The ORACLE or Oak Ridge Automatic Computer and Logical Engine, an early computer built by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was based on the IAS architecture developed by John von Neumann. As with all computers of its era, it was a one of a kind machine that could not exchange programs with other computers (even other IAS machines). It used vacuum tubes, transistors, and diodes. It used a Williams tube for 2048 words of memory. Its addition time was 70 microseconds, the multiplication time was 370-590 microseconds, and the division time was 590 microseconds. These times include the storage access time, which was about 62 microseconds.
The ORACLE pre-dated input from disks and the use of punch cards with computers; it used paper tape for input and breakage of the tape was a frequent problem.
These are not facts for which I can provide citations, just reminiscences from a visit I made when I was a child. Maybe something in this can inspire someone else with more "real" information!
In 1953, or maybe 1952, there was a math meeting (a sectional meeting of the AMS or MAA national mathematics societies, but at this remove I don't remember which and I have been unable to find any relevant listings at the websites of those two societies)at Oak Ridge: My father was a math prof at U-Tennessee Knoxville. The meeting arranged a tour of the Oracle lab, and my father was able to smuggle me in. (That was still not totally trivial, Oak Ridge as a city was still closed, not just the labs.) So I got to see the machine, it was demonstrated to us, and these are some of its characteristics that I remember. (I was 10 or 11, but they did do a good job of explaining things and for that matter almost all of the older mathematicians were as new to computers as I was.)
In the 17th century, clothiers in Reading were facing competition from the north of England, where taxes were lower. On 30 December 1624, John Kendrick a clothier died leaving £7,500 to the Reading and £4,000 to Newbury to help their cloth industries. John Kendrick's father and brother had a textile factory in Minster Street. The factory was sold to the Council for £2,000, and alterations were carried out to make it suitable for use as a workhouse. The new facility opened in 1628. It stretched from the top of Minster Street 30m down along the Holy Brook. William Kendrick chose the name "Oracle" to honour his brother John, whose idea launched the facility.
The Oracle remained in use until the 19th century, and the building was demolished in 1850.
In the first film, she is a mysterious but powerful figure, incongruously depicted as a cheerful old lady who smokes cigarettes and bakes cookies. She possesses the power of foresight, which she uses to advise and guide the humans attempting to fight the Matrix. Later, she is revealed to be a sapientprogram who is integral to the very nature of the Matrix itself. Whether her power of prediction is deterministic or not is a concept given much treatment in all three films. She herself claims that she lacks the ability to see past her own choice, explaining that no one, including herself, can see past a choice they do not understand. It becomes clear in the films that her power cannot be used to predict the ultimate consequences of Neo, who possesses free will when he defies the Architect.
Spider Riders(スパイダーライダーズ ~オラクルの勇者たち~,Supaidāraidāzu ~Orakuru no Yūsha-tachi~, Spider Riders ~the Heroes of Oracle~) is a series of science fiction novels first published in December 2004, published by Newmarket Press written by Tedd Anasti, Patsy Cameron-Anasti and Stephen D. Sullivan (books 2–3). The stories became the basis of the anime series produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment of Canada and Bee Train of Japan. The three novels are titled Spider Riders: Shards of the Oracle, Spider Riders: Reign of the Soul Eater, and Spider Riders: Quest of the Earthen. Spider Riders broadcasts on Teletoon, This TV, and used to broadcast on Kids' WB!. Koichi Mashimo co-directed the staff at Bee Train with Takaaki Ishiyama. Writer Yosuke Kuroda adapted the novels. Robert Pincombe and Shelly Hoffman wrote the English version.
Plot
Eleven-year-old Hunter Steel searches for the legendary inner world by following the instructions in his grandfather's journal. He enters a cave where he finds a mysterious manacle that attaches itself to him. A spider startles Hunter, who falls into a hole to the center of the Earth and into the subterranean world of Arachna. There, he discovers a small group of elite warriors struggling to survive and to save Arachna from the attack of giant insect mutants. The warriors are children, each fighting with the help of their own 10ft (3.0m) battle spiders. They call themselves "Spider Riders". In the English TV series, the ages of the characters were reduced.
A computer is a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem.
Conventionally, a computer consists of at least one processing element, typically a central processing unit (CPU), and some form of memory. The processing element carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit can change the order of operations in response to stored information. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source, and the result of operations saved and retrieved.
Mechanicalanalog computers started appearing in the first century and were later used in the medieval era for astronomical calculations. In World War II, mechanical analog computers were used for specialized military applications such as calculating torpedo aiming. During this time the first electronic digital computers were developed. Originally they were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs).
The term "computer", in use from the early 17th century (the first known written reference dates from 1613), meant "one who computes": a person performing mathematical calculations, before electronic computers became commercially available.
"The human computer is supposed to be following fixed rules; he has no authority to deviate from them in any detail." (Turing, 1950)
Teams of people were frequently used to undertake long and often tedious calculations; the work was divided so that this could be done in parallel.
The first time the term "Computer" appeared in The New York Times was February 3, 1853; an obituary stated:
Since the end of the 20th century, the term "human computer" has also been applied to individuals with prodigious powers of mental arithmetic, also known as mental calculators.
Origins in astronomy
The approach was taken for astronomical and other complex calculations. Perhaps the first example of organized human computing was by the Frenchman Alexis Claude Clairaut (1713–1765), when he divided the computation to determine timing of the return of Halley's Comet with two colleagues, Joseph Lalande and Nicole-Reine Lepaute.
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