This book describes the historical development of the architectures of the first computers
built by the German inventor Konrad Zuse in Berlin between 1936 and 1945. Zuse's machines are
historically important because they anticipated many features of modern computers.Specifically
these include the separation of processor and memory the ability to compute with
floating-point numbers a hardware architecture based on microprogramming of the instruction
set and a layered design with a high-level programming language on top. In fact Zuse's early
computers are closer to modern computers than the Harvard Mark I or ENIAC two other contenders
for the title of world's first computer. The theoretical program first conceived by Zuse in
1936 37 was fulfilled with a series of machines built before and during World War II: the Z1
Z2 Z3 and Z4. Separate chapters deal with the architecture of each computer culminating in
the description of Plankalkül the first proposal for a high-level programming language.
Students of the sciences and practitioners of computer science should have no trouble following
the material. The concise introductory summary sets the reader on the historical path to
retrace this remarkable intellectual adventure.
