3 was finished in 1941 and predated Aiken??™s Mark I. Zuse??™s accomplishments are all the more incredible
given the material and worker shortages in Germany during World War II. Zuse couldn??™t even obtain paper tape,
so he had to make his own by punching holes in discarded movie film. Zuse also invented what might be the
first high-level computer language, ???Plankalkul???, though it, too, was unknown outside Germany.
The work done by the code breakers at Bletchley Park (between London and Birmingham, UK)
during World War II provided the allies with information that literally turned the tide of the war. Computers
played a vital role in the work of the code breakers and made it possible for them to break the Enigma
and Lorenz ciphers. Colossus, a computer developed at Bletchley Park to break ciphers, became operational
in 1943. Colossus was one of the first major computers to employ vacuum tubes, and was capable of reading
information stored on paper tape at a rate of 5000 characters per second.
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